LOOKING FOR A HOUSEWORK ROUTINE

I can't believe I've read this, in the 21st century. It reads like a page out of 'Woman's Own' in the 1950s.

'There are just the 2 of us now'. Right, that makes 2 to do all this work, not just one.

'Towels don't get used massively'. Well, if you shower daily (or bath) the towels don't actually get dirty, only damp. They don't, therefore, need changing all that much.

Cleaning the oven? Last time our oven got cleaned was a few years ago when DH was in hospital. A man came and did it for us. Clean the fridge? All it needs is a wipe out before putting the week's grocery order away. Shopping gets delivered by Tesco. Windows cleaned once a month by a local man.

What else? Do you think you'll be lying on your death-bed thinking 'I should have cleaned the fridge/oven/windows more often'?

There's a lot more going on in the world than doing housework. It's spring! Get out and see it - while you still can.

I've found a hand held steam cleaner is great for all sorts of things, sinks, loos, stoves, ovens. Brilliant! I have a cleaner who helps with the hovering and dusting, too. Once a week for routine stuff, once a month for other things. And some things are once or twice a year....

Hoovering, not hovering

Brummiegran - patience, please! I had 3 appointments to get to yesterday so I wasn't able to look at Gransnet again until today.
I am grateful for all the interesting and helpful responses - many thanks. Alea - loved the poem too!
Since retiring from an over-structured, over-burdened job, I have found it very hard to get used to not having a structure at all and feel that I am "floundering". I think that a routine will help me to fit in the household jobs that I have to get done and make me feel likeI am achieving something. I don't intend to be governed by it like a rod of iron though. I just feel totally disorganised (and probably am).

Synonymous - let's say that I am a "gran-in-waiting", and there must be lots of grans whose children and grandchildren live do not live near them so they don't get involved in childcare, babysitting etc. Your later post was very welcome.

Thanks once again to everyone who took the trouble to reply to my initial post.

I know just what you mean about a routine bringing some structure to your days. If only I could shift my sit-upon and do it.

I need to get a hand held steam cleaner. My steam floor mop shifts marks on the vinyl that I can't get off otherwise.

When my eldest daughter was growing up she used to say 'if you sit still too long mum will either dust you or hoover you up'! After late edition to the family I was more laid back. Now we look after our granddaughter three days a week, so
cleaning-what's that!

Maybe buy the kindle version of "the Lazy Girl's Guide to Housework" 99pence from Amazon. Amusing if nothing else. Why am I writing this rather than vacuuming??

Because I'm a lazy girl!!

I am semi-retired (working occasionally on short term contracts for companies I have worked for before) and on my non working months I do miss the structure of the working day and wonder how I will cope with full retirement.

When it comes to housework, I've come to the conclusion I am a lazy perfectionist. I hate people seeing it less than perfect but can't be bothered to put in the elbow grease to achieve it.

I do actually have a very strict housework routine, one room a day as well as keeping on top of kitchen and bathroom cleaning and washing and ironing. I just don't keep to it, I do the basics at the moment, ie cleaning up after 2 cats and a dog, and escape to the garden.

It was the 60s and at 18, with my childhood sweetheart/husband, 20, and gorgeous baby, I thought I was Doris Day, all pink gingham and a pony tail, trying to do better than my super housewives mother and sister in law.

In my beautiful brand new council flat (those were the days) I would see husband off to the station with a kiss, then scrub everything, including the baby. I had enormous energy, no doubt helped by endless cans of Coke. I remember that after cleaning the bathroom I would polish the bath, loo and wash basin with lavender Pledge after scrubbing them to death with Vim. Where's Vim now?

I gradually became normal over the years with bigger homes, more children, long working hours and sometimes a cleaning lady, but now, if the door bell rings I have a blind panic to shove the untidiness out of the way on my path to answer the door to a friend or neighbour. That awful self satisfied teenager I was has gone, but I do wish she had left me some of her energy.

Sometimes I start an ambitious rota which lasts about two days and mainly consists of, first day - doing over the wardrobes and chucking stuff out; second day - doing over the kitchen cupboards and chucking stuff out; then husband brings my favourite magazine back with the daily paper and that's the end of that campaign.

PS. Where do you nice people find someone to clean the oven? I told my husband that if one of us doesn't do it soon we'll have to get a new one.

