How clean do you keep your house?

[stracci2000]

No one should be dropping by unexpectedly especially now during the pandemic. IMO.

You are right. No one comes by these days.

 

[YadaYadaYada]

Our house is decent most days, it is a bit of a mess now because I will be painting the living room soon.

I do all the regular cleaning for the most part and I try to stick to a routine especially the bathroom. We have two cat boxes in there so if I don’t keep the litter off the floor and it gets wet from the shower....basically cement.

On a daily basis the kitchen, dining room (we eat all our meals there) and living room get cleaned. Wednesday is the bathroom, the kids pickup their own rooms. As for our room, let’s just say thank goodness for doors

 

[marcy]

I have a pretty clean house all the time. I can’t stand to have dirty dishes, I do them as soon as I can. My husband is kind of messy so I pick up after him but I’d rather do that than fight about it. I do have a small stack of mail, magazines, to do paperwork on the table but it’s small enough I can hide it in an end table drawer if we have company.

 

[yssie]

Six cats, two dogs. Ain’t nothing staying clean for any length of time.
I settle for no visible fur in the food
One time I left potatoes boiling on the stove uncovered, and when I checked on them maybe fifteen minutes later there was a pink plastic jingly ball melting against the interior of my pot.
We can’t not vacuum daily, but it’s a quick one.
The litterbox and surrounding area takes an hour every morning. Sweep, disinfect room and broom, clean up all messes, clean litterbox, replace puppy pads, take rubbish out. I used to be able to do it in 45 minutes, but with Garett getting worse - that fifteen minute shaving is a daydream these days. We go through a LOT of paper towels in this house. I do a more thorough job than the other half so I prefer to just do it myself, unpleasant as it is.

Our housekeeper comes weekly. I owe him a significant portion of my sanity.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

HI:

I don't care for piles of anything. So I am tidy. But I eschew housework--so things are never as good as they could be. It is very dusty here so vac my floors EOD. And finger prints on appliances tick me off, so wiping is done a billion x/day. I have my sheets professionally laundered to take that load off. The rest can go to he**!

cheers--Sharon

I miss mt mother's sheets because she ironed them
Your sheets must feel lovelly Sharon
I have trouble folding mine so they are always a bit wrinkly and need extra straightening when i get them back on the bed - but they do smell like sunlight

 

[jaysonsmom]

We used to have house cleaners every other week, but since the pandemic, we do our own cleaning. That being said, I think our house is cleaner now, because we are working from home and can’t stand to see the clutter or dust because we are around it 24/7. I picked the second option, our house definitely looks lived in, and there are books, bills, shoes at the door etc, but all things have their place and it does not looks like a staged model home. My husband and I make a good team, I’m a good tidier, put everything in their place, and my husband is a good cleaner....so between the 2 of us, we keep a decent looking home.

 

[Dandi]

I can't stand any mess, so I clean/tidy/vacuum daily. The bathrooms and kitchen get a daily wipe, I squeegee the shower after every use, I vacuum 10000000 times a day (kids and cat and dog!), and I'd probably dust once a week. I wait until I have a full load to do washing, but I hide it in the machine until then, so I don't have to look at it

 

[Austina]

I’m between 1 and 2. I have a formal sitting room, which is always clean and tidy. Whenever we have guests, it’s not unusual for me to dust and hoover after they’ve left, before going up to bed. All the spare bedrooms and bathrooms are clean and ready for guests at a moment’s notice. We live in our orangery at the back of the house, and I hoover in there several times a week.

Since our lovely dog died, I’m doing a lot less cleaning, as being big and hairy she did create a lot of mess, so the floors don’t need cleaning everyday, and I don’t need to dust everyday.

 

[missy]

I neglected to mention I do a number of laundry loads a day so you will never find dirty laundry at our house LOL.

You are right. No one comes by these days.

Honestly we are prepared for company at all times of day. But even before the pandemic I did not care for unexpected company and my friends and family know they must call before dropping by. It's just the way I am. I do not appreciate unexpected anything. I think that is because at heart I am an introvert. Though if you ask people (who don't really know me but superficially) they will say I am extroverted. Only because I work hard at making others feel comfortable. You could say I am an extroverted introvert.

Even my phone calls are by appointment generally.

 

[winetime12]

My SO and I have very high standards, and a clean house brings me inner peace. We don't have pets and my 13 year old daughter helps out so it's not hard. Clutter gives me anxiety so we always put things back in their place. I wouldn't say it's instagrammable but my house is always clean, neat and tidy.

 

[Gussie]

Pre COVID- immaculate
During COVID- God, please help us; it's a wreck!

It's better now since tge kids have gone back to school. I am hoping DH can go back soon!

