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 !!

I also don't like the digs at SAHMs. I was a SAHM for over 15 years and never spent much time on housework, certainly have 'slovenly' standards on Mumsnet .

Being a 'SAHM' does not need to mean literally staying at home - I had 15 fab years of being out and about, volunteering and doing all sorts of interesting things - just not housework.

Now I work part time and still only hoover once a fortnight week and change the sheets every 2-3 weeks. And wear the same pyjamas all week. Don't think I've cleaned my inside windows in over 2 years.

Got to agree with you OP. Life's too short to obsess over cleaning! I do think that an awful lot of people waste an awful lot of money on these anti-bacterial things rather than just wash their hands! More & more people seem to use public loos and just rush out without washing hands. Yuk.

I'm with the OP on this. That said, we have one dd who is 14 and we aren't messy people. When I read that some people with small families do three loads of washing a day I always wonder how they can produce so much washing, then I read that they change towels and pyjamas daily. Unless they are very sweaty or dirty I fail to see why it is necessary.

Towels, pyjamas and sheets get changed once a week. Vacuuming and dusting likewise.

There is way too much OCD about cleanliness on here.

I think people's cleaning regime tends to adjust to how much time they have available. DP and I work long hours; we do what really needs to be done (and no more) between fortnightly visits by the cleaner.

DP's mother would be horrified to know how 'dirty' out house is, but then she's a life-lomg housewife who genuinely struggles to fill her days. She bleaches everything constantly and hovers compulsively. Cleaning has become a means of self-justification for her, without it, she would feel she has no purpose.

In fact, I think a lot of tasks are like this. From ironing underwear to regularly cleaning the oven, there seems to me to be a lot of household drudgery that people (usually women) undertake just because it's there, despite there being far more meaningful activities out there. I'd like to see a compulsory No-Housework Day, where housewives and househusbands are forced to get out for the day, maybe hiking, volunteering or to a museum or a class! The world would be a much better place!

Hey its got it all in here name calling the lot.

I think it's well amusing that people will call and accuse people of lying so they can justify being a scruffy bugger.

Privately I believe that people would like to have a cleaner house which is why it's brought up so much. They would never admit it though while they hunt for their kids slippers because there are bits getting stuck to their bottom of their feet from the floor

It doesnt actually take long to keep on top of a house but its understandable if you let the house get into a state and each chore takes longer than it should.

Agree. I do clean myself at least once a day (and by that, I mean in a shower, not a grim 'body wash' with a cloth). But everything else is cleaned as per people in the real world, which means every 3-4 days to a week.

Yanbu. I am more worried by excessive use of chemicals and their effect on us and the environment than some bacteria.

My dd and I are very healthy and rarely get ill so it may be benefitting us.

I think it's mainly that the scuzzy people don't speak up on the uber clean threads because you get shouted down for being disgusting. We are very scuzzy compared to what a lot of people claim to do, but we're rarely ill, and no ones died yet!

I am another is not drawn to obsessive cleanliness. My house is often dirty (thanks to two dogs, 3 kids, and a DH :)), and untidy for similar reasons (although my natural inclination isn't overly tidy either to be honest !).

Each to their own. Personally I hate the over perfumed nature of a lot of "cleaning" products - give me fresh air any day.

Even my mother who is know to be a clean (& tidy) freak of the highest order. Cleans the house twice a week (that was with kids in it), changed bedding twice a week and towels once a week.

People lie or are deluding themselves

My DGM is truly like this. She's always cleaned to take her mind off things, it's like her coping mechanism. You can tell when she's really bored or stressed because she starts cleaning something she's already cleaned twice that day . She lives alone with a dog and cat- hoovers house every day, cleans her ornaments every other day (and she has quite a lot), washes her bedding every other day and IRONS IT, she irons everything in fact... Towels have a one use policy , toilet is bleached after every use as is the shower... She washes up as she goes, cleans things like the curtains regularly. She likes to be on the go doing things you see, cleaning is just another one of those things. Even when she comes to my house if the DC have eaten when she's here she'll wash up after them! .

