Honestly how often do you clean...

[Brandi]

Your bathroom? I try and clean mine once a week. But I have been in some bathrooms that make me ? how often it is cleaned. And how often do you wash your blankets on your bed? Ok this is out there huh? I guess I am bored.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I never clean my bathroom. Waste of time. When it gets really dirty I just move.

[Brandi]

ha! That is a good one!

[Andrea]

Bathroom- Whenever it looks dirty
Bed cover- if I lay a shirt on it and it picks up an unacceptable amount of dog hair, then I know it's time to wash

[Aggie_Ama]

I will admit I do not clean the bathroom often enough, whenever it starts to look like it needs it (like right now). It is such a pain because we have hard water and cleaning our bathroom is a long ordeal with a good amount of scrubbing, even if it were done weekly. I know it is gross, don't judge me! My seldom used guest bath only gets cleaned once a month, it only gets used 3-4 times a week and the shower hasn't been used since January. The sheets we wash weekly, sometimes two weeks, really wheneven I decide they need to be washed. Guest room I wash as soon as someone leaves.

Other parts of the house like the kitchen get a good cleaning more frequently. Our house isn't nealy as disgusting as many people's I have been in but it isn't model home clean. We are working to do more cleaning or maybe I can just hire a maid service like my mother!

[Biciclista]

I clean my bathroom when the spiders start getting too bold. How about you?

[7rider]

You're supposed to CLEAN the bathroom????? :confused:

Okay...twist my arm. When is company coming over? That's when the house, and the bathrooms, get cleaned....

[Aggie_Ama]

I had friend's growing up who had spotless houses. One friend's mom was such a neat freak their house always looked like a model, you expected the TV to be plastic. She vaccuumed multiple times a week and thoroughly scrubbed the kitchen after every meal. I don't know what else she could have possibly done she was always cleaning. She also had a very successful job as an accountant, it wasn't right.

[greycoral]

my mom raised me in a meticulously clean house. I always resented doing housework, she always made me clean and cook when I got home from school so things would be ready when she got home. So, as an adult, I don't clean OR cook lol.

Luckily I married someone who used to be a chef, so he does the cooking and dishes. As far as cleaning the house, we're both a bit lazy on that front. I usually clean the bathroom once every few weeks. It doesn't really get dirty until then since it's just the two of us, and we actually do a lot of showering at the gym since we have busy schedules. When i start getting a little pink ring in the toilet or around the tub drain, I usually go in and scrub.

[violette]

Why can't they invent a "Self-cleaning" bathroom????:D

[aka_kim]

Never. But the maid cleans once a week.:o

[Andrea]

Why can't they invent a "Self-cleaning" bathroom????:D

That scrubbing bubbles auto shower cleaner thing does a pretty good job. I'd probably use some sort of toilet drop-in thing, too except that I have a dog that looooooves toilet water (prefers it to any bowl of sink water) & sneaks it anytime she can

[MrsB]

You know Ive always wondered how often people clean their bathrooms. The bathroom is the only room that I REALLY HATE! Ive even tried to pay the kids to do the bathrooms but they wont even do it for money. Imagine that? Not even money! The worst part of the bathroom for me is the shower/tub. I hate scrubbing and ive used those SOS Pads and actually took the finish off the tub. (not a good thing) Hubby even made a comment a couple weeks ago about "when are you going to clean the bathroom?" LOL.

[divingbiker]

Never. But the maid cleans once a week.:o

Ditto. I haven't cleaned my own bathroom since 1987. I'll give up a lot before I'll give up my cleaning woman. I'll go home tonight to a spankin' clean house!

[OakLeaf]

Not near as often as it needs it... but I generally do one fixture at a time, which makes everything easier. Floor gets mopped with the other hard floors, not as part of a bathroom cleaning expedition. The outside of the bowl and tub pretty much only get cleaned when we're expecting company :o

Helpful hint: citric acid! Love the stuff. Mix strong and spray on, let it soak for 15 minutes or so. Takes off soap scum, hard water spots, etc. with hardly any scrubbing (well, depending on how much buildup there is :rolleyes:). You can buy large containers of crystalline citric acid very cheaply where you get canning or beer and wine making supplies. Most household cleaners are just food grade acids mixed with a bunch of unnecessary (toxic petroleum based) ingredients anyhow. Mix with a little Dr. Bronner's for a surfactant effect, but if you do that, be sure to rinse the tub thoroughly since it will be slippery.

