Are you house proud?

What a waste of a life.

"Dull women have immaculate houses". I like that.

Life is too short. Perfect houses make me feel uncomfortable.

I like my house to be clean, moderately tidy, but to look as if real people (and cats) live in it.

In other words, I have a weekly plan of the most necessary cleaning, bathroom and toilet , one day, floors another, washing a third - fourth and fifth days are usually non-cleaning days and used for shopping or other tasks.

Right now there is sewing on the kitchen table, plus a model farm, due to be used for the children's days at the museum next week.

If you pop in on any other day of the week than the one when floors are hoovered and washed, you will see plenty evidence of feet and paws going in and out.

House-proud or neat-freak - not here, but I do like to know that the place is not a health hazard, and be able to find things when I want them.

I keep our house clean and reasonably tidy. I have proper cleaning sessions 1) before we have visitors and 2) when we are going on holiday. OH says I clean up for burgulars.

I'm not houseproud, do as little housework as possible but the kitchen and bathrooms are always spick and span, my house is a home, not a show house.I had a friend who got up at 5 .30 every morning to clean the house from top to bottom, ridiculous.

My sister in law is the same. Havnt seen her in years. What a relief

Life’s too short to have a pristine house, I like mine reasonably clean and tidy, I’m not a grot but I have a full life and enjoy it.

I had four children and many animals. Consequently straw ,hay etc was trodden indoors. There was little time for housework and no money for help. We were happy though.

Children now grown ,animals gone. I have a tidy house but……

I must have things tidy, but there is the odd cobweb, dog hairs get everywhere (despite daily vacuuming) and we have loads of books. I like my sinks clean and taps shiny. Lots of ornaments and pretty lights but nothing at all that I would call cluttered - I am ruthless about 'muddle' and fight a running battle with husband, who is mess-on-legs! There always seems to be a lot of housework, and as I work full time I keep debating getting a cleaner. The thing is I'm never quite sure what my standards are, or my priorities, because my mother brought me up to study and never to think about housework. I rarely clean the oven, or the windows, but I have to clean patio doors daily, because of four wet snouts! When I go to minimalist houses (two of my sons) I hate coming home because it feels messy, but luckily most of my friends have more 'stuff' than I do. I'm perfectly happy in their mess, but also like to walk in to my order!

I had a neighbour opposite once who had OCD and she used to wash and polish, yes polish, her window sills every day! She was also using her lawn mower everyday in the Summer and she told me she was not cutting the grass everyday, she had the cutters set very high, and was using the electric mower to “ hoover up all the leafy bits and any other rubbish”!!! Her home was absolutely sterile inside and she could not understand why her husband left her, poor woman! My home is clean and tidy, but foremost it is a home where everyone is welcome and, hopefully, feels comfortable. I love it and I am very proud of it but that’s totally different to being “ house proud” in my book

keepcalmandcavachon

This thread has been an education! As a HPP (house proud person) I was unaware that I wasn't to have artwork, books, houseplants or collections of any sort or in any way try to create a cosy welcoming ambiance.
Makes me dizzy with delight to think of how interesting I shall become when I do away my cleaning routine!
Didn't realise that I only meant to be living this way to impress people either!

😅😅

Me too. I'm not a particularly house proud person but I won't live in dust and dirt. I suspect that most of us live in reasonably clean homes (whether they are cleaned by us or the cleaner) that get untidy and then get tidied up again.

My house is clean enough to be healthy, and dirty enough to be happy!

NO I run a home not a show house My sister on the other hand is a slave to being house proud . I have far more friends and visitors

I am, but unfortunately DH is not, he is the untidiest person I know.
I have given up trying.

I have standards I too hate the expression dull women have immaculate houses. No I do not have an immaculate home but what I do have is a clean one. I love our home it’s not a show home by any means it’s a big house that’s lived in. No I do not have a cleaner I love to do things myself although can take some time to get round life for me is not a race. I would think the cleaner was giving a compliment in her own way, meaning it’s lovely and welcoming.

We had our daughter and three young children living with us for several years, and if I hadn’t have lowered my standards, I’d have gone mad. But I don’t think I’ve ever gone back to my obsessive tidiness, which is probably a good thing.

I have dipped in and out of this thread. I must confess I never realised until I was following this how het up so many women still get about how their house looks (or not) or how clean it is( or not).

How my house looksa and how clean it is, is based on what I can live in and feel comfortable in, and while I do notice the extremes of house care, I can remember, in my baby sitting circle days, baby sitting occasionally for someone where I quietly took my own mug to drink out of because the lack of cleanliness and tidyness was so extreme, I am otherwise quite happy to accept other people's houses as them living the way that suits them.

As I said, in these days of equality I am amazed how defensive so many women are, even though they share their homes with children and partners, who also presumably have some input into how the house looks. I have DS down for the weekend. There is a sitting room chair with a pair of socks under it and a sweater abandoned in it. Still it is only until Monday.

absent

Nope, but I am friendly and make good coffee.

All round to your house then!!

This thread has been an education! As a HPP (house proud person) I was unaware that I wasn't to have artwork, books, houseplants or collections of any sort or in any way try to create a cosy welcoming ambiance.
Makes me dizzy with delight to think of how interesting I shall become when I do away my cleaning routine!
Didn't realise that I only meant to be living this way to impress people either!

Kittylester, imho, your cleaner has given you a left-handed compliment? She praised you and criticised you at the same time.

My daughter is also very houseproud. Two of her partner’s friends, both males, gave her a left handed compliment. Told her that her house looks like a show room but it was like walking into a John Lewis store.

She used to live with a female house mate who was very messy, chaotic and who never ever clean the flat or clean after herself.

I have never been a houseproud person. Our house is cleaner and tidier nowadays simply because I am no longer working and have more time to clean.

Having spent many years living in the military life I’ve always been house proud. Better to be house proud than a dirty house. I used to do march outs in military and some ppls houses were shocking and one of the worst was a health visitor never forget that house all these years later. My house is clean and tidy until the grandkids turn up lol

I find it really amusing when there are discussions on design programmes as to how to place the cushions and how to slice the hand down the cushion for an indentation ... I mean, do people really notice those things...

My MIL did the cushion thing too. When you came down from the toilet she would rush upstairs to 'tidy' it.

Oh that's even worse Bumface !
Was she expecting you to have left drips on the seat? 😅

V3ra

^...the hostess hovers round you in case you do anything that might sully there pristine perfection^

My husband's grandmother was like this.
Sitting on the sofa, if you stood up to go to the toilet by the time you got back she'd plumped your cushion up and straightened it 🙄

My MIL did the cushion thing too. When you came down from the toilet she would rush upstairs to 'tidy' it.