House proud people

I once heard it said that you could be a cook or a cleaner but not both. I think this is true of most of my friends although the cooks do not entirely avoid cleaning and some cleaners do cook well, but they tend to be recipe cooks rather than creative cooks. It is a matter of priorities.

All of you seem to clean more than I do. I only clean when I can be bothered I wash up the dishes ever day and wipe the surfaces but I don't clean the kitchen floor every week or dust every week. I have even been known to keep the same duvet cover for 2 weeks or even more. I'm healthy and my house isn't that bad. I do tend to clean it a bit more if someone comes to visit.

You know what they say....
A clean house is the sign of a wasted life

123kitty

Why is practically everyone so proud of doing as little housework as possible. You make it sound as if it's some sort of competition.

Funny isn't it ??? almost like a competition to see who has the most interesting life. But any thread to do with housework goes the same way.

My house is clean and tidy because I like it that way. It doesn't get in the way of my interesting life at all and I have no interest in what other people think of it. It was less clean and less tidy when I was working and raising a family, and that didn't bother me either. I don't have a schedule, I do things as and when I want. Cursed with perennial rhinitis I can't afford to have a dusty house anyway. And to be quite honest don't want to share our home with the viruses, bacteria, dust mites and other beasties that gather in dust.

As long as a house is clean enough to be safe to eat in, kitchen surfaces aren't covered in muck, family and visitors won't get stuck to chairs they sit on, and the toilet is fairly clean, I don't think any of us should bother. If someone is very house proud, on the other hand, just go along with their rules and admire their energy if we wouldn't spend as long cleaning.
We're all different - tolerance, respect and friendship are surely more important than criticising someone for being too messy or too house proud.
I probably clean a bit more thoroughly now I'm retired, but don't bother if I don't get through what I intended. We do, unfortunately, have friends we no longer stay overnight with because we do find the amount of dust, dog hair and dirty surfaces a bit hard to cope with. Wouldn't dream of stopping being friends with them, though.

Germanshepherdsmum

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.

I might be lying on mine and notice a cobweb on the ceiling though!

Haha, I’m sure I will too elleks! Will we ask anyone to do anything about it though?!

I've never had a conversation with anyone about how often we clean the house. I haven't the faintest idea whether other people's bathrooms or kitchens are cleaned every day or once a year. It's not something I would speak or ask about. Stop talking about it, do as you like, ignore everyone else. If I go inside someone's house it's because I want to see them not how clean their house is. Nobody cares.

I like a clean and tidy home but l am not keen on housework. Fortunately for me I have a cleaning lady who comes every Wednesday morning and gives the house a thorough cleaning. This means that I only have to do a certain amount inbetween. I may be seen as lazy but l work very hard in term time and this is one of my luxuries. It also helps to provide an income for my cleaner so I do not feel guilty at all.

Talk about something else to these women!

I enjoy housework, but loathe gardening and have had some comments about the untidiness of my garden.

The last person who tried to tell me I should be ashamed of my front garden, I told to mind her own business.

Admittedly, she isn't an elderly relation, If she had been I might have phrased the sentiment a little more politely and simply said, "It is my garden, and I like it the way it is".

How you run your house or keep your garden is your business, so please do try to ignore this annoying women.

Previous generations would have had to spend more time on housework, for one thing, not everyone had a washing machine or the money to pay a laundry. Then houses would have been grimier because of coal fires, even things like the front door would have been dirtier in a city because of heavy industry and no clean air act.
That was a wife's job, to keep the home and family clean and healthy.
We don't need to spend so much time now, which must be a bit difficult for someone in their nineties to get to grips with.
They might feel that being dismissive of housework is somehow saying that their "job" of being a housewife was a waste of their time, and so by extension that they have wasted a lot of their life, which would not be true, although that would not have been the intention.

Nobody ever said, on their deathbed, I wished I had cleaned more.
They need to get a life

When we die we return to dust. I don’t dust any more in case I’m disturbing some one I know ?

I think the old dear just doesn’t want people to find her house dirty when she dies.Also that is some people’s idea of exercising ! I find keeping the place tidy works,no one notices the dust ( especially as they aren’t allowed in the house) but the spiders seem happy.

narrowboatnan

When we die we return to dust. I don’t dust any more in case I’m disturbing some one I know ?

???

Thanks for that - bit of a mind numbing subject. Why would anyone think it’s worth of a GN discussion thread!

A lovely friend gave me a small framed text years ago; she had the most beautiful handwriting, and had used a parchment paper with a dried African Violet in the corner.
It read 'An immaculate home is a sign of a wasted life'. Never a truer word - your housekeeping standards are your business, and I will add another 'saying' that may help you to ignore them.
'Other people have only the power that you give them'.

I use household tasks like Hoovering as my exercise regime. Saves paying a gym fee and the house looks sparkling and restful. Mess makes me anxious and the DH is as eager as I am to live in a calm and elegant house. In the morning I am the housemaid and in the afternoon I am the Duchess of Downton.

I do like a clean and tidy house, but I don’t have a routine, so it gets done when it gets done. If there is the chance to go out somewhere, we go out and the cleaning (on an ad hoc basis mostly) is done another time. It’s probably not as clean as it should be by some people’s standards, but it’s good enough and my lack of routine has served me well through 45 years of marriage. I am a bit more fussy when I know that people are visiting - which is seldom, since the pandemic. This is when DH asks “is the Queen coming round?!”

Dcba

Thanks for that - bit of a mind numbing subject. Why would anyone think it’s worth of a GN discussion thread!

Why would anyone choose to read and comment on a thread about a subject they consider to be mind-numbing?

I loved your last comment about (cleaning and deathbed). It made me giggle.?

Cleaning is pretty unrewarding, unless it is just a reward to the cleaner who knows she has done a proper job. I've never heard of anyone going in to a house and saying " isn't this so clean".

Cooking for other people is much more rewarding. It gives them pleasure and quite often they will thank the cook.

I have a coaster that says "Between me and insanity stands my friends" and that seems to be true in your case. Listen to your friend and do the same. Don't listen to anyone else.

My house is clean and tidy. Maybe not immaculate. No routine just do what’s needed, definitely not more than is necessary. Windows outside are seen to every other month by my window cleaner. Inside are done rarely, just now and again. If I have a better offer I’m off.

I am another house work loather? I find it tedious, tiring and utterly thankless.
I have a friend (and a daughter) who enjoy it, DD3 says its therapeutic but it isnt for me! I hate it and it drives me to tears, so I do the bare minimum and resent every second of it?
I hate the sheer repetitiveness of it and the fiddly jobs that show nearly no result like plug cleaning?
I never judge other peoples houses and I am appalled if others do so, I have friends who have show homes and others who live in comfortable mess, as long as its not a health or safety hazard I couldnt care less.