Help for the Hopeless Housewife!

I'm a bit like that icanhandthemback I want to clean every inch of the room I am in. I have had to school myself into being less enthusiastic. I don't have a particular routine but I do give each room a thorough clean about every three weeks and then just the basics in between times. We have two dogs and a cat so vacuuming is a given on alternate days. I'm lucky in that my husband does the shopping and cooking. I volunteer as a librarian a couple of times a week and regularly go out with friends. I dont keep a lot of 'stuff' either so that its easier to keep surfaces clean. Good luck but don't stress about things, even I can live with a little dust

I don’t think I need to vacuum or dust on a daily basis, just the two of us and no pets.

Plus thinking about previous threads about taking shoes off before entering the house, surely not that much dirt should even be coming into our homes?

And I am part of the ‘keep them on’ brigade. Just wipe them on the doormat before entering.

I once heard someone say she made a point of not spending more than 15 mins a day in each room. If I count all my rooms (including landings and hallways etc) I come to about 17. Which would mean over. 4 hours housework a day.

I split it differently. I don't always keep to the routine and it's not always necessary to do it every week, but one day I dust, the next day I polish wood, the next I wipe any "plastic" surfaces (window sills, light switches, sockets., skirting boards, all of which gather horrendous amounts of dust and grubbiness). The fourth day is easy - just anything of steel, which are things like table legs, some light fittings. On the last day I go over glass surfaces, mirrors mainly, but we have glass doors on the ground floor and some glass-topped tables in the lounge.

This way

- you go into each room each day, so you will automatically tidy
- each job averages about 20-30 mins a day
- you only need one set of equipment each time and don't have to lug the hoover, bottles of various cleaning agents, buckets of water and dusters into each room

I split the floors similarly, dividing them into equal area sizes and according to whether they are tiled, carpeted or wood/laminate.

The system doesn't always work because I get tired quicker these days. Next year I think I'll alternate floors and general cleaning each week. We do get an awful lot of dust here, though, due to the chipboard factory in the village.

If you don't feel like housework, I have learnt over Christmas (yet again) that you can still do it if you have to! My kitchen and dining room are spotless despite having family including grandchildren of 4 and 9 over for a huge lunch and later tea last night. I was up till midnight and got the whole kitchen clean including a quick wipe of the floor. It's a lovely feeling. I can rest today [smug]

However, as everyone has said, it's not tidiness or cleanliness that make for a welcoming home. It's you and the things you choose to place in it. It's a cosy fire, or at least a warm room or a sunny patio, sitting down in comfortable seats, even if it is amongst unpumped up cushions and last week's newspapers and looking and smiling at your visitor. Keeping everything ready to be able to produce a steaming cup of tea however cluttered the kitchen otherwise is so that you can quickly bring it out to your guest and not leave them alone for long. Keeping a conversation going that is about them and their worries.

And NEVER talk about plans you have for improving your home. Give the impression that you are happy as you are, and not itching to paint that wall or clean that carpet, move that piano or find a home for that stuffed bear.

Oh dear. Excuse the ramble. I hope someone got something out of it. It certainly helped me arrange my thoughts and gave me some ideas for the new year.

It’s little and often for me too, as this is a big house and a blitz would take all day! For me, it’s important that the housework fits around me, not the reverse, so there’s not much routine. Sometimes I’ll pop upstairs in the evening to put the laundry away and find myself giving the bedrooms a quick dust and vacuum. I’m also a great believer in ‘straightening up’ before bed, so not coming down to a sink full of pots etc.
In all, it’s probably just an hour a day, but not in one go.

Any cleaning regime where someone can say Sometimes I’ll pop upstairs in the evening to put the laundry away and find myself giving the bedrooms a quick dust and vacuum. is cleaning way beyond any requirement. unless you live in central London and have windows open all day, or have a houseful of marauding teenagers.

I have had a really nasty respiratory infection for the last six weeks, when cleaning has been beyond my capabilities. It is amazing just how little this shows. nor did catching up take long. 15 minutes per room, bar the kitchen..

People spend way too much time doing quite unnecessary cleaning. I have got so many other more interesting things to do.

You’re so right MOnica. Life’s too short. I wonder if anyone on their death bed says they regret that they hadn’t been a better “housewife”?

All the tired old clichés popping up, some of us quite enjoy housework and seeing our homes clean & tidy. Doesn't prevent us from leading full and interesting lives as well.

sodapop

All the tired old clichés popping up, some of us quite enjoy housework and seeing our homes clean & tidy. Doesn't prevent us from leading full and interesting lives as well.

Indeed.

I want my home to be clean and dog hair free, at least once a day. I hoover daily - can't kick through dog hair shed without!

I enjoy a cup of tea so I fill the kettle as full as possible and do as much in that time. Make the tea in a large pot and do something while it brews. Then I strain the tea so it doesn’t stew and have reheatable cups of tea throughout the day as a reward for every job. Not necessarily housework jobs it could be boring paper work or picking things off the floor tasks. There have to be three things on the floor to make it worthwhile bending down. I generally if on my own uses timer. How much can I do in 15 minutes. It’s a carrot in front of the donkey way of doing things. Employing a cleaner is also a life saver if you can. I have a lady whose eyes glitter and fingers twitch when she asks if she can clean out a cupboard. She acts as if it’s a treat not a challenge.

I regularly have people/family dropping in and often I have visitors who are staying, so I do keep on top of the housework. I have a cleaner who comes weekly (alternating for 1 and 2 hours) and she’s a great help as she changes some of the beds for me and mops the floors. I know and appreciate the difference she makes but she often says that the house looks the same before and after her visits. With 3 bathrooms and 4 toilets to clean and sometimes 6 beds to make each week she’s worth her weight in gold to me.

