Are you houseproud?

Houseproud? No. I decided when I first had a home of my own that I wasn't going to be houseproud because I think it's silly. Let me explain. If you are relatively poor (which I was back then) you can't afford to be houseproud. You make do. You make whatever abode you have as comfortable for your purposes as you can and you let mere shabbiness go hang. Hygeine is far more important than poshness and perfection of decor. So long as you've got a supply of clean water and a working sanitation system necessary hygeine can be achieved in shabby and imperfect-looking surroundings.

I never do any vacuuming. OH does that but he only does it when visitors are due. I've lost count of the times the visitors arrive just when he's started on the hall floor and they've had to clamber over the hoover to get in. I do invite folk quite a lot though -otherwise he'd never do it - you just can't get the staff!

I find I have to hoover the two large rugs on our laminate flooring nearly every day as we have 2 cats with grey/white hair which gets everywhere. Similarly I have to do the tiled floors all over as they're either covered in cat litter or dust. As we've had my family with 2 small children here for 5 weeks the house looks very disheveled and we've had to move the sofas several times to retrieve Lego and other lost toys from under them - they're on felt pads so move on the flooring (too) easily. I don't iron knickers, towels or tea-towels but do iron DH's boxers if they looked too creased My DIL doesn't do any ironing at all - they do 'folding' - she says life's too short for ironing. They're going home on Thurs so the house will get a blitz but would far rather have them here with all their mess than on the other side of the world

I do enough to keep it looking presentable on a daily basis - only have more of a blitz if anyone's coming to stay. In which case I have to make sure I have my glasses on, so I can see the dust!
I do iron tea towels, purely because I can't fit them all in the drawer otherwise.

As I hate housework, I have spent time working out how to have an acceptably clean home with minimum input from me.
So, I dust with the vacuum attachments, not a duster. I vac mirrors, furniture, windowsills, skirting, the telly, ceiling cobwebs, even ornaments. This is quicker than moving dust around with a cloth. I vac under the sofa and armchairs about twice a year while husband leans on the back of them to tip them up. I hoover under the bed as far as the vac can reach and that's it.
I never move heavy furniture except when we decorate the room (just done the bedroom after eleven years).I try to vac the floors once or twice a week, dust once a week (max). And I try to be tidy most of the time because that makes doing the housework a lot quicker.

We are getting a new settee in a few weeks time and I'm dreading what moving the old one will show up. I think I may have stuffed a few illicit chocolate bar wrappers down the gaps so DH wouldn't spot them. On the other hand, there are probably several lost pens, hopefully some loose change too. In my defence, it is a double recliner that is too heavy to move without taking it apart.

*My bathroom and kitchen are the two places that i clean every day.
I vaccum everywhere at least once a week and dust. *

Gee wizz! - that's what I call dedication!!!

My bathroom gets clean when it looks dirty - and I ma very short-sighted indeed.

I am struggling here to try and remember when I last vacuumed.

My 2 year old GS and I went round the wood floors with a brush today - he loved it!

Oops sorry NannyBadcrumble1 I reread your post and it sounds as if you are way ahead of me when it comes to tidiness.

I am proud of not being houseproud! Clean loo and clean sink. Clean beds. Playtime.

NannyBadcrumble1 we could be sisters! I must be the untidiest person in the world. I find myself apologising to visitors about the mess (I like to keep important things to hand......books,mags.,knitting,puzzles etc. etc.) and yet if they visit more than once they soon realise that things are rarely tidied away.

Dust is a protective covering for furniture :-)

I think I’m being house proud if I pull out my sofa twice a year.

I pulled out my bedroom furniture last week, it was the first time in 3 or 4 years.

I’d rather be doing something fun, out with friends or DH.

In November, I pushed DH’s chair further back to look for something. I didn’t find what I was looking for, but I did find a Christmas card that must’ve fallen and been kicked under there the year before - (or perhaps even the year before that) ?!!
So, no, I’m not at all houseproud.

My mum used to pay my daughter and her little friend (they were about 3) to clean the bird poo off the outside walls of her bungalow.

I`m not houseproud at all, the house is "reasonably" clean and tidy, but not OTT. I do admit to ironing tea towels and knickers, something my daughters tell me off for. I once had a supervisor at work who was really obsessive about cleaning. When a relative died and the funeral was leaving from her house, she not only scrubbed her driveway, but the footpath in front of her house as well!

The bits of my house which show are more or less clean. The sinks and loos are clean. No point in cleaning a clean house, but periodically, usually around Easter, I get an urge to clean. That’s it for the year.

I can’t clean under the beds as they’re both Tempur, which are only an inch off the floor and too heavy to move. Even if I could move them, the bedrooms are too small to clean under the middles anyway without taking the wardrobes out. One sofa is one of those recliner ones, and that’s too heavy to move too. At least that’s my excuse - and the spiders need somewhere safe to lurk.

So no, I don’t think I’m houseproud.

I’m too busy enjoying life to worry about a bit of dust. As long as my home is clean and relatively tidy then that’s fine by me. DH has commented that I’m probably the most untidy person he has ever known though!!!

Nope, DS2 was in IC for 2 weeks after birth, we lived a 3 hour round trip to the Hospital. My Mother had been up to look after DS1 when I was having DS2.
On the day I was collecting him from Hospital I was running around getting everything ready when I went into the living room where my Mother was supposed to be putting the sheets etc on the crib to fine her lifting every congrats card and dusting under it.
When I asked her why she was doing that not getting the crib ready, she said, "Aunty A is coming and YOU have not dusted this morning"
When said Aunt and I returned from the Hospital with baby we found her on her hands and knees in the hall washing the skirting boards.
The crib was still not ready, my house is clean but out of sight, out of mind.

That's exactly right Sennelier1! Whenever I feel a decluttering bug coming on I'll remember your wise words. And go have a lie-down until the feeling passes .

I aim to move the double bed once a year to hoover under it and try to do the same with bookcases but I am quite a slob!

My house is clean enough to be safe and healthy, cluttered enough to be a home ?

I like my house to look reasonable but as for moving furniture every week - no way. I've been saying I must pull out the bed and hoover underneath it for about six months. There's always tomorrow.

Not sure it would fit under the sofa though, BathSheba

Brilliant MissA, so funny

I can see quite a lot of dust on the tv stand. I think the fact it’s so close to a door that leads outside is why it gets so dusty. I imagine I could dust it daily. I do remember cleaning more often when my child was young. Now whenever I see something on the floor I get what I call my sucker upper a hand rechargable vacuum and make short work of it. My mother was always bending over and picking up something off the floor. She didn’t have my bad back though. As far as my mom she told me she ironed my diapers and I remember her ironing sheets but they got so wrinkled back then.