How clean is your house....really?

[amberj]

Like many or probably most of us, I am Busy. I run a business, have an 8 month old and manage our house. There is just NOT time for it all.

I really like to have a neat, clean house- I mean, I know most people do, but it really gives me a sense of peace and pleasure to have my house clean and tidy. But it seems like I can never, ever get it to where I want it. There is always some task out there waiting for me to do!

It strikes me that perhaps the problem is my expectations are a little high. That perhaps I have fallen for the myth that my house should look like the places on TV. So I just wondered- how clean are everyone else's house?

I find it a struggle just to keep up with the basics- dishes, dusting, vac-ing, bathrooms. My oven is never cleaned. There are crumbs in my grill and my toaster. Objects such as couches shouldn't be moved because there will definately be dust behind them. The books on the bookshelf are messy and in no real order. My bathroom cupboard really needs to have all its stuff taken out and be wiped cuz its kind of grimy. Etc. These are just examples- it seems like I can only JUST get the basic stuff done, let alone any extra projects.

Does anyone else have time for these? Am I normal or a domestic slattern?!

(PS- can't afford a cleaner!!!)

[Indadhanu]

I could write my name in the dust on our TV cabinet. And I'm with you, dont move the couches....

I dont run a business but I study full time so I try to do one or two big cleaning things a day (as well as washing, dishwasher, benches etc) but I never seem to get a chance to do everything by the time a new week starts and the things i did last week need doing AGAIN and the things i didnt do (see first sentance) just dont get done... again! We moved in a month ago and i still have things that arent unpacked and things are in shambles on my bookshelf too!

I do like things looking nice... like on TV... but I havent even mopped my floors since we moved in so theres no hope for me!!!!!

[Arimeh]

Ummm yeah..... don't EVER come to my house..... LOL

[briggsy's girl]

i go through phases where i have to have EVERYTHING perfect and i really go nuts with it - but it's not often, and when it's done, i look and think "hmmmm, it's no different to what it was before i went to all the effort. i try and keep things dusted when i can (usually as i move everything from one pile to another i dust around it) - i have some antique furniture that i try and clean up properly every couple of months - but to be honest, the past 6 months everything has gone to the crapper and i just can't let myself care

IF it is something that you feel compelled to do, devote one half day a week to doing "unusual" cleaning. that half day might be from the time bubs goes to sleep until bed time if that's the only time you can find. one day do the bathroom cupboard, one day move the couches. when it comes down to it, it's stuff only YOU can see, so it's only really bugging you - and only you can know if it is a NEED to clean, or just a want.

FWIW - i don't move furniture to vac most of the time - but every 6 months or so, we move EVERYTHING over a period of a couple of weekends, vacuum, shampoo the carpet - and before we can do all that - all the other crap that has hidden down there gets cleaned up. it might be a more regular thing in high traffic areas once Gremlin arrives - i know i have 13 weeks to get it all done now, and it's starting to stress me a little bit - but i know i will get it sufficiently done to welcome her home - and everything else will happen when it happens...


ETA - Leash - i moved in here 3.5 years ago - still have stuff in boxes! my DVD's are nicely sorted. but CD's and books - well, lets not go there! i have four boxes of books in the linen press (under bed tubs), half a floor to ceiling bookshelf full in the rumpus room, a bookshelf full of uni stuff and Stephen King in the study as well as five 52L tubs of kids books, and three or four other tubs in the "store room" as we've nicknamed the spare room.... lotsa work sorting them out i think! do not fret - you'll get there!

can i just advise that if ANYONE has a house full of stuff and is moving in with someone that also has a house full of stuff - CULL everything before you move in and maybe even move into another house so you start fresh!

[OceanPrincess]

I choose not to answer this thread

[Jakabella]

The dust on my venetians is so thick I cant tell what color they are...

I know its time to vaccume when the black dog hair is making black tumble weeds that blow across the kitchen floor like in the westerns... lol.

Dont even get me started on the bathroom cupboards... or any c/b for that matter.... if you cant see it im ok with that...

Kate

[The[cookie]Doctor]

It's not.






The End.

[Tanya]

My house is revolting! I have done nothing allll day and neither has anyone else... in fact no-one puts anything away after using it, so the bench has food all over it, the sink is full, there are no cups if you want a drink..... I feel like crap!

[Astrolady]

I am home all the time, my house is a pigsty. As soon as I do something one of the 3 boys comes along and undoes it. I do like to try and do the dishes every night, but then that doesn't always happen either.

I know its time to vaccume when the black dog hair is making black tumble weeds that blow across the kitchen floor like in the westerns... lol.

