Are you houseproud?

I have a super-clean friend who now has a cleaner as well as doing her own housework. She even picks leaves from her trees before they fall to keep the garden tidy. Last week she told me that she is horrified with people who don't take new toothbrushes and toothpaste on holiday, just the ones from the bathroom. Speechless (except I told her I don't).

Not very houseproud at all, kitchen is clean, bathroom clean, as for moving sofa, not often. Last time I moved my sofa I found a dead shrew underneath it, a hazard of having a cat

I Have mislaid my 6" tablet. I believe it has gone under the sofa. Bought a new one. Will move sofa out when I feel better. Then I will have two tablets. House proud not

I don't think I'm particularly house proud, just hoover and dust if and when it is required with maybe a deep clean (moving sofas) once or twice a year. But a few years ago when I had very light carpets I did ask a relative to remove her shoes when she came in and she's never forgiven me! Having said that I always remove my dirty shoes as a matter of respect when stepping onto someones carpets, so does that make me house proud?

As for folk wh do ironing ??? What's that all about??? Only things that get ironed are shirts for weddings /funerals... I would also put a crease in trousers for same. Any other ironing is stupid. Learnt that from my daughter ... she just asked me the salient question ..... WHY???

I have a problem here.... I'm a minimalist for the specific reason of not having to wash or dust it!! My husband can't seem to bear an empty space .... be it on walls.. floors..work surfaces.. cupboards..table-tops...everything gets covered and spaced out... so three magazines won't get put in the box under coffee table but left ON coffee table, not in a pile but spread across the table , then he puts the newspaper (open ) next to them. He actually can't stand space.!!! We are an odd pair!! But if absolute cleanliness is impossible with him , then it's ok by me . I just scoop it all up and throw it either out or 'away'. He cannot see an empty space without needing to clutter it. And as for actual cleaning anything....he says his mother didn't do housework so he neednt. !! Mothers should always be aware of what examples they're setting ...for good or bad!! Life is tooooo short and there's tooooo many books to read.

By the standards of my grandmothers' days, no I am not houseproud, compared to my mother and her generation, yes I am, now that I have time to be.

Being slightly allergic to house dust, I dust and hoover frequently, change bed linen every week and clean the bathroom and kitchen once a week too. Floors are washed when they need it.

I no longer iron every time I do laundry, but I have been considering going back to ironing the tea towels, they look nicer hanging up in the kitchen if they are ironed.

I LIKE HOUSEWORK and I can't surely be the only one who does!

I am to an extent, probably because my Mum always hated housework and if I had a friend round and wanted the house tidy I had to do it myself. When my youngest brother was born I got out of going to Sunday school by offering to do housework instead. As a young Mum I did a lot of cleaning before the morning school run and my last job was to rake the long pile carpet as we were on our way out. These days I haven't so much energy and feel life is too short so my day off is a 'me' day. Saying that I do the minimum to keep it to the standard that I like.

Normally it’s mostly the parts that show that are tidy. DH is much more thorough though and will silently shame me by moving beds, sofas and so on and hoovering thereunder. But we’ve just put our house up for sale and as I write I’m sitting (tidily) in a quite unnaturally sparkling front room. It feels as if we’re living in someone else’s house

JanaNana, Karcher steam window cleaner is magic. Worth every penny.

On my narrow boat there is nowhere to move sofa out too and I wouldn't if I could. My burner covers everything with dust...sighs. If visitors are expected....damp cloth over everything. Life is just too short. Strangely I have one daughter obsessed with cleaning and one who rarely does. Son is somewhere in between as he is in age as well. If you spend your time cleaning you don't have time for anything else....

I'm not houseproud. It's clean (I think) and I like it tidy and we have repairs etc done when needed but we are not constantly improving and I am not constantly cleaning.

To quote the late, great Joan Rivers:

"What's the point in housework? You clean, tidy, make beds and dust. Then 6 months later you have to do it all again"

I'm with you Rosina, my house is clean enough to be healthy and dirty enough to be happy. This includes 'folding' rather than ironing, I only ever iron things that will be seen!

I wonder if there is any correlation between the idea that poorer kept everywhere so spic and span so that they wouldn't be seen as 'common'?

I used to be quite houseproud many years ago. We were in the forces and lived in their married quarters so everything was always kept shipshape as part of the way we lived then. Now I have a more relaxed attitude ....every three months I do what I call a seasonal blitz. A good clean and tidy of everything. Getting rid of unnecessary stuff helps me keep things tidy and easier to manage without too much hard work involved. The one thing I get irritated with is dirty windows especially in the summer when every speck shows up, so my windows have to be done more often. As for ironing, hardly any done during autumn and winter months, use the tumble drier, and if you take things out as soon as they are dry and put on hangers straight away that saves lots of time. Keep on top of the bathroom and kitchen regularly but that's about it. Our home is clean and comfortable without too much effort.

misadventure.
Mine too.Every thing that to her 'needed to be ironed ' was and if she thought it could be scrubbed ,polished etc it was. When wanting to go on holiday she would 'pet' babysit for me so I would take my little darling to her house.On one occasion mum and aunt came to mine. Days later after mum had returned to her own home I found my brand new non stick unused milk saucepan with very little remaining of its non stick coating. My reaction was one of 'I don't believe it '.Yes mum had used a wire scouring pad with her view the 'plastic' ?ones did not do a proper job.

Oh gosh, I am guilty of cleaning everything. Years of being an army wife has stuck. Funnily enough my best friend has a very full house and nothing gets moved.. which I love... it's so relaxing! Nuts I know.

I love this thread! I thought it was only me that feels life is too short to worry about dust under the sofa :D

I embroidered this about 37 years ago and I stand by it today!

House cleaned from top to bottom every week. We have a dog and hair gets under sofas, into corners etc so once a week sofas pulled out and vacuumed under. House quite small since we downsized so doesn't take too long to do. I vacuum every day downstairs, again because of dog and flip round with a duster and I keep on top of the washing and ironing. I am extremely houseproud and love to see my home neat and tidy. Still have time to have fun though and spend time with my family and keep up with my hobbies etc. I like to keep up to date with everything. I've always been this way and make no apologies for it.

My friend asked me did I use a cushion for my knees when scrubbing floors.?

I used to suffer with migraines as a child. Really terrible ones, with sickness, flashing vision, numbness down one side. I would be in a darkened room for around 3 days. My mum would come and get me out of bed so she could make it, then I was allowed back in.

Thora Hird "Cream cracker under the settee" it was one of those superb monologues about an elderly woman who fell and subsequently died as she tried to clean a picture of her and her late husband as she thought the cleaning methods of her home help weren't up her standard.x

No, how does anyone have the energy. Knew someone who made her husband lie as if dead in bed so he did not rumple the sheets. Save energy for the good things, walking in the woods, languorously making love, painting drawing, ceramics, going out, cooking yummy food, any craft work that takes our fancy, dressing well - whatever floats your boat, the cleaning will be there when we are gone, have fun not servitude.

Striking the balance between a home and a showroom is quite hard! My MIL was obsessive; she had excellent taste and was clever with colours, flower arranging etc. and her home was stylish and worthy of 'Homes and Gardens'. However nobody was welcome, she didn't like people sitting down and creasing her upholstery and cushions, and any refreshments, given grudgingly, were partaken in the kitchen, standing up!
I try to make a comfortable home that is clean enough to be healthy but scruffy enough to be welcoming and not put people off. We have to hoover a lot as we have a hairy dog, bu the dusting often gets left.