to think that tidying means...

[ethelb]

picking things up and putting them away?

We have a cleaner coming tomorrow for the first time and I asked DP to tidy up a bit.

DP picked up the hoover and ran it round the flat, past the laundry piles that needed to be put away, past the bags still on the floor and then announced he had done it.

When I asked him what he was doing as someone was coming tomorrow to hoover and clean he said 'tidying which an umbrella term for everything'.

AIBU to think it is quite a specific request?

YANBU.

That is quite funny though

Have you nicked my dp?!

Mine does that too.

My DH thinks "tidy up" means "shout at bewildered DC for having toys out in the playroom, then develop headache and stomp off".

But my DP is quite good at domestic stuff!

I just went into the bedroom to pick something up and his jeans are on the floor and the first aid kit is strewn all over the bed. That means he hoovered 'around' his dirty jeans.

When there is someone coming tomorrow to hoover. And will be able to do so a lot more effectively if he moves his jeans 1m to the laundry basket! Aaaahhhh

People have cleaners and tidy up before them? Isn't the point of the cleaner to come and erm, do that? I was thinking about getting one, but if I am still having tidy up don't think I will bother. Don't see the point.

@optimusic no they come to clean.

I have seen threads on here where cleaners have 'sacked' customers for leaving the place too messy for them to effectively clean.

Depends on the level of cleaning agreed with cleaner optimusic. For most people who can only afford a cleaner (if at all) for a couple of hours a week, the cleaner can't do all - or even a significant part of tidying, but needs to stick to the proper cleaning - blitz kitchen and bathroom, vacuuming, dusting, spray-clean surfaces.

If a cleaner also had to tidy away a busy couple's entire life it'd have to be more hours than that.

Also, whilst trying to avoid sounding judgey-pants, most people should try to tidy away themselves at the end of each day, or certainly after a particular task is done. (And I say that as somebody who has only recently dug myself out from underneath several years' back filing - you all have happened to stumble across one of my new resolutions.)

Also, tidying is a bit more personal: you know where you like to put things, what makes sense, etc. For instance, although we don't use a cleaner at the moment, if we did, I would neither expect them to tackle the several piles of sewing projects I have on the trot, nor be best pleased if they touched it.

Vacuuming takes very little thought.

Tidying means organising and working out where to put things. My DH is great at jobs that require no thought,e.g. packing the dishwasher. He never leaves the kitchen tidy because that entails picking things up and working out where to put them.

If he unpacks the dishwasher he puts away the easy things and anything a bit challenging, like plastic pots which need matching with their lids, always needs to be dumped on the drainer because it was still wet

Next time give him three examples of what needs tidying and where to. That way at least three things will be moved.

@goldmandra I have done that and he is now doing it. With muchos pouting.

My dh thinks tidying means either putting random things together in piles or throwing things in the bin, regardless of whether we need them or not!

Ha ha, I share your pain.

Come and live in this house, where "can we tidy up a bit" results in me tidying one room and slowly but surely finding homes for everything, whilst DH chases around the rest of the house like a dervish shoving everything in plastic bags and dumping it under the bed. Yes it looks tidy. Yes it works fine for the cleaner. Not much help when you can't find your passport though .......