Does anyone else look at other peoples houses and think...

BlueGirl9603

How do they keep it so clean!?

And I don't mean the laundry, or making the bed, or dusting the shelves.

I mean things like the cabinets.  HOW do my cabinets get so dirty?  I look at other peoples houses and their cabinets don't have sticky marks down the front or dust covering them.

Do people actually wipe their cabinets down on a weekly basis?  I do it about once a month (to do all of them, spot cleaning whenever I see a spill)  Or are we just THAT messy when we cook!? lol

I seriously just don't know how some women keep their houses so spotless PLUS work full time AND have babies.

I have a feeling I'm SOL once a little tornado joins the family lol. 

lorirachel

I look more at the clutter...no matter how much I try and put things away, we have so much STUFF around always. I go to other people's houses and they are spotless and tidy. Whenever we have a cleaning lady come, I always vow to keep it that neat and tidy and within a few days its back to chaos. Our main problem is we need a basement (we live in a condo now) for all our STUFF!!!

BlueGirl9603

Beth&Derek:

I always wonder if other people spend as much time cleaning as I do when they have people over. We had some people over last night and spent most of the day yesterday dusting, vacuuming, washing floors, wiping down walls and appliances (I apparently splatter a lot of stuff while cooking too), etc.

Glad I'm not the only one then!  I clean up right after I cook, but I swear when I make things like brownies or homemade pizza, I am finding flour and dough for weeks! lol. 

Dh and I are not gross, as in the trash gets taken out, I keep the dog kennels clean and sanitized, the dishes get done, and we always have clean laundry (Put away is a different story though

But we are very disorganized sometimes.  My sewing table has scraps everywhere, Dh's desk is a total nightmare, and our kitchen table has more mail and newspapers than it does anything else lol.  We typically don't make the bed after we sleep in it, but we change the sheets once a week.

I dunno, my mom and sister in law always tease me about being so dirty. But I consider dirty and disorganized two very separate things!

Now my SIL's little sis, SHE'S dirty.  So much so that her clothes smell like cat pee and no one will visit her house because of how bad it smells.  She blames it on having so many pets.  But I have four dogs and my house always smells good (thanks to Scentsy too though lol) 

BMnatz11

I look at this too and wonder. I assume that they wipe them down when they know company will be stopping by...that's what I do anyway. I find that our bottom cabinets seem to be excessively dirty when we cook. When I notice that I've dripped something down them, I clean it right away. DH on the other hand is oblivious and the kitchen looks like a tornado went through it when he is finished. Usually when it's time to do a thorough cleaning, I stick DS in his high chair, crank up the tunes, and dance around and sing while cleaning to keep him entertained

BlueGirl9603

lorirachel:

I look more at the clutter...no matter how much I try and put things away, we have so much STUFF around always. I go to other people's houses and they are spotless and tidy. Whenever we have a cleaning lady come, I always vow to keep it that neat and tidy and within a few days its back to chaos. Our main problem is we need a basement (we live in a condo now) for all our STUFF!!!

Lol that is our EXACT problem!  Our guest bedroom walk in close it, you can't even walk into.  It's just boxes of CRAP that we've never gone through.  We need to pitch most of it, but have to go through the boxes first.  And we just keep putting it off...lol.

But we took Three days off of work next week.  We were supposed to go to Chicago to see Deftones, but didn't have the money.  So we just kept the days off work so we can get some of these house projects done! 

BlueGirl9603

What is really bad right now is that I got out of the habit of cleaning.  Dh's mom and dad lived with us for 8 months because we had moved them up here from TN while she went through Chemo.  

So while I was at work, she'd be really bored (she went from working 50 hours a week to being on disability in just a weeks time!)  So she'd do all the cleaning downstairs, clean their bathroom, bedroom and the upstairs living room.  All I was responsible for was my bedroom and my laundry.

So naturally I got too spoiled with that and once they moved out, I had to get myself back into the habit! lol. 

MindyBadger1

DH and I do a pretty thorough cleaning once a week- he does downstairs and I do upstairs. But that does not include wiping cabinets/baseboards.. who has time for that. lol.

Our house looks awesome for like 3 days.... then the clutter, chaos, and cat hair build up. 

I have a small house- 1300 feet. We want to move into our "forever" home in next 1-2 years.... I don't think I'd ever want something really big because I don't think I could keep up with it!

