to ask you how clean your house is?

[NaomiCharles]

Long time lurker here and only just plucked up the courage to create my own account... I see a lot of threads where people post regarding their standards of cleanliness/tidiness and there is more often than not, a disputed regarding 'the norm', which has prompted me to join and ask:

• how clean is your house?
• how clean is your car?
• do you clean it yourself?
• do you hire a cleaner?
• what do you do to make cleaning more enjoyable? (I bloody hate it!)

My house is fairly clean but I can see dust building up in corners and my windows need washing. My car is horrid. It's disgusting and I'm getting it valeted on Monday! I'm dreading the looks on their faces when they see it. I can't afford a cleaner, so clean myself, and have yet to find a routine or way to make cleaning fun/easy/more enjoyable...

[isseywithcats]

My house is clean enough to be healthy and dirty enough to be happy, kitchen is reasonably clean, bedrooms spotless, front room every other day hoover due to cats moulting, stairs and halls hoovered twice a week, bathroom cleaned once a week

[gingerpickles]

The bedrooms are horrendous. Clean bedding, just messy floors. We are having work done though so it's been a case of throw everything upstairs.
Kitchen and bathrooms are always immaculate. It never takes long to wash up and clean down the sides, same with the bathroom.
DH's car is lovely and clean, inside and out, my car well I noticed cobwebs in the wing mirrors, and the inside is like a mobile sandpit and chocolate factory due to DS.

I don't have a cleaner, I'd love one but I'd be cleaning before the cleaner came so it would defeat the object.

[ReginaOcarina]

House is pretty clean as I do it as go.

Everytime I go in the bathroom I will clean stuff while I'm in there while I brush my teeth/run a bath etc. Always clean the kitchen as i go and always put machines on that do the job for me as soon as I'm up, so washing machine, tumble dryer, dishwasher if needed. Hoover and mop daily due to dc and animals.

However my car looks like someone emptied a skip into it!

[LaurieMarlow]

Not very. No cleaner, on mat leave at the minute, can't justify it. Though with a 3 week old not much is getting done. however DH steam mopped the floors earlier, which made a reasonable difference.

Our car was an absolute disgrace for approximately a year. But we cleaned it properly before baby was born.

[kirta]

Peaks and troughs. I either have an absolutely spotless house, or a house that looks like squatters have moved in...
Can't seem to find a middle ground actually!

[Throwaway4misc]

Mine is clean but not tidy!
I bought a new cordless vac and I use it daily, I then realised I just move toys and clutter clean the area and then move it back

Kitchen and bathroom are clutter free and sparkling as they are very small rooms however all the other rooms are so full of stuff you probably can't see how clean it is!
Drives me up the wall but I am overruled by DP and DC.

Find what you feel comfortable with OP. Don't judge yourself on the standards of strangers on the internet

[jammiebammie]

I seriously struggle with my house, and it gets me so down!
I’m disabled, so really struggle to do ‘big jobs’ and the place is so cluttered I feel I’m just moving stuff to clean and I just end up moving things room to room.
The place is clean, just messy. I think it’s worse as certain areas of the house haven’t been decorated either.
5 people in the house and it still falls to me, and I just can’t do it anymore. Cupboards are full to the brim, there’s washing everywhere.
Came back from hospital with dd, I’d gutted the kitchen, bathroom and hall and washed floors before we went so I wouldn’t be stressed when I came back. But dh and dc didn’t get the memo and I came back to crap everywhere, washing on the bathroom floor, dishes piled in the sink and dried weetabix on the table. I am literally hiding in my bedroom with dd today because I can’t handle it right now!

[crispysausagerolls]

My house is always immaculate because I am a neat freak and I would always want to be happy that if someone came round everything would be in its place, BUT I have a dog so even immediately after I’ve hoovered and mopped there is hair on the floor. It’s annoying but I try not to let it bother me! It’s always slightly less tidy when DH is home at the weekends because he doesn’t care about cleaning up after himself and I don’t want to run around after him all day (although sometimes I do 😂🙈)

[RoseWhiteTips]

Clean and tidy. Not in a crazy way, though.
I dislike disorder is all.

