Is my morning routine too rigid?

YANBU except about the bleach. No, toilets don't have to be cleaned every day and surfaces do not need bleach - hot soapy water or a non-bleach kitchen spray do a perfectly good job.

I wake up early too, but on a weekday I leave the house by 7:30 and I don't have time to be airing rooms or cleaning before I leave. Dh would not be amused if I were getting up and clattering around before the 6:30 alarm, which is fair enough imo. I'm not great with housework routines, but in my mid-50s I have finally accepted that about myself!

@MoreToLifeSurelysorry to hear this - it's my worry about retirement. Maybe post on the retirement board to get some advice?

You sound highly organised and methodical ... please come round to mine!! 😁

Hello I took early retirement 2 years ago from a very stressful job which I loved but it was burning me out. My husband is still working. Retirement initially was great, holidays, walking, weightloss, catching up with friends. Two years on, i feel is this it?! I possibly retired too soon (reducing hours wasn't an option). Im outgoing, the friend who always instigates social get togethers etc. My working friends say how envious of me they are of me not working. I find myself pretending how fabulous retirement is, when in reality my days are long and lonely. I do have a few friends who work part time, or are older and retired and have made plans to meet up but ive lost the desire to do this as I feel im not being honest with them about how I feel. My confidence is ebbing away and i dont feel i have a purpise. I know I need to pull myself together, join some local groups, get energised etc but its gone. My enthusiasm for life is webbing away and I find myself craving my old work life of business trips abroad, great social work friends, and the plate spinning I walked away from. My husband listens but I dont think he understands. He leaves the house early before im awake and comes home late. Friends look at me as super confident, see me as living the dream but its all a facade.

I am more like your friend and if I could take a pill or something to be like you I would do it in a heartbeat. I would be jealous of you as I wish I was the same.

😂

I think it’s ok, except for using bleach all over the place, as it’s not good for you.

I think your early morning routine sounds a bit weird TBH.

If the cat likes to be out then who cares ? My dog sleeps outside in a kennel.

God, my morning routine during the week is so rigid that you could pinpoint it literally to the second. Don't worry. I don't.

I think the key is- you’re hosting so you kind of need to match what the guest is doing or wants to do. I know you offered coffee and they were on their phone. But in that situation I would have sat down near them with my coffee and tried to talk.

It is a little passive aggressive to rush around bleaching toilets on a Sunday morning when you have a guest. It probably made them feel like they were in the way/being lazy. In that situation if I was the guest I’d have started panicking and offering to unload the dishwasher. It’s a bit unwelcoming. The guest would have felt uncomfortable.

It’s obviously a great and very efficient routine for the week day before work (minus the every day bleach). But not at the weekend with guests.

Totally unnecessary to do all of that 6am on a Sunday when you have a guest

My routine is as folliws
Let cat in and feed him - obviously what else are you going to do?
Open all curtains/blinds snd windows to air the house - again, are you supposed to leave the curtains closed?
Make a coffee and whilst waiting for kettle il bleach the toilets, kitchen surfaces. Empty dishwasher.
Put a load of washing.on
Make bed
Put rubbish out

All perfectly normal ways of keeping on top of housework. I don't use bleach, but obviously plenty of people do.

Why does your friend care? Did she think your manner was passive aggressive?

I don't know exactly. It just doesn't seem 'right'. There's nothing visible that needs scrubbing. I didn't like Ecover last time I bought it. Maybe I'll have to give it another go.

I find that Ecover and a scrub of the toilet brush does the job just fine, what’s not to like with toilet cleaner?

With the spray bleach, it's probably not actually that much bleach.

Do you use an eco cleaner you can recommend? I haven't found one that I like yet.

That’s a lot of bleach you’re sending into the sea.

If you must do the toilets every day, please consider an ecologically friendly cleaner.

Yep, sounds like a good/mormal weekday routine. But 6am on a Sunday when you have a guest. Big difference.

And some of them might. Taking some pride in their environment & some accountability can be positive. Allowing them to sink further into 'IDGAF' isn't always the best approach.

DW endlessly potters about on getting up. Drives me up the walls!

This seems like a normal routine for working household

Today up at 7.30am - curtins and windows opened

Bed made
Teeth and bathroom stuff done
Dishwasher unloaded waiting for the kettle to boil and coffee to brew
Dogs out to garden

Children breakfast
Dog food out of freezer for dinner tonight

Both robot hoovers set off
Dog walked for 30 minutes along with children to school
Clothes Wash on
Clothes in dyer
Bread in the breadmaker

Start work at 8.30am with second coffee

Its a very calm potter around routine

These are the stains I bleach regularly. You can see an actual tea stain ring pointing in red, then the discolouration around it from old tea stains that have been wiped but the stain remains (pointed blue). Obviously a photo isn’t the best way to demonstrate but I’m not inviting you round to examine

Well to be fair you’re the one who said someone who has under section days ago might feel better about themselves if they cleaned their worktops as they go.

You do not need to be bleaching stuff daily. Your home is not an operating theatre, it does not need to be sterile. Its probably quite bad for your health, you are killing all the good bacteria that keep that bad bacteria in check.

Mine has 2 cat flaps (he didnt like the first one) but wont use either of them! He sits by it and wails until i come and open the door for him. He generally eyeballs me with contempt and then stalks out like he's the the king of the world!!
His wailing is epic, has been known to wake me from sleeping cos he wants to be let out - little bastard 😂