Looking at the price of having the oven cleaned I worked out it would be cheaper to let it get dirty then buy a new one every so often

Why do you need your oven cleaned when there are such good products out there in the supermarket.

Spray the stuff on and wipe off.

If it doesn't work the first time do it again !

My oven gets filthy because my children let things spill over and bake on the bottom.

I wash the racks in the dishwasher. They come out like new

You can some stuff from Lakeland where you put he shelves in a bag with the liquid and it cleans them. I've got some under the sink. Might use it someday. Or DH will (more likely)

Jalima - Oh, it's that expensive, is it? In that case, thanks Nonnie - I'll go with your advice.

By the way, did any of you know that the Gransnetter who gave the name of the cleaning website - cleaning love to know, has started a demand to find a supplier of Borax?

That's what I call consumer power!

Love the poem
My routine is"when I feel like it" or when my children were young and I was cleaning thoroughly,they asked "who is coming" we still laugh about it.
My DH dusts when it is obvious, he works as a home help, and has become more houseproud since he started there, lucky me!

You can buy the oven cleaner in a bag from ebay. I find it very good. Put the racks in the special bag with the solution, turn it occasionally and leave it in the garden! Rinse well, after leaving it all overnight.

I agree with so many of these posts. M DH is the generation of men brought up by a mother who had a daily so he never mucked in. Rather sweetly I noticed he bumped into the lightweight dyson and looked at it quizzically . He pressed a button and it started up and he jumped. When I was much younger I used to pretend mil was coming over to get housework done swiftly. Now I seem to live in a mess until my dear cleaner arrives. I feel there is now too much for me to do and I want to downsize but DH says we will never fit in a smaller house. I do not do housework every day apart from wiping down counters and a light dysoning. Clearing up after a meal and stacking the dishwasher is ample housework and a Monday washday can be any day of the week which is fine as I believe in drying outside on the line.

wot mind your arms with that stuff (I have a burn mark on one arm from it!!)
You still have to do the sides, bottom and top though.
In fact you still have to do it full stop.
And all the chemicals going down the drains .....

I think it is £60-£70 to have your oven cleaned professionally, some ovens are relatively cheap to buy. However, just think of the landfill (see other thread)

I have yet to try my steam cleaner on the oven.

I need to get a hand held steam cleaner. My steam floor mop shifts marks on the vinyl that I can't get off otherwise.

jings I don't know which steam mop you've got - I've got a cheapie red Dirt Devil which I bought at Argos a couple of months ago. It converts to a hand held if you just use the middle bit, i.e. take off the floor mop attachment and the long handle. It came with small attachments to put on the business end for hand held use.

Get a whole stack of microfibre cloths and spend one morning wiping everything in sight - wooden furniture, windows, floors, baths etc. I get through the housework in a flash using water or a vegetable based spray on my micro cloths - 'Method' lavender general purpose cleaner is amazing and works on practically every surface, then throw all cloths in the machine on a hot wash (no fabric conditioner) Hoover when Golden Retriever dog hair is looking like tumbleweed (about every other day)

Cleam eco friendly house. Feet up, newspaper, cup of coffee.

spend one morning wiping everything in sight - wooden furniture, windows, floors, baths etc
Do you get up at 3 am Rosina
Perhaps we have too much junk, books etc around. Or too many rooms. Or I am not as quick as I used to be!

I do like Method cleaners, though, but haven't seen the lavender one, sounds lovely.

windows - that would take me a morning at least

I will change my username to sallysnail

I clean the house very thoroughly top to bottom (but three bedrooms not in use just two of us at home now)once a month. It takes me most of the day .
I change sheets and towels weekly
I obviously wipe kitchen surfaces ,clean sinks and the loos as and when in between. DH gets eczema and asthma and likes to keep dust down so he is i/c hoovering .I might dust, empty wpb etc if expecting visitors
I can't imagine doing housework daily...
Had cleaning lady when at work and weekly was fine even with DC s at home
How have you got to late middle age (?) without a routine ?

Oh my gosh Indinana! That's the one I've got. I actually posted about it about it on here. I had completely forgotten that it converts. What do the attachments look like? I wonder what I did with them. I've found the carpet glider in the cupboard but that's all. Will look in cupboard under sink. (I've managed to get the long handle off)