To those of you that live in a show home....

[Mummy2022FT]

Maybe not as extreme as a 'show home' but If your home is presentable and you actually maintain it (the hardest thing of all) how do you do it? What are your tips/routine?

Show home doesn’t actually mean show home. It just means clean and tidy, well kept.

I also only do washing twice a month 😱. I do double sets of towels and bedding, and the household items on my big clean day, then 2 washes of general mixed clothes once a fortnight. Again living on my own means I bought enough undies etc to last fortnight, and sheets/ towels get changed fortnightly and washed together monthly. That way I’m running a full load
thats 5 loads a month with a very occasional 6th.
living on your own makes a massive difference- yiuvrealise how much you did for family who were more than capable in most cases to take initiative to put washing on 🙄

I agree, I can’t do it. My home is my sanctuary, I’m proud of if, I work damn hard for the money to pay for it, and it reflects me,I can’t just sit in amongst clutter dirt and mess in my own home, but I’m fully aware many people do, you see it on right move, and are perfectly ok with it, just different types of people.

@ThursdayFreedom

Thanks for comment x

And there's me thinking it will get easier when DS gets a bit older and can occupy himself more! Guess I was wrong lol

Don’t have clutter on surfaces.

Do a wash every day.

hoover every day (have a cordless and it takes 20 mins to do most of the house)

clean the fridge a shelf at a time when I have a spare moment

have a dishwasher!

have enough storage for your belongings so it’s easy to put things away

teach your children young to do bits around the house - my almost 3 YO can put his plate in the dishwasher, shoes in the cupboard and dirty clothes in the laundry basket already!

I keep clutter to an absolute minimum. Everything has a proper home. Not just sat on the side. Tidy everything at night so it's mess free for the next day. Make use of storage or create more that way things arnt just lying around.
brush and mop the floor every night. All dishes done and put away after dinner.
split any tasks between everyone that is able to help so it doesn't seem as much.

Don't you need bedside tables? A chair to put clothes on? A chest of drawers?

Place marking as recently I CBA and seriously need at kick up the proverbial.

Aah the old "Messy, dirty and disorganised people are creative, passionate and fun! And those who are clean, tidy and on top of their shit are miserable, soulless husks of what they might otherwise be, if only they would just learn to chill out, man, and understand that life is for living".

I have a rule that as you pass through a room, you deal with any mess or spills there and then and I always wash up and tidy up before I go to bed at night.
I used to do my cleaning in one big go but because of my illness, I can't do that anymore but I hate the house being messy, so I have to break it into chunks.
It works for us but my sister says she couldn't do it like that as she'd feel like she's non-stop cleaning

I used to! I just had no stuff so there wasn’t any tidying to do, per se. After dinner and emptying the dishwasher type chores but there was no moving piles of stuff around or putting stuff away or lifting stuff to clean around it; there just wasn’t any stuff. Didn’t start a new task til the old task was done – eg I’d make dinner, clear up, then empty the washing machine and peg out, then do the next thing.

Now I have two small children and a DP with ADHD who will attempt to make breakfast, empty the dishwasher, meal plan, listen to a podcast and feed the kids all at once. It’s a fucking hovel and I hate it.

Clean and tidy and well kept - fine.

Aiming for a show home (which is what this thread is about) is, IMO, a waste of energy and there are many more useful things to be done with the amount of time and headspace it takes.

Decluttering regularly, run the hoover around every few days and do the skirting boards once a fortnight. Small spills (drops of coffee, a splatter of pasta sauce etc) on the kitchen floor are immediately wiped up.

Our sofa has a removable cover so I pop that through the wash every few months.

Enough space to put things away so we don't have excess small appliances on the worktops.

Having said all this I realise having a 'show home' has gone too far for me and I struggle to let the kids play in the way they want to. It's one of the things I want to talk to a therapist about!

The organised mum method is great (even though I'm not a mum). I need it as I have a dog and everything gets dirty very quickly.
She also has a rock the housework Patreon where she talks you through a clean as you go.
I actually quite enjoy being taken through a half an hour clean. It keeps me focussed as I'm a faffer..

We are tidy, everything gets put away but with 2 little kittens, DD and a house being renovated I have given up with it being clean. There’s a never ending trail of bits of playdoh, cat litter, cat food crumbs, building dust everywhere I look. And the cobwebs are mad (old thatched cottage with beams everywhere).
I keep telling myself it will get easier but it doesn’t so I have given in to it now.
Mrs Hinch would give up I’m sure after 24hrs.

