Question about your housekeeping standards vs how you were brought up

[Loverofallthingsleopardprint]

If you were brought up in a clean and tidy home, do you keep a clean and tidy home yourself or have you gone the opposite way and become a little bit of a slob?

Or if you grew up in a messy/dirty/disorganised home, what are you like now? Are you messy now yourself or do you prefer a tidy house?

My mum has ocd when it comes to clean neat homes. She kept everything perfect and did everything for us to make sure it was done to her standards etc. Which was contrast to many of my friends homes that looked like a tornado went through in comparison. As an adult I want my house to be the same but as I never had to do it for myself I can't be bothered doing it now. So it's neat and tidy as far as no junk being everywhere etc but I don't clean like she did. I hardly clean at all I hate it. I have a cleaner at the moment once a fortnight to clean properly and in between I spot clean what needs it as little as I can get away with.

My house was always very clean & tidy when growing up. My house is clean, but is messy most of the time as I just can't keep up with all the washing, the folding, the putting away, the constant dusting and wiping and making sure the house is in pristine condition in case someone wants to pop in.

My Mum has always been very much of the mind that there is always something to do therefore you should always be doing something. Whereas me, I will put my feet up whenever I feel like, I will watch a program before I washed up, I will go out and play with the kids before the laundry is folded, I will maybe even leave the dishes overnight and I may not even dust more than once every 10 days or so.

She still doesn't get how my life doesn't revolve around household chores. I sleep just as well if I hadn't done the dishes after dinner. It will still be there when I wake up (sadly haha!!)

Hope nobody is getting the wrong idea as me DH and DS are clean people and I'd always invite you in for a cuppa but it's just that it would be obvious that a family lives here where both parents work.

About the same, I think. Reasonably tidy, rooms kept clean, no dirty dishes or rubbish allowed to hang around, but nobody would gasp at how immaculately sparkling it's kept. Well, nobody apart from one old friend whose house is exactly like the one she grew up in, ie surprisingly messy and cluttered. She thinks I'm houseproud because my kitchen surfaces are relatively clear. MIL meanwhile thinks my place is a terrible muddle.

Hmm difficult.
Grandparents were farmers and grannie always had a chicken on the table, which shat. But she did have a daily and was brought up with live in help. Cross between the Queen Mother and Clarissa Dickson Wright

Mother is immaculate, everything in it's place and pristine (not much respect for other people's boundaries, privacy or property though). She has a cleaner once a week and cleans and tidies in-between. She's 85 and standards have not dropped.

I am somewhere in between. Cleaner twice a week. Ironing sub contracted. But I have very messy cupboards- out of sight, out-of mind. DH oth is immaculately tidy and between us we compromise. My priority is clean; his is tidy. He tidies; he pays the cleaner- win/win

My Parents were messy and I’m messy too.
I really try but my kids and DP are all very messy and I’m disorganised and ADD. I fantasise about winning the lottery and getting a house keeper.

Our house was always untidy and not usually cleaned regularly except for a few years when my parents had a cleaner once a week. But even then there was always clutter everything everywhere, on chairs, sofas, kitchen worktops, just stuff everywhere. Mum always cleared up after cooking so there were never unwashed dishes, and she was very efficient with laundry/ironing and a really good/keen cook and dressmaker. The other stuff was of no interest to her though.

In contrast my house is cleaned weekly and very tidy. I like everything put away and surfaces kept clear. I wasn't always like this, used to be really messy and untidy but in my late 20s I suddenly changed. We had decorated our flat and I thought "this is so nice" and I wanted to keep it nice.

I was diagnosed with adhd late on and a clean and tidy house helps me keep my brain feeling less jumbled, and I lose things less!

