Waynetta Slob's School Of Housework

ceridwen

Life is too short to stuff a mushroom - to quote Shirley Conran. I have a full-time job and want to get on with my life outside work, rather than doing housework. So I have worked out a timetable for doing as little as poss. but still having a reasonable house.

DAILY
- Dry dishes whilst making breakfast
- Do packed lunch (workdays)
- Check out any kefir/beansprouts I am doing
- Water plants
- Chuck cleaner down loo (Monday mornings)

- In evening just wash dishes after dinner and check out beansprouts/kefir again.

SATURDAY (Week 1)
- make bread
- tidy
- handwash

SUNDAY (Week 1)
- change bed, etc
- hoover downstairs and main area
- clean kitchen

SATURDAY (Week 2)
- make bread
- tidy
- handwash

SUNDAY (Week 2)
- change bed, etc
- hoover throughout
- clean bathroom

Machinewashing - whenever there is a load (2/3 times a week)
Ironing - When there is a pile of it (I don't iron bedding/towels/teatowels/knickers). If pushed for time - I dont iron petticoats and nightdresses either.

Springcleaning and the yearly clearout of files - on Bank Holidays.

dolly_day_dream

ceridwen wrote: »

Life is too short to stuff a mushroom - to quote Shirley Conran.

Ironing - When there is a pile of it (I don't iron bedding/towels/teatowels/knickers). If pushed for time - I dont iron petticoats and nightdresses either.

Springcleaning and the yearly clearout of files - on Bank Holidays.

Wow you are certainly doing too much ironing - I only iron what will be seen so petticoats and nighties are out. But am with you on trying to keep a reasonable house with not too much work. As my late departed mum said "I can see that you have not become a slave to housework!"

Hardup_Hester

I'm with you Ceridwen, there are just 2 of us & 1 lodger. This is my routine
I cook a meal every evening as soon as I arrive home, while it's cooking I make packups for me & hubby, the lodger has to make her own packup.
After we've eaten I load the dishwasher & set it going & wipe the kitchen surfaces. I wipe the bathroom over every evening as I get out the shower.
In the morning I unload the dishwasher while making cups of tea. I chuck bleach done the loos as I leave for work on Fridays.
I vacuum through, wipe the floors over & strip the beds on Saturday.
I cook a roast dinner on Sunday & make a couple of meals for the forthcoming week, I usually do some baking too.
I iron a shirt once or twice a year if we are going somewhere important, hubby wears tshirts mainly, I don't iron bedding or any of my clothes.
As for the dusting either hubby does it or it waits for the holidays, I work for a school & though I don't get all the holidays, I usually get a day off every 6 weeks I use this to do anythng else that need doing.

Of course I would do a lot more housework, but Ceridwen keeps posting links to blogs & other interesing sites!!

rosieben

ceridwen wrote: »

… Ironing - When there is a pile of it (I don't iron bedding/towels/teatowels/knickers). If pushed for time - I dont iron petticoats and nightdresses either. …

I don’t iron anything; if I was still going out to work I suppose I’d maybe iron occasionally, but I have lots of tops and trousers that don’t need it; I give them a good shake when they come out of the wm and they just get put on hangars straigjt away and into the wardrobe when they’re dry!

I gave my expensive (vertical steam and all sorts of widgets) iron to my son and then realised I needed one for sewing! I bought a Tesco value one for £7.99, does the job fine.

Hardup_Hester wrote: »

... Of course I would do a lot more housework, but Ceridwen keeps posting links to blogs & other interesing sites!!

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

ceridwen

dolly_day_dream wrote: »

Wow you are certainly doing too much ironing - I only iron what will be seen so petticoats and nighties are out. But am with you on trying to keep a reasonable house with not too much work. As my late departed mum said "I can see that you have not become a slave to housework!"