[alpinerabbit]

Bathroom gets done once a week. I've outsourced cleaning my place.
She's not very thorough on the calcium deposits though. My own concoction of dishwashing liquid, vinegar cleaner and elbow grease was better. But as long as I don't have to do it - 's ok.

Bedclothes go every 2 months. Or less. Should they go more often? :o I feel we shower often enough.

[Kimmyt]

Not often enough! The Master bath is the one that gets used most, and it is a bear to clean. It has a gigantic tub you have to crawl in to scrub, and a shower stall with glass surrounding that is horrible with soap scum. The entire bathroom is tile, except for some portions of the wall and the countertop, so I always put it off. I really get down and clean it every couple months, though more frequently we'll wipe up counters, etc. It's bad, but no one sees my bathroom but me. Once I get pi$$ed off at the dirtiness of it, it'll get cleaned, but otherwise I don't even think about it until it's gone too far!!

I do my sheets on the bed every few weeks, depending on temps and how long it takes them to get that smell.

I am not the neatest person in the world, but for the most part my house is totally and utterly presentable if guests drop in at any point (as long as I keep my master bath and bed door closed!!!!)

K.

[redrhodie]

I do a little maintenance wipe down of sink and toilet every couple of days, so it never gets that bad. I was also in the habit of scrubbing the tub a little every time I showered so the soap scum never built up, but in this new place it's harder because of the shower's placement. Now I don't clean the tub nearly enough. Like, once a month I'll really go at it. I like Mr Clean Magic Eraser for the tub.

I change my sheets every couple of weeks. I don't know why I don't do it more. It's not hard or anything. I'm just lazy, I guess.

[Brandi]

Never. But the maid cleans once a week.:o

LUCKY!!!!!!

[Brandi]

You know with blanket's I am just not sure. i used to wash them once a week. But Now water costs so much I try to do them once a month. I am like some of you with my bathroom. I wipe it down every few days. Mainly cause of the paw prints on the sink. The cats love to play in the sink and we have white counter tops in the the bath.

[short cut sally]

I grew up in a household where mom always wanted it spotless. She started working when I started school. We all had chores to do when we got home. As I got older and being the youngest and only child at home, I got to do all the work. Punishment if there was a dust bunny was washing all the walls and curtains in that said room. Is my house spotless today because of all that cleaning. ABSOLUTELY...not! Its clean to a point. I've seen messier and cleaner houses than mine.
I scrub the bathroom every other week (or whenever a funky smell develops-whichever comes first;)). I try once a week but it just never makes it. My cat's litter box is cleaner than the bathroom.
I vacuum the bedspread to help save on washing. Bedspread gets washed when the cats been in the grease in the shop and there is lots of prints on the bed, or you can tell where the cats been sleeping d/t the greasy residue spot. In the summer, sheets get changed once a week, if I make a valid effort. Winter time, I will have to do research on that one, winters a few months off.

[Irulan]

I did the flylady thing to develop some better housework habits. A little regular maintenance does a lot to eliminate tons of deep cleaning.

[LBTC]

Boy, do I ever miss having a cleaning lady. If DH gets a raise....maybe???

I was also youngest girl in a picky-mom's house. All the cleaning every Saturday. I never liked weekends!!

Our house is usually not terrible, but it's not great. Bathroom once a week, when we're not too busy, but sometimes it gets a quick cleaning because someone is coming over.

Sheets are usually once a week, sometimes longer if our weekends are too busy. The duvet cover not very often since the pets are no longer allowed on the bed. (I LOVE our new bedroom, but the dogs and cat would not agree)

Worst thing in our house is the light coloured carpet and the 2 border collies. It only takes a few days for the carpet to look like it needs to be combed! :eek::p:eek:

Was at someone's house not long ago and the boyfriend made a comment about how he'd spent the day cleaning. I used the washroom and was nearly afraid to touch anything it was so dirty. Our bathroom has rarely, maybe never, reached that stage of dirtiness. Maybe if we were both sick for a week and it had already gone too long or something.....