ETA my housekeeper comes twice a week and she was sent from angels.

 

[Bron357]

Growing up my room looked like a bomb had hit it. My mother and I would argue over my making my bed - why bother, I’m going to be messing it up again tonight?
Then I moved out.
After buying my first apartment, it was kept immaculate. It was small, a 1 bed, but I cleaned it top to toe every Saturday.
Mum was astonished I have a “clean gene” in me!
These days in our house the formal lounge and dining look immaculate, no one goes in there so it’s easy.
The family rooms and kitchen are where we “live”. The kitchen is restored to immaculate after each meal. The rooms are tidied multiple times a day (I have dogs that constantly get toys out of their toy box and bring sticks and pebbles inside) - worse than toddlers! I vacuum out here everyday. The rest of the house weekly. Every month or so I do the deep clean, that’s every every surface dusted / leather lounges conditioned. I have a lot of bric a brac so it’s a task
Washing clothes and putting away is 3 times a week, towels, sheets etc every Thursday.

 

[KristyDarling]

Question: For those of you who are using housekeepers during the pandemic, what safety measures are you taking? What safety measures is your cleaner taking?

Apparently I am one of the only people in my friend group who is still doing their own cleaning during the pandemic, but I'm very spooked by even the tiniest possibility that someone from outside of my household might bring the dreaded virus into my family's safe haven!

 

[elle_71125]

I picked #2. Clean but noticeably lived in.

I do not have the clean gene. I love a clean house but working to keep it that way is a constant struggle for me. As my husband likes to say, I have a tendency to “plop” things wherever I am in the moment. Bring in a package...leave it in the sun room. Come home from work, plop the keys and phone on the counter (despite having a key holder). My kitchen counters are always the first thing to become overly cluttered. It’s the hub of my home. Add in 3 dogs and 3 cats and I will have a VERY messy home if I don’t actively work to stay on top of it. Thankfully, my DH and I have been keeping things nice and tidy. I certainly need to wash the floors but they’re being vacuumed daily thanks to my lovely Roomba.

I’ve also been dropping hints about hiring someone to come in once a week and I can see my husband slowly coming over to the dark side.

 

[mrs-b]

I have 130lb and 8 legs of sporting dog living here, so there are limits. Having said that, tho, I sit between 1 and 2. My living rooms are always pretty immaculate, should we have someone drop by unexpectedly. It's obviously not possible mid-pandemic, but it's a habit and doesn't change for a virus.

When I was young, I was terrible. Despite my parents being pretty neat and very ordered, I didn't pick up anything, and I used to leave food in bags, which drew mice a couple of times. After my mother died, my father married again. The first time he brought his new girlfriend over, he showed her around the house. When they got to my room (I was out at the time), Dad had to sort of shoulder the door open a bit. Girlfriend - looking worried - said "Did she do this because she knew I was coming?" Dad looked at her blankly and said..."No." It wasn't till she'd left that he realized what she'd meant.

The DAY I moved out of home, I did a 180. It was what Jung refers to as 'my shadow self'. I became 'could-eat-out-of-the-toilet-bowl' neat and clean. My handwriting became neat. My organization of everything I did just went non-linear. I went from being someone who cut as many classes as was humanly possible while still passing, to coming top in every class I did at university. It was the effects of finally getting out from under the weight of my family, and knowing I'd be judged on who I was, rather than who THEY were.

There is a cognitive theory that says that excessive external order is indicative of internal disorder. Interesting, really.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

Even if i could afford it i don't think id ever hire a cleaner
I like my privacy
And i think id be cleaning up all the time to make the house look nice because the cleaner was coming !

All though i have heard there are ladies who specialize in oven cleaning .....

 

[Gabbycat]

Growing up my room looked like a bomb had hit it. My mother and I would argue over my making my bed - why bother, I’m going to be messing it up again tonight?
Then I moved out.
After buying my first apartment, it was kept immaculate. It was small, a 1 bed, but I cleaned it top to toe every Saturday.
Mum was astonished I have a “clean gene” in me!
These days in our house the formal lounge and dining look immaculate, no one goes in there so it’s easy.
The family rooms and kitchen are where we “live”. The kitchen is restored to immaculate after each meal. The rooms are tidied multiple times a day (I have dogs that constantly get toys out of their toy box and bring sticks and pebbles inside) - worse than toddlers! I vacuum out here everyday. The rest of the house weekly. Every month or so I do the deep clean, that’s every every surface dusted / leather lounges conditioned. I have a lot of bric a brac so it’s a task
Washing clothes and putting away is 3 times a week, towels, sheets etc every Thursday.

