Bad homemaker

Romola

Is home-making only about how clean and tidy the home is? Nearly everyone who has posted has talked about their attitude to cleaning. Making sure a home is clean and tidy enough gets you to the starting post, but that's not home-making as I understand it.
I think a welcoming and comfortable place with visual appeal is equally important.

Agreed.

We've dogs that shed copious quantity of white hair, hoovering daily is a necessity. Small children come round most days as well, adding to the hoovering! Additionally I can't get on well in clutter - tidy is essential.

I think the reason this thread is all about cleaning is because the OP equated homemaking with having a clean tidy house, so all posters discussed this and din't really notic ethe word used at the start of the OP.

On the subject of home making as defined bt Romola, I am going to be really offensive and brag. Our house is for sale at the moment and a young couple viewing yesterday kept saying that they loved how we had made our home feel so comfortable. My response was that there is nothing to beat a big squashy sofa, in front of a wood burning stove on a cold day to give that impression.

I must say my house is a tip at the moment (for good reason) and to me mess = stress, although I'm not obsessionally tidy.

Allira

I must say my house is a tip at the moment (for good reason) and to me mess = stress, although I'm not obsessionally tidy.

Our home is a tip many times over a week.

White dog hair flying about. Small children, though they eat at kitchen islands and have a play room, are just messy creatures.

Yesterday baby was sat on the floor feeding brotchen bits to dog, other children were tearing brochen to shapes for baby. Crumbs across a tidy floor. We'd not have it any other way.

That doesn’t sound like a tip to me Norah, it sounds like a nice, normal home when there are dogs and children about. I think a tip is a house where there are piles of stuff everywhere, unsorted and often on the floor or over sofas and tables, and where it looks a bit grubby, with un dusted surfaces or dirty floors - one where it looks like the owner has given up the fight.

Casdon

That doesn’t sound like a tip to me Norah, it sounds like a nice, normal home when there are dogs and children about. I think a tip is a house where there are piles of stuff everywhere, unsorted and often on the floor or over sofas and tables, and where it looks a bit grubby, with un dusted surfaces or dirty floors - one where it looks like the owner has given up the fight.

That's mine at the moment, Casdon and Norah! Piles of stuff and dust everywhere but all in the name of home improvements.
However, I've got to the point of having had more than enough now.

For many years, I was a poor housekeeper but I didn't find the disorganization and messiness freeing at all. Everything that needed to be done would nag at me in the back of my mind and then I'd have times when I had to do horrible marathon cleanings because out of town company was coming or whatever. It was just depressing to me, really.

I think I am just not naturally a very disciplined or organized person and didn't know how to get into a routine and stay on one, without it seeming like slow torture and being intolerable for very long.

What finally helped me were programs, mainly "Flylady" (you can find it online and it's free). She just basically tells you what to do every day and keeps the assigned jobs moving around the house day by day so it all eventually gets and stays pretty well done. If you miss a day, you're supposed to just start with whatever day it is right then, so you can't get behind. Just following her about 1/4 of the time made a huge difference for me. I also like the Marie Kondo stuff.

Also, once years ago I went with a friend while she did a housecleaning job. It was a large house, two stories, four bedrooms, 2.5 baths. And she had it all sparkling in only two hours. That always stuck with me, how little effort it takes to clean an empty house. Otherwise, I'd expect that job to take four or five times that long. Of course my house isn't empty but I keep it de-cluttered, which cuts the cleaning time way down.

I like having a clean and organized house all the time, not only once in a while, BUT with minimal time and effort. Paying a cleaner wouldn't be enough for me because there's so much that's not included in their typical routine cleanings. I also don't like the idea of unnecessary strangers in my house.

Anyway, it took me decades to get it down but now my house is clean and organized. I actually find it less work to keep it that way than it was to "put out fires" and/or have huge cleaning jobs hanging over my head, not to mention not fully enjoying my home or wanting anyone to come over a lot of the time. Of course it helps to be retired now, with a smaller home and kids grown and gone but maybe not as much as you'd think.

So if anyone wishes they were a better housekeeper, I'd just say there is hope! I'd try Flylady. She's a bit weird but to me it's funny and she keeps it rather entertaining. Like she'll post a long letter scolding us all about not listening to her lol. I just ignore the religious stuff on her site and it's all good.

Allira

Casdon

That doesn’t sound like a tip to me Norah, it sounds like a nice, normal home when there are dogs and children about. I think a tip is a house where there are piles of stuff everywhere, unsorted and often on the floor or over sofas and tables, and where it looks a bit grubby, with un dusted surfaces or dirty floors - one where it looks like the owner has given up the fight.

That's mine at the moment, Casdon and Norah! Piles of stuff and dust everywhere but all in the name of home improvements.
However, I've got to the point of having had more than enough now.

Home improvements cause so much disruption don’t they, but it’s so nice when they are done, and you sit back and admire the end result, knowing every cupboard is sorted, and it is how you want it - the only problem being it makes you want all the rest done too.