LOL i have that problem too.

I have started threatening the boys "If toys are on the floor when you go to bed they go in the bin" last night they tested that. I was yelling out what i was picking up and putting into a bag, as I knew they were in bed awake, when I hit the Mach 5 speed racer I could hear sobs coming from their room. Everything I had to pick up has disappeared, when they learn their lesson it will reappear

[alioops]

If you want to come to my house at the moment there is nowhere to sit, nowhere to prepare food, and you need to have 4 wheel drive feet to get through my bedroom because of all the dirty washing. But Physically I can't do all of the things that need to be done every day. I can't walk the next day if I try! Plus all the kids stuff that is strewn all over the rest of the floor. I ma trying to get something done every day, like if I am waiting for the kettle at the moment I am trying to do a little bit of tidying in the kitchen, and while watching telly I try to do a little cleaning off of the couches, but it is a very slow process, and until my health is good enough it is not top priority. I have to take care of myself more than the house.

[Bathsheba]

The thing that demoralises me... and what I blame for not having a cleaner house... is that our home is old, and the satisfaction factor of cleaning surfaces is minimal... because areas like the bathroom still look cruddy even though they are technically clean

The worst room is the office.... it is a complete shambles. The best room is the kitchen... anything to do with food rivets me into action. My mother's kitchen is gross... ants in the pantry, overfull fridge etc... blah blah blah... the first thing I did when i returned from a holiday at her house (even after a 4 hours flight with unsettled kids) was to scrub my pantry because I was so traumatised by the sight of my mothers all the previous week! I literally walked in the door, dumped my suitcase and got to work!!! DH thought it was hilarious but thanked me profusely because he too found the sight of our clean kitchen soothing after such trauma (he tried to do a fair bit of cooking in my mother's kitchen as well).

I don't wash down walls as often as I would like... or sweep the floorboards.... or vacuum huge trailing dusty cobwebs from the ceilings... or clean the finger prints off the windows and mirrors... or put away clutter.

It was easier to get motivated when we owned our brandnew townhouse... but, I guess, with young kids it's actually easier to have a house with lots of wear and tear... it bothers you less at the end of the day. That's what I keep telling myself!

[Visitor8]

Ummm yeah..... don't EVER come to my house..... LOL

ditto here...

Duster ?? What's that??

I do the basics. It looks cleanish. But it's not spotless by far. I clean my scooting boards like twice a year lol

[mrsmac]

OMG Bath- I have never washed walls!!

My house looks reasonably tidy (not sparkling clean though) every saturday at lunch time after the whole family clean up we do each sat but it degenerates from then on!!
When DD1 had a boyfriend it was great cause she never wants them to see the state of our house usually so she cleans madly every time they came over!!

[sneakysparkle]

It's not.






The End.

:yeahthat:

[Bathsheba]

My sis, BB member RoseHannah... put me to shame when she came down to stay by washing some of my walls With little kids I get lots of texta/foody finger prints etc on my walls that I generally ignore as much as possible. But it's pretty funny... when I go to visit her place I end up scrubbing something of hers (last time it was her stove top and washing down a midgy covered window)... doing other people's cleaning is MUCH more fun I find LOL.

[alioops]

So Bath, when are you coming to my place? I need someone who likes cleaning to visit!!

[amberj]

Oh yay, I feel much better!I am normal!

And missymoo.....you actually clean your skirting boards?
(amberj looks in shame at the accmulated dust on hers)

[LimeSlice]

Does that mean I am abnormal??

I dont mind mess...I am the Queen of the "I'll get to it pile"...but I hate dirt. Really hate it. It does my head in and I get all crabby and it really ticks me off lol
I always do the cobwebs in the ceilings, I pull down my exhaust fans once a months to clean them....I vac every second day and mop at least 3 times a week.
The oven doesnt get cleaned often, only about once every 3 months....the bathroom gets scrubbed every week and the cupboards too. The kitchen cupboards get rearranged and cleaned about once a month so does the pantry and I clean out the fridge once a month too unless it needs it before then.
I clean my windows once a month and clean all the surfaces once a week.
My sink is always shiny. Except trying to teach our housemate to dry the sink is not working well....lol

Am I a freak?? I dont think it is that hard, I just get all motivated once I start and go nuts I suppose. I am a full time SAHM and I only have one child so maybe thats it? I am trying to start a business so that takes up a lot of my time...

I am also a night person though and function on very little sleep naturally, so I do a lot of things at weird hours (if no one noticed most of my BB posts are after 10pm lol)

My house isnt always the tidiest...but I things being dirty.