To wonder about the fetishisation of cleaning?

[Skelligsfeathers]

Cleaning and housework used to be just that. A necessary evil which most people did but didn't enjoy.
Now however, it seems to be a hobby almost for some people and the standards expected of people's homes seem to be insanely high.
Endless videos on social media of people pouring multiple chemicals into already pristine sinks. Grown adults getting excited about cleaning cloths and different fragrances of disinfectant.
TV shows where people who are obviously ill with OCD are paraded as being somehow morally superior to others because they spend hours every day cleaning already clean houses....

I just don't get it.
Is it all just another way of making money?
Or is it saying something deeper about our society?

I like cleaning and it's something I do when I need to work through something.
Perhaps other people enjoy the repetitive meditative aspect of cleaning .

This has been going on for decades. Working-class northern matriarchs of 100 years ago were famous for the pride they took in keeping their homes clean. I'm not saying that it's not crazy. But it's not new.

It can be satisfying to change something really filthy into something new looking.

Also, many people clean incorrectly and really don’t know what process is actually taking place. Eg scrubbing or scraping at limescale is totally unnecessary and you could also damage the item being roughly scrubbed. So people showing you the correct way on the internet is a good thing. Although many of them are showing an incorrect method so I suppose that’s not great.

I do agree that throwing tonnes of product over already clean sinks or toilets is very bad for the environment and a complete waste.

It is quite watchable - sometimes I watch it when I am exhausted or stressed and need to re charge or unwind a bit.

I used to like cleaning, when I was paid for it.

Doing my own for free is not quite so satisfying

I agree- it’s like the hobbisation (not a word, but I’m inventing it) of cleaning for women specifically (always women on these videos and social media channels). My mum was and is a standard, middle class person. Our house was never pristine and our stuff wasn’t showroom perfect, especially when she had small kids. I now feel real pressure to have a sparkling and showroom ready house even when other mums come round with their kids (even my very best friends or, ironically, my own mother who I know doesn’t keep her house like that!) Me and my best friend have talked about this; our houses weren’t like this growing up but we feel some insane pressure to have our houses shining and smelling of zoflora. I know intellectually it’s nonsense, but the pressure is still there. And as I say, it’s just on women. Don’t sit and read a book! Don’t have a hobby! Cleaning is your hobby! Scrub the wainscoting!

Interesting, isn’t it?

Want to be a social media influencer, but don’t actually have any talents / skills / natural flair? Clean your house. Call yourself Mrs His-surname, and you’ve rounded out the good little wifey role nicely.

Because it’s always, always women. Isn’t it? Men aren’t cleaning influencers, because cleaning, for most people is just mundane, necessary shitwork.

I don’t like the pressure it puts on women, either.

I'm not on social media so thankfully don't see any of this or post it!

However, I like cleaning as seeing mess or crumbs really grates on me. I feel like cleaning and nice fragrances relieves stress.

I think it often goes hand in hand with not having any other hobbies or interests outside the home.

I like cleaning - it's good to take something messy / dirty and make it clean and attractive. To me it's no different from doing the gardening, making something nice where there used to be a mess.

I'm not convinced by your comment Cleaning and housework used to be just that. A necessary evil which most people did but didn't enjoy

Most women of my mother's generation were at home, and they did the housework every day, very thoroughly if I remember. They took a lot of pride in doing this job well . You might think they didn't enjoy it, but I'm sure that many of them did, just as people today enjoy it.

You only notice this because it is more exhibited on social media - that doesn't mean it's a new thing.

@NurseBernard

Interesting, isn’t it?

Want to be a social media influencer, but don’t actually have any talents / skills / natural flair? Clean your house. Call yourself Mrs His-surname, and you’ve rounded out the good little wifey role nicely.

Because it’s always, always women. Isn’t it? Men aren’t cleaning influencers, because cleaning, for most people is just mundane, necessary shitwork.

I don’t like the pressure it puts on women, either.

There are male cleaning influencers too though, like cleaning with Mario and Curtis Kelley. Plus I’ve come across more.

I love cleaning my own home but I’m not in to watching others do theirs so I don’t follow any of these people on Instagram. However I’ve recently acquired a new relaxation technique which is becoming my go to evening ritual while reading through work documents in bed. YouTube on the tv with either carpet cleaning, dental plaque removal, car cleaning, swimming pool cleaning or pressure washing videos on in the background. Exquisite!

Generations of women took pride in a clean home.
I love a clean organized home.I have hobbies, I'm an artist, but I find it meditative and calming.
I'm curious why clean homes and people who clean are looked down as boring or caving to pressure. Lots of enjoy it.

I agree that being house proud and cleaning throughly has always been a thing.

I have never been particularly interested and so try to keep clutter to a minimum and have frequent clear outs to keep tidying and cleaning simple. Luckily my husband does more housework than me. I have never been a major enthusiast. I am the type who rushes around like a nutter scrubbing when guests are coming.

