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Original poster

How often do you wash your kitchen floor?

65 replies

ghengis · 13/05/2003 17:36

I am trying very hard to be a better housewife (aaaaargh!) and seem to have improved on the regularity of doing laundry/vacuuming/proper cooking (not reheating ready meals!).

But what about floor sweeping/washing? That Housework Woman in the Saturday Telegraph says sweep the kitchen floor after every meal and wash it once a day. Seems like an awful lot of faff (sp?) to me or am I slovenly?

OP posts:
jodee · 13/05/2003 21:27

I don't believe it - Housework Woman??? As for washing the kitchen floor every day, excuse me while I pick myself up off of said kitchen floor, I have split my sides laughing ...

Housework Woman has got to be a bloke, surely?

mammya · 13/05/2003 21:32

Sweep several times a day (mainly after meals), wash once a week (ish...)

happyspider · 13/05/2003 21:55

feeling dirty now... wash kitchen floor/pass hoover at the week ends only
We're never home during the week anyway, so I don't see the need

Gilli · 13/05/2003 22:24

I don't. Pay someone to do it for me.

Demented · 13/05/2003 22:30

I'm not letting DH see this thread I only mop floors (kitchen or otherwise) once a week, I perhaps hoover downstairs twice a week if it's a good week, the grot under DS2's highchair gets picked up and put in the bin then wiped with a cloth if needed and I can't even guarantee this gets done every day.

Bozza · 13/05/2003 22:36

Has Mumsnet suddenly become obsessed by cleaning habits.

I am a sweep/mop twice a week. Monday and Thursday for me Edgarcat. Thursday it is OK because DS at nursery T/W/T but Monday it is disgusting - could do with doing over the weekend.

megg · 13/05/2003 22:41

Probably once every 2-3 weeks (ugh). I tend to wait for dp to do it then realise when all he can do is moan about it but not actually do anything about it I give him and feel guilty about ds playing on a disgusting floor. Mind you it doesn't seem to have done him any harm, he's hardly ever ill (touch wood).

morocco · 14/05/2003 00:16

don't wash floor as it involves complicated mop procedure and lots of buckets of water (get cleaner to do it instead)but do beat rugs - just did 2 today in fact - very therapeutic after rows with dh

Bossanova · 14/05/2003 01:44

Tinker, Snap!!
Me and the mop are not well acquainted!!

kmg1 · 14/05/2003 03:07

Gosh - I thought I was good sweeping daily and mopping twice a week.

How often do you change your mop or mop head? I always seem to break mops after about 6 months, and mop heads seem to need changing weekly, and are pricey - I think.

BUT just discovered a new Addis mop, where you can put the mop head in the washing machine. I think it's great. What mop do you use?

susanmt · 14/05/2003 04:21

I sweep a couple of times a day (new slate floor, like sweeping it for now!!) but only wash if it looks dirty (new slate floor, doesn't show the dirt )

Ghosty · 14/05/2003 05:13

Hoover 2x a week ...
Sweep once a day ...
Mop ... once a week ...
No ... I am lying ... I only clean when someone is coming round ...

edgarcat · 14/05/2003 07:44

Message withdrawn

TheOldDragon · 14/05/2003 08:04

I've washed the whole thing once since we moved in a year ago. I do spot wash spills and stuff though.

scoobysnax · 14/05/2003 08:38

On Sundays only, that's enough for me

Mum2Toby · 14/05/2003 08:46

I wash mine when we start sticking to it or when the ants start consuming more food than we are!

DS keeps it clean by picking up bits of food and eating them. Any spills I just wipe with my foot and my sock soaks them up.

doormat · 14/05/2003 08:46

Janh and judetheobscure I wish I was joking.
Been doing it for 19 years so routine has stuck.

JanZ · 14/05/2003 08:59

It's swept and mopped once a week - usually at the weekend. I'd love to get a cleaner to do it for me, but dh won't agree to one .

I've only recently got into that routine - previously it could go months before it was done (or dh would get irritated enough by the dirt to do it himself). The floor is light grey tiles, which really show the dirt. (New kitchen will NOT have a white floor!)

Dh hoovers once a week on a Wednesday, when I'm out at Pilates, and maybe again at the weekend if needed (we have a really unpractical dark blue carpet in the hallway which shows up EVERYTHING)

Original poster
ghengis · 14/05/2003 09:01

Having swept and washed the floor yesterday evening I then fed the children - what a waste that was! Mental note NOT to sweep until after meals.

Felt very smug this morning though when I came down first thing to a nice clean floor. It'll never last!

OP posts:
janh · 14/05/2003 09:31

megg, good point about dirty houses and healthy kids! (Mine don't get ill much either.)

Trouble with my kitchen floor is that it looks dirty even when it's clean - very very old cork tiles with worn-out bits which are black - I would like to refloor but the logistics just defeat me (disconnect dishwasher plumbing, remove plug from wire before pulling wire out of hole in cupboard, somehow get dishwasher out of space, same procedure for fridge and freezer (now I see the point of integrated appliances!) and then reverse the procedure later....nooooo!

(Or we could move I spose .)

slug · 14/05/2003 09:58

Only when I can hear my feet peeling off it, or when the sluglet wanders out with strange things in her mouth that she could ONLY have picked up off the floor.

Hmm, we made scones at floor level yesterday (she's not too fond of standing on chairs) I probably should give it a bit of a flick with a damp cloth.

JanZ · 14/05/2003 10:05

Janh - I agree about the dirt (see my contribution to the thread about "How often do you bath your baby"!).

I also have a thing against overuse of "antibacterial" products - all we are doing is breeding superbugs!

My dad was always anti over-use of bleach/dettol etc when I was young for that very reason - and he's a doctor!

bettys · 14/05/2003 10:14

JanZ - I'm also against the overuse of anti-bacterial products. There's nowt wrong with soap and water - all the chemical companies are making money out of a modern-day fear of germs and hygiene paranoia. A while back there was a thread about or called "just use a bloody cloth!". All these products that are impregnated with anti bacterial this and polishing that...what b*llocks!

slug · 14/05/2003 10:55

Build up their immune systems I say! The sluglet takes great pleasure in being introduced to a wide variety of dirt and grime. MIL isn't quite so sure of my blase attitude though.

susanmt · 14/05/2003 10:59

There is now actual scientific evidence that asthma is more prevalent in houses where anti-bacterials are used (readd it in some medical thingy that came in for dh, don't ask me where) and the healthiest children statistically are brought up on farms where they are exposed to dung! We live on a smallholding (not ours, our neighbours) and our children are hardly ever ill - I am sure it has something to do with it. Anything we do get is something dh has brought home from the nursery!