Help I don't like cleaning

I loathe and detest ironing, and have, up to now, always had my cleaner to do it for me. (She stayed after I retired - she needed the money and had become a much loved friend) but there is absolutely no reason to emply anyone now.

Fortunately, DGD1 (16) loves ironing, so she does it and I give her some money to help with spending money for school trips and so on. She is so much better than me. I had to fight her to get her to accept, though, bless her.

Me too!

My face is as creased as my clothes Marelli Don't need to laugh.

Really looking forward to it !

We'll be doing a lot of laughing anyway, gillybob, so we'll be even more creased! Well, our faces will be anyway!

What a good idea Marelli 2 crumpled messes together perhaps we could smooth each other out !

FINISHED!!! My house is officially 'Spring Cleaned'. As a result I have enjoyed wandering from room to room just revelling in the fact that everything has a place and everything is in the right place. I have no doubt that by the end of next week at the latest it will be back to its usual state (I think I have two teenage lads moving in next week ), but for now I'm in hog's heaven.

gillybob, you and I can sit beside each other at Elegran's! That'll be 2 crumpled paper bags! I don't iron!!

I have a lovely friend whose house is always spotless- it looks like a room in a show house.
But I don't feel comfortable there. I'm scared to sit down in case I crease all the carefully arranged cushions. There's never a paper or magazine to flip through.
It doesn't feel like home to me.
I'm glad to get back to my place and relax. It's comfy. It should be.
Home sweet home.....

I tidy all the stuff out of sight under the bed as we have very little storage space, but now there is so much I have had to heighten the bed so there is room, and as I'm only 5 foot two I now have to jump to get into i, maybe a little box would do.. I dust when I start sneezing

Oh cheelu When the weather is fine I always hang clothes on the washing line to dry and I agree that minimizes the ironing. In the winter I tend to hang bigger items (jeans, jumpers and the likes) over my middle banister rail as we live in a 3 storey house (did I mention I also hate hoovering?) . The washing dries in a matter of hours and then I tend to fold it up and either hang it up or fold it and put away. I avoid frillies like the plague !

Another good tip is to buy clothes a size too small and then the creases literaly stretch out .

I am not that bad honestly.

gilly if you hate ironing I have a brilliant tip for you--what I do is when they come out of the washing machine I fold them and let them sit for about 10 minutes then put them on the line or washing horse and they need much less ironing,, and most of the time no ironing at all, except if its frilly or something....

I iron as little as possible, which could account for why I tend to walk around looking like a crumpled paper bag most of the time.

In favour of ironing: it does disinfect stuff like dish towels and pillos cases. I'd rather stay in a B and B where they hot iron pillow cases for instance. Apologies if I started any B and B neuroses. I guess that if we all went to sleep all the time on the bare ticking we would survive the dust mites and bacteria. Sorry! there I go again. I boil the dish towels in an old pot but seldom iron them.

I used to iron absolutely everything, even dusters. DH does the ironing now and he does exactly the same and no I did not tell him to.
I have been known to iron sheets after I have fitted them on the bed, it is a wonderful feeling getting into a pristine bed.

She needs to get out more.

My MIL ironed everything and I think her DD my SIL is even worse she irons a quilt cover then puts it on the bed and then irons it on the bed!

I only iron my enormous double damask table cloth and that is only when the family meet for a meal- it does look lovely when I've finished though.

I love that poem mrsmopp .

My late mother used to iron tea towels and underwear. I trust she gave up this activity as she got older and more unwell, though I never did ask her. I only iron what really needs ironing and as I mostly wear leggings and tunic tops nowadays I don't have much ironing accumulating on a weekly basis anyway. However, I have a rather large backlog from way back that I am not making much headway over . Perhaps it's because I know that a lot of things in there won't fit me anymore and I can't face the misery this will create .

Actually, thinking about it when I was young, we had a neighbour who took the laces out of the shoes every week and washed and ironed them!

Also my Aunt got through umpteen lots of curtain track because she would insist on wiping it over with neat bleach once a week, plus she had a day for dusting the tops of the wardrobes, and would insist on her husband hoovering the beams in the garage every week!

(She too had a thing about leaves, planted a honeysuckle and went ballistic when it "moulted")

Someone I know irons socks. She also gets annoyed if leaves blow into her garden......I think leaves are lovely !

When I was still speaking to my mother, or to be more accurate, when she was still speaking to me, I did point out that "She Ironed Her Tea Towels" was not much of an epithaph.

Here lies an old woman who always was tired.
She lived in a house where help was not hired.
Her last words on earth were 'Dear friends I am going,
where washing ain't done, nor sweeping nor sewing.
But everything there will fit in with my wishes,
for where they don't eat there's no washing up dishes.
Don't mourne for me now, don't mourne for me never.
I'm going to do nothing, for ever and ever.
My epitaph! [apologies if I've written this before but haven't got time to read through the whole thread again ].

My sentiments entirely, mrsmopp! I don't think anyone will lie on their deathbed and say, *Oh, I do wish I'd washed the kitchen floor more often...instead of reading a book, sitting in the sunshine listening to the birds singing."

Dust if you Must.

Dust if you must, but wouldn't it be better,
to paint a picture or write a letter,
bake a cake or plant a seed,
ponder the difference between want and need?

Dust if you must, but there's not much time,
with rivers to swim and mountains to climb,
music to hear and books to read,
friends to cherish and life to lead.

Dust if you must, but the world's out there
With the sun in your eyes, the wind in your hair,
A flutter of snow, a shower of rain.
This day will not come around again.

Dust if you must, but bear in mind,
old age will come and it's not kind.
And when you go - and go you must -
You, yourself, will make more dust!

You have an empty loft, nanaej???