I remember as a child going to a couple of homes that were pristinely clean and very empty with no art on the walls etc and finding them so unwelcoming and frankly, creepy. I am not suggesting that to be the case of a regular well cleaned home, these particular homes just felt cold and I felt sad for the kids who lived there.

Previous generations of women fought to get out of the home, and to have more options than just scrubbing the hearth day in and day out.

There are some rather rose-tinted views of other women’s lives going on here.

Its to do with lots of people who have to follow everyone else, instead of being an individual person, kind of sheep like. I have seen people write on here, asking How do you clean your toilet, what do you use etc, Its is so so weird that people say these things. A lot of people are obsessed about having a germ free house, when you need a few germs around,, so they are always buying products, that kill everything in sight, despite not ever seeing a germ..!

What is this cleaning word you speak of?

I don't 'do' social media, so I have no idea what 'influencers' are doing.

I disagree that women a these days have turned it into an obsessive hobby.

My mums & nana's generations we much more fastidious & took a great deal of pride over having a sparkling home. Proper hands & knees scrubbing of the doorstep, the front door & everything behind it.

My Aunt is in her 90's & still looks after her 4 bedroom house (& garden except mowing the lawn) & actually enjoys it. My mum thinks a few bits of paper still out (like insurance papers if shes trying to sort something out) is a ' right bloody mess' (at her own house!!). She doesn't enjoy it like my Aunt does, but she just gets on with it.

Of course people ask 'what's the best way to clean x' or 'how often/which product!' because there's no so much of the 'passing down' of methods or door step chat.

I wish I enjoyed cleaning. I wish I had the energy to to get it done - but I don't. I do what I can, when I can & if I really push myself (for visitors coming etc) I pay for it for days.

Back in the day, in the working class north anyway, front steps were a sign of housewifely pride, either donkey stoned, or red with Cardinal polish. I can remember one women criticising another (behind her back) for the state of the nappies on the line - not dazzling white.

Don't get me started on nets at the window.

These were all external signs, and linked, in my experience to people not going in to others' homes. Certainly children, anyway: you stood at the door and asked was X in.

Love the word 'hobbisastion'! If any of you feel so inclined you can come to mine to clean, my DH passed away in January and clearing out his stuff I have found a pigsty behind it all.
My mother would be ashamed of me, she was one of those who donkey stoned the front step and polished the Rayburn.

I think it's a type of conspicuous consumption. It signals to others that you can either afford a cleaner, or the time to spend hours cleaning.

My childhood home was quite dirty, as my DM hated housework! I used to do it weekly from the age of 10 years old, as I felt bad about it.

I find it calming to sit in a clean and fresh-smelling house, and I like the cleaning videos, as they offer new solutions to various types of cleaning.
My particular favourites are the rug-cleaning men, and the Asian ones with all the gadgets (although that’s also because of the extreme un-cluttered-ness of the apartments)
Each to their own…

Interesting how some people can see it as meditative or calming or enjoy the repetitive nature of it. Cleaning enrages me as the worst kind of necessary but time-wasting exercise, that is never complete, appreciated, or enjoyable.

Apologies for class once again raising it's ugly head on here, but it is the modern day scrubbing the front doorstep for working-class females.
If you don't have much disposable income television and cleaning are two things which fill vast swathes of time and are dirt cheap (pardon the pun). The added 'bonus' of social media fuels the whole thing and feeling good about yourself, judging others and showing off your 'achievements' makes it worth while.
To each their own (my life is full of gardening and animals and I am the polar opposite of Hinch).

@garlictwist

I think it often goes hand in hand with not having any other hobbies or interests outside the home.

I have several hobbies (but no kids). I work long hours Mon-Thurs and work a shorter day on a Friday. I actually really enjoy my ‘Friday Tidy’ - I come home from work, put on a long podcast and scrub the house from top to bottom.

I then start the weekend knowing all my chores are done and the weekend is mine to do exactly as I please. I’ll be rushing home to clean this afternoon, then packing a suitcase to head off for a weekend of climbing mountains with my husband when he finishes work at 6pm.

I find being organised and on top of my housework really helps me to feel relaxed and in control. I’m another one who doesn’t understand why some people scoff at others for caring about having a clean house. Why wouldn’t I want to look after the home that I live in? I see looking after my home as important as looking after my own health, fitness and hygiene (which I also put time and effort into).

My friend is a self confessed obsessive cleaner. Immaculate house, constantly changing decor. She has a lot of anxiety and openly admits it’s a way of her staying in control. She’s very into beauty treatments in the same way “to look and feel perfect”.

@violetbunny

I think it's a type of conspicuous consumption. It signals to others that you can either afford a cleaner, or the time to spend hours cleaning.

To have ‘time to spend hours cleaning’ suggests you don’t have qualifications and a £$€-earning job of your own - so really, no great shakes…