Cleaning house

[Addie]

Don't drape your jacket on the back of a chair, hang it up--just as easy, doesn't take any longer.

I have a heavy winter faux fur coat that is reversible. (I look like a snow leopard in it) And I love it. But sometimes I don't always have the strength to hang it on a hanger. It is just too heavy. So for the past two winters it would get tossed on a chair. So I decided that it was time to do something about it. I went and bought a heavy duty hanger that you can stick on a wall and remove without any damage later. I also bought a few more. I put it right on the inside on the closet door right next to my entry door. The rest of them I placed on the back of the bathroom door and the other closet door. Items only worn for a few hours, yet still clean get hung on those. Keeps the clutter down.

 

[Kayelle]

Good golly, am I the only person that cleans house on a "as needed" basis?

I figure I'm retired and no longer required to be on a schedule of any kind.
I like it that way. My home is pretty much clutter free, and I don't have any pets. I think that makes a huge difference. I'd love to have a pet again, but living with pet hair is disgusting as I remember. When I see that something needs to be cleaned, I clean it. Otherwise it can wait till it needs to be cleaned, and although my house doesn't look like a magazine picture all the time, it's always good enough that visitors are always welcome.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Good golly, am I the only person that cleans house on a "as needed" basis?

I figure I'm retired and no longer required to be on a schedule of any kind.
I like it that way. My home is pretty much clutter free, and I don't have any pets. I think that makes a huge difference. I'd love to have a pet again, but living with pet hair is disgusting as I remember. When I see that something needs to be cleaned, I clean it. Otherwise it can wait till it needs to be cleaned, and although my house doesn't look like a magazine picture all the time, it's always good enough that visitors are always welcome.

That's hard to keep up with a full time job and a retiree. Would help oodles if the retiree would help with the cleaning.

 

[Addie]

That's hard to keep up with a full time job and a retiree. Would help oodles if the retiree would help with the cleaning.

I have a doctor friend that is married to a doctor. They both put in long hours. When they first got married, he left his clothes where ever he took them off. Finally the wife asked him, "As a child, did you want to marry your mother? Or did you want a wife of your own?" It took him a day or two to get the message, now shares in the housework. Like she told him, it is his house too.

 

[Kayelle]

That's hard to keep up with a full time job and a retiree. Would help oodles if the retiree would help with the cleaning.

You are so right PF!! I must say that Steve is almost eager to share with any cleaning, and that is sure something new to me. Truth be told, I appreciate it but he gets in my way sometimes, or doesn't clean something the way I would do it. He's out doing some volunteer work today, so I'm doing some "tornado cleaning".

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I have a doctor friend that is married to a doctor. They both put in long hours. When they first got married, he left his clothes where ever he took them off. Finally the wife asked him, "As a child, did you want to marry your mother? Or did you want a wife of your own?" It took him a day or two to get the message, now shares in the housework. Like she told him, it is his house too.

You are so right PF!! I must say that Steve is almost eager to share with any cleaning, and that is sure something new to me. Truth be told, I appreciate it but he gets in my way sometimes, or doesn't clean something the way I would do it. He's out doing some volunteer work today, so I'm doing some "tornado cleaning".

We have had "The Talk" several times, I'm lucky when it lasts a few weeks. It's time for me to put my foot down...or maybe up for a swift kick.

 

[Addie]

We have had "The Talk" several times, I'm lucky when it lasts a few weeks. It's time for me to put my foot down...or maybe up for a swift kick.

I am curious. Does leaving his mess there work? Or do they just step over it or add to it? I never tried it because during my married years, I was a SAHM.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

It's not the picking things up...it's the no help with the "heavy" cleaning that needs to be done, vacuuming, washing floors, taking out the trash...if he even ran the vacuum while I was at work it would help. He is also going through a phase of correcting me for every little thing I do..."If you did it like this..." arrrgh.....

 

[Addie]

It's not the picking things up...it's the no help with the "heavy" cleaning that needs to be done, vacuuming, washing floors, taking out the trash...if he even ran the vacuum while I was at work it would help. He is also going through a phase of correcting me for every little thing I do..."If you did it like this..." arrrgh.....

The urge to kill, comes to mind.

 

[Katie H]

After reading the last series of posts I count myself as a very lucky woman. I haven't had to ask Glenn to do anything. He's so fastidious with his body and clothing that it's almost too much. I've never met a man like him. In the nearly 3 years we've been together he's not put/left any clothes on the floor. We don't even have a laundry basket because he automatically puts items to be laundered directly into the washer.

He regularly clears the dishes from the table after eating and almost always puts the serving dishes, etc. on the counter for me. Many times he automatically puts the dirty dishes into the dishwasher, too.

He empties the trash and takes it out without any encouragement. The only thing he could do to improve on this task is to tell me when we're getting low on trash bags, but that's really no complaint.

Some of his behavior has to do with his living alone for a very long time and his service in the military.

All I can say is he's a treasure and he definitely listened to his mother growing up.

