To think cleaning is a skill?

It is a skill.
It's understanding products and using the least harsh option that will do the job.
It's understanding so many types of furniture and fixtures and knowing what treatment they need.
It's an instinctive ability to know what can be done in a certain time and getting it done.
It's the ability to see things others may not notice, pay attention to detail, and identify the cleaning that needs doing to give an impression of clean if there isn't the time to do a full clean.

He's done a number on you there. He sees mess. This is how they refine the art of weaponised incompetence, and eventually torment their wives.

I think doing it well is a skill.
I am utterly shit at cleaning, and I used to do it as a job.

I feel like when my house is clean and tidy my mind is in order. I wonder what will happen when I clean out my drawers and cupboards full of crap.

Today I asked my son to please clean the kitchen. He said, what do you want me to do ? There was dishes and a crying pan in the sink, food left out on the worktops and sugar spilled on the work top. He just doesn't see mess and needed me to tell him all these things

Pretty much my problem too!

100% agree. I think i have dyspraxia and put so much time and effort into cleaning and its as if my hands just cannot do the thing properly.

I used to be a cleaner, too, and was a good one in high demand. I think the skill is in seeing dirt, and using your head to rotate jobs that you don't have time for every week.
I replaced several cleaners over the years, and was aghast at places they'd clearly never cleaned, even though we were allocated the same time.

This with bells on!

It absolutely is a skill. Check out the British institute of cleaning science!
https://www.bics.org.uk/skills-training/

Do you think this will happen ? Or am I missing your tone ?

No I think it's down to the state of the fixtures and fittings. If everything is new, shiny and coordinating then it will look smart even if it's a bit messy. If everything is dingy, scratched/stained, wonky, worn and mismatched because it's been replaced at different times then it will always look dirty even if it's been cleaned.

And clutter makes houses look messy, somewhere you've lived for a long time accumulates clutter whereas a new house is often bigger than the previous house and everything has been put in a place with purpose or you've had a bit of a clear out for the move.

If everything is looking a bit drab even when cleaned I would look at decluttering/checking the purpose of the space and looking at things like light switches and door frames to see if they need a clean/repair/replace and I'd try giving everything that can take it a fresh coat of paint. It makes a lot of difference IME.

Yeah why is that. Maybe for me it’s because older houses have exposed pipes, radiators with lots of crevices, skirting with crevices, older carpets etc

It is a skill. I'm a brilliant cleaner. Give me any stain and I'll get it out. I'm incredibly thorough and don't see the point of half cleaning your house, I clean to clean and make sure there absolutely no dust, no dirt, no anything. A lot of people are happy to live with dust and dirt but I can't and a lot of people are very uneducated on how to clean their home. My home is sparkling clean. All brass and chrome polished, even after I use it, I will repolish it. I've learnt over years as I was a cleaner back in my teens and I do have OCD tendencies... I mean, I use to spend every Thursday deep cleaning my home but realised that just wasn't normal so cut myself some slack.

I've had so many cleaners and none of them have been great.

It is a skill - I’ve had rubbish cleaners, even when they’re new and enthusiastic.

DH is okay but lazy and runs out of steam. He would never clean our room and it’s the last place he’d get to.

I get a bit lost in the detail so it takes me ages . I would never shove something in the nearest drawer and get distracted tidying the under stairs cupboard as my family are animals.

our cleaners now are amazing and as good as when they were brand new to us. The clean all the things that I’d notice, although I do sometimes deep clean the shower and bath. I think a big part of it is exabtly that - cleaning the things that you would notice as dirty.

Definitely. I’m shit at it, can’t ever get things looking great
and I do put effort in!

A lot of dirt removal involves the same principle: soften/loosen it with the right product and then wipe/ rinse with water and repeat til it’s all gone and your cloth/ sponge/ mop comes away clean.
So, dust - if it’s heavy, spray with Mr sheen or whatever then wipe with a dusting cloth. If it’s light, just use a feather duster. Or use a wet cloth with a solution of water and cleaning product on it (if someone has allergies or breathing problems like asthma it’s better to do it wet because it stops the dust going back into the air or just being displaced)
Floors: spray with floor cleaner, wait a few minutes then mop with hot water, frequently rinsing the mop and changing the water til the mop comes away clean
Oven - over cleaner then keep wiping with hot water and sponge/ cloth
Som things will need extra scrubbing which is where brushes and scourers come in.
Most cleaning products say exactly what they are for on the label so it’s hard to use the wrong thing.

