Attitudes to cooking, cleaning, laundry etc

kimplus8

bubbs wrote: »

I often read on this board but dont comment much:D
This lady has 8 children and to me most childrens clothes need ironing especially the litle school shirts and if girls summer dresses etc
But saying that i do alot of ironing:rotfl: but have no kids

It's true! I have 4 school shirts to iron for the week plus the girls dresses, my work tops/ dresses and some of the kids t shirts need an iron, I don't iron anything else but I do hang stuff so it drys straight and then I can just fold it and put it away.
Even though I limit what I iron to certain items it still mounts up- tonight I am going to watch I zombie on Netflix and iron a weeks worth of clothes for the kids at school plus a weeks worth of top and dresses for me and the other 3 kiddies.
It takes me around 2 hours every Sunday evening!:D

bubbs

kimplus8 wrote: »

It's true! I have 4 school shirts to iron for the week plus the girls dresses, my work tops/ dresses and some of the kids t shirts need an iron, I don't iron anything else but I do hang stuff so it drys straight and then I can just fold it and put it away.
Even though I limit what I iron to certain items it still mounts up- tonight I am going to watch I zombie on Netflix and iron a weeks worth of clothes for the kids at school plus a weeks worth of top and dresses for me and the other 3 kiddies.
It takes me around 2 hours every Sunday evening!:D

I take my hat off to you with 8 kids:T:T i am just glad to give them back at the end of the day:rotfl::rotfl:
I am sure its pigpen? that has about the same amount and :T:T to her too

VfM4meplse

Kon Marie was a turning point for me when I read it about 18 months ago (hence my original OS Kon Marie thread ) and it is a good starting point. Post Kondo, everything now has a place it's so much easier to keep the place tidy. Decluttered surfaces are so much quicker to clean and means I can provide a safe environment for our LO

Stopping watching TV has released a load of time for me. I'm encouraged to sit on my living room carpet and read etc with the radio / music in the background.

theoretica

kimplus8 wrote: »

It's true! I have 4 school shirts to iron for the week plus the girls dresses, my work tops/ dresses and some of the kids t shirts need an iron, I don't iron anything else but I do hang stuff so it drys straight and then I can just fold it and put it away.
Even though I limit what I iron to certain items it still mounts up- tonight I am going to watch I zombie on Netflix and iron a weeks worth of clothes for the kids at school plus a weeks worth of top and dresses for me and the other 3 kiddies.
It takes me around 2 hours every Sunday evening!:D

Really wouldn't suit me - I can tell when shopping if something will need ironing, and it gets left in the shop! You don't always have that luxury with uniform if it is a specific item of course, but it seems mean of the school not to have easy care options.

[Deleted User]

lillibet_dripping

lessonlearned wrote: »

My mother said the same thing to me shortly before she died.

This is a very timely thread for me.....because this last few weeks I have begun to feel increasingLy fed up and resentful about the amount of time I have devoted to housework over my lifetime.

I have decided it's time to rebel.

Whilst I am not OCD I definitely set my standards too high and spent far too much time on cleaning and domestic stuff.

But not any more ..........

I have been quietly decluttering and once it's complete it will be much easier to keep on top of things.

I shall get a cleaning company in every couple of months to "bottom it out" as we say in my neck of the woods and then I can just do a little light tidying and dusting.

Same with the garden.......No more lawns or vegetable patches, it will be an easy maintain Japanese style from now on - just a little light pruning now and then.

As for cooking.......again I am keeping it simple - partly for health reasons and to lose weight but also because I seem to have spent the last 50 years cooking and I have had enough.

So food is simple and easy. (I can't bake for toffee anyway :rotfl:). If I want something exotic I'll go out for dinner. And if I want a day off ill get somethings from M&S.

I'm nearly 65 and I don't care anymore!!! :rotfl:

BRAVO, Lessonlearned, BRAVO:T:T:T:T:T:T

lessonlearned

lillibet_dripping wrote: »

BRAVO, Lessonlearned, BRAVO:T:T:T:T:T:T

Why thank you.

The good thing is......I don't even feel guilty. :rotfl:

It's only been the last few weeks that I felt the need to change. and, although my mum told me how she felt over a decade ago it's only recently that I have started to fully digest what she said.

It was on her 80th birthday and we were talking about her life when out of the blue she said "I have been washing and ironing, shopping, cooking and cleaning for over 60 years and I'm sick of it".

She had always been so house proud I had mistakenly thought she enjoyed it, but she said no she had just got Stuck with it like most of her generation. She said that she didn't regret marrying and having children but that she had been silly to spend so much time on housework.

Looking back I think she was telling me all this as a warning........and I have finally taken heed of her wise words.

pollypenny

As long as the place is neither dirty nor messy, I can live with it and slend time reading, watching TV, knitting or on U3A stuff.

My lovely elderly neighbour says quite cheerfully that she does nothing, she says 'I have a degree in idleness'.

kimplus8

theoretica wrote: »

Really wouldn't suit me - I can tell when shopping if something will need ironing, and it gets left in the shop! You don't always have that luxury with uniform if it is a specific item of course, but it seems mean of the school not to have easy care options.

my kids school is really strict, it's shirts and ties and knitted jumpers rather than sweatshirts which the kids hate and complain of being itchy.
They are expected to have neat hair plaited or pony tail only, no clips/ bows etc, no ear piercings, no patterned shaves for boys ( mine don't have that anyways). Ild much rather they were in polo tops and sweatshirts- they would certainly be more comfy.

meritaten

I grew up in the late fifties and yes - women were judged on how they kept their home. and I think its worse now. people expect 'showhome' perfection. back then, as long as it was 'clean' people didn't mind clutter and untidiness. Hell, many people lived in 'rooms' in others houses while waiting on the council list and it wasn't unusual for there to be a dining set plus three piece suite in the 'living room'!
a whole house to a family was expected to be 'spotless'. crisp white net curtains and Monday had to have a lineful of 'Whites' - all sparkly clean!
but it is a myth that Monday was the only day washing was done - handwash clothes were done on any day and most homes had a full washing line of clothes every day. Monday was 'boil wash day' - usually the bedding and any cottons (shirts if your oh was in a 'white collar job')
even in the late fifties not all home had a vacuum cleaner (and wall to wall carpet was unheard of), so rugs had to be taken out and flung over the line to be beaten clean. lino had to be washed. (and in my nans house polished to lethal perfection).
and the shopping had to be done - that could take a few hours! as I remember it, more gossip was exchanged than purchases made! If I as a little girl could be sent with a list of six items and it took me twenty minutes - then it took nan at least an hour and half..................lol.
Ido remember asking mum to play with me and being told to 'run along and play by myself or with friends as she was 'busy'. she was ALWAYS BUSY! I was gobsmacked to go up some friends house and their mum played with us! and their house was nice and clean too!
and when their dad came in he kissed his wife and my friends, and spoke to me! wow! my dad just came in , ate his dinner and put the telly on! but most of my friends had parents like that. I still think of those friends and how I envied them.
I do think attitudes to kids have changed - they have stopped being invisible to adults - but its gone too far in one way. Kids are now the FOCUS of peoples lives. Balance in family life is being skewed.