 

[Claire]

Today was actually kind of funny. As I said, I'm determined to keep up with the house work rather than going crazy with it when someone is visiting. My husband was supposed to walk the dog for his workout (I'd already been to the gym for mine). I said that when he gets Rosebud out of the house, I'll vacuum. She can be very annoying when I'm vacuuming. Then husband says, he doesn't know how to use the new vacuum. Huh? Let's see now, it works 100% better than the old one, it is self-propelled. You turn it on. That's it. You know what gets to me? That my husband absolutely will not do cleaning if I'm not here to see him do it. I work out for an hour Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. In addition to that I usually run errands; pick up his prescriptions, go to the bank, get groceries, etc. That means 4 days a week I'm not home for a couple or more hours. I don't understand why he won't do whatever housework he's going to do when I'm gone. We've been living together for over 30 years. Does he really think I need to hear the vacuum cleaner or I won't believe he did it?

 

[babetoo]

my new cleaning gal is coming tomorrow. can't wait to have the floors really clean. my craft closet is a full sized closet with sliding doors. right now i can't slide the doors closed. all the clutter is there to be seen. i will get to it. just have to get a burr in my saddle.

 

[Aunt Bea]

That's hard to keep up with a full time job and a retiree. Would help oodles if the retiree would help with the cleaning.

If Shrek does not do anything how can he possibly be responsible for making a mess.

 

[bakechef]

My partner has gotten so much better over the years. He hates my vacuum (it's a canister) so we went to the store and he got to pick up a smaller, less complicated vacuum, now he does the majority of the vacuuming. He has friends over on the weekend, so he knows that he needs to pick up and make things look tidy. He takes out the trash.

He isn't great at detail cleaning, dusting etc.. I have to do that. I have to ask him to empty and fill the dishwasher, he'll do it, but sometimes I have to ask twice.

All in all, I think we have a decent system.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

If Shrek does not do anything how can he possibly be responsible for making a mess.

Duh! He's an ogre...by definition he is a filthy beast!!!

 

[Addie]

My partner has gotten so much better over the years. He hates my vacuum (it's a canister) so we went to the store and he got to pick up a smaller, less complicated vacuum, now he does the majority of the vacuuming. He has friends over on the weekend, so he knows that he needs to pick up and make things look tidy. He takes out the trash.

He isn't great at detail cleaning, dusting etc.. I have to do that. I have to ask him to empty and fill the dishwasher, he'll do it, but sometimes I have to ask twice.

All in all, I think we have a decent system.

I think you have a great system. Better than a lot of women I know.

 

[Kayelle]

Reflecting even more on this...my late husband and I had a "division of labor". We married in 1963 and that was pretty common in those days....we always said the day I mowed the lawn he would wash the kitchen floor. It never happened. He was a great guy, but he never washed a dish or cooked the simplest meal. He brought home the bacon, and I cooked it.
I hardly know how to act now with Steve, it's so different. What I enjoy the most is that he insists that he cleans the kitchen, washes the pots and loads the dishwasher after I've cooked. To me that's better than getting a bouquet of roses every day.

 

[Claire]

I am NOT a pack rat, and I'm the eldest. I think that has more to do with the military lifestyle than my placement in the family pecking order. We never had room for "junque" when I was a child, we certainly didn't have money to ship anything over our allowance. Now I just do not like cluttered surfaces. Not having children does it as well. I mean, it's pretty darned hard to throw away stuff you kids made for you, but seriously, how many Thanksgiving turkey hand print plaques can you find room for? At what point do you remove everything from the fridge and trash it?

 

[Addie]

I am NOT a pack rat, and I'm the eldest. I think that has more to do with the military lifestyle than my placement in the family pecking order. We never had room for "junque" when I was a child, we certainly didn't have money to ship anything over our allowance. Now I just do not like cluttered surfaces. Not having children does it as well. I mean, it's pretty darned hard to throw away stuff you kids made for you, but seriously, how many Thanksgiving turkey hand print plaques can you find room for? At what point do you remove everything from the fridge and trash it?

You hit my soft spot. I had magnets on my fridge from g'kids when they went to Disneyworld, the Mall of America, etc. They are now married with kids. I cleaned off the fridge a few months back when we had to pull out the fridge to tile in back of it. They never went back on there. Along with a bunch of other stuff. I finally got to see the front of my fridge. And I have never been one to put stuff on top of my fredge. I can't reach it.

I love your spelling of junque. I once saw a sign on a store. "Junque and Anteeks".

 

[Claire]

Kayelle, that was my parents' marriage to a T. When I married it had to be different because I worked full time for the first decade. No way could I be out of the house 50+ hours/week and also keep it clean and us fed. You'd have to be a masochist to even try. And that's without kids. When we first started out, husband did part of the cooking, almost all the grocery shopping, and part of the cleaning. I do more of it all now; I quit working after our last big move and took on all the jobs. That was a mistake. Every time I take on a new job (it has happened for various reasons) he just assumes it is now my job. Ugh!