your cleanliness standards..

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-12-2007
your cleanliness standards..
11
Mon, 02-05-2007 - 11:49am

This is just an 'out of interest' question: what is your idea of clean, or - as per the name of a slightly amusing tv show that ran here in UK, how clean is your house? Are you a clean freak? Are you happy with a stack of plates sitting in the sink unwashed for 2-3 days? Do you hoover once a week or once a year? How often do you do laundry, dust, tidy up? Have you ever had your carpets shampooed? How about your partner if you have one, are they like you whatever you are, or the opposite? How do you deal with it if you are opposites?

I admit that I am a complete and utter clean freak to the point of what a 'normal' person would call ever so slightly obsessional. My house has to be spotless AND tidy 24/7, 365 days a year. A dirty plate gets washed a second after I have eaten. Laundry gets done when there's about 10 items sitting in the basket. I clean my bathroom every second day - actually, more or less every day - this way, it just does not ever get dirty. 5 minutes with a cloth and water daily and it is spotless all the time. I hoover once a week at the very least. Every time I have been cooking something in my kitchen, the whole kitchen gets cleaned thoroughly - sink, around it, all surfaces, cooker, floor, cupboards - anywhere that may have gotten dirty in the process of cooking. My rubbish gets taken out every other day - I cannot bear the thought of rotting waste in my kitchen. A tissue/book/remote control, in fact, anything at all, any object - on the floor - is unthinkable to me because you WALK on the floor, not keep stuff on it. (don't get me started on taking clothes off and leaving them right there where you stood!! ) I hate mess just as much as I hate and cannot stand dirt. My partner is not exactly like me, but isn't a total pig either; I happily and readily do all housework without expecting him to help with anything at all becasue I am oldfashioned in this sense and to me, housework is actually relaxing and theraputic.

What about you?




Edited 2/5/2007 11:57 am ET by juliauk2007

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iVillage Member
Registered: 08-16-2005
Tue, 02-06-2007 - 2:53pm

I'd say I have a nice happy medium going on.

I do not do dishes every day because I live alone and quite frankly I wouldn't be able to afford the gas to heat the water if I did them like that. So I rinse in cold to get any food off and put them in the dishwasher and then when the dishwasher is full I run it. Which is about once a week or maybe once every two weeks. I tend to eat on paper plates so I don't have to do dishes, it's just easier for my house. Obviously if I have company I wouldn't but if it's just me. Yeah why dirty a dish. Same goes for Laundry, I do laundry once a week. It's usually between 2-3 loads. But I just can't afford to throw a few items in a load it has to be a full load for me to run the wash, my gas bill would be too high for the hot water.

I also live in an apartment, there is no dumpster, no garbage can outside, so I can only take my trash to the curb once a week. It doesn't stink ever.

I am particular about some things, I am very anal retentive about where things go in my house, but if I don't dust every week it's not that big of a deal, the bathroom is always clean because the water in my town is yucky and leaves a nasty ring in the toilet if you don't. So it has to be cleaned even if I wanted to be lazy when it comes to the bathroom I just can't be it would be gross.

When I was in school I had a housekeeper because the thought of having my house not clean drove me batty and I didn't need the added stress and I was gone at school all day on saturdays and sundays were left to do all my errands for the week before work on monday so there just wasn't time so to ease my mind I got a housekeeper during that time and it was a lifesaver.

But I loathe washing floors. So I tend to put it off until I really have too. I sweep and keep it clean but I do not wash the linoleum every week. I loathe that part of cleaning.

As for my person. Well lol I shower daily, more if I am doing something athletic or I plan on going out in the evening after work.

Smile,

Deirdre

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