Help I don't like cleaning

Well done when. I will get DH to read this thread. It drives me demented each time I go to look for a guarantee or something and have to wade through guarantees for stuff that 'died' years ago. Though I would be in real trouble if I threw any of it out. You never know when you might need to know how much the washing machine we bought in 1989 cost.

I collect small pieces of silver (teaspoons etc) which are lovely but a b****r to clean. So, my problem is - do I clean it all, to add to the general shine, or put Christmas cards in front of it!

Kitty My DH keeps such stuff also. I need to have a weed out when he is not at home.

I remember feeling very incompetent when I had a friend who lived in a lovely old farmhouse which was kept immaculate in spite of her having two small boys, a dog, 2 cats and goats and chickens to look after. It was several years before I discovered that she'd got an Au Pair! I'd just never seen the girl. I now have one neighbour who sweeps the path outside our houses and another who mows the plot of grass the other side of the path in spite of the Council mowing it regularly. Fortunately the people next door are reasonably untidy so we don't stick out too much!

I hate cleaning,but it does depress me when the dust pile up. I grit my teeth and do it all in one day,then the rest of the week is mine to do what I want.

Quentin Crisp never did dusting, he said that after two years the dust didn't get any thicker. I'm about to find out if this is true on my very high shelf that houses my collection of pierced edge plates. I can only see the dust when ascending the stairs in my stair lift.(Or descending ,of course)

I have just read through this thread and chuckled so many times : 'Go out more', hairdryer hoovering, 'Lady Muck' . I am soooo glad I joined these forums !

I actually do like a tidy house but always feel inadequate because I 'get behind' with the cleaning. I try to find excuses for myself but the truth is I hate it and just thinking about it saps my energy. I'm even worse since I found the internet a few years ago. My pc calls to me like a siren . My working hours were reduced by half (not my choice ) last April but I still don't do any more housework than when I was full-time. I feel so guilty but clearly not enough to do anything about it . My DD, a Virgo, is always fretting about having a clean and tidy house. It bugs me when I want to spend time with her on a weekend and she tells me she is too busy cleaning up . When she was younger and lived with me she used to have an untidy bedroom. Somehow it always became so important to her to tidy up when she was supposed to be doing her homework or revising. Myself, I usually have a clean and tidy up when I am expecting company, even hiding papers in drawers . But spring cleaning? Pfft!

I grew up in a very untidy house (my Mother's house is still a tip) and there was no way I was going to live like that.

I get a lot of satisfaction from having a clean, tidy, everything in it's place house.

We moved 5 months ago to a "wreck" which needed replumbing, re-wiring, an extension, new bathroom fittings, completely new kitchen etc. etc. So have lived in a building site. We did the main bedroom first (which has to to double up as the office space) and I have kept that really nice.

The end is in sight and I cannot wait to get this house sparkling squeeky clean.

I'm with you RockNanny - no-one on their deathbed is going to bemoan the fact that they didn't do enough cleaning I have mastered the art of dashing round my tiny cottage with duster, vac and air freshener when visitors are due. The smell of newly baked bread, coffee and welcoming meals distracts them from the dust on the surfaces I have missed.

Now I've got this new Dyson to try out, my slovenly ways are reinforced - it has 20 minutes charge on it, and I can do the sitting room, stairs and bathroom with 10 minutes of it!

I have tracked the progress of the bedroom ceiling spider (he's usually there somewhere) over the last couple of weeks and he was last seen heading down the wall behind the wardrobe. I did wipe round the window frames in the bedroom the other day, though. I found a chrysalis tightly tucked into the corner, but I did remove it and gave it to the birds to eat. I'm not that partial to large moths blundering about when I'm trying to read in the small hours!

I like cleaning but only when I'm on my own. I don't like having anyone with me and I hate being helped.