I don’t think it’s a skill really. I think anyone can do it well with enough time and the right products. The only bit of it that could be called a skill is the attention to detail/thoroughness. That’s what makes the difference between a room that is clean and a room that LOOKS really clean. Things like drying surfaces in the bathroom after they’ve been cleaned, rather than leaving them damp or wet.

Also as PP said, cleaning someone else’s space. I do some domestic help with AgeUk, and I can get my clients’ homes more sparkling than mine. To be fair though, none of them have dogs or teenagers! I can get my house looking very clean but only for about 5 seconds.

I can get the glass on the stairs sparkling but I’m not so good at the shower

I would guess your shower probably has deposits from the water and/or soap, which your stair glass will not. You need some kind of acid to tackle limescale from hard water, or bathroom cleaner formulated for limescale and "shinyness" and if you have the pinkish microfilm which grows from soap scum, that needs something fairly strong to remove and a LOT of abrasion, and you have to get all of it in one go otherwise it just keeps coming back.

You can reduce maintenance of the shower by keeping a squeegee in there and encouraging people to squeegee the screen or walls down after they have finished.

when I dust, I just move it around. Other people dust and it’s all gone.

This is basically dusting, there's always an element of just moving it around. The idea is to dust just before hoovering so it gets picked up (hence cleaning "top to bottom"). But otherwise you can use some way of attracting the dust to the duster. I am a total convert to the swiffer things, which I use on surfaces until they start leaving more dust than they pick up and then switch to using them for cobweb grabbers, but you can also use furniture polish, a damp cloth, or a synthetic cloth which can pick up a small amount of static charge. Damp cloth is the worst IME because it needs changing so often but perhaps I dust too infrequently

DS1 has a cleaning job (which is absolutely hilarious if you have ever seen the state of his room, some specimens we have removed felt like they ought to be donated to science) and I asked him for tips and he said it's just doing it on a regular schedule so it never gets too dirty in the first place. I think he's probably not wrong about that.

I’m sure some types of cleaning require special skills but just general cleaning…no comparison to brick work or plumbing or even decorating. You would be unlikely to teach yourself any of those things without at least or book or someone to show you the basics. To clean, you just..clean, and keep going til it’s done. I mean, unless you have literally never had to clean in your entire life like you were royalty or something.

Not a skill.

It's whether you can be bothered OR not!

Something doesn't have to be difficult to be a skill - riding a bike isn't especially difficult but you have to learn how to do it.

I also think it involves knowledge because you can't effectively clean everything the same way. There are basic techniques which are almost universal (bowl of hot soapy water or multipurpose surface cleaner spray and a sponge or cloth will clean most things) but if you use that for example on glass it will look streaky, as it needs a cleaner which evaporates more quickly (vinegar or alcohol based cleaners or glass cleaner is good) and something to buff (microfibre cloth, not too wet, will do both jobs).

If you have an especially sticky, greasy or dried-on mess then you might need different products or techniques. You essentially need something to break down the dirt, which could be chemical, heat, soaking or friction (elbow grease basically) - usually some combination is best. And then you need some way to carry the dirt away so either to dissolve it into something which can be rinsed off, to just dislodge it so it can be swept/rubbed off, or something for it to soak into like a cloth or paper towel.

The main issue is that chemicals which break down dirt, moisture, heat, and friction can also damage the surface you're trying to clean, so if you increase any of these then you risk damaging the surface and that's the main skill/knowledge involved in effective cleaning - knowing how to remove different types of dirt effectively without damaging the surface you are cleaning.

Sure, I use the mams washing or the ocean one

https://www.northernsoulscents.co.uk/collections/room-linen-mists

I agree it’s a learned skill and to do it to a high standard requires time, effort and organisation (lists of things to do daily, weekly, monthly etc).

I’m not in the least ashamed to admit that I follow Margot Leadbetter’s style of housekeeping ‘don’t bleed in the sink Jerry, because I’ve just cleaned it’

I’m a housekeeper, and no I don’t think it’s a skill. It can be hard work and tiring, but absolutely no skill required