I'm so relieved to know that those picture perfect houses are not the way everyone lives!! Yay!

Hugs and butterflies,
~T~

[Irulan]

I may hate vacuuming worse than I hate doing the bathrooms!! We ripped up bout 1600 ft sq of wall to wall and put in hardwood in the last few years. I actually LIKE doing my floors now!!! If you have carpet, I don't care how often you vacuum or shampoo, it's really really gross. You have no idea how much crap gets ground in until you've got hardwood and can SEE the dirt/dust/doghair/crumbs every day!!!!

Another thing that affects attitude: new/old. We redid the oldest most hard used bathroom and it's so nice an shiny, it's nice to keep it that way. Our master is up next, and it was needing a redo when we bought the house. We have a huge calcium problem here, and lets just say it's not inspiring to clean an old funky bathroom where it doesn't make any difference.

Every thing we put in we try to do for "easy to clean" as one of the requirements.

[Tuckervill]

I never clean the bathroom. Hubby does it. :)

I do plenty of other cleaning, though. I always mop the kitchen and I always scrub the kitchen like there's no tomorrow. He doesn't even KNOW how often I clean the kitchen.

My house is a dust magnet, though. Something wrong with my furnace, I think. The one room where the return air vent is is always always thick with dust and grit. If I could just get off my duff and dust more often, I'd be happier.

Sheets and blankets, about once a month or when I know I've gotten in them without showering. I forget to do DS's bed and he never considers it too dirty (unless the dog throws up or something), so about every 3 months for him.

Karen
Karen

[bambu101]

Once a week for the bathroom, changing the sheets, vacuuming, and laundry.

Not to be rude, but I cannot imagine sleeping on the same sheets for a "few weeks". Sounds nasty to me, but to each her own!

[Brandi]

I change my sheets once a week. But not the blankets. To much grit and stuff get's on the sheets from having hardwood floors.

[spokewench]

I clean the sheets one, twice or three times a week and the blankets (I don't use a comforter right now) cause I have a 23 year old cat who leaks small drops of urine - yes, it's kind of gross, but I can't put the cat down for a little leakiness; so lots of washing. I also have blankets on all the couches, chairs, etc. that have to be washed a couple of times a week. I am known as might washing machine woman! I should have a cape, but then I would have to wash that too!:D

I clean the bathrooms every week to week and a half. The kitchen really well once a week; and I vaccuum twice a week and mop once or twice a week, because the cat also drags lots of the pine shaving cat litter around the house all the time. Ah the joys of owning a geriatric kitty!

[Flur]

I wash our sheets every 2 weeks like clockwork. I wash the comforter cover about every 2 months in the summer (when we usually just toss it off the end of the bed to sleep) but more often in the winter.

I wash our bath towels every 2 weeks with the sheets, but I usually change them out once a week. I used to not change them out, but DH will wipe his hands on them when he's got extra shaving cream or hair gel rather than washing his hands so I swap them out more often.

I used to clean the bathroom every two weeks, but after about 3 years with DH NEVER cleaning it and me hating to do it, one day I got fed up and just stopped cleaning it. It got really gross :eek::eek:and DH started cleaning it and now he does it about once a month, although I'll jump in and clean it when company is coming over. Out shower is a nightmare which is why we both hate to do it - it's stained from when our landlord had a non-professional come in and re-grout it and you could scrub for days and it wouldn't look clean, and we have these really ugly doors on it that we both hate. I'm thinking that auto-shower cleaner is in order...

I clean the kitchen once a week. This is the one cleaning task I really like to do. I used to like to vacuum, but that's the one cleaning task DH really likes to do, so I let him handle that.

[Grog]

http://feminismonline.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/wasted_life.jpg

My husband cleans a bit of the bathroom now and then, and I usually brush everything pretty thoroughly about once a month.

