As an antidote to all the cleaning threads

Well, I still have a cleaner once a fortnight as I am fortunate to be able to afford it, and I feel I'm contributing to the local economy by paying her.
I spend the time which I would have spent on housework, in my garden or doing other things that I wanted to do all the time I was working.
But if I couldn't afford to have a cleaner I would clean the house myself.

I clean when I have to - like when my mother comes & when I have a client come to the house, yesterday the first for ages so you can imagine the work all the de-cluttering & dusting involved. Trouble is, now all the other rooms are cluttered with the stuff dumped in them. I love a tidy enough & clean enough house - if someone else does the work but now hate having anyone else poking around my house & it doesn't seem fair to expect them to dust shelves covered in rock specimens, wind-up toys & other things my grandkids love to play with.

I don't know how people have those perfect houses. There are two near me that I have seen inside...makes me feel guilty! But I have also seen two others - one very very untidy - and the other always in the throes of DIY....now that makes me feel better!

Still haven't finished decorating my bathroom since I broke my wrist three years ago......

I echo Jane Ainsworth

No need to Mrshat.
I got distracted and hit 'send' before I had really finished.
We expect hospitals, restaurants, hotels and shops to be clean, so what's wrong with applying the same standards to our homes?

I used to be very much in awe of a friend who had a beautiful old house which was always spotless in spite of all the time she spent looking after 2 children, chickens, goats and a vegetable plot. It was a couple of years before I found out that she had an au pair!

I lack storage space in my small house but have hoarding instincts. These two facts don't go well together.

I think that some assume that clean and tidy people spend hrs every day/week cleaning and tidying: we don't. For the simple reason that the house has always been clean and tidy.

The ocadodo man delivered last night. He was half an hour late and he has left a trail of muddy footprints all through the hall dining room and into the kitchen I rang ocadodo and they said the best they can do is a £10 voucher! I'm going to have to get the carpets cleaned as I found this am (having let it dry overnight) that it won't vacuum up!

anno ditto re storage and hoarding. That's why I have two sheds.....am now trying to declutter! My sister came and plundered my charity shop pile for her hoards!

Not good enough, Galen. These companies are well covered in their insurance for this.
I had a similar situation with people who put new windows in. Had a bit of a tussle with them, but got carpets cleaned.

I seem to be in the wars with getting compensation. Following the Heathrow disaster the flowers arrived this am and I'm waiting for the cheque for £20 for the excess parking time!
Fortunately I've got a ax carpet cleaner and I've just bought some more fluid, so, I'll get Gary to do it on Monday!

Vax!