to think everyone has become obsessed with cleanliness

[palamino]

i have been reading other threads, eg frequency of changing towels/pyjamas/sheets, frequency of cleaning house/bathroom/toys. I must be a complete slob, towels changed weekly, pyjamas changed weekly, sheets every 2-3 weeks, house cleaned once a week. I don't squirt everywhere with disinfectant multiple times each day, if food drops on the floor briefly I would not automatically throw it away, and I have never minded the DCs getting mucky. We are the most healthy family i know, the house never looks dirty or untidy (apart from teenagers rooms-i just shut their doors!!), i am definitely not into this obsessive cleaning lark !!

People lie!

I completely agree with you palamino.

I agree with you, in fact I almost posted a thread aboht it myself.

An advert came on for anti-bacterial washing powder, I mean really. No-one has had a problem with washing their clothes in bog standard washing powder for the last few decades, have they? Alot of it is just marketing ploys I think.

Yeah people lie. The only things I pay attention to are food hygiene (and I generally go past use by dates too), clean pants/socks daily, clean clothes every two days, soap in the kitchen/bathroom and bleaching the bog daily. Everything else gets done when I think on, and not before. Nobody's sick, nobody's been ostracised and nobody's died. Win!

I agree with you palamino. Towels/sheets/pjs weekly washes, house tidied all the bloody time but cleaned as required really. It's never messy or dirty, I'm certainly not a slob (though the 2DSS may be classed as slobs!) but I do feel woefully inadequate on reading these sorts of posts. Are these people genuine? Am I deludig myself? Who knows but until then the puppy will continue to malt and the baby will continue to sick milk on the sofa!

I know people who Hoover everyday. Every day? Ain't nobody got time for that! I work full time, am out of the house until late and have a busy life at the weekends. Yes, my floor has a bit of dirt on it but we are not eating our tea off it.

The clean freaks I know are SAHMs who moan about how much they have to do. Don't Hoover all the bleeding time then!

Some most people on here are definitely full of bs. I would definitely not believe any of it. I'm sure you're doing fine.

Totally agree and my cleaning schedule sounds like yours and we are very healthy and seem to avoid all the bugs which do the rounds.

Ok so I change my sheets and towels weekly. House is cleaned weekly, floor vacuumed twice a week or more (two dogs and two cats)and everything else done when needed.

Yes I think there is an overuse and obsession with antibacterial cleaners and over cleaning. I refuse to buy any household cleaner that is marketed as antibacterial. Oh I have bleach and disenfectant when needed but dirt is good. DH and I are both in the medical field so it's not as though we are ignorant about germs.

It does seem sometimes like competitive hygiene round here. I remember a friend telling me how inferior she felt to her SIL because SIL washed her kitchen floor twice a day: as I told her then, that made SIL the inferior one if she had nothing more in her life than washing the same patch of floor 730 times a year regardless of whether it was actually needed. No-one is any cleaner or healthier for washing towels after every use, but they certainly are poorer.

Totally agree with OP here. I am what some on here might call slovenly.

My basics are that the toilets must be clean and the kitchen surfaces safe for food preparation, but other than that things are just done as and when.

I see people on here and sometimes in real life obsessing about the most ridiculous stuff. Your immune system is there for a reason, and in general it works pretty well.

A peck of dirt etc. .....

My mother does get that meticulous about cleaning. We've often joked about whether she has OCD or not. I would not be surprised since she gets stressed if the house has a tiny bit of dust. But it's certainly not healthy to be obsessed with cleanliness like that. I haven't met a happy person that puts that much mental energy into cleaning.

We do an ok job of cleaning. I have dust on all my shelves, but I sweep or vacuum right away if there's food on the floor so DD doesn't eat it. Honestly, we're lucky if dishes get done once a day.

Just remember there are a lot of SAHMs on mumsnet with time to kill while their kids are at school. Cleaning every day isn't the norm amongst people I know in real life, but my friends in real life either have a job or very young children or do extensive charity/youth work.

Hear hear Palomino!

I used to do my housework from top to bottom every single day. I thought it was the norm as my mum is obsessive over housework.

However I like to leave it as then when it's done it actually looks like it's done.

I do have fresh towels and pj every day though.

I came on to agree but any cleaning routine that includes the word weekly is beyond my cleaning inclinations. Still no ones dead and no issues at work so I figure we don't smell, so obv no big problem.

I remember the jeans thread. At least 50% of posters would wash jeans after every wear. I am in the scuzzy 50%.

Im totally with you OP. These sheets im lying on now have been on the bed for 2 weeks. Towels weekly. Hoover as and when. Lifes too short. .....
However DD has OCD so frequently bleaches & cleans the bathroom

I agree OP. And SAHM do not have time to kill, Muscat!! If they do there are 101 things they can do rather than excessive cleaning!
It must be so uncomfortable for everyone to live with.
Even hotels don't do fresh towels everyday if you are kind to the environment and keep them on the rail.
I think one of the things that has shocked me most on MN is the mentality of washing jeans and pyjamas after one wear.(and not putting something back in the wardrobe after one wear).

I had to laugh at Bulbasaurs "mental energy", since I expend a fair amount of mental energy on not cleaning, divided between calculating whether and when things need cleaning, and how to do it efficiently.

For example, I cut up all the ingredients for a dish in a certain order, so I don't contaminate the single knife and chopping board I am using. Contamination is not just from meat, but from onions as well: awful to chop "harmless" vegetables with the wreath of onion fumes rising from the board!

I will mop up water or non-red juice spills with a bath towel or tea-towel which is awaiting a wash, thereby saving kitchen roll. The towel will go into a hot wash with Napisan anyway, so...

It is important to ration out mental energy devoted to cleaning, and do it rationally. Just now, I'm whipping a former rental place back into shape to hopefully get all or most of our deposit back, so I haven't yet done any mopping or sweeping of the house we've moved into, and I'm also feeling rather "Christmas Schmismas"! I'm also being very short with my mother, who is being really helpful but also really over-energetic at times when I just need to shut up and recharge, and not answer questions about where the next ten things go.

Just because there is a lull of half an hour before the school run, that does not mean it has to be filled with sorting or housework, however much "needs to be done". At such moments, I can see a pile of laundry with complete indifference, and turn back to my book, newspaper or MN, since those are refreshing!

The fashion for buying and using disposable wipes for cleaning is complete madness.
If they are flushed down the loo they block the sewers and if there are put in the bin they are put in land fill.

I wouldn't put stuff back in the wardrobe after one wear. I leave it lying around so I'll wear it again before it gets washed. Only clean clothes in my wardrobe.
However, in terms of other cleaning, as long as the kitchen and bathroom are clean, I don't care about the rest.

I would have a lot of things lying around if coats, suits, skirts etc didn't go back in the wardrobe after wearing.

Really bad dig as SAHM.
Homes with young kids in it all day get messier and dirtier than homes that lie empty all day while kids are at nursery or childminder.
Toddlers bring in mud, wee on the floor, spead yogurt on cushions- put paint on the walls, none of this is happening in an empty house.

Also for those who don't clean every day- don't you cook? Making a meal from scratch will entail messing up the kitchen to some extent- even for the tidiest cook. I have to wipe down surfaces and clean splashback on cooker etc every day. A quick wipe down regularly means I rarely have to do a deep clean.

I didn't become a SAHM to do cleaning! What a waste of time.