My parents were there for a week, the four of us shared a bathroom. 7am on the 3rd morning, sure enough my mom was on her knees cleaning the bath.

*sigh*

[OakLeaf]

Not to be rude, but I cannot imagine sleeping on the same sheets for a "few weeks". Sounds nasty to me, but to each her own!

+1. My floors can get disgusting, and they frequently do. But when my sheets start to get that slimy feeling, they get changed, and that's at most a week. And yes I do shower daily. But I know how gross my skin is when I wake up in the morning (which is why I can't bear to put on clean clothes before a shower) - and all that is getting transferred to the sheets as I sleep.

More often in allergy season when pollen wafts onto the pillows.

Blankets, about every two to four sheet changes.

[Tuckervill]

I never use the same towel twice between washings. My husband thinks I should, but I don't know who touched that towel while it was hanging in the bathroom. So, I will happily wash towels every day if I have to, just to make sure I have a sparkly clean towel AND washcloth before every shower.

Same trait makes me take all the unused towels in a hotel room and throw them in a heap on the floor before I leave. Doing the next guest a favor, that I hope the previous guest did for me (::cringe:::).

Karen

[Irulan]

There is way TMI in this thread for me.

[wackyjacky1]

There is way TMI in this thread for me.
LOL!

I used to be the world's worst housekeeper, the result of having an overly picky mother and bad memories from ruined weekends that were spent cleaning house. The weird thing is that something changed for me a few years ago, and now I'm nearly as meticulous as she is. Everything -- bathroom, sheets, blankets, towels, floors, rugs, kitchen -- gets done once-a-week (on Mondays, which is like a Sunday for me). Every so often I get a little lazy and stretch it out an extra day or so, but I just can't let it go longer than that. :p

[Crankin]

Ah, I've had a housecleaning service for about 25 years (minus the first 3 years we lived in MA). They come once a week. Anything less than that would be gross to me. I grew up in a spotless house and that's how I like my house. Both my husband and I clean up after ourselves after showering, using the sink, etc. I wipe it down with a cloth I keep in our bathroom for that purpose, along with Windex, if I make an unintentional mess. The powder room (which gets used a lot) gets cleaned every week, too. We have 2 other full baths, which get cleaned every other week, but sometimes more, if we tell them to (like if my son has stayed over, or I used the bath tub in there).
I change my sheets once a week.

[Jiffer]

I never clean my bathroom or wash my sheets. My cleaning lady does it. :D

She does my sheets every week and my two girls sheets take turns getting done every other week.

Bathrooms are weekly.

Just the other day it dawned on me that my "dry clean only" comforter, which it actually a duvet with nothing in it ... has never once been to the dry cleaners and I've had it since I lived here .... seven years ago!!!

The thought has just never occurred to me until now. So, now that I thought of it, I guess I better do something about it, eh?!

[shootingstar]

This forum is totally different from another forum...for exclusively women but non-cycling. Many of these other women (not all) see housecleaning as a form of therapy..

It will suffice to say that my partner is way neater and cleaner around the home than I. He will voluntarily clean certain areas. Part of it is just his nature but also he is suspectible to allergies if a place is too mouldy or dusty.

We have no pets.

I was raised in a home with 5 other siblings. We had 1 bathroom. So you can imagine...with 5 girls who each had shoulder length hair or abit longer, how much the bathroom needed ...uh..cleaning. My mother tried her best and had to assign specific tasks to us ...on-the-fly. Hence, left the requested child no choice, especially if we were playing or watching TV. There was no household schedule...she knew we would resent that even more.

But I was also raised in a home, where we NEVER wore our outdoor shoes inside the house. It amazes me how some homeowners allow that now for guests... We ask our guests to take off their outdoor shoes.

My counter-remark for living in a crowded place for 2 people that's little over 750 sq. ft...is there is just less rms., space to clean..not that it solves alot of problems.

And I leave my hair short...but I still shed more hair than him who's gettin' bald. I guess that's the good thing about a balcony when weather is nice, ..brushing hair outdoors after a shower... ;)

[crazycanuck]

I often laugh as i think our doggie is our mop. I swear she licks the floor clean!..

