Applause please ?

WOODMOUSE49, I'm a great fan of the 'leave it til it's desperate' style of cleaning. It's so rewarding when you see the results. My friend does the 'keep it clean and tidy' thing so it's never any different.

I was once told, by a slim lady, 'never employ a fat woman to clean, they do not get into the corners!!!'

I have never employed a cleaner, just wish for one, but I would have to clean first!

Nuff said.

I painfully got down on my hands and knees and scrubbed the bathroom floor. A mop wasnt going to do it!

When I first brought my boyfriend (eventually husband) to my house he asked me if I'd like him to put my washing machine on casters so that it would be easier to pull out each week to wash the floor underneath it? I laughed but he was serious.
He is still ultra tidy and cleans anything he sees that is dirty. We have agreed to differ on what we think is necessary each week! He's 68 and won't retire, but I can't wait until he does - I think.

My cleaning lady used to tell me she'd dusted the mother-in-law bits, ie round the edges. I've adopted the phrase and occasionally (no cleaning lady now) dust the edges when they catch the light. May wash windows once a year when the nets need washing otherwise no gone sees them!

Oh reading this thread has made me feel far better! I have shoved the vacuum around ( dog hair), made the bed, put washing on. I do not clean the oven, I get a man in a couple of times a year, he does a fab job. Thankfully it is overcast here today so the windows don't look so bad. The window cleaner sees to the outside, I ignore the inside apart from occasional vigorous bursts of activity with a spray and a glass cloth to remove the dog kisses from the lower parts of the glass doors. Off to put the kettle on.

Sodapop, I am like you. You do know, don't you, that leaving the garden to take care of itself is good for the environment?

It provides insects and small animals with a safe habitat here, the cat regulates the mouse population and scares off the magpies, we use no weed killer of any kind, as THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS WEEDS. THEY ARE ALL PLANTS WITH A PLACE IN OUR ECOLOGICAL SYSTEM.

I find that useful to trot out if anyone mentions the weeds,

Thank God I had not cleaned under my grand-daughters' beds since they stayed here over a year ago.
My hair was beginning to look like that of the wild witch of the west and the strong rubber bands left by the postman hurt my head...until I remembered that they (GDs) had used scrunchy things daily
Negotiated the dust and fluff and squirmed about under the beds..... found a whole polythene bag full of hair-tidying aids

I had a lovely long handled feather duster, but came home one day & my dog had got it off a hook and the feathers were in every room of the house. She was sitting shame faced in her bed with the handle. Cannot reach the high parts anymore, well that's my excuse...

charleygirl, what a brilliant idea about your kitchen bin. I have a tall one, and when I lived in my house, I used to take it into the garden and use the garden hose to clean it. Have not worked out how to do it now I live in a flat.
Think I will try your system of taking into the shower with me tomorrow.

att Phoenix
Please remember that it is VERY important not to disturb cobwebs.
They are able to filter viruses ( so I read) and therefore add to the wellbeing of all in the household

I haven't cleaned an oven in years - I haven't had one, and since moving in to my new flat three months ago, I haven't done any housework. Well, no one visits because of Covid - apart from workmen, and they make so much dust and dirt, it's not worth clearing up behind them and dusting, is it? They're booked to do more work right up until Christmas, so maybe sometime in the New Year, I might get together with my long lost friend - a duster... Or not.

I have just cleaned all my kitchen cupboards because the cat kept begging to be allowed into them.

I didn't find mice or signs of them, but a lifelong association with cats has taught me not to disregard it when they say the mouse-moving-indoors-season is upon us.

It's all very well being told to leave things. Does it matter if the dust builds up or the grease etc in the oven gets thicker or the grim on the windows builds up?

I try to say "No. It doesn't matter". I do leave some things but then the time will come and I can't look at it any more. I clean and say, "I mustn't leave so long ! "

So most time, it's not when the urge takes me, it more of a planned task and I get a few done one after the other.

Then that's it for another year.

There is always tomorrow. That's my favourite saying.

There's a silver lining to this Covid cloud. As no visitors are allowed in the house the tidying and cleaning can go by the wayside. I'm not overly zealous in that department at the best of times!

Charleygirl5 £4 to clean one window? Ours are done by a set of cheeky chappies for £7 every 3 weeks. And I discovered years ago that if I clean the insides of the windows they look far worse than when I started so I don't bother!

Don't forget spider's webbs are actually conservation areas in our house. Thats my excuse (smile)

This is how I feel on the subject of housework.

I've always rather liked this quote:

Quentin Crisp — 'There is no need to do any housework at all. After the first four years the dirt doesn't get any worse.'

I do take mental notes of things - and write lists. I could tell you exactly which windows need cleaning, where limescale needs removing or floors polishing - even where grass and weeds could be removed - one day!

Recently, I've been following Mrs Hinch on FaceBook and I can tell you I was left feeling inadequate and a total failure listening to the thousands of her 'followers' trying to outdo each other on the cleaning front. So I stopped following her and when I found this thread it was as if I'd come home!

Thank you all for making me feel worthy again! xxx

Am back sorting the mountain of familly photos - from a few Victorian ones to more or less now!

Locally each window is costing £4 to clean- rather OTT and I can still see through mine. That cost is for outside only.

When DH suggests something needs cleaning, I say 'Carry on, Dear'. then wait.!!