To find cleaning boring?

[angelunderneath]

Just reading about how cleaning has become one of the biggest social media crazes over the past year. I tried to get on board with some of the ‘hinching’ trend and products as I liked the idea of making housework enjoyable. But nope it’s still as boring and unappealing as ever. Obviously everyone likes different things but I just don’t get it! I love the organised mum method purely because it’s about making cleaning manageable and less time-consuming, but I get little to no pleasure from household chores or products.

Sometimes it just feels like I’m the only one on Facebook not getting excited about a new scent of zoflora or cleaning my toilet.

I agree that cleaning is boring. But if I’m listening to a good audiobook or podcast I find the time goes pretty quickly and I do like the results. Living in a dirty or untidy home is depressing.

Oh OP I totally agree. Bores me senseless but it has to be done. However I cannot moan about it to my mother as she sees my dislike of hoovering and dusting as almost a moral failure.

There was a thread on here recently about people’s favourite poems and some one posted one called “Dust if you must”. Look it up - its brilliant!!

So utterly dull and thankless. I’ve given up a bit tbh until the children are older.

@PookieDo

There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting a clean home. Lately I could do with raising my standards a bit tbh! But yes, there’s a difference between that and obsession. So for example, the person I know who cleans all the time pulls out every appliance in their kitchen, cooker, washing machine, the lot, and cleans underneath, every single week! The amount of dirt that would accumulate under someone’s washing machine in one week is going to be very minimal. The vast majority of people I know only clean under a big appliance when they’re having a new one fitted! To do it weekly is excessive. But it’s not judgement I have, though it may sound that way, it’s concern. I worry that when my friends adult children move out (which is on the cards in the next 12 months or so) she is going to feel lost and possibly end up depressed because she doesn’t know what else to do with herself. I’d like her to find something for herself, that she enjoys, that doesn’t involve always cleaning up after others.

Anyone who hates hoovering, I can recommend robot hoover....i wish to god id bought one years ago. Ive gone from hoovering whole house once a week.to doing it every day (when i say "I" I mean, I throw it in a room and it does it for you. Its truly miraculous for hoover haters(and people with bad backs!!)

recrudscence I have been cleaning professionally for years and some houses are really mucky (due to sports and equestrian pursuits) I enjoy those. One of my clients has me for 4 hours and her house is already spotless. Audiobooks have saved my sanity in that house!

I hate cleaning my own house but I love cleaning other peoples lol

I don't enjoy it at all, and usually wait until loads needs doing and put some music on.
It's a free work out as can't be doing with spending money to keep fit.
I'm lucky though that it does seem to stay nice for a while as no small kids anymore.

I don't particularly enjoy cleaning, but I love the end results.

I only WISH that once it was cleaned it stayed clean - generally five minutes after the kids and husband come home I'm sighing gently, thinking about how nice it did look just before they got home!

I have a lot of spare time on my hands at the moment, so I'm definitely spending more time cleaning. However, that's generally because I can spin it out, rather than having to compress it all into a couple of hours. I come from a family of competitive cleaners. I think I'm (sadly) the winner. I remember Mum watching me clean the kitchen and saying well done on getting a head start on your spring cleaning. It was just what I do every week!

P.S. I know I could google, but could someone enlighten lazy old me. What the hell is Zoflora?

@Asta19

To be fair that isn’t actually that awful though is it?
How often do people move house? When I last moved I had been there 10 years. The accumulation of horror underneath the appliances took ages to clean let alone all the other things I hadn’t pulled out. It isn’t bonkers to pull out your washing machine - having seen what they accumulate underneath and it probably takes about 10 mins once a week... is it REALLY that insane?
Why don’t you ask your friend if she’s ok instead of making her sound like a crazy person and just be you know, supportive. Many people use cleaning for anxiety.

@mbosnz

It is very cheap flammable concentrated disinfectant. It comes in lots of very powerful smells, usually floral. It is probably what people use as an alternative to the usual bathroom cleaner type smell which can be quite hospital like and clinical so I see the appeal but people are sloshing it around on everything they own and posting it online it’s a bit of a phase, Mrs Hinch is paid by them as an influencer so she promotes it a lot.

it’s bad for pets and aquatic life so a lot of people are against it. As it’s so cheap and concentrated its appeal is that it goes a long way. A lot of the environmental cleaners are so expensive it is eye watering - £3 for washing up liquid I saw one the other day!

Someone bought me one in a gift bag recently, Bouquet I think. I haven’t used it.

We all have different thresholds and ideas of what clean means to us, and what level we want to tolerate

This remionds me of life with the military, some wives, whenever they moved into a new quarter, would make a point of declaring to all and sundry how dirty it is and she will need to spend the next million hours getting it to 'her standard'. The snobbery of cleaning divas.
Personally I couldn't care less, I put my hand down behind the TV recently to switch something off and it was like a horror film, cobwebs galore. I recently tipped the settees back to hoover right to the back, the front half is accessible, and I found the crossword section from the Mail on Sunday, June 2018!

The house is superficially clean, I hoover regularly and dust sometimes, the kitchen and bathrooms do get more attention but apart from that zippo!

I hate cleaning my own house but I love cleaning other peoples lol

Many years ago a few of us used to swap houses for cleaning, we would spend a morning cleaning each other's houses, worked very well, we were far more efficient!

'in-between cleaners' how very middle claaass MN

I don't enjoy cleaning but will do a bit now and then and get satisfaction from the result. We also have a cleaner 3 hours pw and have our oven professionally cleaned once a year. It is deathly boring to me but I understand other people don't find it so. But watching other people clean on Instagram? Nothing will ever persuade me that is a normal or remotely worthwhile use of free time.

I hate it, I’m so excited about getting a f/t job so I can afford a cleaner. I like a clean house but don’t like actually having to do it.

It is occasionally fun sorting out clothes, books, or cupboards with make up/hair bobbles and stuff and arranging it neatly.

Why don't you all come and join us in Thighland? We're a rogue band of Mumsnetters who have formed a "No Movement Movement". We are the "Women Who Won't".
We're not clean and we're certainly never boring.
Our new thread has just started

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/3550452-Is-your-life-still-shit-I-can-solve-all-your-problems-forever

I hate cleaning, it's the most pointless, boring activity ever imo.

There are so many things to try in life and so little time that I just don't get people who want to spend loads of time cleaning, although I can appreciate that it helps to give some people a sense of control perhaps.

The problem with cleaning is the "Forth Bridge" nature of the task.
I lose interest because nothing stays clean for long enough.

I enjoy cleaning and happy to clean the entire house but what I hate is ironing.... can't stand it. Give me an entire mansion and be prepared to be shocked at the transformation but NO IRONING!

I loathe cleaning. It was bad enough before dog/child. At least then things stayed clean and tidy for a while. Now it feels like that king whose name I can't rememberbut will at 3am who tried to command the waves back from the shore.

Of course when DH sits on his arse offering helpful tips about how to do it better/more sensibly it's bloody lucky there's not been a murder.

I have friends who "Hinch" and go on and on about cleaning. I keep the place clean(ish) but in no way do I enjoy it.

TOMM is a way to make it easier, so I follow (kind of) that.