About cleaning. I don't do bathrooms, Ian does. I'll do anything but bathrooms :mad:

[Mr. Bloom]

There is way TMI in this thread for me. Then you'll love this...

Several years ago, we were visiting my parents and for some reason, I had to use their shower. To my shock, the white tub and tile looked like they hadn't been cleaned for years. (It was disgusting and unhealthy! I won't get more descriptive than that!). This was after their retirement when they let the cleaning woman go since they had "time" (but apparently not "ability":p) to clean.

So I went to my parents and asked how long it had been...my dad's honest and sincere response was "why do you need to clean a shower? There's only soap and water in there".

I think I spent about 4 hours in there scrubbing every square inch.



It will suffice to say that my partner is way neater and cleaner around the home than I. He will voluntarily clean certain areas. Part of it is just his nature but also he is suspectible to allergies if a place is too mouldy or dusty.


I think I'll start calling you "Silver" and him "Mr. Silver";):D The ongoing joke in our marriage is that I like things "clean and tidy". Silver doesn't care about "untidy" as long as the untidiness is on top of something "clean". :confused::confused:But how can you see the "clean" through the "untidy":confused::confused::rolleyes: (I love you Silver! no matter how messy you are:D;))

[sfa]

Gak! Not nearly often enough. I wipe down the bathroom surfaces every couple of days to keep them looking clean, but only manage a deep cleaning once a month. Changing sheets is about the same, and yes, that's really gross and I know it. Vacuuming about once every week or two. Same with mopping. Dusting happens maybe twice a year. Laundry is the only thing I really keep up with--I do five to seven loads every weekend to get clothes and towels clean. Adding sheets and blankets adds loads I don't have time to do. If I'm lucky someone throws up or wets the bed (dog, kids, I'm not picky) often enough that the sheets and blankets get done more often. If I'm *really* lucky we have guests coming over and then DH and I will stay up until three in the morning the night before cleaning the whole place.

What I want to know is when do you find TIME to clean? I get home from work, cook dinner, help kids with homework, walk the dog, put kids to bed, clean up from dinner, pack lunches, declutter the main living area, check and send email and by then it's 11:00 and I'm done. I save actual housework for weekends but only manage to do it on weekends when we don't have other things planned. I'm looking at the next couple of months and I've got whole day things planned every Saturday between now and the week before Thanksgiving. Sundays aren't much better, but I do at least have two of them free in the next two months. So those are the days that the house will get cleaned. I don't think my schedule is particularly unusual--most people I know have the same work/family/activities balance. I hate how filthy my house gets between cleanings but have learned to live with it and I just tell myself that like most things, this is a temporary situation.

Sarah

[Tuckervill]

There are so many more fun things to do than cleaning, I just don't stress over it if it doesn't get done. This is for my child's sake. There have already been people in this thread who said they hate cleaning because their moms made them. I don't make my kids clean. They will eventually find a good reason to clean up after themselves and they'll do it. My adult sons both keep their houses acceptably clean. I do ask the one at home to do specific things (Son, would you unload the dishwasher while I take the biscuits out, and then I can load it up after dinner?), but if they don't see a good reason for it, that's okay. It works both ways, when he asks me to do something.

But, when the house is really dirty, I will usually invite someone over, which forces me to get motivated to clean it up. A clean house is a wonderful thing.

Karen

[Blueberry]

What I want to know is when do you find TIME to clean? I get home from work, cook dinner, help kids with homework, walk the dog, put kids to bed, clean up from dinner, pack lunches, declutter the main living area, check and send email and by then it's 11:00 and I'm done. I save actual housework for weekends but only manage to do it on weekends when we don't have other things planned. I'm looking at the next couple of months and I've got whole day things planned every Saturday between now and the week before Thanksgiving. Sundays aren't much better, but I do at least have two of them free in the next two months. So those are the days that the house will get cleaned. I don't think my schedule is particularly unusual--most people I know have the same work/family/activities balance. I hate how filthy my house gets between cleanings but have learned to live with it and I just tell myself that like most things, this is a temporary situation.

