Where do you stand on cleaning house?

I find it something that has to be done but in most regards, something that can be put off until another day, and certainly nothing worth getting excited over. My mother on the other hand never has time to relax or sit down and just do something for recreational purposes, instead she has to stay busy all day every day cleaning and gardening and mowing and canning, etc., and always with me helping her, which is only fair since I don't have a job currently, but I have better things to do than spend ALL my time cleaning a house that tomorrow is just going to restart the dirt phase all over again.

I can understand every day doing the laundry and the dishes and stuff like that, but it's like every day something new just HAS to be cleaned or dusted or vacuumed or sorted through because it's all junked up and 'looks like a bunch of gypsies lives here'. Nobody else thinks the house is junked up, we have I think one of the cleanest ones in the neighborhood, but apparently that's not enough because even though we have a little clutter, she thinks it's going to become like the Hoarders show just because we got a few too many books and movies for the shelves and my father's tools and repair equipment is always laying around somewhere.

I simply cannot see spending all my time worrying about cleaning because the house is just going to get dirty again and again and again and when I die it's going to get dirty or be dirty again, then it'll need someone else to clean it up, and that can be their problem then. There is no winning the fight against the dirt and clutter, now I'm not saying that's reason to never clean, but I can put off dusting and vacuuming and stuff like that for days at a time. A little clutter and a little dust don't bother me, but for my mother, that is simply inexcusable.

How about everyone else? Can you take it or leave it or do you intend for your whole house to shine like the toilet bowl in the Mr. Clean ads?

Im usually on top of cleaning my room and bathroom, and doing my laundry.

My roommate usually takes care of the house... I'll do kitchen sometimes.

nah... not my thing at all. i leave it all for my day off. after working 10 or 12 hours i have no intention of scrubbing and cleaning. it sounds lazy but i use paper plates and plastic ware as much as possible and laundry once a week cause it is just me.

wants2laugh wrote:nah... not my thing at all. i leave it all for my day off. after working 10 or 12 hours i have no intention of scrubbing and cleaning. it sounds lazy but i use paper plates and plastic ware as much as possible and laundry once a week cause it is just me.

Since we have no water today we're using the foam plates for lunch. Unfortunately though we couldn't do that kind of thing every day because we do about 1-2 loads of laundry PER day, and dishes for 4 people at least 3 times a day.

I might leave some things in a disarray before I get to it, but it's never dirty, nasty or sloppy. I'm always clean. Dishes don't pile up. The floors stay swept. I mop and wax them about every two to three weeks. The only thing I'm a stickler about is my bathroom. I spic and span my bathroom every 3 or 4 days.

I'm about to mop my kitchen floor in about an hour. I tend to stay on top of cleanliness.

As far away from the broom as possible? Seriously, I hate it. It might not be so bad if it wasn't all left for me to do. But I admit I'm slack in this department.

One reason I like living in a one-room apartment is ... well, just one room to clean.

I put off house cleaning as long as possible. So many other things that take priority over that.

When it needs to get cleaned, it gets cleaned. We don't have a schedule.

I like to keep it very tidy. I used to be much more like your mom though, when I was a new mother. Then one day, we were visiting my parents and one of their friends asked us what time we were leaving Sunday. I said, "Early because I have to clean when I get home." She then gave me a long lecture about how when I at old, and my parents are gone, and my son has long since moved away from home, I won't be wishing I had cleaned more in my lifetime. So, when things are in need of cleaning, but my son needs my time, I often pause and remind myself of that.

RedBedroom wrote:I like to keep it very tidy. I used to be much more like your mom though, when I was a new mother. Then one day, we were visiting my parents and one of their friends asked us what time we were leaving Sunday. I said, "Early because I have to clean when I get home." She then gave me a long lecture about how when I at old, and my parents are gone, and my son has long since moved away from home, I won't be wishing I had cleaned more in my lifetime. So, when things are in need of cleaning, but my son needs my time, I often pause and remind myself of that.

It's a good point, and thankfully though my mother's been the same way, she can't stand a mess but she does tend to push things back till the next day or the day after so we can do other stuff.

Once a week on an off day I will do some more serious cleaning. Because I hate cleaning, I try to keep things picked up throughout the week so that on that cleaning day, I won't be spending more than an hour on it.