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?

A well dusted home is the sign of a wasted life!

Can't remember who said it but I have the quote on a mug.

No one ever lay on their death bed wishing they had spent more time cleaning.

These influencers are being paid to shift products. It is all about making women feel inadequate and like we have to buy more and more chemicals, gadgets and cloths or we're failing, so that the profits of big businesses soar while simultaneously damaging the environment. No one will die if you don't bleach the loo three times a day. Put down the CIF and go do something more interesting (to paraphrase 80s kids TV).

Arguably cleaning also needs knowledge if you want to do it well. And home decor definitely needs creativity, I'm rubbish at arranging things to look nice but a friend of mine's house could feature in a magazine because she puts so much thought into what she buys and how to present it

Me too, but there isn't the snobby looking down on people who have that view so much as on people who enjoy cleaning.

@NurseBernard

Exactly

@garlictwist

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

Spot on. There are a million more interesting things to do than clean your house.

Cleaning is very, very tedious. It would be fine if you could do it once a year. Otherwise, it's a complete bore. The basics get done daily (wiping worktops after use, clean loo after use) but anything else is saved for when the Queen is visiting. It astounds me that so many people on here clean their skirting boards.

Yes, home decor definitely needs creativity, which I lack; I was thinking more of actual cleaning. I am still not sure I'd put cleaning knowledge in the same 'hobby' bracket as gardening knowledge but as mentioned, this is just my view.

I do see what you mean. They seem obsessive and like they have no hobbies. I’ve also noticed the I’m morally pure because my house is clean and if you go round there they have to say oh it’s so messy.
I do agree too that cleaning can be relaxing

Cleaner influencers who use loads of products don’t seem to understand their environmental impact. Or appreciate the impact of indoor air quality on health. I see their influence as a negative because it not only reinforces more consumerism, it makes people who watch them feel that they have to use harmful and unnecessary products.

I actually don’t think it used to be a ‘necessary evil’ imo the older generation were much more house proud and tidy incase of visitors.

The judgement over people not having friends or hobbies because they like to like to keep a clean house is hilarious.

@jytdtysrht quick question, I have limescale marks on my new ish chrome plated taps. How do I remove it without scrubbing or removing the chrome? Also any tips for getting rust stains off tile!?

echt

“Have you seen the state of those nets” one of my Nan,s favourite put downs , also the scrubbing of the front door step and the cleaning of the windows. And if you did not boil your terry nappies and have them hanging on the line like a row of pure white flags!! That would be talked about.

Cleaning has become so much easier for us with fantastic hoovers , automatic washing machines, steam mops , dishwashers, but unfortunately many of us now just have to much stuff (clutter) that it’s still making it a big job to keep the house clean and sorted.

We now have to get the wright balance of having a homely home and not a cluttered home.

Also being a child in the 1960’s if we was not at school , and it was not rain we were out playing , I remember in the summer holidays we left the house after breakfast, come home for lunch which was a picnic in the garden then home for tea, so the house was always pretty clean and tidy.

Frantic cleaning is something I do when I am stressed or anxious or also just down.

My MiL is an obsessive cleaner who is married to an arsehole for 40 years, I often wonder if there's a connection for her too.

I have a cleaner once a week and keep my place very tidy on 30 minutes a day, but I do feel quite negative about serious cleaning since a friend of mine gave up her frontline NHS job due to anxiety, and took to cleaning her kitchen like it is an operating theatre - using loads of chemicals and swabs, destroying the planet. It makes me feel really sad, but I get that for her it assuages her anxiety.

My house has a dog in it so obviously is pretty unclean most of the time 😊 and I don’t care. It’s way cleaner than the house I grew up in; both my mum and grannie grew up with 24 hour help in the house overseas, so when confronted with a home of their own in cold grey England and no ‘help’ (both SAHMs) they just ignored the dirt/mess and got on with things that interested them instead.

Each to their own I say.

I think it’s joy in the small things for a lot of people. I hate cleaning but feel so happy when I’ve done it and my home is shiny and pristine. People have been house proud for decades so I don’t think it’s a new thing but it’s certainly a new thing to show the mundaneness of cleaning to hundreds if not thousands of followers on SM. I certainly don’t understand why people want to show off the actual cleaning of a house.