Sarah

I think having school aged kids is a huge difference. We don't have kids - and I think that's why we have so much extra time. We also tend to have weekends free (I expect that at least some of the weekend time is kid stuff). I *really* admire those of you who can keep up that kind of schedule. I don't think I could...

[shootingstar]

I think I'll start calling you "Silver" and him "Mr. Silver";):D The ongoing joke in our marriage is that I like things "clean and tidy". Silver doesn't care about "untidy" as long as the untidiness is on top of something "clean". :confused::confused:

His tidy habits probably stems from long string of childhood sicknesses which included tuberculosis, ringworm, etc. of which the latter he nearly died from. This was just after WWII, when Germany was trying to rebuild itself and its infrastructure (sewage, water) was still not in good shpae.

He was a boy that did not enjoy playing in the mud. :rolleyes:

[firenze11]

I'm still in school, grad school now (finally! I'm almost done!), and am living in an apartment with two other girls. We have a schedule for cleaning and garbage and everything gets cleaned weekly. I also change my sheets weekly. I can't imagine it any other way.

At my old school I lived in a house with four other people. One year we had two of my guy friends living with us. And get this. . .they cleaned their bathroom once. The whole year. (thankfully the 3 girls had a nice clean one upstairs) And only because we begged, pleaded, then threatened them. And then, out of spite, they cleaned it using our dish rag, then put the dish rag back on the sink. I'm so thankful I was there to witness it and then throw the towel away. Ah, I still love them though.

When they moved at the end of the year, the three girls went down to clean the bathroom for the two girls moving in. We had to wear bags on our feet, gloves on our hands (should have worn masks, too). Everything we cleaned came up nearly black. It was incredible. And disgusting.

[spindizzy]

OOO Firenze! I could tell you stories that would make your skin crawl :eek: about my DH when he was "living with the boys." But I won't.

Housekeeping is something that DH and I have had disagreements about for a ridiculously long time. I finally hired the most fantastic cleaning lady...She's retired now. The one I have now pales in comparison..but it helps.

Towels get done weekly (or daily- we have lots so everyone is free to help themselves.) Bathrooms deep clean weekly - tidy up and quick wipe down every other day.

Sheets - weekly. Google "dust-mites" and you will want to deep clean your house immediately and figure out ways to stop shedding skin cells!

[OakLeaf]

Okay it must be time for this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqOVYpkZ0qs) again.

[kelownagirl]

Bathroom- Whenever it looks dirty
Bed cover- if I lay a shirt on it and it picks up an unacceptable amount of dog hair, then I know it's time to wash

Love the dog hair quote. Me too.

[Crankin]

Mr. Silver, my husband is also more anal about cleaning than me (although I am pretty neat and clean). I always joke that I married him because he was the only single guy I met who had a vacuum!
SFA, my advice is to hire a cleaning lady. Even if you can afford it only one a month or twice a month. Maybe you can find a college student who could help. That way, it's easier to keep up in between. And you can spend your free time doing things with your kids (or riding). And, I hate to ask, but is your husband doing his part?

[kermit]

The in-laws were in town. Easy on the laxative there pops!

[OakLeaf]

Easy on the laxative there pops!

Okay now you have reached my TMI limit. :eek:

[Aggie_Ama]

The in-laws were in town. Easy on the laxative there pops!

Okay this may go TMI but I think it is funny. My husband and I are DINKs and have a 3/2 house. The master bath is like most newer homes and within the bedroom (separated by a door of course). When we moved in I ask my husband to use the guest bath for his stinkier business because I like my bedroom smelling cleaner. So I tell my friend my husband uses the guest bath for that and so unfortunately I do have to clean the toilet more than I liked to. She said "Oh I understand with his Crohn's disease he probably has some unfortunate times where the toilet gets real dirty because he can't help it." She was insinuating he had explosiv diahrea I guess. I started dying laughing and said "No it is because like everyone else his s___ stinks and I don't want to smell it if I go to bed shortly after!" :p

[sfa]

SFA, my advice is to hire a cleaning lady. Even if you can afford it only one a month or twice a month. Maybe you can find a college student who could help. That way, it's easier to keep up in between. And you can spend your free time doing things with your kids (or riding). And, I hate to ask, but is your husband doing his part?

