Housework - cleaning rooms unnecessarily

Ohmygoodness54

NotSpaghetti

I have pure wool carpet in a room we use maybe twice a year.
I've put a robot vacuum to do there 6 days a week and it just does the carpet in the 2 rooms on that floor. I don't want moths so this seems important.
Otherwise it gets a quick check about every two months when I drag Henry hoover up there to do thee edges!

Watch out for the carpet month's, even with the robot vac. I discovered the larvae right in the edges by the skirting boards, behind the bed. Too late unfortunately for my lovely wool carpet to be saved.

Yes, they like the edges of fitted carpets.
Of course, it was a while before I realised what those grains of rice were doing in the sitting room.

I loathe overcleaned polished to an inch of their life houses where one is afraid to sit down, eat or drink because the owner anxiously hovers around ready to mop up every real or imaginary action that might have soiled the house.

Many years ago we went to stay with my husband's grandmother.
When I went to the toilet I found she had plumped up the scatter cushion on the sofa where I'd been sitting by the time I came back.
She gave us her bed to sleep in, fresh bedding obviously.
We went out for the day and realised on our return that she'd changed our pillowcases while we were out.
I'd been warned she was houseproud but this was something else 🙄

It is said that housework ever killed anyone but I'm not taking any chances. We heard some mentioned the word house work but we didn't like the sound of it one but.

We've shedding dogs. Grandchildren, great grandchildren dropping in, most rooms are used daily. Of course we clean often. Cleaning schedule depends- often if lived in by shedders and crumb droppers.

I like to vacuum all the rooms in the house each week, whether used much or not, and the reason being that I don’t want an infestation of either moths or carpet beetles. They particularly like edges and harder to reach corners, so for that reason, the vacuum comes out every week, at least (as sometimes some areas need a quick once over to pick up crumbs or bits of fluff at other times). I don’t go through the house all on the same day, however, but stagger it - gone are the days when I could do that.
I don’t consider myself house proud to the point of obsession, but I like my home to be clean and not smell fusty. I don’t consider housework as a waste of time.

merlotgran

M0nica

As little as possible, as much as is needed. that is commensurate with the huse looking in good order.

I loathe overcleaned polished to an inch of their life houses where one is afraid to sit down, eat or drink because the owner anxiously hovers around readyto mop up every real or imaginary action that might have soiled the house.

I don’t get invited to houses like that. 😂

I have done.
Turned out each time that later, it comes out that the person had OCD.

I do them when I feel like it or when I’m expecting visitors. We have someone coming tomorrow and the house is gleaming!

Only do occassionally. Not needed now

I don't have any spare rooms, so that gets me off that hook, and I like housework.

Yes, I know, this is an outrageous thing to admit to, but there are worse vices, after all.

I hoover the sitting-room floor, clean the bathroom and wash the kitchen floor and that of the wash-kitchen which is the main thorougfair in and out of the house once a week.

The rest gets done when and as it needs it.

Today, I mowed the grass for the last time this year and cleaned the mower, then swept the workshop floor before putting the mower away for the winter.

By now we must all have so much experience of keeping house that we know when things get dirty (depends on where you life, air pollution, number of mucky paws and feet traipsing in and out etc. etc.) and of course on what level of tidyness you thrive best with. No-one else can or should decide that.

If I did have spare rooms, I would clean them after they had been used, cover the bed with a dust sheet, then get the room ready when I was expecting a visitor. The rest of the time, I would keep the door shut and leave the place alone.

Thanks for your replies, spare rooms will
now get a monthly going over and I don’t have to worry about carpet moths because I have floorboards.
Interesting to see your views on housework 🙏

This is probably a silly question but who wouldn’t want to know that their entire home was clean and tidy?

Why only when guests are coming?

Exactly Allira and Ohmygoodness - this is why Henry has to go up there every so often!
I've also been round the edges with an anti-moth spray I'm afraid - (belt and braces) and have sticky pheromone pads up there to keep a watch 👀 for any activity too.

GrannyGravy13

This is probably a silly question but who wouldn’t want to know that their entire home was clean and tidy?

Why only when guests are coming?

Because for some of us, if it's out of sight, it's out of mind? And we don't have guests anyway, so what does it matter? If we're happy with the way things are, that's all that counts.

LaCrepescule

Thanks for your replies, spare rooms will
now get a monthly going over and I don’t have to worry about carpet moths because I have floorboards.
Interesting to see your views on housework 🙏

Carpet moths like wool, carpets made from non-natural fibres are ok.

GrannyGravy13

This is probably a silly question but who wouldn’t want to know that their entire home was clean and tidy?

Why only when guests are coming?

We can and do keep our whole house clean and tidy, feels good.

Of course ours is not the only way to stay ahead of cleaning.

It does make me feel uncomfortable if I sit down in the evening and notice dust!

I can see the cushions on a sofa are awry because a very DGD has been but they can wait for a while, I'm not itching to jump up and tidy them

Norah I feel twitchy if I know my home isn’t clean and tidy, I cannot relax.

Which is why I am so stressed at the moment due to builders and decorators.

I do have help in the form of my wonderful cleaning fairies 🧚‍♀️🧚🧚‍♂️

I tend to give spare bedrooms a good cleaning every couple of months, with a quick vacuum and dust about once a month.

My spare rooms rarely get cleaned (live alone, no pets or overnight visitors). The rest of the house gets cleaned weekly, and is always tidy.

It was Quentin Crisp who said: “after the first four years, the dirt doesn’t get any worse”. Words to live by!!

GrannyGravy13

This is probably a silly question but who wouldn’t want to know that their entire home was clean and tidy?

Why only when guests are coming?

I cannot honestly say I give the matter much thought. Ireally do not want my house to be perfect.

Robert Herrick, the 17 century poet wrot a poem called 'A delight in disorder '. It referred t o disoder in dress.It could just as easily apply to houses.

We have had mice on occasion, we live in a big old house - soon to downsize thank goodness - so I never leave rooms for any length of time before attacking them with a hoover and various other cleaning equipment, am not entirely sure that this even deters mice but I leave no stone unturned, plenty of anti-mouse plug ins, peppermint spray liberally applied and humane traps under kitchen counters, behind the fridge, in the loft etc.
Fact is I dislike housework but I dislike mice even more.

I think it was Joanna Trollope who said cleanliness is suburban rather than godly...

I have so much more to worry about than if my house is clean and tidy. In the scheme of things who cares?

Emma Grede on Dragons Den as a guest just mentioned this evening how her mum encouraged cleaning etc. She said she hated any form of cleaning. I feel the same. The time spent doing that can be better used earning money to support the family. I like a clean toilet and kitchen. Cannot bear dusting. It’s back the next day. Once an entrepreneur, always an entrepreneur.

There’s no way I can move heavy furniture so my cleaning does not extend to behind the bed or sideboard, bookcases etc.
Despite the massive amount of stuff I have shifted in the last couple of years my house is still far from being clutter free. With no pets or small children, it does not get messy. I make an extra effort if someone is coming. With no overnight guests, who is to care whether my house is cleaned every day, every week or once a year? I keep the important areas clean and do what I can or choose to do when I can or choose. There is more to life than a spotless house.