To think cleaning is a skill?

Nannyfannybanny
My youngest DD,used to clean for a hotel chain. The amount of time allocated and the bad practices were unbelievable! 15 minutes for a family room and bathroom,a joke.. she didn't stay there long.

I thought oh god 15 minutes but think when you’re in a hotel the actual semantics of it, people checking out, people hanging around waiting for the room to be done and they can’t do it early morning or evening if the hotel is full, it makes sense they can’t spend more than that, Id say that’s a requirement everywhere

it defo is

I think cleaners do a better job because they are paid to do it.
Also, they use a dry cloth to wipe off any residue and leave sinks, skirting etc spotless.
The only drawback may be the dry cloth - if it's used on too many surfaces.

I was violently ill after using a "clean" glass in a hotel in Florida once (4 star hotel in a very nice area). I hadn't eaten since lunch and just wanted a glass of wine to relax while watching a film.
I suspect the glass may have been shined up with a dry cloth used to shine up the rim of the toilet too...

My youngest DD,used to clean for a hotel chain. The amount of time allocated and the bad practices were unbelievable! 15 minutes for a family room and bathroom,a joke.. she didn't stay there long.

It's just wanting to do it really. I I think lots of people think it is beneath them, or not important so they can't be bothered to do it properly.

😂

No, it just requires some willingness and effort. Quite simple really, unless you have a physical disabiity.

I think motivation is the biggest factor to succeeding at cleaning. Generally, the longer you leave something to clean the more difficult it is to clean when you get round to it. Keeping on top of the housework as you go is the key in my opinion. Prime example is the oven. Actually reading the instructions and surface precautions on the cleaning products is also a very underrated essential.

Equally she could be as messy as him.
My cousin and his wife were like this. Just didn’t care. The house was a ramshackle tip but the kids never got sick and have all turned out as really decent adults. Some are messy and some are tidy and they seem to have found partners who are exist on the same plane or acceptable reality.
by the time he left home my son was pretty well trained and would clean the kitchen after, he made a sandwich or cooked anything, kept his room tidy, changed his bed etc, always left the bathroom in a good state.

I thought I’d done alright if I’m honest, but as soon as he moved out he just went back to his natural level of acceptable (to him) messiness and sadly his gf is the same so their place is a bit grim, even when they have spent a day cleaning it!

I might find more reason to procrastinate... Tiktok you say 😊

Just sing ‘let it go’ when these thoughts pop up :-)
Some grow in to it and some never do but I don’t think it’s anything to do with how we parent them. You only have so much influence as a parent - ultimately they are their own people with their own habits.

My husband is clean and tidy but not obsessively so. He likes order but he also shares all the tasks of living without having to be told what and when it needs doing (on balance he probably does more than me since he retired)
Consequently I am more tidy now and far prefer it that way.
I don’t think I could ever live with someone messy again.

In fifteen years or so, your daughter-in-law will be on here debating whether to divorce him over his idleness. She'll claim she never saw it coming.

@PrizedPickledPopcornwhat’s the difference between skill and technique? You can learn either.
I think will and motivation has a lot to do with it when it’s your own home. When my DDs at uni I have no motivation. If my DH was still alive the place would be much cleaner (for one thing he’d pay for a cleaner).
I think technique/skill is needed. My hotel trained ex cleaner was amazing. She got the whole house done to excellent standard plus had time to do a kitchen cupboard or two. Sadly she vanished into thin air (and I even owed her money)! My last cleaner was very hard working but slow. She never got the whole house done. Can’t afford one now but looking at the clutter I’d need to do a huge purge first.
The only time I do a proper clean is when I have guests.

Its a skill but a very easily acquired one. Anyone can become good at cleaning with a bit of care and practise. I could clean thoroughly at 12 years old.

Its practise and attention to detail.

Dh is crap at it. Its like he doesn't see bits, smeary patches etc. He was raised in a home with parents who were quite posh & had grown up with "help" & were never taught to clean themselves. PiLs house is tidy but just a quite dirty, lots of cobwebby corners, every shower panel/tap/loo is thick with limescale, skirting boards haven't been wiped in years. They just do the obvious stuff like wiping spills on kitchen counters and pushing the hoover round, they pour bleach in the loos and leave it there, but no limescale cleaner, and they don't scrub it clean.

I was raised by working class parents who were much more fastidious, was taught to clean and wash up properly. I notice smudges, stains and bits that DH doesn't, i'll buff chrome taps to a shine, swap out towels for fresh ones regularly. Our kids have known since age 4 or 5 to wipe down the shower after use and tell a grown up if the loo needs cleaning.

