To think it is easy to keep your home clean?

[Ohwell14]

Providing you are able bodied obviously

You only need two thing to keep a house clean and tidy:

1. Lots of storage.
2. No children.

Clean, meh hit and miss with how clingy my children are. Tidy? Not a chance. 🤦🏻‍♀️

It’s interesting the creativity thought. I couldn’t focus on anything else of I had food all over my house as an example, I wouldn’t want to go to sleep with half a pizza lying in my room, or be sitting mumsnetting whilst there was crumbs and sausage rolls all over the place. I’m not sure how mumsnetting is spending time with family either, unlesss the other posters are considered family ?

But yeah, I’d find the mess distracting. So I guess we are all different.

If I'd been sober, I wouldn't have gone to bed with half a pizza sitting on the floor but I wasn't so....

I'm also now terribly hungover so the dog is dealing with the pizza and sausage rolls for me while I nurse a bacon buttie

Most of the family left after they'd made a suitable amount of mess. I believe there might be a straggler or two left in the child's bedroom but up to now, only my own child has emerged. Judging on the number of cold sausage rolls she took back up with her she's not alone in her hovel.

At some point, I'll find the hoover and attempt to clean something. Maybe.

I'd rather spend my time with family than worrying about the state of my house.

It's possible to do both you know. My ds doesn't miss out on 'family time' just because I keep the house clean and tidy 🙄

Sounds like a fabulous party frequency

I don't believe you can host large numbers of people at your home on a regular basis and keep it spotless at the same time. That's what I meant by I'd rather spend time with my family.

I'd rather have all the kids over and watch them have fun than worry about a few crumbs and spilled drinks. I'd rather allow them to move their party upstairs to play spooky games than fuss about pizzas being left in bedrooms. Although, in my defense, I wasn't totally minging, I did move the pizza further away from the bed before I passed out

I'll admit, I spend the first half of the parties chasing them with a vacuum cleaner, but then the wine comes out and the vacuum gets forgotten.

The OP was about it being easy to keep your house clean and tidy. I don't find it easy because I often have large numbers of teens and pre-teens milling about and both age groups tend to be filthy cretins but I'd rather have them about than have a show home.

We often have friends round (I hosted a Halloween party for 16 kids between 4 months and 7 yesterday). Of course I didn’t clean up mid party! I went round with a bin bag when they’d gone home though and did the rest of the cleaning this morning (no extra hour in bed with 2 pre schoolers but at least it gave me an extra hour to clean up )

*i hosted for the kids and their parents, not just the kids

Too many variables for a straight yes or no answer, OP. How long is a piece of string?
Very easy for me right now, temporarily living in a one bed apartment while looking for a house, most of our stuff is in storage so no clutter, just me and DH and 2 cats and I'm only working part-time; it was slightly different years ago in a rambling, fixer upper 3 bed 2 bath with 3 kids, pre teen and teen with assorted entourages of friends constantly in and out of my fridge and cupboards while avoiding the dishwasher and washing machine2 cats, large dog, ongoing renovations while both working full time. Place generally looked like an explosion at an Amazon distribution center situated next door to a builders' yard.

Of course I didn’t clean up mid party!

I do. I usually spend the day cleaning before a party and the house ends up looking and smelling lovely, so I tell myself I will keep party mess to a minimum and spend the first few hours with a vacuum in one hand and a bin liner in the other but then wine happens and my good intentions go awry.

This is why the level of mess left behind confuses me. I did hoover, fill a bin bag and wash-up mid party last night. And then I woke up to a living room that looked like the inside of a bag of Doritios which had been trampled on by a small herd of elephants.

I've now located the hoover and the house looks more house less crisp packet. Tomorrow, I will go around and wipe all the sticky fingerprints away and clean the drink spills from the carpet while the children are at school and then they'll bring friends home and the whole thing will start over.

I think parties are different though to normal day to day living.

We have lots of friends stay over every few weeks. The house is always spotless before they arrrive, and although I semi keep on top of it throughout, as in throw empties out, clean up after dinner etc, I always wake up to a mess, bottles and glasses in the garden and house, sticky coffee table and side board, and then peoples towels after they have showers or the inflatable beds if a big group and the bedding always needs to be put away, the spare beds neeed to be changed, cooker cleaned, dishwasher emptied.

However I wouldn’t class the house the day after a party as my norm...

Tidy House:-
Depends on....

1. Organisation/level of clutter
2. Size of house
3. Help available
4. Time available
5. Number of residents
6. Chores for residents
7. Time spent on getting residents to do their chores
8. Messiness of residents
9. Management skills of main person in charge

10. Time spent on repeating other residents chores to a satisfactory level 11. Cleaning up after pets 12 Running Taxi and chaperoning service 13. Time for partner 14. Homework help 15. Travel times/car assessability 16. Hospital/medical appointments for family and relatives 17. Home help service for neighbours/relatives 18. Whether children sleep at night 19. Whether children will get up, get dresses, eat breakfast without constant reminders, prompts, threats etc 20. Whether partner can aim his pee and use a loo brush after being in the bathroom. 21 Does partner help?