I'd absolutely love to hire a cleaning lady and have looked into it, but it's beyond our budget right now. That's my ultimate dream, though.

My husband pretty much does his part, but he has a much higher tolerance for dirt than I do, so his "assigned" tasks don't get done nearly as often as I'd like them to. He waits until things get really disgusting before doing the job. He and I work opposite schedules, though, so our old habit of spending a couple of hours each Saturday morning thoroughly cleaning the house fell apart once he started coming home at 8 a.m. after working all night and then crashing all day. He also has the really, really annoying habit of being a do-gooder volunteer, so instead of spending his days off cleaning the house (and during the school year he'd have the place to himself to do this) he instead spends his days off building homes for Habitat for Humanity or donating blood or knocking on doors for political causes or volunteering at the school. Drives me nuts, but if I say anything I come off sounding like the Wicked Witch of the West ("whydja spend all day helping poor people when our lawn needed mowing???"). Every once in a while, though, I'll come home from work and find that he spent the day vacuuming and mopping. Those are nice days.

Sarah

[Dogmama]

Must be a popular subject!

Did you know your kitchen sink probably has more bacteria than your toilet? My mother taught microbiology, so I could have written Oakleaf's bacteria U-Tube.

+1 on dumping carpet. I tiled everything 10 years ago & I would NEVER have carpet again. I don't stress over muddy paws or pukey dogs.

.

[Aggie_Ama]

Yup, high on our list is to remove carpet from every room but the bed rooms. I like carpet in there because I don't like cold floors in winter. Otherwise we will be putting laminate or tile in the dining room, kitchen, living, halls, bathroom. I have no freaking clue why a builder put carpet in a formal dining room, it is silly. And even sillier I only have one because the one thing my Nanny wanted to leave me was her china. I have had it 5 months and still have no plans at all to use it, maybe Christmas but then I realized my cousins rambunctious kids will be there and a piece would probably be broken. :rolleyes:

[OakLeaf]

Take a look at cork flooring. It's not cheap, but it's well worth the investment. It's beautiful, durable and resilient, it's a great sound and temperature insulator (so it's not cold in winter), and it's relatively "green" to produce. It comes in a wide range of colors and "patterns." I LOVE my cork floors.

[Grog]

The master bath is like most newer homes and within the bedroom (separated by a door of course).

Slightly off-topic:

You'd sort of hope that this is "of course," but...

I visited an apartment in which the master's bedroom had a bathroom in it... not separated by a door at all. Actually there was only a little step leading to the "bathroom," with the toilet effectively in the middle of the place (you could totally walk around it).

Quite weird.

[Miranda]

Mold growing in the toliet helps to keep the riff raff away.

Mom's theory: people who really love you regardless come to visit anyway. That was my mother's wise old advice to me the years I spent killing myself cleaning to no avail with no other life.

It's really sorta crazy... how clean does the toliet need to be to receive human waste anyway? :confused:

Oh drats... I was informed right before I found this thread I need to clean for some visitors that are coming... hmm, what would my moma say about that:rolleyes:...

[Crankin]

SFA, I don't think you would be "the wicked witch of the west" for asking your husband to cut down a bit on his volunteering. Yes, it's admirable, but your family's needs (and cleaning is a household need) should come before that. It might be a hard conversation to have, but it sounds like that if he is a person who can commit to helping others so much, he would have an open mind to this type of conversation.
I know other people here talked about resenting the fact that they had to help with cleaning chores as kids. I never did, but during the time when we didn't have cleaning help, I did ask my kids to help a bit. They were young (5 and 8) and it lasted for about 2-3 years. I made it a game and we did our work together, at the same time. After that, I expected them to keep their rooms clean (no food left there, garbage) and all of the clutter picked up the night before the cleaning people came. When they turned 13, they had to do their own laundry and put it away. That was a major help, since both of them and my husband wear the same size and we were forever mixing up the socks, underwear, and T shirts.

[OakLeaf]

I had an interesting conversation with my mom about that a couple of weeks ago.

