How clean is your house right now?

PenniesMake£s

I want my home to be showhouse perfect all the time, however, it rarely is.

At the moment I have a clear sink but dishes to put away, countertops to wipe, a huge pile of laundry, masses of toys cluttering the floor which also needs to be swept and hoovered. Upstairs I have piles of clean clothes to put away, the bathroom to clean, the sheets need to be changed on 4 beds, the windows/mirrors could do with a wipe (sticky little fingerprints), kids rooms are a mess of toys/craft stuff etc. My husband saw the mess this morning and was laughing at me for claiming I'm a minimalist (as I do, I've kondoed the whole house....clearly not enough as the poor man had to clear the top of the ironing board of stuff just to iron his clothes for work). I have a couple of hours before I need to do a school pick up but with 2 little ones at home I doubt I'll get much done.

How clean is your house just now?

SailorSam

It only needs cleaning when you can write your name in the dust. Even then once the dust is that thick it doesn't seem to get any thicker.

Gers

Clean and tidy are different options!

A house can be dirty and tidy or tidy and clean. Not the same thing.

Mine is usually tidy. As Sailor Sam indicates dust is not an issue (at least for me). I vacuum when the flooring needs it and dust when I have to - visitors / can't see the TV / can't touch things without getting my hands dirty. I can't abide things in a mess, but you have young children and anyone who tries for a perfectly clean and tidy household with them in it is on a hiding to nowhere.

My personal view is that a house should be a home - not somewhere that is pristine and showhouse ready. The occupants have to feel comfortable and 'at home', not worried about what others think.

You can be too clean / too dirty and too tidy / too untidy. Years ago I visited my mother and put my bag down on the hall floor. She asked what the bag was doing there...my reply was 'having a rest'. She has got better with age!

Each to their own. Whatever makes your family feel comfortable, remember it's not only your home it's theirs too. There must be a balance?

SailorSam

What you said about having children is so true Gers. My Mum was over fussy, everything had to be perfect. We walked on eggshells going to her house. But when my little Nieces were there within minutes the house would be like a bomb had hit in, but it never bothered her, she just joined in making evem more of a mess. Then once they'd gone home she was back cleaning.

moments_of_sanity

We are a house of 4 adults, youngest DD is 18 now but I can assure you the 'mess' doesn't decrease with age, it just changes!

My living/dining/kitchen is in need of hoovering as we also have 2 border collies and 2 cats, I need to put the duster around once I have hoovered, my kitchen sink has washing up to be done (I do that in the evening when we have had dinner), I have washing sitting on the side waiting to go out and my dining room table can't be seen for A level study material. I have the dogs toys all over the living room floor and there are laptops, charging cables, mobile phone chargers, TV remote controls all over the living room. I clean my cooker top about 4 times a week but because one of my DD's is a vegetarian she cooks her own food so I can guarantee that as soon as I have cleaned it, it will have food spilt on it again!

I would like to point out though, as Gers mentioned, that my house is not dirty but it is messy at various points through the day/week.

I have a fridge magnet that says 'cleaning when you have children is like shovelling snow whilst it's still snowing'

PenniesMake£s

Situation worse than before, we cuddled up on the sofa to watch cartoons as I was feeling tired. Then made the kids a little snack and peeled potatoes for dinner later so more mess. Sigh!

It is a blizzard in here now moments_of_sanity :rotfl:

anakat

Don't worry about it, you will have years and years when you look back and remember the mess with fondness, just enjoy your children

moments_of_sanity

PenniesMake£s wrote: »

Situation worse than before, we cuddled up on the sofa to watch cartoons as I was feeling tired. Then made the kids a little snack and peeled potatoes for dinner later so more mess. Sigh!

It is a blizzard in here now moments_of_sanity :rotfl:

I know it seems like it's hard to get on top of things but in years to come you will be grateful for having spent time with them instead of cleaning. Mine are 18 & 20 now and although we spent a lot of time doing activities/in the garden/feeding ducks/play parks/days out etc, I do regret all the time I spent cleaning as it would have been better spent with my girls. I still haven't done my jobs for today as both my girls are home and sat downstairs and I am enjoying the time with them as I very rarely get to spend quality time with them now.

PasturesNew

Mine's not tidy for three reasons:
1] I've not got enough furniture/storage yet to hold everything so it's accessible, so, while some things are where they should be, others are still in boxes awaiting a suitable home (e.g. two good chests of drawers would see everything housed).
2] Nobody but me will ever see how tidy/untidy things are and if there should be somebody coming round then 5 minutes could get anything stray that's downstairs taken upstairs and put into the "room of disarray"
3] Some items are part of a process that's a conveyor belt of completeness. e.g. dishes wait until there are enough to wash up; then dishes are taken off the drainer as they become "nearly dry" and laid on a tea-towel adjacent; items are removed from the tea-towel and put away when they're dry. Given 5 minutes the whole lot could be washed, wiped, dried and put away, but rule [2] applies. Same with empty tins - they take 2 days to go through the conveyor belt: rinse and fill with water/stand in the sink; empty and swill around,turn upside down to drain; when dry stamp on them so they're flat and put into the recycling bucket.

I tend to keep things around me that I use regularly .... no point putting them away if I'll want them 1-3x a day/week.

LameWolf

It's "clean enough to be healthy and dirty enough to be happy".;)

OK, I should really be doing a spot of dusting, not mithering around on MSE; but the bathroom and kitchen are properly clean, the floors are all vacuumed, and everything that's not actively in use is stashed in it's proper place, with the exception of a little clean washing-up that is in the drainer (I'll put it away shortly) - that's currently what Mr LW refers to as "A Clean Mess":D

I have the breadmaker on the go, a pizza to finish constructing for tonight's dins, a lemon cake and an apple crumble to make - I shall wash up straight away when I've done that lot, and likely leave the clean stuff to drain for a bit (saves wear and tear on the tea cloths!);)

It'll all be tidied away before Mr LW gets in from work, though; I can't abide mess.

lushlifesaver

Our bungalow is clean but far from tidy currently! But with a one year old and a pretty hectic work load at the minute its no surprise to me. I don't stress so much.


If/when we get a new house I'll have more of a routine in place as more house to clean and probably a little more time (shorter commute etc)!