The only thing that I let build up a little bit is the clothes at the bottom of the bed.

The kitchen, for instance, I tidy as I go. If Im cooking, I dont start eating until all pots and pans are washed and the leftover food is in tupperwares cooling.
Then after dinner, I put the dishes in the dishwasher.

Thats also when I clean the stove, if thats needed.

I make the bed every day. And if I have shoes from the previous day, I just put them on the shoe rack.

Even the clothes, if I have a bit of time when Im getting dressed (ie, Im not absolutely rushing out the door), Ill put some things away, like tops go in the drawer (after making sure they can be used again, if not, they go in the wash basket), trousers get hung, etc.

Today I was in a bit of a rush, so I only did the tops, and put one pair of trousers in the wash basket, and one hoodie in its drawer, leaving another paid of trousers and 2 cardigans left to hang, probably tomorrow!

I just don't leave much out eg my bed room has less than a hotel room would as I don't like clutter. TV room downstairs has the TV controller and nothing else out (other than TV set, sofa). Some rooms have a bit more eg children's rooms but basically I am very tidy which is just how I am. People differ. I certainly wouldn't use the word show home however. It is just a clear surfaces home.

To add, i only really do spot cleaning, as I pay someone to do my proper cleaning.

I just do spills and crumbs and stuff like that!

I agree with those saying de clutter, my dd is a demon at it and I was amazed at how much stuff I had that I really didn't need and I certainly don't miss.
So now I keep ornaments to a minimum, only one bottle of shampoo in the bathroom, I had so many bottles and jars of cream on my dressing table, most of which I didn't use, so they had to go. I put clothes away immediately and file letters etc instead of letting them pile up on the kitchen work top.

I used to live in a show home and would spend 35 hours a week cleaning and cooking so that everything was totally perfect, and you know what? It was a waste of time. I was doing all of that because I had nothing more interesting to focus on. These days I have lots more to think about and can't/don't want to obsess over the cleaning. Frankly there is more to life than floors you could eat your dinner off!

Not a show home but pretty tidy.

With 20 mins notice I'd be happy to have guests round.

Like pp's I tidy as I go along. Don't let mess/clutter build up.

I'm pretty ruthless about chucking stuff away we don't need/use.

Try and clean little but often. For example the cooker gets a wipe over after every use.

As do work surfaces etc.

Leave a little cleaning basket in the bathrooms so they get a wipe down after each use.

Upshot is I just try and do everything as I go along so nothing turns into an overwhelming job.

When I move rooms, I take stuff with me, every single time e.g. living room to kitchen: used mugs straight into dishwasher, or rubbish straight into bin. Same when I go upstairs or downstairs.

I never, ever, leave things on the floor: if they’re on a table or counter or bed, etc, you’re more likely to pick them up as you go past.

Well, that’s what his thread suggests, to be honest. Not that untidy people are creative and interesting, but that people (by which I mean women) who think cleanliness is next to godliness (or secular equivalent), are clenched, joyless types who squeegee the shower cubicle while showering, only let their children eat in a specified part of one room, prune their belongings so there’s no ‘clutter’, and pride themselves on depressing little maxims like ‘Never go up or down stairs without carrying something to return to its place.’

And claiming with faux envy that they’d adore to be the relaxed type, who could ‘sit in clutter and mess’, but unfortunately their own standards are just too high. That’s the housekeeping equivalent of ‘Oh, I wish I was as brave as you about my appearance — unfortunately, I just can’t face the day without a full blowdry, makeup and a mani-pedi!’

Thats a bit harsh, and not what ive read on this thread.

And it seems youre the one with an issue.

And I do not want to relax in clutter and mess. I want my house to be pristine every day. And I have THINGS. My house is not free of stuff by any means. They all just have a place.

And yes, I do squeege my shower cubicle while showering, and I do take things from one room to another whenever I go there!

Lol. I was thinking the same a wee bit.
My house is a tip. I've given up worrying about it. Everyone that I love is welcome anytime. We all have clean clothes, home cooked food from a clean kitchen and a bathroom that is cleanish most of the time, and sleep in beds that are warm and comfy , though probably not changed as much as other people do. The lounge and dining and living rooms are full of crap. I vacuum and mop every week . Don't care about anything else. Although honestly I do worry if I ever went missing and the police turned up they'd think we'd been burgled.
I do spend ages on my garden, but again I am a bit of "the more plants the merrier" so it's not structured at all. Just lots of happy plants.