Someday, once school loans are paid off and we're doing better financially, I'd like to hire someone to come once a month and do things like fans/windows/baseboards. 

BlueGirl9603

MindyBadger1:

I have a small house- 1300 feet. We want to move into our "forever" home in next 1-2 years.... I don't think I'd ever want something really big because I don't think I could keep up with it!

We are at 1800 sq feet of living space.  I honestly could not handle anymore!

I seriously miss our starter home that was 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom and about 1200 sq feet.  I could clean my whole house in just a couple of hours!  Now I feel like it takes me two days with the 3 bathrooms and 3 bedrooms and two living rooms!

But I love our little house.  I just hate living in a neighborhood but it was either land+small house, or large house+small lot.  If we could just pick our house up and move it out in the country, I would be rather content!  

eyris

We are having our annual Halloween party next Saturday so deep cleaning is in order around my house.

I've done all the general cleaning but yeah I need to wipe down cabinets, baseboards, etc.  With three cats (see siggy) the fur balls accumulate real fast in corners... 

BlueGirl9603

eyris:

We are having our annual Halloween party next Saturday so deep cleaning is in order around my house.

I've done all the general cleaning but yeah I need to wipe down cabinets, baseboards, etc.  With three cats (see siggy) the fur balls accumulate real fast in corners... 

Tell me about it.  I have four dogs.  My pitt sheds like CRAZY!  I don't know how she isn't bald.  I sweep my living room and bedroom floor (hard woods) with my dust mop about every other day, and every time I have a giant furball.  And that doesn't even count what I get out of her daily brushings an what is in her kennel!  

MindyBadger1

BlueGirl9603:

MindyBadger1:

I have a small house- 1300 feet. We want to move into our "forever" home in next 1-2 years.... I don't think I'd ever want something really big because I don't think I could keep up with it!

We are at 1800 sq feet of living space.  I honestly could not handle anymore!

I seriously miss our starter home that was 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom and about 1200 sq feet.  I could clean my whole house in just a couple of hours!  Now I feel like it takes me two days with the 3 bathrooms and 3 bedrooms and two living rooms!

But I love our little house.  I just hate living in a neighborhood but it was either land+small house, or large house+small lot.  If we could just pick our house up and move it out in the country, I would be rather content!  

 We have 2 bed, 2 bath... It's really just right for us, but if/when we have a LO the 2nd bedroom will not longer be able to be an office. So I'll cram a little desk into the living room and make do.

DH really wants land. I don't want the responsibility of taking care of land, the house is hard enough! We'll see. They're building a nice neighborhood just south of us- we might be able to compromise... live in a neighborhood but pick the plot. We're taking our sweet time with this decision because we want it to be right. 

eyris

BlueGirl9603:

eyris:

We are having our annual Halloween party next Saturday so deep cleaning is in order around my house.

I've done all the general cleaning but yeah I need to wipe down cabinets, baseboards, etc.  With three cats (see siggy) the fur balls accumulate real fast in corners... 

Tell me about it.  I have four dogs.  My pitt sheds like CRAZY!  I don't know how she isn't bald.  I sweep my living room and bedroom floor (hard woods) with my dust mop about every other day, and every time I have a giant furball.  And that doesn't even count what I get out of her daily brushings an what is in her kennel!  

I made the horrible mistake of buying a dark brown microfiber sofa.  Yeah, that thing needs to be vacuumed on a daily basis to look good.  I usually just do it once a week though.

I have mostly hard floors too, which I love, but the fur "tumbleweeds" are always present. 

Jennifer102011

It depends on whose house I'm walking into. If it's my family, I'm like when the hell do they have time to keep everything so spotless. If it's my ILs, I feel like I've stepped into an episode of hoarders and immediately want to go home and start cleaning, although my house is nowhere near that bad. We live in such a small house and have so much stuff, we're running out of places to put things! We were at BILs yesterday, so today I've got the cleaning bug and have started to go through and weed out the junk in one corner of our spare bedroom. So far I've gotten rid of 2 trash bags worth of stuff and at least 8 or 9 boxes. I feel like I can breathe again!

If we're having people over, I usually spend a few hours cleaning the things that I normally would notice if I stepped into someone else's house. 

aessary03

We clean every Friday night, which includes the deep cleaning stuff like dusting, spot cleaning the carpet, vacuuming, wiping down cupboards and appliances, etc. it's just a habit i've had for a long time. I can't stand when things get all cluttery or yucky. But that's just me. And if I clean Friday night after work, it's done and I can enjoy my weekend. But I do things throughout the week, too, like dishes and wipe down counters, etc to keep up on stuff.

