How clean and tidy is your house generally?

[MsWalterMitty]

Such as day to day. On the scale of spotless all the time to absolutely filthy?

I’m guessing mist would be in the middle somewhere? But I know it depends on standards.

I think I’m in the middle but closer to the filthy end

My house is rarely tidy as I feel like I’m constantly running both the dishh washer and the washing machine.

Clean clothes are always on the floor waiting to be put away.

The hoover comes out once a week, s does the mop.

The toilet is cleaned every other day. The bathroom once a week.

I can’t remember the last time I cleaned the windows/window sills/skirting boards.

Kitchen is the tidiest and cleanest room in the house… every day. But it’s used the most.

My downstairs is clutter free, but the decor such as the doors/handles/furniture/sodas dated as we can’t afford to replace at the moment… so it brings down the house imo.

Not very. We rent so it's hard to get excited or bothered about keeping it clean. It could be spotless and still grubby because of walls, carpets etc (things we have no control over).

If we owned the house I would care more, but ..... meh.

It's not dirty as such, kitchen is kept clean and hygienic. But living spaces are a mess simply because we have no shelving or storage.

Mine moves from around a 7 to a 4 several times throughout the day.

I would consider my house guest ready at 7.

My home stopped being a 10 when 3 children came along.

I usually do a tidy round when I get up or before I go to bed, we have a cleaner once a fortnight. My house is usually a the “I wouldn’t be embarrassed if someone turned up to visit,” but not in the “oh my god my mum is coming” state.

@lljkk

My standards are low & I don't give a toss if it's a little messy, we have no regular routine and I hate waste so hesitate to toss things out... plus I just don't like cleaning. I feel only marginally better when the house is freshly cleaned in that I know I don't have to do that again soon.

I don't understand the houseproud thing. So my home is cluttered, random stuff is around, floor usually needs a sweep. DC sometimes despair but I have been in homes that were truly yucky so that's what I compare to.

I feel a like like this. I’m not hugely house proud, but I do but quality.

I would like my house to be tidier but I’ma very outdoorsy person and I loathe the idea of using up part of my weekend tidying the house.

Evening in the evenings I light to get out with a torch. Plus being a teacher means most of my evenings involve sitting in front of a laptop 🙄

I have a cleaner who comes once a week and does the bulk of it. Between times I will do laundry and wipe surfaces and shout at the kids to tidy their rooms, but no cleaning.

@Wombat98

A member of my family was raided by the police & the house searched. They suggested a cleaner was needed!

Oh dear!!

One of my new kittens sheds like crazy. It's amazing... and everything I own is now covered (!)

About 30m of both of us doing a bit of tidying away from guest ready I'd say - a few things out of place, a few things to wash up, a bit of vacuuming etc.

And that's for them to stay over, not just for a cup of tea.

Two of us, three bedroom house, easy to clean laminate floors etc.

@JaninaDuszejko

Clutter image ratings - by this our house is a 1 (clutter free) with the DCs bedrooms and playroom verging towards a 2. I still think we could do a lot of decluttering though, we just have the room to hide clutter.

There's a huge difference between stage 1 and 2! One is immaculate and two is stuff chucked all over the floor- no in-between which is where we would be.

Our house is always tidy (staunchly ignores the disaster zone that is DD2's bedroom) because I can't bear mess or clutter. It's one of the few things that cause me stress. It's always clean because we have a cleaner every week and every couple months I pay extra for her to do a deep clean.

@MsWalterMitty

I don’t think my house has ever looked ‘guest ready’

When we were selling our last house, the constant tidying was so stressful!… I used to hit laundry in the wardrobe and dirty dishes in the cupboards

Do you have too much stuff?

Do you have homes for your stuff?

If you have too much, get rid of some of it

If you don't have homes, then get some.

And get a laundry basket. There is no point in washing clothes then dumping them on the floor.
(And your children are old enough to put some of them away)

A bit of both. Play room and kids bedroom very messy most of the time but not dirty. The rest of the house pretty spotless. But I have an OH that likes things as clean and tidy as I do. So it's not just me on an uphill battle.

I like clean and tidy. I cannot relax in a mess. DH is the opposite and has hoarding tendencies. He doesn’t seem to see things lying around. Most of the house is as l like it. When it comes to other people’s homes I can cope with untidy but I don’t like dirt.