[RoseWhiteTips]

Car is clean too. The interior is more important, imo. I hate skips.

[LakieLady]

Neither clean nor tidy, I'm afraid. If it was tidier, it'd be cleaner, too, because cleaning is easier when there isn't clutter everywhere.

The kitchen worktops, cooker and sink are cleaned regularly (every day or two) and my kitchen floor is much better since I discovered my new GTech hoover is brilliant on hard floors.

The bath, toilet and basin are always clean, and the bathroom floor is swept weekly.

I have a battle with cobwebs once a twice a week, but the cobwebs seem to win. If I leave it a week, my bedroom looks like Miss Havisham's house. I must have the most persistent spiders in the country.

I hoover twice a week, but it really needs doing every day. The dog doesn't really moult, but she does shed a little, and she always comes back from the garden or walks with grass and burrs on her coat that then end up on the carpets. She likes to root about in undergrowth, the baggage.

My car is a midden. I work in the community, so it's my office as well. It's full of flyers and paperwork, and the footwell is full of drink bottles, coffee cups and sandwich packets. If I had a sunroof, and left it open, it could easily be mistaken for a skip.

[Deandre]

I don’t love cleaning although people think I probably do, but I just can’t tolerate a untidy and dirty house (my own, couldn’t care what others are like) if the house is a tip I feel like my mind is a tip and I can’t organise or concentrate. I do it as I go throughout the day. At nights when the kids go to bed I tidy again so the house is reset for the mornings.

[RoseWhiteTips]

How can someone have a clean house but a littered car interior? It doesn’t make sense.

[Deandre]

My car is clean and tidy... if I’m honest I don’t understand how people’s car become a tip. When I get in my car I drive it, not try on shoes, eat or do whatever to make it a mess. Sounds judgey but I don’t honestly don’t understand how the inside of a car becomes a tip.

[BigPinkBall]

I’m naturally a very messy person, although not dirty.
I only really clean if I’m expecting visitors. I had my bathroom tiled floor to ceiling so it would be easier to keep clean and we have lots of cupboards in our house so I can pick up clutter and shove it out of sight. Piles of washing never get put away, they just sit in the spare room until they get worn again, our wardrobes are full of clothes we never wear!
My car is full of stuff, coats, shoes and scarves that just get left there.
I find it quite easy to wipe surfaces and have a quick hoover at the weekend, it would be nice to have a “showhome” but the reality is I’m not willing to put the effort in.

[2blueshoes]

DM has given me this vibe of not being able to rest till everything is done (I'm not blaming her, she is the best mum ever and would agree with this statement). I've lived in my own home with DH and kids for 25+ years. In that time I've come to learn that there is always something that needs doing, always.

I've been a sahm since the early 90's (a complicated life which would take too long to explain) and, recently, I've been enlightened that my time on this earth will not be spent cleaning, which is what it felt like.

My house is always tidy, clean is another story. To look at it (I hope) visitors would think it was clean, but in my mind I know there are jobs that need doing and it's ok for them to be left till I feel like doing them. Constantly cleaning didn't make me feel like I was ever finished, not cleaning makes me feel the same.

So bugger it.

[SweetSummerchild]

I have no idea how clean my house is as I am pretty much blind and can’t see dirt. I clean the house, but then rely on others (mostly DH) to tell me about cobwebs and other things that he can see and I can’t.

The hosue is very tidy. If ‘stuff’ isn’t where it’s supposed to be then I can’t find it and that pisses me off immensely. Likewise, I trip over things that are left lying around on the floor. I bloody hate shoes being left near the front or back doors and I loathe anything being let on the stairs.