I think some people have it easier certainly. Choosing a neat and tidy partner with a clean house (that he was solely responsible for) should have been a major criteria. Sadly it wasn't.

I don't know how universally true this is, but I've found people with active social lives don't tend to have tidy houses and gardens unless they have extra help.

My less spontaneous friends that plan everything out seem to be tidiest.

Playing devils advocate here. I agree. It’s not that hard to keep your house clean. No one says it has to be spotless and yes you can have a clean house with toys all over the floor. I’ve been to the house of a stay at home mom who leave dirty nappies laying about and has dishes in her sink that look as if they walked themselves there. She just keeps buying new ones or paper ones coz it’s easier. She is perfectly capable of keeping it clean but has admitted she doesn’t like cleaning. Her poor husband even suggested a cleaner but she refused to pay someone to do something she can easily do herself.

It’s the psychological part of cleaning. When you have kids it can just feel utterly relentless. You spend hours cleaning and it just gets wrecked again in minutes. When you have babies, you often don’t get a lot of sleep and it’s hard to feel motivated to clean when you are exhausted.

There’s a big difference between being a bit messy, toys on the floor, but clean clothes/sheets/bathrooms and utter health and safety endangering filth.

One is a matter of personal preference as to how spotless a house is and one is a danger.

But this thread is depressing because it’s STILL equating a women’s worth and moral value to how perfect her Home is. What of the Menfolk ? They live there too! Why are they not responsible for half?

We had guests drop by yesterday and both of us zipped round cleaning up before. It’s dhs house too, why is it only me who gets asked to provide ‘an excuse’ as to why it’s not a show Home?

Some deeply misogynistic attitudes in here. I don’t need an excuse for not stoning the step every day. The house isn’t perfect but it’s hygeinic, warm, and clean enough.

I know someone like this - constantly on about how good she is at housework. Pointed remarks about a teacup left for ten minutes while people drink the tea and relax. Constant sniping.

I pointed out that she had carpets throughout and wears shoes indoors and where I live that’s seen as barbaric filth, one step up from urine soaked rushes on the floor.

If I did everything that needed doing in my life and home, when it needed doing, there’d be time for about three hours sleep as my down time and that’s it. I’m a single parent, my children are both disabled, I have a dog. I sometimes prioritise some down time and sit down to watch something but I am never relaxed because at the back of my mind are twenty tasks that really need to be done. My house is tidy mostly and clean-ish but things like redecorating and deep cleans rarely happen because I simply do not have the time. It’s endless and depressing and I can see how people could become overwhelmed and give up on it all.

I have young children, I work and my house is clean and very tidy.

Up to the individual, but I can't live in clutter or mess. DH is the same.

Cleaning doesn't 'take me away from my children' at all.

This isn't a stealth boast- far from it. Each to their own for their own reasons.

Providing ur able bodied.. don’t have any kids, never suffer from exhaustion or any kind of general health ailments (oh I don’t know.. how about headaches or even worse, migraines? Bad periods? Colds? Etc, etc.. How about mental health issues? How about being a parent to one or more special needs children? Working? Being a single parent, student? All 3? Having and caring for 1 or more pets? I guess you’ve never met anybody who’s running themselves into the ground, trying their hardest to make ends meet, with no or very little support? I love having a clean and tidy house. Yes, mess stresses me out. Maybe I am a little ocd. But I ain’t no superhero. Some days I am just too ill, too tired, too depressed, too fucked off to give a shit about my messy home.

And why does anyone care how much effort other people put into cleaning their own house anyway?

Moron

WhatWould because there are so many judgemental people like the OP who cannot understand why cleaning isn't a priority or enjoyable.

You can if you have serious motivation to do so. I struggle to drum up the required level of motivation day after day doing the same things. So I got a cleaner.

You could say the same about anything. Far more important things like exams and jobs etc. Having that motivation pays off but it depends what you want in life. I'd prefer to have massive motivation to work (and earn) than to do the thankless and unpaid work of cleaning my house.

Paranoudpammy....spot on
And I'm saying this as one of the less spontaneous few..
There are people I know with big beautiful houses who entertain a lot, are spontaneous & ultra sociable, and often makes me feel slightly inadequate But they have a LOT of help. Cleaners, Gardeners, window cleaners (inside & out!) oven cleaners..etc etc. And having spent a few days doing all of these things..I was feeling decidedly tired & unsociable yesterday. One Halloween party later, and the marigolds are back in full swing