Tuesday, April 19, 2011

How do you clean your house?

I clean the Fibro one day at a time. Which means that it's rarely all clean at the same time. I do the bathroom one day. The bedrooms the next. The floors as rarely as I can get away with. Every day, the living room gets a general tidy and the washing up gets done. But sparkling from top to bottom is not something the poor old Fibro gets to experience that often.

Unless we're having people to dinner. Or to stay. Then it's all hands on deck for a thorough cleaning frenzy. We even remove the Scalectrix-style race track from the dining table for the guests. We have standards.

I do wonder if I'm going at it all wrong with this piecemeal effort. But it makes it all feel less arduous. A bit here, a bit there. Squeezed in when I'm trying to avoid work through my writing. Much better than four hours in a row.

And, yes, I could get a cleaner. But I just know that I'd be one of those sad folk who clean for the cleaner. I'd rather live with the knowledge of that than the reality.

How do you clean? Bits and pieces or all in one hit?

[image: Tumblr.com


PS: Maxabella has been nominated in the People's Choice Awards for the Sydney Writers' Centre's Best Australian Blogs 2011 Competition - she needs praise and love and votes. Go visit her. She'll tell you.

35 comments:

  1. Before kids the house was clean from top to bottom all in the same day.

    But now...it's one day at a time and that kills me because I'm OCD.

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  2. oh bits and pieces for sure...I often say I am going to get a cleaner but I too know that I would clean for the cleaner. This evening, M1 decided to clean the playroom AND his bedroom. There I was, getting in his way and even cleaning up after his cleaning. I had to stop myself. A 3 year old cleaning is a rare event - not worth messing with. After all, so what if his "cleaning" means stuffing everything he can into one toy bin?? The room looks tidier than it ever has done!

    Gill xo

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  3. definitely bits and pieces. And I have a cleaner now that I'm back at work. And yes, I clean for the cleaner (sigh!)
    xxxCate

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  4. I'm with you. Although I dress it up and call it "clean as you go": sounds so much snappier, don't ya think?

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  5. Cleaning the house is not my favourite occupation and to be honest I do as little as I can live with. I like a clean kitchen so that is first priority in the day. Whatever mess bothers me I clean up and in between I do whatever else I do in a day. If I am expecting someone..especially to stay, then everybody mucks in!

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  6. I clean the whole house every Sunday. Then I clean every room once a month. The thorough Cull What We Can sort. And life is wonderful. Mad frenzy on Sunday, but good. xx

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  7. Cleaning? Hate it. Learned that from my dear old mum. She used to vacuum if she happened to find the vacuum wherever she'd last left it. But I also dislike the way my house looks with 5 of us in our little country cottage. Just waiting now for the boys to grow up and move so I van control my own desmesne again. I work full time and have fibromyalgia - working in an office is easier than working at home I've found. Recently had surgery and my friend was desperate to help so since she's worked as a professional cleaner I took her up on the offer and asked her to do the bathroom and kitchen for me. I've put up forensic tape at the doors - none may pass ... especially if they plan to mess up my nice new rooms .

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  8. Massively topical for me at the mo. Was home with the skids yesterday, all intentions of taking them to see Rio, when the Valuers rang and said they were coming through (trying to get money from the banks) and suddenly it was like, fuck, this house is a pit.

    Suddenly those bills and stuff that had been shoved in the microwave cave had to be filed. The bathrooms needed to sparkle and the kids could no longer have lego strategically placed on the floor for underfoot carnage.

    It took me all day. Good news is, I don't need to do it now for another 3 months or if people come over for dinner we want to impress.

    That's my MO when it comes to cleaning. xx

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  9. An untidy (and unclean) house makes my head hurt. Every Monday I spend the day cleaning the house, doing the washing and cooking.

    I've managed to get the house cleaning down to about 2 hours which includes everything. And I usually put on a DVD to occupy Mst 3.

    It's routine I've had in place for well over 2 years now so he's used to it and even knows that it's cleaning day.

    And it makes me feel like I've set up my week perfectly.

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  10. oooh i'm a bits and peices. if the kids are in the bath, i clean the bathroom, if there in their bedroom i clean it, and so on and so on and so on - although i avoiding dusting like the plague. Hubby is a neat/clean freak, so Sat morning he jumps out of bed and vacuums and does the windows and complains about all the things i haven't done. Who needs a cleaner when i have an OCD husband ;-)

    xx

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  11. Bits and pieces with the occasional spllurge (usually when guests are coming). I change the beds on a Friday, do washing every single day, hoover on a Monday. My house is very tall and narrow spread over four floors so I'm constantly lugging the hoover up and down. It never seems to look clean though but other stuff beckons. I would definitely clean for the cleaner if I had one.

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  12. Most definitely piece by piece in these parts. There is no way I would have the time and energy or the ability to get the whole lot done in one day!
    I clean the kitchen every day, but everything else just has to wait it's turn!
    I'm like you also, I would clean for the cleaner. Sad!

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  13. I yearn for sparkling. Yearn. Instead I achieve hygienic(ish). I'm coming back here when everyone's finished commenting in the hope there's some inspiration that'll rub off on me too!

