Friday, November 25, 2011

Cleaning



Yeah, that's right, I'm talking about cleaning house.

Every single week I dust the whole house, I clean the bathrooms, I sweep & vacuum, & I dust the kitchen & detail the stove area.  I usually have to sweep & vacuum twice a week, actually, but my goal is always to do it once each week.  But my biggest pet peeve is feeling crumbs or hair on the floor as I walk through the house, so by the end of the week I'm usually feeling crumbs & have to do it again before I lose my mind.

I used to mop the tile floors & clean the wood floor at least once a month, but I honestly don't get it done that frequently with Lil J around.  It's tough to do I must admit.

And at least once a week I try to find something that doesn't get cleaned in the weekly process & do that.  I call that my "deep cleaning" & I try to do at least one thing each week hoping that eventually the whole house will end up spotless, but somehow it doesn't seem to work that way.  The "deep cleaning" can consist of cleaning baseboards, the top of the fridge, under the oven or fridge, the top of the armoire (we have 2 of them actually), things like that.

And so I'm curious, what do other people's cleaning schedules look like?  I feel like I clean A LOT, yet my house is never as spotless as I'd like.  I know a lot of that is because of the toddler, prior to his arrival my house was much cleaner, but I do still clean A LOT, or at least it feels that way.

I've never have a maid, but would love to learn from them.  My hubby always says he would love to hire a maid at some point, just to give me a break, but I honestly don't want one.  I mean, trust me, I would love to have the break, but part of me feels uncomfortable about it.  I feel the same way about having a gardener or getting a pedicure actually.  I guess it's just me, but I feel uncomfortable, as if the person (the maid, gardener, pedicurist) thinks that I think I'm too good to do that stuff myself. 

My hubby's only issue with maids is hygiene.  He says that a lot of them use the same towel for everything.  There's a big differenc between making things look nice & clean & about being sanitary & hygienic.  For me (& hubby) we care more about the hygiene factor than the looks actually.  We do like a neat home, but we clean to kill germs, etc.

Comment away, please about your cleaning schedules please.

6 comments:

Calfkeeper said...

This is one thing I constantly struggle with. I mean it is always a fight for me. I am the world's worst...well, maybe not WORST, but pretty bad, housewife. Clutter is something I fight constantly; catalogues, Ellen's stuff all over, hubby's papers in his piles on the table and chair, books, whatever. I can't seem to get rid of the clutter. It makes it hard to dust...though I DO try to keep up with it.

For one thing I don't have a set cleaning schedule; I am terrible at self-discipline in that regard; not good at managing time. I try to vacuum weekly; or more, living in the country involves tons of dirt. So I sweep daily, most often twice a day.

One thing I run into, even at age 43 when I ought to know better, are the as you say "deep cleaning" items that I'd never think of.

Seriously.

My mom was not a great housekeeper. She did hit and miss things. And not to make this comment longer than it already it, just suffice it to say that my dad just didn't care. He grew up hillbilly, our whole place looked hillbilly, so my mom essentially let everything go but the kitchen; she kept everything hygenically clean in there; the counters, stoves, fridge...etc.

So now I encounter things that I never had as a kid, or never even thought of; hanging light fixtures and fans. (I'd been here a year or more before it ever occured to me that they needed dusting and cleaning. Seriously.) Or the grease trap on the stove. I'd been here FIVE years before I heard someone casually mention that they needed cleaning. I was like; "OH!" And then I felt like an idiot.

Once I find out about these things I try to keep on top of them, but like I said, it's kind of hit and miss.

I'd love a maid too, but only if I already had a tidy, clean house. I'd be embarrassed to have one now.

Calfkeeper said...

Oh, and just a gross note here. I feel better when I think of one of hubby's buddies here. He and his wife don't do ANYTHING in the way of cleaning. And she doesn't cook at all. Their house is overflowing with junk, pop cans, candy and food wrappers...etc.

They put the kitchen table legs in cans of kerosene so the "bugs" can't get on it.

OK. That is so gross. That ought to make you feel better. lol

Danielle-Marie said...

THANK YOU for admitting to not cleaning the floors all the time. I don't either and was feeling really guilty about it. I sweep daily, but I can't be bothered to mop weekly. When I do mop I use the H20 mop to steam everything rather than use cleaning products (the cleaning products agitate Landon's eczema).

I basically do my kitchen after every meal. Otherwise it gets away from me. When both kids are up and keeping each other preoccupied I disappear into the basement to do a load of laundry (I do one load a day, that's it). During nap time I dust or clean something. One day it might be table tops and entertainment stand, another day it will be the TVs and windows. At the end of every day I sweep the entire first floor once the kids are in bed (the second floor is really only used for sleeping and bathroom purposes so I do that weekly). Like you I can't stand the feel of crumbs or hair under my feet. I no longer have carpet but when I did I HAD to vacuum every day because of the two kids. I generally clean my bathroom sink, vanity and toilet while my kids are bathing. I'm in there anyways I may as well. I sweep then too. I only clean the actual tub once a week though, and it's usually on a night when Ryan's home so that right after they get out of the tub he can get them diapered and dressed while I scrub at the tub.

Once a month or so I feel ambitious and do something like cleaning the entire fridge out or cleaning the oven.

I'm like Calfkeeper, always fighting clutter. Ryan's desk drives me mental but I manage to keep most of the clutter to our basement (which is solely used for storage).

Frau Guten Tag said...

Clutter is one thing that we really don't struggle with. My hubby & I are both REALLY good about everything having a place & everything being in it's place. I pick up J's toys periodically throughout the day & he doesn't have that many anyways. Once in a while my hubby &/or me or even both will have a "pile" going on that we both nag each other about, but it's usually mail or something like that that we haven't found the time yet to deal with. We never have clothes laying around--they are either in the closet, on our body, in the hamper, or in the wash. We also try very hard to not make a mess with whatever we are doing. Less mess created means less cleaning later on.

Calfkeeper: I feel a lot like that myself. There are so many things I wasn't even noticing or aware of that I've had to learn the hard way that need cleaning--the fan over the stove was one of those items for me as well! I feel like I have to learn everything the hard way & I'm not sure why it's that way. I suppose it's the example I grew up with. (My mom did keep a clean house when I was really young, but I think she cleaned while I was at school maybe, or maybe I just wasn't paying attention, but then when my parents separated, I was 12, she stopped cleaning regularly. So But I also grew up in an older house & it honestly didn't have things that my current (more modern) house has, I do think that's part of it. And WOW about those other folks you mentioned!!

Danielle: Yeah, we do clean the kitchen after each meal, but weekly I detail the stove & dust--our house always collects a lot of dust, I suppose because I love the doors & windows open--I like fresh air. It sounds like you do a great job overall, though, I need to copy you more I think.

Unknown said...

Oh, boy. You sure you want to hear my answer?

We live in an old farm house, where it's a constant battle to keep up with the dust, spider webs, dust...ACK!!

I feel like I'm going crazy, because I have to clean dust and spider webs EVERY day!

Sweeping every day.
Cleaning bathroom two or three times a week.
Cleaning kitchen every day.

When I'm teaching, I feel like the house gets neglected. It's still far cleaner than many of my friends' houses, but not up to my expectations. Maybe I just have too many expectations.

With a husband who leaves stuff around and at three year old who does the same, it's a little frustrating.

Frau Guten Tag said...

C: I always wonder if I have my expectations set too high. Its just unbelievable to me that I never seem to be completely caught up. I have to try hard to not think about it or else I'll give myself an ulcer!