Mothers - don't you just love them! Mine bought me a tiny rag doll with fridge magnet on back holding a placard saying "On strike against housework" or words to that effect - she wouldnt have been trying to say something then would she?! But then she was a housewife basically and lived in a modern very easy-to-run house and did as little cooking as possible (a readymeal queen as soon as she could afford them) so she has had the time to have higher standards than me.

trying-very-trying

:jOh it is soooooooooo nice to find out that I am not the only one! I thought I was a freak of nature, but maybe we are just a newly evolved species:rotfl:

miserly_mum

When I had my first baby I was always worried when the house was untidy and the midwife called,(usually very early in the morning).On apologising profusely to her about the mess she said "a house should be clean enough to be healthy and dirty enough to be happy" I have lived by this saying ever since.With 6 children,3 of which are still at home I soon learned a perfect house was an impossibility unless I wanted to clean 18 hours a day. I take notions some days and clean for Ireland but most of the time it gets a "lick and a promise"

Bobbykins

I'm with you all the way on this one! I only iron what absolutely HAS to be ironed and I too, have mad moments where I could clean for England, followed by weeks where I do the absolute minimum......(it depends what else I've got on and how many hours I spend glued to MSE!)

Anyway, can't remember where I heard it but, many years ago, I heard a maxim that suits me

"Better a house unkept than a life unlived!"

Cheers all!

dolly_day_dream

Heres my routine, which believe me is getting better than it used to be

After my shower I swish the bathroom, then I make the bed after I have got dressed. I collect a load of washing and put it in. To do that I have to take out the load that I put in yesterday Then I make my cup of tea and breakfast and take my meds. I spend about 20 mins eating my breakfast, brushing my hair and reading e-mails. Then I pack up my bag, hang yesterday's washing, check that dinner is ready to go and if there is time do a little bit of ironing then leave the house at 6.50am for work

When I get in (any time between 6.30 - 7.30) I start the dinner and while it is cooking I will be preparing the next night's veggies etc and the packed lunches. If I have any engergy after dinner I will wash up, and clear away in the kitchen.

The bathroom is cleaned, the floors swept and the bedding is changed on a Saturday either before or after I have been hunting(shopping) If there is any that needs doing I will iron on a Sunday. I also use Sunday to try and cook in advance and will often cook a roast for the family as well.

Any real cleaning has to wait till the holidays (I am a teacher)

I am trying to put a load of meals into the freezer at the moment cos I know that once I start back in just over a week I will be too tired to even think about cooking to start with - heck there are some times when I am even too tired to eat when I get in. It's not a sob story it's just the way it is and if I didn't love the job I could always change. You could say that I have used my work as an excuse but I was bad about housework before I taught so I guess it is just the way I am.

My mother made the remarks about housework because that was her life. She had no hobbies, or outside interests, hated cooking and just spent her time cleaning - she even cleaned outside the home. She found me very difficult because I spent my childhood reading whatever I could lay my hands on and then I tried all sorts of crafts etc. What really galled me though was when she told me I was "so lucky" to be able to sew etc, no one had given me the gift I had learnt it and had practised untill I could do it just like she or my sister could have done.

ceridwen

Hi dolly day dream
Well - I take my hat off to you at getting any housework AT ALL done on workdays - considering how long your workdays are! and you do more ironing than me! If I spent as many hours in a workday as you do I'd probably do even less housework than I do.

Certainly I can resonate with your comments about your mother - mine has no interests to speak of. All I can recall her doing when I was a child was housework and a minimum possible amount of cooking - and tv, more tv, yet more tv. I also spent much of my childhood with my head in a book - I'd be lost now if I didnt have access to lots of stuff to read - and now, of course, its good to have access to so much more information.

But I guess the reason I don't want to spend any more time than I can help on housework is it just plain doesnt interest me. I am interested in cooking - and do a lot of experimenting in that direction. But housework per se - no - I'll do enough to maintain reasonable standards and thats it.

Mrs_A_4

dolly_day_dream wrote: »

Any real cleaning has to wait till the holidays (I am a teacher)

I am trying to put a load of meals into the freezer at the moment cos I know that once I start back in just over a week I will be too tired to even think about cooking to start with - heck there are some times when I am even too tired to eat when I get in.

Ditto, Dolly!

I often implore my mother to visit during the holidays, when my house will be at its cleanest! I hate being messy, though Mr A seems to generate piles of detritus wherever he goes:mad:. The worst time for me would be a Friday night towards the end of a long term. I seem to spend most Saturday mornings doing the "tittling" round that I just haven't had time for during the week. I actually think I am the only person in the world that enjoys washing up, merely because of the satisfied feeling I have when all the dishes are on the drainer and I can wipe the surfaces... Bliss. In fact, I'm off to put my little pinny on now - such a nerd I know, but I seem to drench my front with energetic sudsing otherwise...!