It's a big job but if everyone in the house is on board it's not too terrible. My husband is trained to do the dishes and start dinner before he leaves for work...lol! My daughter takes out the trash and keeps bathroom and bedroom picked up/vacuumed/swept. But she's 9 so I can give her a lil more responsibilities. I take care of the rest house.

: But as a whole, I hate cleaning. I hate folding laundry and I really hate scrubbing the toilet!

angelsnight

Yes, I always feel inadequate when it comes to how our house looks and how others' look.  I just don't believe other people have to spend an entire day to get their house in order for company.  Our house is clean for company but on a daily basis if someone were to stop by unexpectedly I would be so embarrassed.  Right now we have clutter everywhere, a sink full of dishes and yes our cupboard doors have visible dirt smudged on them.  MH has a dirty job and comes home and smears his dirty hands on everything.  Having an almost 100% white kitchen doesn't help either (came with the house, no our choice until we can remodel).

I always tell myself that others' houses are so clean because they do the same thing I do....clean like a mad woman right before having company over.  But then there are people like my MIL...you can stop over unexpected and her house is always immaculate.  I don't know how she does it.  

I like my great grandma's trick years ago....all of her kids had stuff they were responsible for picking up when company stopped over (they would just toss it into another room) and she always left the vacuum cleaner out so she could be like "oh I was just about to vacuum'!

BlueGirl9603

See I can randomly stop by my moms and its clean.  I can randomly stop by my brothers house and my SIL has it clean (but granted she runs an in home day care, so she's cleaning all day)

But I love when they go "Oh it's such a mess in here!" I just snort and they go "Oh yeah, it's just you, you think this is clean!" lol.

People never randomly stop by when I've just cleaned...they like to stop by when I have a bad cold and don't have a bra on and havn't showered in 3 days lol. 

TrueBlue12

Our problem is not that we are dirty or unclean, it's just that we are very unorganized. We live in an 1100 sq ft apartment right now (currently house hunting) so our house never stays "clean" for long. Mail and random stuff piles up on our table until the next deep clean. I can't wait until we have more space for storage!! 

Stephanier99

I had to laugh when I read this since I have the same problem. I guess some of it is my own fault, and I could wipe them down a bit more often.

JilllyBean

I used to think this too, but I started asking around, and honestly, almost everyone I know has a cleaning lady. Most of us live in the city, so smallish apts or town houses and no one has more than1 kid. I can't justify that cost, so I have been trying to be better about cleaning like one thing a day. Sigh....

clh4444

Try living for the past year in a condo that is for sale, empty of most of our furnishings because we had it sold until the buyer lost their financing 3 days before closing. Consequently all of our stuff was already in storage and has been there for 8 months. We have no where to put crap away. It is a constant battle to keep the clutter down since I have no where to stash it. Plus a long haired cat that sheds like no one's business. Vacuum and sweep, 10 min later more cat hair balls floating around. Can't wait until our renovations on new house are done so we can move out and get organized.

librarianish

You are not alone! I try really hard to keep things clean, but I just can't stay on top of everything. I tell myself that my friends who have ultra-clean homes must have secret maids. 

Dreamingmommy4

When it comes to the kitchen, MH and I have a rule, don't wipe anything off the ceiling unless you're planning on scrubbing the whole thing. Large chunks get cleaned up obviously but then you end up washing the whole thing cuz you left a clean spot! Between work and school and being youth group leaders our tiny little 540 sq. ft. apartment gets dirty REALLY fast. And by dirty I mean actually filthy and disorganized chaos. We try to clean it once a week, but organized....HA! Forget it.

TeamAwesomeBaby

Well, I might sound like a jerk, but my H and I are neat freaks and our house is nearly always clean. Sometimes I'll have a pile of stuff build up on the table by the sofa, but that's about it.

I think it just comes down to your tolerance for it, really. We both have low tolerance for things being messy or cluttered, so we tend to clean as we go - the minute I notice even a little bit of mess/dust/clutter, I deal with it. So ultimately I probably spend about 10 minutes a day doing some sort of cleaning. 

You should try a month of it - after dinner, set a 10-minute alarm and clean for the 10 minutes. It will make a huge difference! And once you get on top of things, it's not as much of a burden to tackle, you know?