I used to have the same bed making argument with my Mom, and that's another thing that as an adult I don't do every day. Even if people come over they aren't coming into my bedroom, so who cares?

Also, I read an article a while back that said that it was actually healthier leave it unmade to air out the bed to make sure any moisture dries and therefore decreases mites and the like, so there's that. Not sure if it's true, but I'm sticking with that.

 

[CoffeeAndDiamonds]

Once the pandemic is under control, I'd like to get a cleaner. Both my husband and I work a lot, and we're more likely to try to cook dinner & get a workout in on weeknights. We try to catch up on cleaning on the weekends, but generally (in pre pandemic life) want to go out and do something fun. I really don't know how people with kids do it lol.

 

[missy]

Even if i could afford it i don't think id ever hire a cleaner
I like my privacy
And i think id be cleaning up all the time to make the house look nice because the cleaner was coming !

All though i have heard there are ladies who specialize in oven cleaning .....

This is how I have always felt. I enjoy my privacy and never liked having people cleaning in my house. And, like you wrote Daisy, I always had to straighten up before they came to clean. But because my DH loves a clean house I agreed to a cleaning person/crew (In Brooklyn we had a cleaning person and at the beach house a cleaning crew). However, since last February we have had zero people cleaning the house besides us.

Though it really was good practice having RW in 2019 (lol who thought I would ever say that!) because during RW at the beach house we did all the cleaning ourselves. NO way was I trusting our cleaning crew to clean as throughly as we did to prevent RW from spreading. So since summer 2019 we have been cleaning our beach house ourselves and since the pandemic cleaning Brooklyn ourselves as well. Though we aren't there so we aren't cleaning Brooklyn as often as if we were there. It's still pretty darn clean as we went back over a week ago to get mail and I was impressed with how clean things were there. Greg had covered stuff with blankets etc to help with the accumulating dust since we aren't living there at the moment and the house looked good.

Anyway, sorry for the tangent. All this to say that I like my privacy and I always hated having the cleaning people there and would always make myself leave the house while they were cleaning. Which was an inconvenience during inclement weather and also always stressful for the cats. I don't mind cleaning with Greg (we are a cleaning team lol) and since we do it daily it's easy to stay on top of it. So it never feels out of hand. That, I think is key. Cleaning daily (or at least on a very regular basis depending on your situation ie pets/kids) allows for smooth and easy cleaning.

 

[MaisOuiMadame]

Question: For those of you who are using housekeepers during the pandemic, what safety measures are you taking? What safety measures is your cleaner taking?

Apparently I am one of the only people in my friend group who is still doing their own cleaning during the pandemic, but I'm very spooked by even the tiniest possibility that someone from outside of my household might bring the dreaded virus into my family's safe haven!

Hi, my cleaner choses to come, otherwise she'd hit 80% from the public covid aid program and we'd top up the rest (did that during the 9 week hard lockdown).

My cleaner has a key and comes in downstairs (ground floor), washes hands ( 30 secs , antibacterial soap ), changes clothes. There is a bathroom in the now unused guest bedroom. She always has...she has a set of gym gear at my house...since day one pre C19. Then she puts on a fresh surgical mask I provide. And single use gloves (always has).

She starts on second floor and then we move upstairs when she does the other floor. She opens the windows upstairs and when I get upstairs I close them. We have a very old home with new windows, so we have to air vicariously to avoid mold anyways.

Same procedure when she yells goodbye .. she leaves three determined windows open to create a draft and I go downstairs (first floor) a few minutes later.

Our ceilings are 13 ft and the rooms are big.

She changes back into her street clothes in the bathroom nobody uses and uses the guest entrance/exit again on the ground floor level. On that level there are only guest bedrooms and my laundry room and that extra entrance.

It's not totally risk free but 1000 better than grocery shopping.

Downside: house IS chilly for 3 minutes.

 

[KristyDarling]

Hi, my cleaner choses to come, otherwise she'd hit 80% from the public covid aid program and we'd top up the rest (did that during the 9 week hard lockdown).

My cleaner has a key and comes in downstairs (ground floor), washes hands ( 30 secs , antibacterial soap ), changes clothes. There is a bathroom in the now unused guest bedroom. She always has...she has a set of gym gear at my house...since day one pre C19. Then she puts on a fresh surgical mask I provide. And single use gloves (always has).

She starts on second floor and then we move upstairs when she does the other floor. She opens the windows upstairs and when I get upstairs I close them. We have a very old home with new windows, so we have to air vicariously to avoid mold anyways.

Same procedure when she yells goodbye .. she leaves three determined windows open to create a draft and I go downstairs (first floor) a few minutes later.