I'm not a great cleaner at home, I mean I know how to clean but don't enjoy it and as I live alone don't prioritise it. However I did the cleaning at one of my workplaces for a while and everyone seemed happy with my efforts. I did nothing any differently to how I do it at home, and certainly wasn't trained, but I knew it had to be done so I did it. I don't think it requires skill, it's just common sense.

This.

My kitchen needed to be painted last year. The year rolled around and as winter was coming, I decided to put it off. After the last few month's terrible weather and having pets, I don't see the point in getting it done until the summer. At this stage, the kitchen looks completely in need of renovation. It doesn't matter how much I clean it. It won't ever be enough to make it 'sparkle'. It needs to be painted and overhauled but paint alone would help a lot.

I think some people don't clean very well I don't know if thats experience, eyesight, physical ability or something else. And others can clean perfectly well but may not have the time they need to allocate to it.

@NattyKnitter116 yes, he was sleeping on an unmade bed for a couple of weeks when I noticed his clean sheets and things in a bundle on top of his desk and put them on for him ! He has to date, once cleaned his own bedding and put it back on the bed. This happened about a month ago so I'm hoping this is a good sign for things to come. He's planning on moving out this year and I just think but look how much he needs me still. His place will be so messy

Yeah my son is like this but he’s much older than 18! He’s left home now so not my problem anymore.
I think he just doesn’t see it and isn’t bothered by it.
I didn’t though until I had a baby then I became much more aware of dirt.
my partner, his father, was incredibly messy although that was probably the least bad thing about him!
Best thing to do with teenage bedrooms is just keep the door shut and chuck half a can of febreze at it and fling the windows open every so often.

They do grow out of the sweaty phase….eventually…. But I agree it’s grim (although less permanent destruction than you get with things like nail varnish, make etc which is usually more girls)
oh just read back that you change his bed. I’d say make him do it by stripping the bed and leaving the clean ones there but I suspect he’d probably just ignore them and sleep directly on the unmade bed. Kids are a delight…..

You just have to understand dirt dust and germs.
If it looks worse after cleaning you should probably get a decorator to sand off and put fresh paint on. Then don't let it get so grubby again.
Or even do it yourself. It's given me great satisfaction even if it was a huge learning curve.
You'd be amazed.

It certainly is. I love seeing things clean but I'm not very motivated. I've got builders in at the moment knocking a wall down between two rooms. Place is a tip. I'm going to get a cleaner in once it's finished.

The last point... DM has a cleaning company. Been going for nearly 30 years. She bloody loves a microfibre cloth. It does most things.

While I don’t think it’s a skill as such, it’s definitely a task that benefits from a methodical logical approach as most of the hints and tips here show.

I’ve picked up some really useful processes from professional cleaners over the years.

Damp cloth/dry cloth for the shine - if your shiny surfaces are shiny they reflect light which makes a big difference.
Washing bedding folded - usually comes out relatively uncreased (and as nothing will convince me ironing bedding is a sensible use of time this is a bonus as it makes it easier to fold and put away to be pressed by its own weight. Bingo!)
inside out cover duvet change - that was a game changer.
and other things I can’t recall now.
I remember when fly lady first appeared in the uk - it was a mailing list - I was too overwhelmed with a small child at the time but I do remember her instruction to shine your sink, and I did have a good friend in who’d visit periodically and shine my sink as I wasn’t up to that sort of thing back then and it always looked amazing, even though it was in a battered shitty rental kitchen.

oh, use lots of washable microfibre cloths. They’re good for pretty much everything. But get decent sized ones - not the silly kids hanky sized ones they sell in most shops. Amazon do them - search professional microfibre.

Yeah, he knows you'll do it for him, so he doesn't bother. Trust me, I'm pretty lazy myself, sometimes I trick my husband into doing the jobs I don't like. But I'm an intelligent woman, I am capable, and I do see that they need doing. These things aren't rocket science, just boring.

I genuinely think his baseline for clean is that there can be a little mess and so he just sees crumbs and stuff as normal or something. Which I don't understand because I keep the house so clean unless I'm having bad days with pain or if I'm sick. He cleans his room once a month but it's on a total mess the rest of the time, it smells like sweat so I regularly have to go in his room and change) clean his bedding and open the windows, at least, because I don't want him living like that. He's 18