To think cleaning is a skill?

[Ca2026]

I obviously clean my house and it’s not dirty or anything like that, but honestly it never looks or feels like when we’ve had an actual cleaner in.

Thinks like the skirtings, always still seem to have tiny bits on them, or the sink it marked again a few mins after cleaning it.

So AIBU to think that cleaning is a skill just like DIY, decorating etc? You can be good at it without being a professional but still takes skill?

I'm not a great cleaner at home, I mean I know how to clean but don't enjoy it and as I live alone don't prioritise it. However I did the cleaning at one of my workplaces for a while and everyone seemed happy with my efforts. I did nothing any differently to how I do it at home, and certainly wasn't trained, but I knew it had to be done so I did it. I don't think it requires skill, it's just common sense.

Its practise and attention to detail.

Dh is crap at it. Its like he doesn't see bits, smeary patches etc. He was raised in a home with parents who were quite posh & had grown up with "help" & were never taught to clean themselves. PiLs house is tidy but just a quite dirty, lots of cobwebby corners, every shower panel/tap/loo is thick with limescale, skirting boards haven't been wiped in years. They just do the obvious stuff like wiping spills on kitchen counters and pushing the hoover round, they pour bleach in the loos and leave it there, but no limescale cleaner, and they don't scrub it clean.

I was raised by working class parents who were much more fastidious, was taught to clean and wash up properly. I notice smudges, stains and bits that DH doesn't, i'll buff chrome taps to a shine, swap out towels for fresh ones regularly. Our kids have known since age 4 or 5 to wipe down the shower after use and tell a grown up if the loo needs cleaning.

Its a skill but a very easily acquired one. Anyone can become good at cleaning with a bit of care and practise. I could clean thoroughly at 12 years old.

@PrizedPickledPopcornwhat’s the difference between skill and technique? You can learn either.
I think will and motivation has a lot to do with it when it’s your own home. When my DDs at uni I have no motivation. If my DH was still alive the place would be much cleaner (for one thing he’d pay for a cleaner).
I think technique/skill is needed. My hotel trained ex cleaner was amazing. She got the whole house done to excellent standard plus had time to do a kitchen cupboard or two. Sadly she vanished into thin air (and I even owed her money)! My last cleaner was very hard working but slow. She never got the whole house done. Can’t afford one now but looking at the clutter I’d need to do a huge purge first.
The only time I do a proper clean is when I have guests.

In fifteen years or so, your daughter-in-law will be on here debating whether to divorce him over his idleness. She'll claim she never saw it coming.

Just sing ‘let it go’ when these thoughts pop up :-)
Some grow in to it and some never do but I don’t think it’s anything to do with how we parent them. You only have so much influence as a parent - ultimately they are their own people with their own habits.

My husband is clean and tidy but not obsessively so. He likes order but he also shares all the tasks of living without having to be told what and when it needs doing (on balance he probably does more than me since he retired)
Consequently I am more tidy now and far prefer it that way.
I don’t think I could ever live with someone messy again.

I might find more reason to procrastinate... Tiktok you say 😊

Equally she could be as messy as him.
My cousin and his wife were like this. Just didn’t care. The house was a ramshackle tip but the kids never got sick and have all turned out as really decent adults. Some are messy and some are tidy and they seem to have found partners who are exist on the same plane or acceptable reality.
by the time he left home my son was pretty well trained and would clean the kitchen after, he made a sandwich or cooked anything, kept his room tidy, changed his bed etc, always left the bathroom in a good state.

I thought I’d done alright if I’m honest, but as soon as he moved out he just went back to his natural level of acceptable (to him) messiness and sadly his gf is the same so their place is a bit grim, even when they have spent a day cleaning it!

I think motivation is the biggest factor to succeeding at cleaning. Generally, the longer you leave something to clean the more difficult it is to clean when you get round to it. Keeping on top of the housework as you go is the key in my opinion. Prime example is the oven. Actually reading the instructions and surface precautions on the cleaning products is also a very underrated essential.

No, it just requires some willingness and effort. Quite simple really, unless you have a physical disabiity.

😂

It's just wanting to do it really. I I think lots of people think it is beneath them, or not important so they can't be bothered to do it properly.

My youngest DD,used to clean for a hotel chain. The amount of time allocated and the bad practices were unbelievable! 15 minutes for a family room and bathroom,a joke.. she didn't stay there long.

I think cleaners do a better job because they are paid to do it.
Also, they use a dry cloth to wipe off any residue and leave sinks, skirting etc spotless.
The only drawback may be the dry cloth - if it's used on too many surfaces.

I was violently ill after using a "clean" glass in a hotel in Florida once (4 star hotel in a very nice area). I hadn't eaten since lunch and just wanted a glass of wine to relax while watching a film.
I suspect the glass may have been shined up with a dry cloth used to shine up the rim of the toilet too...

it defo is

Nannyfannybanny
My youngest DD,used to clean for a hotel chain. The amount of time allocated and the bad practices were unbelievable! 15 minutes for a family room and bathroom,a joke.. she didn't stay there long.

I thought oh god 15 minutes but think when you’re in a hotel the actual semantics of it, people checking out, people hanging around waiting for the room to be done and they can’t do it early morning or evening if the hotel is full, it makes sense they can’t spend more than that, Id say that’s a requirement everywhere