I, on the other hand, could not be arsed. Never iron, sheets are changed every 3 weeks, towels generally used for a couple of weeks, I vacuum the whole house once a week, do the living room 3 times a week (more atm because of damn pine needles). Sweep the kitchen daily but rarely mop, I hate mopping. Only thing I really do that's a bit excessive I guess is washing up, hate the sight of unwashed dishes in the kitchen so I do wash up after every meal meaning that yes, I was up three times a day but sometimes more if we've baked.

Agree 100% OP

I couldn't be any less OCD about cleaning and it doesn't seem to be doing me or my family any harm!

Cyclops I hope that was just a poor joke about your DD having OCD. OCD ruins lives, how can it ever be 'win, win'? I'm sick of this debilitating disorder being being used as joke fodder, why is it acceptable to joke about mental illness?

Yeah there's that as well. People bring up the 'well we're never ill' thing like that is the reason people keep their houses clean

When I was little, we had "bath night". It was Sundays. I don't understand how people have time to come home from work, pick up kids, feed them, bath them, spend time relaxing with them, do homework if necessary, then get them to bed at a reasonable hour. I only have one, a toddler, and DH and barely manage dinner and bed most week nights... sometimes it's not that reasonable an hour by the time the little monster darling goes to sleep.

I'm a sahp and in the last four weeks I have had -dd2(2) handfootandmouth and then straight after chicken pox.Ds(12) chest infection and yesterday major panic attack with school ringing me to collect -again...
Not to mention Tourette's workshops, GB training squad sessions two hrs away,asthma attacks,late night discussions with Dh about separating and all the usual jobs and shitty issues that life throws up.
I'm not a bored housewife looking for dusting diversions. I'm just another woman doing her best like the rest of you,so stop bloody bashing us SAHMs.

I'm scuzzy and proud.

There is far too much careless usage of the term OCD in this thread. OCD is NOT a way to describe someone who just happens to enjoy cleaning. It isn't someone who likes to keep a tidy house. It is the debilitating condition which can make sufferers believe if they don't complete certain rituals (not all cleaning related!) then they will cause serious harm or the death of themselves or someone else.

Please stop using 'OCD' in such an ignorant way. It is deeply offensive and trivialising a heartbreaking disorder.

Oh ffs. Could people stop using OCD as a term for people who clean? It's an illness.

I clean daily, it takes very little time and we're all healthy!

Would love a super clean house. Don't have the time or money to pay a cleaner.

I clean and tidy every single day, and like to live in a tidy house. I hate mess, and always ensure every room is neat and tidy before relaxing for the evening.

However, I don't clean towels and PJs every single day. I don't have time. I WOH. Instead, I clean them about every 3-4 days to a week (the latter if the weather is bad). I don't think that makes me scuzzy. Sorry, but I don't. And I say, I do shower at least once a day, often twice. I also air the house daily.

Fine, if others want to do daily washes. I genuinely do have better ways to spend my time.

tiptops I do apologise DD has really got OCD and is on medication to help control anxiety/ADHD (shes 25)
But one way of her dealing with it is by joking about it. I guess it rubs off on me.
Didnt mean to cause offence to anyone.

I'm a SAHM to a 13 month old and am too busy looking after my child to do much cleaning. And as a PP pointed out, surely a house gets much dirtier with children actually in it than one where they are at a nursery/childminders in the day? Despise this attitude that SAHM have nothing better to do than clean. If your child goes to a childminder do you think they spend all day cleaning the house as they've got nothing else to do?
In general though I agree with the OP. People are far too hung up on things being meticulously clean. I try to make sure my floors are vaguely clean as I have a dog and a crawling 13 month old who picks up everything and anything from the floor, but I just can't get worked up about sheets/towels etc. And my jeans get washed when they look dirty or start to smell!

I'm a SAHM and Ds has OCD as a related condition.I'm not offended,just bored of ignorance.

But getting back to the point, yes mn is bizarre for odd things . A sense of pride from some people for being a slob, and a sense of fear for others and not using fresh pyjamas daily .
Happy medium surely is where most of us sit.