On the other hand I have a very good friend who lives in chaos with clutter and untidiness everywhere, but it bothers me not a bit as she is always warm and welcoming.

I agree Sodapop.

but long for a house where I can open the door to visitors if they turn up unexpectedly

One of my friends always used to say in situations like this: If all else fails, lower your standards. 😉

but long for a house where I can open the door to visitors if they turn up unexpectedly

Well, that would apply to my house. I am a very tidy person and always put things back where I find them. However DH is not equally tidy, Fortunately what he leaves lying around ar newspapers, quickly gathered and put in recycling or too;s. neatly lined up, whichjust get shoved in the garage.

But I really do believe that many people, mainly women, do far more cleaning than is necessary. The last six weeks when neither of us was capable of cleaning anything, has shown me just how little is really needed. I cleaned the bathrooms a couple of times and the kitchen sink about once a week, while we were ill.

Come the new year I will be re-assessing my cleaning routines and reducing them further. Not because I am comfortable with muddle and mess. I hate it and like things to be neat, tidy and clean, but I am realising how little cleaning is needed in a tidy house.

The other thing we have no pets, or animals at all in the house - and I do understand that that can make an enormous difference.

sodapop

All the tired old clichés popping up, some of us quite enjoy housework and seeing our homes clean & tidy. Doesn't prevent us from leading full and interesting lives as well.

Enjoying housework isn’t related to how clean and tidy your house is, nor how full a life you lead though. I’d guess most of us have clean and tidy houses because we prefer that state, not because we enjoy housework. Cleaning is merely a necessary evil, to my mind anyway.

Yes, one needs to differentiate between what is necessary and what one does for one's own satisfaction.

My daughter told me that my daughter-in-law was (apparently) open-mouthed when she saw our home for the first time. She comes from a fairly modern house with modern interiors, built in fixtures and no antiques, no hobbies in the house, no toys and so on, modern furniture etc.

I do think it's harder if you live (as we do) with both vintage and antique furniture and nothing even loosely modern. With lots of ongoing projects and things in states of repair, lots of books and almost all free-standing storage.. complicated glass light fittings that take time to even dust and old paintings with "awkward" frames.

I can clean my mother-in-law's house easily in a couple of hours because she doesn't live like me. My home (and hers) just reflect who we are as people.

When I was a girl and we had tiny window panes they alone took forever - probably longer than my mother-in-law's whole house.

And some of us have jobs that involve extra "cleaning effort" too...

I like my washbasins, shower, w.cs etc to be clean, I like my cutlery/crockery to be spotless - and the rest is done as-and-when.

I think I am more worried about it than I should be reading all your comments. I have just cleared out my mother's 6 bedroom, 4 reception room house which was stuffed to the gunnels and had got very grubby. I look at my house sometimes and see it starting to look the same so I shudder at the thought.
I am going to have a big chuck out, clean the house from top to bottom and start to do a little more in the mornings to keep on top of it. I am going to repeat to myself daily that I must not procrastinate and keep on top of it. Oh, and I am going to buy keepcalmandcavachon's recommendation of "Keep Calm and Carry On."
Thank you for all your replies.

cant think of its name but there was a poem or an article where an elderly woman at the end of her life said she wished she had taken more chances, done more things she enjoyed and less of the housework stuff.
I am now a widow and live alone. For myself I need to be clean and my clothes clean and clean bedding. anything to do with food also needs to be kept clean. They are the basics. I have health problems and had to learn to do two jobs at once , one sitting and one standing, and rather than get one job finished as I preferred had to learn to listen to my body and stop either position when it was painful. Untidiness is no great problem as there is only myself to please. I have various things on the go, books, music papers crosswords etc etc. At this time of year if there is a dry and clear day it can all go hang whilst I make the most of the weather. On a day like today when it is wild and pouring with rain is a fine day to get on with some jobs inside to enable me to be ready to enjoy the next good day. If you have plenty of space you might make one room or part of one room comfortable and pleasant for any visitors so that you dont have to clear away a lot of your own things that you are busy with. Friendships and enjoying nature and music etc , I think, are far more important than a tidy house. I am sure that your friends do not measure you by the state of your house. They like you because you are you. Or even look at it another way, you give them the opportunity to feel that their own home is very tidy compared to yours (so long as they dont actually say that to you!!) If you think of peoples comments after someone dies, they rarely start with what a tidy house they had!! It is your home and you should keep it in a comfortable state to live in for yourself, and just say welcome to visitors and do not apologise or comment on the state of the rooms. Enjoy more as your new years resolution and dont worry about the house. Good luck with worrying less about it all

Men are included in all the tidying of a home

JdotJ

Men are included in all the tidying of a home

Mine does.

I think people come to see me, not how tidy my house is. It's basically clean, especially kitchen and bathrooms but I have better and more interesting things to do than housework unless it's really necessary

One couple we know very well and stayed with often hardly ever clean the house and their kitchen is a mess but he is an excellent chef and she is intellectually brilliant so, although we often spoke of taking our own knife, fork and spoon clip when we visited them we never did, and never came to any harm.

I am certainly not a slave to housework, but do like my home to be clean and tidy. Being tidy is easy - you just put things away straight immediately, rather than allow them to pile up. My priorities are toilets, sinks, shower, bath, beds and floors, especially as we have a dog. Something I do overlook, is cleaning the inside of radiators! 😱. I’m looking for a very slim cleaning tool, as the one I bought is too wide. Any suggestions would be most welcome.

I'm with Farzanah - all who live in the home and are capable should share the jobs. Our division is - I do all rooms with a tap in them + stairs, OH does the rest. All on one morning a week - and at the same time as each other. Works for us. I do laundry so it is not a truly equal share, aware of that but not bothered by it.

If clutter is the problem - have a go at Fly Lady system.