That's just how I am. For some reason I always started doing any housework after the children went to bed [they thought I was nocturnal] and proper clean ups happened when my ex went away on business. My house was also his neverendingdiyproject and, whenever I did get it clean and tidy he would start drilling or plastering [plaster goes everywhere]. He's now living in another neverendingdiyproject house but, thankfully, not with me . But the S.O. [see other thread/s] sits in the living room surrounded by newspapers and that stops me tidying up [yep; even in other rooms]. Having said that, I am pretty clean when it comes to germy type things. [Having re read this I've realised that I have just, thoughout my life, found neverendingexcuses for not being a domestic goddess .

..and I now blame gransnet ....

so true crimson gransnet can now be used for a number of differant excuse's.
I found that when I worked full time when DCs where all at home my housework was always up to date,ironing and washing all done and put away everything spick and span,once I retired that reasoning went out of the window I can now do things to-morrow with no guilty feelings,it's just that the "to-morrow" can now stretch for a week or two which ever takes my fancy.

glammanana. Like you I seemed to be able to keep on top of things whilst I was working, except the ironing. I would have my ironing board in the spare bedroom and the clothes waiting to be ironed were in a basket next to it. One day my Mother came to visit and asked if she should put the ironing board down for me, so I said no - I wasn't moving house!

When I finally retired I decided I had to clear the ironing. It took me 4 hours to empty the basket! Since then, once the washing is dry it is in its basket in the kitchen and gets done the same day!

Ironing....?

Am about to call in an ironing service (seriously - it will change my life) to get rid of the ironing mountain which, may I say, is shirts, shirts and more shirts. And a few duvet covers. I loathe and detest it so much; this is where I miss my dear cleaner friend. Tomorrow!

Since THE MOVE (if you are new, GN saw me through it!) and all the decluttering, the house is fine, and I am happy to keep it the way I want it, which is tidy clean and uncluttered. If the GC and DC come to stay, then I don't obsess at all, because their presence is the most important thing.

(BTW, totally irrelevant - see if you can get this. DGS3 (aged 2 and a bit) wanted the "sword" for his little computer tablet thingy. ???) Took DH a while...

I can't remember the last time I used an iron. Oh I can. I bought a valance for the bed and had to iron it because the creases would have annoyed me. Apart from that, nope, can't recall doing any. Although, sometimes I get a bit of an urge to do some [thoughts of an airing cupboard with piles of beautifully ironed things]. But it soon passes.

I usually sit down till that feeling passes, crimson . I put all absolutely 'have to iron' stuff in an old waste paper basket. When it's full (it's not a large basket) I take out the ironing board and do it. The last little lot I did was the other week, when I bought some really heavy curtains from ebay, and they had to be ironed before I put them up, so I did the stuff in the basket, feeling very virtuous as I did it. All that was in the basket were a pair of linen summer trousers and two of my summer blouses......!

I don't iron anything. If something's creased I put it in the tumble-dryer for a bit....I don't buy things that look as though they might need ironing!

I think the tumble dryer is the best invention ever. I've never forgiven my ex SIL for persuading my husband not to let me have one [when SHE'd had one for years]. Possibly the most cruel thing that anyone has ever done to me...or anyone in the history of the world....

Don't do ironing hang it up if it needs it iron it when it's needed...Hoover when it's needed put things away every day ...slide bum or cuff along shelves...clean sinks .toilet bathroom etc every day or so Hate housework xxxxxx

I'm very taken with these 'wipe' things that I've just started buying from the Mill Shop. My house will look a complete tip and I'll be happily cleaning the phone or a keyboard with one of my wipes.

I'm wishing my Kindle Fire had a "sword" Ariadne. Hate touch screens. Fingerprints! Eugh! Slightly regretting buying it for that reason.

You got it, jingl! Lovely the way they find a word they know to fit a new thing, isn't it?

J0 you need one of these stylus pens - they have a rubber thingy at the tip and are perfect for the Kindle Fire and other touch screens ... very cheap too.

www.amazon.co.uk/HSINI-Universal-Capacitive-Touchscreen-Blackberry/dp/B009CZ42A8/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1357202891&sr=1-1