My house might get 'surface cluttered' but everything does have a home and my cupboards, drawers and shelves are very organised and very tidy. So when I need to put away it's easy.

That's half the battle. If stuff just gets shoved away in a haphazard fashion it doesn't make life easier.

My house is usually guest tidy.
A playroom and large utility room help. I'm a SAHM so I can spend time during the day cleaning.

Usually pretty tidy and clean. Grew up in a horders house so have gone the opposite

Currently in the middle of building works and the mess is driving me bonkers.

Close to spotless. I'm a single mom and my son has complex special needs.
Life is chaotic enough, I need to be calm as much as possible and I don't relax in messy homes. Plus for my son's sake things need to be as calm and stress-free as possible.
I clean 30 minutes a day, weekends off beyond the basics.

It’s a mess. The kitchen is cleaned every day, the rest less often. It’s pretty much never been guest ready. There are piles of stuff that don’t live anywhere.

Since there's been just the two of us at home it's pretty tidy and clean. Biggest mess is usually reading material spread across the coffee table.

My house is a constant shit tip. Not unhygienic, but messy, cluttered, overflowing. Lockdown/covid has been a time of decluttering for some, but the opposite for us - STUFF has just built up and built up. I don't know how to get out of this pit.

@2anddone

Single parent, 2dc aged 16 and 13. I wfh dc at school. House always very tidy only thing out of place is the laundry drying on clothes horse in the winter. Dc bedrooms always tidy (they do that themselves). Bathroom cleaned thoroughly once a week and quick wipe over after every bath/shower plus bleach down toilet every day. Kitchen cleaned daily after preparing and eating meal. Hoovered once maybe twice a week. Being on my own, working full time and having dc activity runs to do this helps me, it only takes an hour and half to clean house top to bottom on a Saturday morning as never has chance to get dirty.

I second that! Being the only adult in the house makes it much easier. The kids rooms are in slight disarray at the moment as need decorating but the rest is as I want it. I try to get rid of surplus stuff as and when and put stuff away after me.

Clean and tidy.
Use an adapted version of the organised mum.
Every day

• make beds
• clean kitchen surfaces
• one load of washing
• 30 min clean/tidy

A lot of days I miss the 30 min clean part but as long as i do it 2-3 times a week the house is usually clean and tidy. The other tasks take 5 mins but make sure I stay on top of washing/kitchen.

Terrible all of the time if I’m honest

Always extremely tidy. I don’t care about anyone elses clutter though. We both work, a dog & cat and two teenagers. I think the trick is that all things have a place. Garage a bit of a mess..

My house is an absolute mess.

I am really struggling at the moment. It's still upside down from Christmas. Well it was a mess before Christmas to be honest. We had 2 family bereavements one December plus my dad was really ill so we just didn't keep on top of things.

DH and I both came down with covid on Boxing Day and were so I'll with it. DH went back to work as soon as he was able to but it wiped him out. I took an extra couple of days off to try and tidy but I just was too exhausted. DH is now working away until March he was called away quite last minute so he didn't have time to sort much out and I am juggling working full time, looking after 6 year old DS and helping out with my dad.

The washing basket is overflowing, clean clothes are in piles (or rather untidy mounds) waiting to be put away. There are dishes everywhere that need to be washed. There are Christmas toys that need to be sorted and put away and old toys that need to be given away. DS's wardrobe is full of clothes that don't fit but I haven't had time to sort them out. My bedroom has a floordrobe. The bathroom needs to be scrubbed. The kitchen has only had a quick brush since Christmas and and no mop. I don't know when the oven was last cleaned. The hall is full of all kinds of crap, shoes and coats. The front room has a Christmas tree up in it still. The other Christmas decorations are in boxes to go in the loft but I can't get in to the loft without DH.

I am so overwhelmed. On a normal day I leave the house at 7:30 and get in just after 6 and then have to sort out dinner and bedtime. DS is usually in bed for 8 and we would clean then but I've been getting so tired after having covid that I just sit for half an hour and then I'm ready for bed.

DH has said he can organise getting a cleaner in maybe to do a deep clean then visit every week for about 4 weeks and then having them come every other week which would be great but I need to get it "cleaner ready" before this.

Does anyone have any tips? I think I'm at breaking point and writing this all down has made me realise that this is the worst the house has ever been!