DH’s car is spotless. It’s a ‘special edition’ car and is taken to many car shows throughout the summer months. DH has nine million different lotions and potions for cleaning different parts of it (including an actual toothbrush for cleaning the wheels). It’s his hobby (midlife crisis).

[happymummy12345]

I don't have a car. My house is fairly clean. I do a weekly clean which is: polish surfaces in living and dining room, so window ledges, shutters/ blind, all around the tv, skirting board, dining table that kind of thing. Polish surfaces in the bedroom- top of chests of draws and bedside cabinets, window ledges, blinds, skirting boards. Polish ds's bedroom- pretty much the same as our room, including the baby gate. There's one display cabinet that shows dust badly, so that gets done weekly when I do the hallway- wipe banister and skirting boards including along the stairs, as well as the baby gate. Bathroom- clean toilet, sink, bath and shower, glass shelves, mirror. Wipe skirting board and window ledge. Kitchen- wipe round the sink and work surfaces including appliances, wipe the top and front of the fridge, washing machine, cooker, cupboards and draws. Wipe the baby gate and skirting board. Finally I hoover the carpets, and brush and mop the rest of the floors. (Sorry it sounds like a lot listed like that. It's not as bad as it sounds). Once a month I clean all the shelves and display cabinets properly- take everything off and out and give it all a polish/ clean with glass cleaner. And clean the windows. Less often I'll take everything out the cupboards and clean them all properly. But daily I clean the kitchen by wiping round after every use. And if I notice anything that particularly needs doing before my cleaning day then I'll do it.
I'd never have a cleaner, I'm too fussy about my cleaning. I prefer to do it myself. Dh will help if he's here and it needs doing, but usually I clean my own house. Doesn't bother me too much. iPod on, and get to it.

[happymummy12345]

And we don't have clutter. Everything has a place and we try to make sure that we put things back where they came from, so our draws and cupboards stay tidy. I can't stand stuff everywhere.

[peachgreen]

Our car is a total mess. I mean, it's not full of wrappers or whatever but we rarely get it cleaned because neither of us care enough about it to worry.

The house is pretty clean, especially given we have a 4 month old DD. I clean for around 45mins to an hour a day in which keeps on top of it. It's much more enjoyable than doing a big clean once a week - I stick the radio on, reward myself with a coffee at the end etc etc. On top of that I do a 10min whip round at the end of the day (load the dishwasher, chuck toys in toy boxes, plump cushions, put laundry away etc) so that it looks good when I get up in the morning. And then in the morning while I'm waiting for the coffee to brew I empty the dishwasher, stick on a load of laundry and wipe down the kitchen.

[limon]

• how clean is your house? On a scale of 1-10 if 1 is shit tip and 10 is Showhome, maybe 6.
  
• how clean is your car? 6 on same scale
  
• do you clean it yourself? Yes
  
• do you hire a cleaner? One hour a week she started 2 weeks ago and it's amazing
  
• what do you do to make cleaning more enjoyable? (I bloody hate it!) Nothing. Cleaning is just cleaning. It a not enjoyable.

[SaucyJack]

Not very clean, and not tidy at all.

We have too much stuff that doesn't have a home so it just ends up dumped on various surfaces.

[PurpleTigerLove]

My house is always clean but recently ( I’ve been working fulltime) the upstairs has been left longer than I would like . I clean it myself although I could afford a cleaner .
My car not so much , I live in the countryside and prefer a clean home to a clean car . I can’t do it all so the car is way down the list of priorities. I clean my windows as and when I can , downstairs get done more regularly. I have 16 or thereabouts of the buggers so it takes a while .
I won’t/ dont pay anyone to do something I can do myself .

[PurpleTigerLove]

I’m not into days out and suchlike at the weekends so am content pottering about the house or garden.

[TokenBritPoshOfCourse]

Downstairs is usually tip top.

Upstairs is usually a shitshow.

Getting a Roomba changed my life as we now keep tidy downstairs and she goes round once a day.