Are you a good housekeeper?

I'm okay, trying to improve. I've gotten a lot better since moving here, mainly because this place is a lot bigger and nicer than our last place, and therefore requires more work and I also have more motivation to keep it nice.

I'm reading this book (great book, by the way) called Home Comforts (the book is about how to keep house, and it's very interesting and very practical as well), and it talks about having a routine in your housekeeping. I don't have any routine of any sort--but maybe I should.

I just kinda do what needs doing when it looks like it needs it. I clean the bathroom twice a week though, otherwise it looks grungy, and I sweep the floors twice a week. But I just do laundry and dishes as needed. Does anyone else have a more disciplined approach? Does it make things easier to have a more disciplined approach? My houswork takes about 10 hours a week, including laundry, dishes, etc. I'm not sure if that is too much or just about right. How many hours would you say you put in?

[PrincessFiona]

My master bathroom toilet this morning...notice the huge pile of books...you can't even see the basket they go in anymore....(sorry...you'll have to twist your neck around to see correctly!) Notice the garbage can overflowing too!




Notice one of the books in the middle of the pile




'nuff said, I'm afraid!

kris

That is priceless!

[rainbabies]

im looking at the pictures thinking "are you kidding me??!" that bathroom looks great....THEN, THEN....i see the book! that is awesome!!!

[Vanquisher]

Again with you people claiming you have messy houses!

The book is funny though!

[SuzySunshine]

I'm a terrible housekeeper - I'll admit that. I try really hard to keep the kitchen counters wiped off, I try really hard to sweep the kitchen floor on a regular basis but usually I clean when I can see the dirt - by then its just gross but I really don't have any motivation otherwise. I really need someone to come clean my house once a week and I think once we have a kiddo I'll plan to if I'm still working.

[Stella]

Your toilet and floors are SHINY - it is not DIRTY. I would take pictures of my own, but I'm not going to embarrass myself.

[houseelf]

This picture cracked me up...but not for the reason you'd think. I LOVE how all the parenting manuals are located by the shitter. That's exactly where all that expert advice belongs.

Kelly

[MissCrabette]

I don't have any kind of routine whatsoever. Like some of you have mentioned, I clean when I see dirt and even then I need some serious motivation to get off my butt and do something about it. I just "remodeled" my bathroom and I'm trying to keep it nice and clean for at least a couple of weeks while we have guests. If it wasn't for that incentive, I'd have last year's mail order catalogs collecting dust in there.

That organized housekeeper book was funny. I had stacks and stacks of papers on my desk and among them there was this book called "File, don't pile." Enough said.

Kris, I loved your photos! They were great!!!!! Loved the book!

I just sometimes wonder if I'm spending too much...or not enough time on housework (10 hours a week or so). I feel like if I miss even one day of upkeep work, the place becomes a sty. Not sure why that happens.

[Vanquisher]

Veggiefriend, I don't know why it happens at your house, but there are four reasons at mine.

1. I'm a slob.
2. DH is a slob.
3. DS is a slob.
4. DD is the grand destructor and takes all of our mess and transports it where she sees fit.

[Stella]

I cringe as I writte this out of fear i'll be labeled the geek of IMSN. I love cleaning and keeping my house tidy. I think I get it from my mum, she was in the british army as a nurse for years in the 70's and keep up the tidiness thing and it rubbed off on me.

However absolutly nothing gets done the days I worked (2x 12 hour shifts or 4x 12 hour shifts) on those days nothing gets done, not even washing up because I cannot physically move after them.

ds even pitches in with the duster, but usually ends up trying to dust the floor, at least he's making an effort, hopefully it'll last.

SO is ok, if he was off and I was working he'd have the place tidy and ironing and washing up done when I got home, I love that!

[rainbabies]

i have been sorting clothing all day. nothing else has gotten done. there is a bucket of dirty mop water sitting right next to me...from...last week. i keep walking by it thinking i need to dump it...but i dont. all in all i do okay cleaning house. i can really get my shit together if i have a deadline. but if not, things seem to take me much longer.

laundry is what im horrible about. i dont mind washing and drying it, but i hate folding and putting it away. why?? because we have not gotten dressers yet. everything is on shelves tucked away in a closet.

[mommax3]

All I could think when I saw that picture, Kris, is "How does she keep those books from getting peed on?" I know it was your master bathroom, so I guess that is what saved them. No matter how often I clean our bathrooms, I swear that the next time I go in, someone has peed somewhere OTHER than the water in the toilet. (DH does a fine job....it is the boys I am talking about!) Growing up in a household of all girls, this is STILL shocking and disgusting to me.

I clean when I get the chance (i.e. a couple of hours sans kids when I am caught up on what is going on here and have read all the magazines and papers that have piled up......no one can say I don't have my priorities straight! ) or when someone is coming over......I purposely invite people over about once a month in order to assure that the house doesn't get past the point of no return.

Sally