Help for the Hopeless Housewife!

No way will I clean the house every day. I blitz on a Tuesday. Change beds, hoover and dust. I spend all day in the house I then have the rest of the week to meet up with friends, see family etc. After years of cooking, cleaning and generally looking after family I really value my time outdoors. Seriously thinking of getting a cleaner in the new year to free me of my Tuesday routine.

What * Monica* said 😂

Gwyllt

Two basic rules
1. Clean cups
2 good coffee
When they push you down the aisle what would you like to hear said about you
A lovely lady she always made you very welcome
OR
She kept a lovely tidy house
I know my preference

It is possible to be both.

I think I lost the plot on keeping things tidy...
Sadly even the idea of cleaning is exhausting here!

But I do like clean cups and can offer a choice of coffees ☕️
Maybe that's enough?

You sound to be a woman after my own heart MOnica, certainly about housework.

An episode of ‘Roseanne’ years ago, (remember Roseanne?) comes to mind. Her husband and children had been left to clean the house when she was out. Dan, the husband, uttered the immortal words “Remember kids, we are just going for the illusion of clean!”

Never a truer word.

Having a cleaner if you can afford it is the best thing because than there is an incentive to keep things tidy for their next visit.

I’m not an especially tidy person. As for cleaning. I was brought up in the tropics, where we had a fleet of servants - even on a tight budget, so just enough done..
As Gwyllt says, as long as your coffee cups are clean, the floor doesn’t stick to your shoes and you can sit down, most people shouldn’t care. It is you not your house that they are visiting!

Well I don’t know you but I would guess that I would really enjoy visiting you. I suspect your home is comfortable and you spend time on things you enjoy. As for whether I would care twopence if you were tidy or not so long as you had a smile of welcome on your face and time for a chat - well for me that would be the important thing. So long as your home is hygienic and I can actually get through the front door I think things would be great 🤣👍

Serendipity22, everything has a place in this house but it sometimes takes a while for things to make it back to their home.

I was brought up with the saying everything has a place.

I can lay my hands on anything because i know where it lives,so basically its never untidy. I have received a few lovely comments on how tidy my home is. 🏡

Two basic rules
1. Clean cups
2 good coffee
When they push you down the aisle what would you like to hear said about you
A lovely lady she always made you very welcome
OR
She kept a lovely tidy house
I know my preference

I hate housework, so I have a cleaner. He comes once a week for two hours, and in between I keep things tidy, clean the loo every day, and keep the kitchen worktops clean.

But I don’t think my friends visit to see if my house is clean - they visit to see me, so I would be opening the door to them even if the house was messy.

The first thing to do, is work out how much housework you really need to do. Far too much cleaning is entirely unnecessary.

In retirement you shouldn't need to dust and hoover more than once a fortnight, unless you live somewhere really dusty and dirty. Rooms used infrequently need cleaning even less. often even then all they need is a quick dust with a feather duster and do not require vacuuming, only do that every month or so.. Always use a feather duster, far quicker than using a duster.

The art of having a house that gives the impression of perfection - and lets face it impression is all you need - is to keep it tidy and that means if you pick it up you put it back where you found it. First thing in the morning OR last thing at night, depending on whether you are a lark or an owl, just walk round the house picking things up and putting things away.

Then just clean things when they look obviously dirty

One of the biggest hindrances to getting the housework done is procrastination especially spending time online, including Gransnet, or getting sidetracked by something I find when tidying up. No matter what is on my list, or my good intentions, I just don’t get things done. I can hardly believe I used to clean the whole house on a Saturday morning.

Thank you, keepcalmandcavachon (great name btw) but I wonder how long you spend doing that? Just doing Monday's tasks would take me a week!

Hi icanhandthemback, I'd recommend a terrific book 'The Organised Mum' by Gemma Bray . She takes you step by step to building a cleaning routine to suit all very do-able, also good tips and shortcuts. My week is -Mondays- sitting, dining room & conservatory, Tuesdays- upstairs including changing bedding, Wednesdays- hall, stairs utility, Thursdays are for the kitchen and Fridays I can clean a few indoor windows/wash woodwork etc.
A jolly good de-clutter first makes the house very easy to keep things under control (except for craft items which seem to multiply like gremlins)