Now much of a house cleanliness nut are you?

It was either the great Erma Bombeck or the equally-great Peg Bracken who said, "There are three kinds of housekeepers....the spotless, the spotty, and the spotful."

I'm definitely a "Spotty". Let there be a houseguest coming and I'll kill myself cleaning the house. Everything is scrubbed, straightened, dusted, washed, neatened, and put in order. Just the two of us? Suddenly, I develop a strange sort of blindness....that doesn't see what needs dusting or straightening.

Now, my house is always "clean".....it just isn't always "neat". I have a horror of dirty dishes sitting around and my kitchen is pretty spotless. The rest of the house? Well, once again, "spotful" is accurate.

Excuse me, talking about housecleaning has worn me out. Time for a nap.
 
jujube said:
It was either the great Erma Bombeck or the equally-great Peg Bracken who said, "There are three kinds of housekeepers....the spotless, the spotty, and the spotful."

I'm definitely a "Spotty". Let there be a houseguest coming and I'll kill myself cleaning the house. Everything is scrubbed, straightened, dusted, washed, neatened, and put in order. Just the two of us? Suddenly, I develop a strange sort of blindness....that doesn't see what needs dusting or straightening.
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I'm spotty, too. Kitchen and bathrooms are always very neat & clean but my desk and a few other flat surfaces can clutter magnets. Even so, my house is never more than 15 minutes of straightening time from being company ready.

Vacuuming was among my least favorite chores - oddly enough I don't mind sweeping and mopping. With a Roomba, vacuuming has pretty much become a non-issue. The little fella is set to automatically run three days a week, bless his little electronic heart.

If a dusting robot gets invented, I'll be in hog heaven.

I'll claim an 8 on most things, sometimes slide down to a 4 when it comes to my desk and dusting, but when company or a party is imminent, I hit a 9-1/2.
 
jujube said:
Now, my house is always "clean".....it just isn't always "neat".
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I agree there's a big difference.

My father the WWII Drill Sergeant was always yelling at us kids to "Police the area!" if even one newspaper was lying out. My mother, on the other hand, was a bit of a clutter bug because she always had projects going, sewing, canning, and so on, but you could perform surgery in her kitchen, it was that sterile. By the time I was about ten I was in charge of all the cleaning so I'm a combination of both of them.

My husband can't tolerate clutter, but he can't even see dirt.
 
debodun said:
I thought a smaller house would be easier to clean, but it's actually more difficult because it a much more dusty house.
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got nothing to do with the size probably, and more to do with the location.... Just get an extendible duster... and you can dust the whole house every day in just a few minutes

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I don't dust
Dust is an outline where I put the item back

Now, my lady is a clean freak

She doesn't dust
She catches it in the air before it lands
....with a tweezer

This is her after I leave a room

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Heh, she went a bit crazy when we lived at our mountain cabin

Most times she used a shovel to clean the floor
 
A five? I don't know... I'm sandwiched between my mom (she was a borderline hoarder) and my sister, who is a 12.

With two grown sons living with me (long story), some of the stuff I struggle with is theirs... one son *must* save every receipt... they started cascading off the top of the microwave... (I put my foot down... the pile got moved to a less conspicuous location--you have to choose your battles, right?)

However, when same son was taking a late night shower and I hear him blowing his nose in the process, you better believe I'm banging on the door and shouting, "There better not be any boogers on the shower walls!!"
 
We are so far from being cleanliness nuts that it is embarrassing. If we didn’t pay to get help every other week it would soon be unlivable around here. Yesterday I took the old dog-hauling vehicle in to trade in. The old blanket thing that hangs from the headrests to protect the backseat from the dogs was soooo filthy and hairy I’m replacing it.
 
I used to be as 10 @debodun but just don't have the motivation or energy any more. I'd say I am a 1 now and wow does this place need dusting. Maybe I'll order a new furniture cleaner to get me started 😄 I don't know.

I've been thinking of paying someone to help me and get me back on track. I have to make myself a reminder to call the Senior Center. It's so close but again I don't have the energy to walk there. I know I can have the Social Worker there visit me.
 
I used to be OCD about keeping my home extremely clean. More recently I've been a victim of procrastination! I just stopped caring and things started piling up.

The past month I've been getting back to being more organized and getting various rooms "in shape.". I'm feeling good about my progress too and it keeps me busy and satisfies my well being. I splurged on a new mop...lol..and hope to get that kitchen floor cleaned ASAP.

I might even want to invite someone over for coffee or lunch when I get the place looking good again 😀
 
I’m a 8 and I always put things away so easy to keep everything clean when you live alone. I use the dusting attachment for my vacuum to get the dust and then polish the furniture.

I also have a lot less nik naks than when younger because it’s extremely time consuming to dust everything. Downsizing to 855 sq ft has also made my life easier. I can have company at any time.

My house wasn’t as neat when I was raising my kids and there were 5 of us. I often let the neighbor kids come over to play and I was going to college full time and my husband worked a lot. But I also had a lot more energy than:)).
 
I have a shelf in the foyer that I can't reach. My husband used to stand on a tall ladder and wipe it down for me. I bought a telescoping duster but it won't reach, even on a ladder. My husband would stand on a much higher step than I will. Anyway, the shelf is a dust collector and I still haven't figured out how to dust it. The handyman said he will do it next time he's working here. I think I'll have to see if I can find a duster that extends to some insane distance to reach the shelf.
 
birdy said:
I have a shelf in the foyer that I can't reach. My husband used to stand on a tall ladder and wipe it down for me. I bought a telescoping duster but it won't reach, even on a ladder. My husband would stand on a much higher step than I will. Anyway, the shelf is a dust collector and I still haven't figured out how to dust it. The handyman said he will do it next time he's working here. I think I'll have to see if I can find a duster that extends to some insane distance to reach the shelf.
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Wow , given that a telescopic duster handle can stretch to about 6 feet.. and then your outstretched arm that would make a total of 12 feet, then you on a ladder adds another foot or 2 .. that's about 14 feet... it begs the question, why would you have a shelf 14 feet off the ground ? :unsure:
 

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