My mum always used to keep a very clean house, but since my dad has gone into a home it’s not as clean as it used to be. I used to be an absolute slob but I’m a lot better now. I have a disability so I have a cleaner for a couple of hours a fortnight, just to help me keep on top of things. They always say my house is the easy clean. I do clean in between, obviously, but I’ve never thought my standards were especially high, so they must go to some right shit holes. I do like to keep a reasonably clean and tidy house though, apart from my bedroom which is probably the worst as it has guitars all over the place.

I grew up in a house that was tidy, but not clean.

Think crumbs around the canisters in the kitchen and dust on the furniture.

However, my mum wanted things to be to a show home standard and told me regularly that downstairs had to be a child free space.

Very strange.

I need things organised because I have ADHD and I like things to be clean. However, DS always had toys and stuff in out living room and he was free to do arts and crafts as he pleased.

Grew up in a messy and dirty house, clutter everywhere, bordering on hoarding at times

Have a very tidy house now and very strict rules about rotating/getting rid of old clothes and toys to prevent any sort of clutter
We are extraordinarily fortunate to be able to prioritise having a housekeeper as well, which keeps me sane

I have 2 dogs and 2 boys, so I’m not an OCD clean freak by any means, but I could happily have unexpected visitors at any time without being worried about the state of my house

Mine is much tidier than my childhood home, but that never stopped my mother from commenting on it if she came round and it was a bit messy. Clearly had a very short memory!

Colleague, full time job, 3 kids in various schools, husband full time job, told me she was upset because her mother had gone into her house while she was at work and found it untidy. I expected her to follow this up with telling me mum had tidied up and left a note saying 'know how busy you are, hope you don't mind my tidying up to help you out'. No such luck. Dear mummy had left a note 'I didn't bring you up to live like this'. Even worse, colleague found this acceptable and felt justifiably shamed. My mum's house was a bit untidy, mine is at times, but she would never have been so thoughtlessly unkind to either of her children. I was really shocked.

Grew up in a dirty and messy house. I am super neat and clean now. Being in a dirty house makes me really uncomfortable. Unreasonably so I think.

My parents house was, and is, a tip. When I was a child I would tidy and clean it, and mostly I'd be tolerated with little jokes, or told off (because I'd wasted resources cleaning something that didn't need to be cleaned, such as raw meat juice on the floor or mould in the fridge). Unfortunately, by the time I was in my teens, I was the only person who cleaned, and I still got told off for it - my mum would have a strop if I cleaned her fridge. So I'd do it all surreptitiously. The result is that now my parents are in their early 70s, it's an absolute pit.

I am much cleaner and tidier. I do sometimes disagree with my DP - she's very much from a 'shoes off' house and I will let DD onto the (washable) kitchen floor in her wellies; I might walk through the house in my fancy heels to pick up a forgotten bag or phone, knowing I don't wear my good shoes anywhere mucky and do clean them, so they won't be very dirty. OTOH I definitely have a 'robust' attitude to use-by and BBE dates, inherited from parents. I am very different from them, in that they thought you cut mould off then ate the item, or tolerated cream if it was just a bit sour. But I will eat some things that were use by yesterday if they look and smell fine.

My parents' standards really impacted on me as a child, and taught me how miserable life can be when you let things get on top of you. Even today, if my mum cooks a simple meal (and she's a good cook), it will mean grease, dropped food, boiled-over pans, all over the kitchen. It's hard to clear up. As a child I thought that's what cooking was. These days, even if I have a nice visit with them, I can't help breathing a sigh of relief to get back to my nice, clean home.

My mum (and dad!) kept a clean and tidy home. Things were well cared for and kept in good order. They did have a cleaner from fairly early on, maybe from when I was about 6. Both worked full time so it helped them to keep on top of it. It was kept in proportion.
I was pretty messy as a child and young adult. As I’ve had my own children and matured I find myself being tidier and cleaner!

I grew up in a very tidy house.
l am not tidy, but I do tidy up if visitors are coming.

Our house growing up was clean but with a lot of clutter, the kitchen always seemed a bit greasy from fried food though. I remember from a young age getting hot soapy water and giving the kitchen a really good clean about once a month. I clean and tidy my home every day and have no clutter.