Our ceilings are 13 ft and the rooms are big.

She changes back into her street clothes in the bathroom nobody uses and uses the guest entrance/exit again on the ground floor level. On that level there are only guest bedrooms and my laundry room and that extra entrance.

It's not totally risk free but 1000 better than grocery shopping.

Downside: house IS chilly for 3 minutes.

Thanks for sharing, @kipari . Your precautions seem as prudent as can be in this day and age - well done!! Ventilation and masking (and of course, distancing) are super-important factors and it looks like you've made every effort to promote that.

 

[Ionysis]

I am incredibly lucky to live somewhere where it’s relatively affordable to have a live in home help. My wonderful helper drives, cleans, cooks when necessary (not because I ask her too but we love to try her favourite Sri Lankan recipes) does the laundry and helps with the garden. Frankly given the hours I work I’d choose her over my husband any day if the week if I had to get rid of one of them!

So my house is clean and tidy but not through any of my own efforts. If it was down to me I would live I squalor until I was due to entertain (or my mother was coming) at which point every single item would have to be gleaming in exactly the correct place and I’d run around like a harridan for an entire day to have everything perfect.

I admit to being rather “all or nothing” - no middle grounds here.

 

[Matata]

Husband

4 messy cats =

 

[Diamond Girl 21]

I fall between 1 and 2, so I didn't vote. I'm a neat freak, but husband, daughter, and fur baby are not. Our house is always clean, but our den, kitchen, and my husband's den get messy. I usually pick up after them when they go to bed. The good news is all our other rooms are pretty immaculate. Those rooms make me super happy.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

I am incredibly lucky to live somewhere where it’s relatively affordable to have a live in home help. My wonderful helper drives, cleans, cooks when necessary (not because I ask her too but we love to try her favourite Sri Lankan recipes) does the laundry and helps with the garden. Frankly given the hours I work I’d choose her over my husband any day if the week if I had to get rid of one of them!

So my house is clean and tidy but not through any of my own efforts. If it was down to me I would live I squalor until I was due to entertain (or my mother was coming) at which point every single item would have to be gleaming in exactly the correct place and I’d run around like a harridan for an entire day to have everything perfect.

I admit to being rather “all or nothing” - no middle grounds here.

In high school my best friend lived in Singapore for 2 years as her dad was working there as a school teacher for the NZ army school when we used to have a base there
Their house came with a maid
My freind's family got really close to her family, it was nice for my freind who had just left school to have some freinds
No one we had ever known had had had a cleaner, let alone a maid before
My freind's mum did not keep well in the heat and humidity and they got almost a continues steam of visitors staying the whole time they were there so she was really appreciative of the help and friendship

 

[lambskin]

Working from home makes me focused on the dirt. I like to put everything in its place but options are limited. I just deep cleaned daughter’s bedroom By hand washing floor, windows and sills, polishing furniture and dusting\washing tschokies, laundering all linens ( curtains next), and organizing drawers. She just left for university so she could not fight me. I did the same for our home office last week And hand washed all the crystal in my break front. Today I scrubbed down the hall bathroom, refolded the towels and washed the shower curtain. I pick a room a week and focus on it until completed. Prevents feeling of being overwhelmed. So after a couple of months every room has been deep cleaned. Of course Everyweek the whole house gets a good clean too And kitchen and baths are always getting cleaned. But I checked option two as I can’t keep up with the clutter...

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

Working from home makes me focused on the dirt. I like to put everything in its place but options are limited. I just deep cleaned daughter’s bedroom By hand washing floor, windows and sills, polishing furniture and dusting\washing tschokies, laundering all linens ( curtains next), and organizing drawers. She just left for university so she could not fight me. I did the same for our home office last week And hand washed all the crystal in my break front. Today I scrubbed down the hall bathroom, refolded the towels and washed the shower curtain. I pick a room a week and focus on it until completed. Prevents feeling of being overwhelmed. So after a couple of months every room has been deep cleaned. Of course Everyweek the whole house gets a good clean too And kitchen and baths are always getting cleaned. But I checked option two as I can’t keep up with the clutter...

Last time i washed curtains (not meaning white net curtains) they disintegrated

 

[lambskin]

Last time i washed curtains (not meaning white net curtains) they disintegrated

They are just sheers and straight store bought unlined polyester drapes. We have a front loader washer and I put it on hand wash cold and they come out great. I can even hang them damp as the spin dry really works well.

 

[123ducklings]

I have young kids and we’re all at home during the pandemic. I clean all throughout the day but the house still looks very lived in.

 

[MamaBear]

To all the moms of younger kids: YOU’RE DOING GREAT!! One day you may miss the piles of shoes by the door....