@luxxlisbon

I actually don’t think it used to be a ‘necessary evil’ imo the older generation were much more house proud and tidy incase of visitors.

The judgement over people not having friends or hobbies because they like to like to keep a clean house is hilarious.

People used to just "pop round" unannounced more too - so no having several days warning to get the house "visitor ready"!

My grandma's extended family used to visit several times a week and they didn't even knock - a "yoo-hoo!" as they came in the door was the only warning you got - so as soon as breakfast was eaten she'd "whizz round" cleaning and tidying ready for possible visitors.

I do find those women who become obsessed not just with cleaning, but with decanting everything they can get their hands on into a glass jar with a label so it all looks uniform in the cupboard or utility room, very odd indeed. Or arranging cookies into a Fibonacci spiral in a jar - it’s peculiar.

On world book day I saw a few photos on SM of little girls who’d gone into school dressed as Mrs Hinch. Now that’s depressing.

Rust stains: I got rust stains off kitchen work surface with bicarbonate of soda worked into a paste then scrubbed gently with non stick scourer. (Try on inconspicuous area of first etc etc!)

Cleaning is therapy for me. For a lot of people it’s exercise but for me, if I am having a bad day, if need to distract myself, I clean.

Sitting on an exercise bike or running just makes me go into autopilot and I have too much time to think and mull over what I’m trying not to think about.

I generally do a quick tidy/clean straight after work (even if it’s just a quick vacuum) and then I feel so much better ☺️

Nothing new - used to work with a woman 20 years ago for whom it was an article of faith.

The fact that she was a basket case is neither here nor there.

I do like to clean when I'm stressed but not to the standard you see on SM! I don't even think I'd be able to get my house looking like that if I tried (small kids and all that - how do they get them looking so clutter free?!)

But I do often watch these videos on things like TikTok or people rubbing all sorts of things on their radiators because it makes the room smell nice and other things like that and wonder whether it's actually safe to do that? Surely breathing in cleaning products you've rubbed on all your radiators every day isn't great? Probably completely overthinking it but it's where my head always goes!

It's like so long as it looks or smells sparklingly clean it doesn't matter if it's actually damaging.

*People used to just "pop round" unannounced more too - so no having several days warning to get the house "visitor ready"!

My grandma's extended family used to visit several times a week and they didn't even knock - a "yoo-hoo!" as they came in the door was the only warning you got - so as soon as breakfast was eaten she'd "whizz round" cleaning and tidying ready for possible visitors.*

When I was growing up planning a visit or calling ahead wasn’t a thing, if you wanted to see someone you would just turn up and the same for them. If you were already in the area it was considered rude to not call in and say hello to a relative!

Yes, exactly @luxxlisbon!

I love the idea of cleaning but it's just that, an idea. In reality I do the bare minimum.

@DillDanding

I do find those women who become obsessed not just with cleaning, but with decanting everything they can get their hands on into a glass jar with a label so it all looks uniform in the cupboard or utility room, very odd indeed. Or arranging cookies into a Fibonacci spiral in a jar - it’s peculiar.

On world book day I saw a few photos on SM of little girls who’d gone into school dressed as Mrs Hinch. Now that’s depressing.

Oh yes the decanting into containers trend.

More than anything HOW DO YOU FIND THE TIME?! Am I missing something? I barely have the time to keep my house relatively clean and tidy along with myself never mind decanting all of my shopping into labelled containers and making little uniform snack pack drawers and things.

My only guess is that these women are SAHM or school aged children maybe? If I tried to do that with my two year old about, whilst also keeping the rest of my house pristine 24/7... Well I couldn't basically.

I'm not sure that it's new. I can remember a friend confiding in me around 20 years ago about how inferior she felt because her SIL washed her kitchen floor twice a day and friend, who worked full time, just didn't have time to. I pointed out to her just how much time her SIL was wasting, and she agreed that, on her deathbed, she was never going to regret not spending what would amount to several years of her life washing the same patch of floor. So far as I'm concerned, housework is a necessary evil, it's utterly boring, and I can only do it if I have something interesting on the radio to listen to, or music to sing along to.

What irritates me about it is the people who think it makes them morally superior to have an incredibly clean house. Sorry, it doesn't. Which is more important, quality time with your children or dusting something you dusted 12 hours earlier?