what are your opinions of what the following are: an untidy house, a dirty house, a clean house

[katak]

People have such different ideas about housework.So, in the interests of finding a shared understanding of the topic of good and bad housekeeping, in your opinion what makes a house just untidy as opposed to actually dirty? Is it "unclean" to have dust on the skirting boards? Is it unclean to have cobwes anywhere at all?I don't think that either of those = dirty- but some people might.

If a basin is not cleaned every day, is that dirty?????

WHy do some people think that you need to "dust" everything daily in order to avoid "it building up?" What exactly are they are scared of building up???How can you dust daily- there would be no dust on day 2. And these people who dust all the time- are you actually cleaning too, or just removing dust? Do you get up on a chair and clean the tops of your kitchen units? Do you pull everything out form under all the beds daily and clean under there too?

How far do you take it? If someone does a big job in the loo, does it bother you if there remains a tiny bit of it in the loo bowl after flushing, for more than one day?
Do you judge people badly if you think there house is not clean/tidy enough?

mild mannered janitor - dusting always makes me sneeze violently too so now have a dusting attachment on my miele vaccum cleaner - this helps a lot to stop raising the stuff into the air, and then I can wipe the surfaces after. Still ony gets done every coupla months, however

Fennel - LOVE the sound of your Addams Family place!

I agree with those who don't mind untidy as much as dirt and dust.

And I really do have to dust every day or else there is noticeable dust on surfaces. It drives me crazy, as I will dust in the morning and by the time I go to bed there is dust on the wood again.

I have a hairy dog who sheds, so unfortunately I have to contend with dog hair on everything. I vacuum as often as I can, which usually ends up to be every other day.

I clean my kitchen daily, but something about it just always looks dirty to me. I think it is the color of the cabinets (painted dark grey) and the dingy walls.

I have a very good friend whose house is not just messy and untidy, but dirty and smelly and stuffy. I love her but hate her house, I don't go over there I always ask her here or meet her out and about. She lets her dogs relieve themselves in the house and does not clean it up. She NEVER opens the windows, doesn't have a hoover and I have never seen her in any clean clothes so I dont think she does any washing.

When she was PG with her DS I asked her if she wanted me to help her go through the house, bit she said no, so I left it. I certainly wouldn't stop seeing her though as she is a lovely person who would do anything to help anyone.

I have to hoover twice a day dowstairs as I have 2 dogs, one that malts something awful, but it does only take 5 mins each time. I generally clean and tidy stuff as I go along. If I dont get a chance to in the day DH does it when her gets home. Also generally do bathroom once every 10 days to 2 weeks ish. Bedclothes every week ish. washing every day as DD is in re usable nappies.

Message withdrawn

i was just chatting about this with my mum!! after much arguing and hoarding my house is finally getting to the point where both me and dp are happy (we have very different ideas about whats clean and what needs cleaning and even how to clean it!!) so since his mum has a really nice house (obsessively nice imo you darent sit down incase you wrinkle her sofa) he asked her how often she does things so that we can follow her example....
hoover whole house daily!!!
clean skirting boards/woodwork weekly!!!
clean front windows (the ones people see) every few days!!!! and other windows once a week
clean fridge weekly (i do that one anyway)
change beds every few days...there were loads of other obbsessive and unecessary things on her list.

i like a clean house that looks lived in, i.e a few toys in the corner, some mags in a pile on the coffee table and i dont mind when the kids turn the house upside down and windows skirting boards etc get done when they start looking manky! dp likes a showhouse sort of look and hates its when the kids make mess!

but as far as the loo goes mine gets cleaned everytime there is any 'evidence' of anything left there.

When I see women that are all dolled upped, but their house is dirty, I assume they wear their underwear more than once.

Eeek, VictorianSqualor!

victoriansqualor

your name is less and less fitting as this thread goes on!

Riven - your house is fine!

Lock - I've moved my chemicals into a high kitchen cupboard and put the tupperware where the chemicals used to be. This way DS can pull the tupperware out to his hearts content and have a good time and I'm not worried about chemical nasties.

As for getting them to sit down, what I've found effective is a play table - you can get very cheap ones from ikea with chairs and everything. They like sitting down at these I've found -hope this helps?

I think we're going to have to take the harp bit of your name, harpomax, and call her Victorianharpic.

she can borrow my harpic anytime!

Maybe I should change it to
IWontVisitIfYouLiveInVictorianSqualor

do it!

just for tonight

We have to clean a lot as we live in an ancient cottage, in the country with dogs and small boys running in and out.
luckily I have an AP to help clean or I'd never stop...looking around now I can see dog hair, cobwebs and crumbs.. it was immaculate this morning!

Message withdrawn

Not an obsessive cleaner, but do like things clean and tidy.

The point at which I would judge someone with a dirty/untidy house is when it started to have a negative effect on the dcs.

If they were embarrassed to have friends round or if they had to sleep in a dirty bed for example I would feel that was unfair on them.

Also, if the mess made it difficult for them to organise themselves, for example having no clean uniform or being unable to find homework etc, I would feel the situation needed sorting.

This was as close as I can get.
It's a bugger having a long nickname.

not bad, VS!

sending cleaning materials your way...

I actually really enjoy cleaning and try to keep on top of it all. My problem is piles of paperwork and general clutter, also the bedroom is a nightmare, clothes everywhere, we really need new storage......
However much i do, though, it always seems a mess again in the morning!! I would be interested in how you manage to do all the cleaning whilst working aswell?? I would love to really declutter and clean my bedroom but after a day at work it is the last thing i feel like doing?!!!

Great new name, victoriansqualor.

Now I just need to find a way to get you to stay in our house for a week or so.

A quote:
" Can't see the point of cleaning. You spend all that time on it, and then you have to do it again next year"

Snort!