She was under the impression that us kids grew up sloppy because she didn't make us do chores.

Our recollection (all three of us) is that whenever we tried to do something, she immediately took over because we were doing things in our imperfect kid way. Lesson = if it's not going to be absolutely perfect, don't even bother to try. As far as what happened when our dad was supervising and we didn't do something perfectly... well I don't even want to go into that.

I really struggle with being able to do things half-assed (i.e. the normal way that most people do them). Cleaning the bathroom one fixture at a time really helps me with that. It's a lot easier to devote an hour to getting the toilet spotless, or two hours for the shower and tub, than it is to find (or want to find!) an uninterrupted bloc of time to get a whole bathroom perfect.

[Smilie]

It's a lot easier to devote an hour to getting the toilet spotless, or two hours for the shower and tub, than it is to find (or want to find!) an uninterrupted bloc of time to get a whole bathroom perfect.

What?! You spend an HOUR just on the toilet?:eek: Yikes. I have a hard time cleaning anything for an hour. I Keep a spray bottle of water mixed with a few drops of bleach (which is all you need) and spritz the sink, toilet and shower every day. Or at least the shower spritzing once a week!

Sheets weekly, towels once or twice a week. Face washcloths daily-after I read that you get break outs from your bacteria infested wash cloths.

[carpaltunnel]

if it's not going to be absolutely perfect, don't even bother to try.

Oakleaf, boy can I identify with that! My stepmother used to make us clean the whole house every Saturday, and chores after school. Everything had to be perfect or you really caught it. One of my jobs was to clean the cement steps to the basement. I had to sweep it with a broom twice, then with a dust mop once to get the last of the dust, then scrub it on my hands and knees with a rag and a bucket of soapy water, then rinse it with a clean rag & water. I did this every Saturday, in addition to other chores. I've hated cleaning ever since.

I saw a sign on the side of a bus in Minneapolis last weekend, something like "You don't have to enjoy cleaning to be happy while your'e doing it". It made me realize that the woman I hated and haven't seen for 48 years (since my dad divorcede her) still has a little control over me. I can enjoy doing my little household chores if I want to. It's my home, and I enjoy it so I can enjoy tidying it up.(That's not to say I'm going to go overboard about cleaning any time soon. :rolleyes:)

[Dogmama]

Dull people have immaculate homes.

[vinbek]

My mom worked when I was a kid and made us clean the house weekly. If not done to her expectations, we had to do it again. I hated it. Couldn't wait to be old enough to get out on my own. Full circle now - I clean weekly and do it myself. I use the disenfectant wipes for spot cleaning and X-14 for the real cleaning. This stuff is STRONG. We have 4 bathrooms, but it still doesn't take me much time. I would gladly clean your bathroom if you would vacuum my house. I HATE to vacuum!!!

[carpaltunnel]

I HATE to vacuum!!! With good reason!

I was a study participant at the local medical school a few years ago. The study was started by cardiologists (who apparently all have cleaning ladies and don't vacuum themselves) who kept hearing from their patients that they got really tired when they vacuumed. We strapped on this mask thing with a backpack that recorded how much oxygen we consumed when vacuuming using a variety of different vacuum cleaners. They recorded our heart rates, blood pressure before and after, etc.

The study results found that vacuuming was hard work. :rolleyes: Suprise!

When I look at people doing tai chai (sp) it looks like the same kind of effort and physical control as vacuuming.

[Dogmama]

When I look at people doing tai chai (sp) it looks like the same kind of effort and physical control as vacuuming.

I always knew Tai Chi sucked.

<sorry - couldn't resist!>

[evangundy]

My mom always said, we lived in a house that was clean enough to be healthy and dirty enough to be comfortable. The house was never all clean at once, it was clean room by room. And usually got the deepest cleaning just before company arrived. My house is pretty much the same. No set schedule for cleaning, it just gets done when we have time, and it looks like it needs it. Usually a little here, a little there.

Works for us :-)
Edna

[vinbek]

Edna, I like your Mom!

[carpaltunnel]

I always knew Tai Chi sucked.

:p:p:p