Pretty average- clean and bearable tidy but with a bit of clutter.

DH grew up in a hyper organised house and I know he finds ours a bit chaotic for his tastes. For example, I have a “chuck everything in” kitchen drawer for pizza leaflets, parking permits and other random bits and bobs I want to keep to hand. In DH’s house all that stuff was alphabetically filed. So it does bother him a bit (although not enough to do anything about it 😉 )

My mother always had a cleaner ( in my life).
My dad & step-mum are also tidy & clean loads or get cleaners.

I'm a happy slob.
DH would like to live in a houseproud clean place, how his mother kept her home, but he doesn't make that happen.

2 adult DC both like to clean !!

I was brought up in a house that was practically a hoarders house, everything everywhere, no space on worktops, windowsills etc & it wasn’t nice.

now, my house as an adult is clean, tidy & clutter-free. I do have the odd drawer full of ‘stuff’ but I think everyone does. If there’s too many things lying about, I don’t feel relaxed.

Mum and I have similar standards, so both homes about the same. Not pristine, not but filthy.

My aunt was always messy, massive piles of laundry everywhere, overcrowded fridge and smelly! 2 of her daughters are very clean, whereas 1 is like her and very disorganised.

Looking back, I'm sure my cousins mum had OCD. Nothing could be out of place in the home, it had to always be show home perfect. My cousin is extremely messy and went the exact opposite of her mother.

My house is a bit less clean than my mother's, but I am tidier by nature. She used to martyr herself to housework. I don't. My house is clean enough and that's all that matters.

Our (large) 4 bed house was always very clean and tidy growing up, it used to drive my mum crazy. My friend's homes that were not like that were conspicuous, it seemed to be the norm tbh. I think I always put it down to living in a fairly wealthy area with large homes and lots of storage.

I, on the other hand, have always been untidy. There's always something I'd rather be doing - although I will say that we moved into a much larger house six months ago and I don't mind tidying so much now I have a place for everything (well, most things. Not finished unpacking yet!). The house is very messy at the moment which bothers me but not enough to get up and do much about it. We are renovating the kitchen so it doesn't seem worth the hassle.

As mum has got older though she's got completely mental for keeping things clean and tidy. We visited and she was constantly tidying up after everything, she wouldn't sit down, wouldn't let you have a drink without knowing if you were nearly finished so she could wash it. Also a complete martyr to washing up despite having a dishwasher.

It used to really bother me because she'd be very judgemental about the 'state' of my house because a tiny terrace with 5 of us in it and 2 working adults wasn't in the state she kept our large family home when she was a SAHM.

I grew up in a tidy and clean home - what I'd call normal, not excessively tidy/clean.
Now my dad's house is obsessively tidy and clean and my mum's house is tidy but not the cleanest.

My house looks like a bomb has hit it. We're renovating the house slowly so it's never going to be perfectly clean or tidy, but I think it's worse than it should be. A few years ago I wouldn't ever have thought it acceptable to leave a bed unmade or pots on the kitchen side but now it happens pretty much every day.

My mother was cleaner than I am, but she had one child and no inside pets. I had three children and at least two (or four) inside pets. Children now grown and mostly gone but still have the pets. Mother would not approve.

All I really remember was my mum seemed to spend all her time in the kitchen. We lived in a bungalow and mum liked it tidy.
I love downstairs being tidy but dash around madly dusting just before we are due visitors instead of regular cleaning. Upstairs is either a mess or very tidy.
mum ironed all the bedding, socks, pants etc etc. I carefully hang my washing on the line, straight onto hangers and into the wardrobe, ironed if needs it on the day I want to wear it, but only started that as I have a awful tennis elbow pain.
I had a friend who used to wipe her finger over my skirting boards and tell me off if they were dirty. She’s not my friend anymore!