House proud people

I don't mind housework at all but I am having a more relaxed attitude to it as I get older. Pets seem to generate a lot of work but make up for it with love and companionship.

Just ignore the comments ethelbags life is too short.

Is it possible that these house-proud nonagenarians are just worried about dying and other folk finding their house in a mess?

My Mum spent more time cleaning and tidying when she was in her nineties and seemed to put the washing machine on every other day.

I've got a rota system for cleaning the rooms, but it largely depends on how my back is on any one day.
As long as it's reasonable I don't really care. Life is too short to worry about a bit of dust.

I have plenty in my life timetogo but am unashamedly house proud. Always have been, even as a little girl I'd potter around my bedroom with my mum's duster and hoover. Some people enjoy housework and some don't; we're all different aren't we.

You shouldn't be castigated for the way you keep your home ethelbags, nor should anyone. I would tell your aunt that it's your home and you'll keep it the way you want too.

Over the years on more than one occasion I've had uncalled for comments because I am house proud. Water off a duck's back for me so let any criticism be water off a duck's back for you too.

I am "allergic to housework", since lockdown I have three bedrooms I have never been in except to get summer clothes.
My mother despaired with me.
When I worked and had a husband who worked very late and every other weekend I had a cleaner. When I retired and moved we do the bare minimum between us. He has jobs that he likes and I dust and clean , bathroom, utility, Kitchen etc once a week and more if a room needs it I do have a system of everything in its place so superficially it all looks tidy not many ornaments or photos around.
Whenever I feel I should do more I remember a friend who had to dust an ornament before she passed it to me to look.
She lived her life as she wanted and once everything is safe I will still be doing the same.
Luckily I have like-minded friends and when they used to pop in they did not mind.
My two grans were the complete opposite of each other my mothers like herself the other like me, slightly worse if I remember pushing things under setee cushions or under the setee, out of sight out of mind.I know who had a happier and more fulfilling life.
If they give you a guilt trip invited them to come and do yours to their satisfaction, they will not but might shut up.

Years ago I worked with a lady who used to boast, "You could eat your dinner off my mother's floor," it was so clean.
I always felt like saying, "We have plates..."

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Aunty Acid has some advice …

Send them round here to expend that house working energy on my chaos!

I loathe housework and find any excuse to do something else. As and when really necessary is fine by me so long as basic hygiene is observed. I know someone who seems to spend her life cleaning despite living alone, what she thinks of me I shudder to think. Lockdown was a godsend, no unexpected visitors! Some healthy posts on here I think - I won’t be lying on my deathbed thinking I really should have dusted more often.

Housework is for people who have little else in their life.
I live mine.

etheltbags1

I'm beginning to hate House proud people, not for their homes but for the way they try to convert me. I'm not House proud, hate routine and cleaning. However my home is clean where and when necessary, loo cleaned daily, kitchen bleached often etc. My aunt (91) told me I don't deserve a home if I don't keep cleaning, she does her cupboards monthly. She reckons I should be in care home. Another relative spends all day cleaning and tries to put me down very scornfully. My mother cant do as much as she used to but moans about how she would like to do more, I keep telling her ways to cut corners to make life easier but she thinks if something is difficult that's better. I'm at my wits end, I have a friend who is like me we are both working past retirement and hate housework and just do it when necessary, she keeps me sane but how can i stop these holier than thou people who seem to want to get me to be a slave to bricks and mortar. They really believe they are right. Help

At 91, she will have gone through the years when women’s roles were much different . It was the done thing to stay home, cook, clean, look after the children, as I was lucky enough to be able to do until the children all started school. So her outlook will be very different, at 91 ,a marvellous age, still able to clean her own cupboards out.

I totally agree with you Ethel, I loathe and abhore house work and only do it when it has to be done, kitchen floor done maybe three times a week,toilet every night and bleach put down, don’t dust until the Sun shows it up, same with hoovering till it’s very obvious it gets left…. Don’t mind doing the washing and taking it off the line but obviously the ironing is a big fat no no ?????

I do the bare minimum in the house, especially since lockdown meant that nobody saw it. . I can notice dust and not clean it until the mood takes me. Life is too short! If anyone was rude enough to mention it I would laugh and continue as before. We are all different, but I know I am less stressed than the houseproud!

^My aunt (91) told me I don't deserve a home if I don't keep cleaning, she does her cupboards monthly.

They really believe they are right.
Presumably they have nothing else going on in their lives

I definitely don't deserve mine then ?

Ignore them. It sounds as if you've got a healthy attitude and they haven't.

As long as my house is free from fleas, mice and any other "things", no one has been poisoned and we all have clean clothes to go out in I'm really not that bothered. My main argument about house work is that you can spend hours forensically cleaning and nobody will even notice.

Just nod solemnly and agree , then clean as you see fit . One friend of mine has a four bedroom house , lives alone , but changes all the beds and cleans all the rooms as if they were in daily use !