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  14. Hire someone to clean for the cleaner? That would be H's answer. :-) Believe you me, even with 4 days a week of cleaning, I still spend at least an hour a day picking up, wiping counters and vacuuming my floors. Yes, that is called parenting.

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  15. Get over it. Life is too precious to clean too much. My Grandmother taught me that. I believe her only regret is that she spent too many years wasting time on intense cleaning. And it has recently been reinforced to me by a couple of whopping great earthquakes. Just be grateful you have water on tap and a working sewerage system when you do choose to clean! I'll be glad when we do again, but I still won't waste too much time on it...

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  16. When I say I clean for the cleaner I mean I pick all the crap off the floor! This is v time consuming and stressful. But worth it as the house can then sparkle for about 15 minutes. Which is how long it take for the kids to tip it upside down again.
    On your approach - without a cleaner this would be mine. Well, that bit about frantic cleaning before visitors.
    Michelle

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  17. I am one of those sad folk that got into Flylady about ten years ago, and it has stuck.

    So I do daily routine thing. And then of course I fly into a frenzy of obsession when the parents in law come to stay....

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  18. I do tidy up for the cleaner but not actually clean for her !!

    I enjoy cleaning but I tend to give one room a real going over, in a way the cleaner never would but I can do it when and if I choose :) It's a fine life :)

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  19. Bits and pieces EVERY day, but on my child free day once a week, I like to turn the music on and I do the whole house in one go.

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  20. I work two days a week (well I work every day but just get to go where I am paid two days a week...) On one of those days I have a cleaner come in. Love it. I would rather go to my day job than clean and I get to come home to a clean house. Sometimes this is the high point of the week, sad isn't it...? I tidy for the cleaner so she doesn't waste time picking up toys etc but don't clean for her (stopped that caper years ago)

    I am a bit OCD so still sweep floors, wipe benches etc daily - we have lots of people come through for various reasons so try and avoid being caught in absolute squalor.

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  21. The B&B is like a theatre: Front-of-house vs backstage. Guest areas are washed and vacuumed, scrubbed and shined with vigour (and serious help from our heaven-sent cleaner/helper) but behind the scenes...Well, don't start me!

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  22. I clean on a Wednesday morning. Bathrooms, toilets, beds, floors. I love the feeling of accomplishment when I have finished. Although after an hour or so of the kids being home and hubby home from work I wonder why I bother sometimes.

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  23. I do mine in one hit. I don't want to clean the house every single day! But that one day of cleaning is looooong.

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  24. i am VERY routined and keep things as simple as possible. it is one of the reasons i am trying to down size and have less stuff...so I can get on top of the house...I am a big fan of boxes, old suitcases and things in their place...but reality is we live in a small house and it is always on the verge of out of control...

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  25. As little as possible. I don't think I would get out of bed on Sundays if I had Kymmie schedule! We have a cleaner once a fortnight - I tidy up for her and cull where possible. The rest of the time it is 'just in time cleaning' x

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  26. Oh how I long to have a clean house!
    Alas am sabotaged at every turn by my four little hurricanes, so last minute, "Auugghh, people are coming over!!" is the current method around here. Oneday I will have my pristine walls and white couches...one day...

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  27. I could have written this. I would love to say I have a cleaning day. I would love to have a completely clean house, even for a couple of hours. there is no point having a cleaner. I would clean for the cleaner too!

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  28. I think you and I graduated from the same home maker class. I ama piece-meal girl as well. In fact there are times when it is so piece-meal that I actually break it down to time of day cleaning: Bathroom on Monday = toilet just after I've been, hand basin just after the post-breakfast hand wash and tooth brush, bath after kids have gone down for lunch time nap, shower while I am having one that evening. The up-side is that regardless of how far I get, I've actually achieved something. The down-side? I'M FOREVER CLEANING!!!

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  29. We clean badly and never enough, and ocasionally do a super clean...but with 3 animals...it is impossible to keep the house clean. Animal hair everywhere.!

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  30. I clean the same way. Otherwise I'll die from exhaustion. I used to be a neat freak but realized it's eating way too much of my time and making me a grumpy lady.

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  31. I have "cleaning days" About twice a week i "clean" which includes your daily tidy (dishes, things put away when fninshed with, washing), i vacuum/sweep/mop, dust, and then once a week i add cleaning the bathroom into that. It usually only takes me around 2-3 hours depending on how much the kids get in the way and how quickly i get stuck in. I find it all less daunting that way. Then i "spring clean" usually a few times a year where i actually de-clutter and clean inside drawers and cupboards and all that tedious stuff.

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  32. The best part about asking these questions is that wonderful feeling that you're not alone. We're all just making it up as we go along!

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  33. Hello! I just stumbled upon your blog from another blog - and I'm so pleased I did. This post kind of cracked me up because it's exactly the way I clean. One room at a time, usually one day at a time. Unless, as you say, there will be guests. Then it's a mad frenzy to get everything done! Thanks for the smile you gave me today!

    Mysterious M
    http://magslifetoday.blogspot.com/

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  34. I just hate cleaning so much...it's the main thing that's driving me to get another job, because then I can justify having a cleaner again :)

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  35. There is a great application Digeus I always use it when there are problems with windows. I also recommend to use Tune Up Suite. It reduces the amount of time it takes your system to boot.

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