To ask if it’s petit bourgeois to clean the house before guests arrive?

[HomeostaticSetPoint]

Just that. We always clean the house thoroughly before guests, even play dates. Bathrooms, bins, everything. I’m wondering if this is because we’re lower middle class as my posher friends don’t really bother. What’s the norm?

There’s two of them and they come for four hours, twice a week, so eight hours in total x two people. So 16 man hours (they are both men) to clean large house every week.

They do everything really. I do the washing and turn the dishwasher on 😇 but I don’t iron anything. Obviously I have to keep up our disheveled family look!!!

We only clean when guests are due, so it’s a great incentive to clean 🤣

When I was growing up we only ever cleaned when people were coming round. Nowadays DH and I do cleaning once a week and people can like it or lump it if they come round mid-week.

To be fair my halls were riotous. The porter kept a wheelchair behind his desk for getting us back to our rooms safely 😂😂😂

I'm the same as you.

But MN seems to be a bit odd about clean and tidy homes, and if you admit to cleaning regularly or even enjoying living in a tidy home, you're criticised or told you have too much time on your hands.

We had a shopping trolley for that purpose! 😂
Although no porter. Nothing so posh.

I am middle class (but not by income) and I do a panicked mucking out.

Is that petit bourgeois? It’s hard to tell.

I admitted I don’t do much cleaning myself but there’s a heap of difference between a untidy and downright dirty. Seems many are the latter which I can’t get my head around.

Do your cleaners not iron?

We are a chaotic household and every couple of months I host a group of young people from our church for a meal before we go to a big youth event in our nearest city. As a household, we eat in the kitchen and the dining room is my office/evening refuge, so I need to clear it when the young people are coming in. I also hoover the hall and clean the bathroom.
The kitchen is usually cluttered and I am embarrassed when any adult with the young people strays into the kitchen. Yesterday I blitzed one end of the kitchen and I am now left with a small corner that is still an embarrassment. Today my DM came over and I forgot to clean the bathroom or hoover the hall; the world didn't explode.

I have never asked them to 😂

DH travels for work a lot and gets his shirts done by hotels. If it’s really important I would just send to dry cleaners.

Actually, I don’t think we own an iron. The last one had a Hama bead disaster.

Yes we had 'bedders' (cleaners) at Cambridge and moving out into a shared house wasn't much of a thing at undergrad I am too lower middle class though because I would always clean before our bedder came. If I was in when she came round we'd sometimes have a cup of tea and a fag.

Once I did give her a bit of a heart attack though by leaving my set of plastic human bones scattered on the floor when I had an anatomy test.

.

If I had more money I would have a clean house because I would have a cleaner for enough hours a week. I don’t have a cleaner but I am middle class. I definitely have to Hoover, wash up, clean the loos before people come. And I’m always quite pleased they don’t come upstairs! When we have guests for the weekend it tires me out because I do a lot of cleaning.

So in my case it’s about money. I wouldn’t equate that with class.

To be fair, I know someone who owns a stately home, and it's always immaculate. But they run the grounds as a wedding venue and have tons of staff. I expect if it were a shit tip, they would not be personally embarrassed. Their kitchen - personal kitchen, not for events - is quite clean, but fairly down-at-heel, because it's just a functional space, not a space for show.

I have internalised judgyness on this from (WC) parents. I had grandparents that would say very bad words about women who didn't scrub their front step. I am hardest of all on myself. I cleaned the fuck out of my house before playdates, and am convulsed to do a mega clean before hosting at Christmas which is exhausting - I'll do inside the kitchen cupboards etc. I'd really, really like not to give a fuck, as it's totally irrational.

DH jokes about the 'levels of clean' there is, in his view;

Man clean (him, "it's clean enough not to make you ill", can't see crumbs)
Lady clean (pretty thorough when it's done, will be get a bit meh before the next do)
Mum clean (always nice)
Catholic clean (yous could safely perform surgery on it at any time).

I have the time for lady clean, but will push myself to catholic clean for playdates and Mum clean for family. Berate myself for my inability to maintain Mum clean.

If you want to talk class, it’s decidedly working or lower middle class to say hoovering when you mean vacuuming or Hoover instead of vacuum cleaner. Hoover is a brand.

Mind you, I have no idea what make our is. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Ah, I'm proper Catholic clean!
Oh, and I iron everything (but that's a whole other thread..)

Isn’t it more that they have cleaners once or twice a week so they don’t have to panic clean? As someone else does it..

I Always do a quick floor mop of the downstairs and quick wipe down of bathroom and toilet. Even if I’ve done it the day before, just feels right for me to do this. I also light a scented candle too to cover any lingering food cooking smells. Nothing too onerous!!

I’m with you on the ironing. I do spray things with water and put them in the dryer for 10 minutes. Keeping up the standards and all.

unfortunately I just have one woman for 4 hours so I’m stuck cleaning the skirting and doing deep cleans of the cupboards so the inlaws don’t judge me.

do you iron sheets and pjs?

It's only been 2 days since we've had the last class thread.

This so funny 😁.