Cleaning House --- Seriously

[Rescued One]

I love to make people laugh, but this is a serious thread. If you look at a messy house, and one day see it organized and clean, does it make you happy?

Look at these pics:

Don't you love the after photos?

I like these things:

Do you have any clever ideas or cleaning tips?

 

[timothyu]

Makes me sad because the home has become a house.

 

[Rescued One]

Makes me sad because the home has become a house.

Whose home became a house?

John 14:2 NIV
My Father's house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?

Psalm 122:1 NIV
A song of ascents. Of David. I rejoiced with those who said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD."

 

[timothyu]

In the pictures

 

[Rescued One]

In the pictures

Are you trying to tell me that messy rooms represent homes and tidy rooms don't? Or am I misunderstanding you?

 

[timothyu]

Are you trying to tell me that messy rooms represent homes and tidy rooms don't? Or am I misunderstanding you?

I'm just saying a 'lived in' residence is a home representative of the lives within. A house is a shell waiting to have the character of it's inhabitants.

 

[Maxsteel]

Yea! Just in my own words, It's nice to see a clean house! So if its ok to say how i feel in my words, i think i feel glad to see a clean house! It's Cool!!

 

[Nithavela]

When cleaning, my after pictures would look a lot like those before pictures...

 

[~Anastasia~]

I do love to see things tidy and organized. But at the same time - a home is a place for living.

My kitchen counters are usually more like the before - or worse. There are just too many things I use every day (or almost every day). I especially have a love/hate relationship with the NuWave ... the top cracks if stored on the base, so they have to both sit there untidy-looking.

I like to have a place for (almost) everything, and at least as often as possible put it all away. I like to have little enough undone so that I could straighten it quickly if someone was coming over. But there are going to be cat toys scattered around (my cat never puts her toys away - unless she tucks them into my shoes!), a random dish maybe, the day's mail, a blanket for covering up on cold days, and sometimes a current project's materials, and so on.

I do like the bins in the later photos. That seems to be the key. Having a convenient place where things belong, and are hidden/put away.

I'm actually trying to force myself to stay home from work today because my house really needs cleaning and I'm woefully behind on laundry - a couple-three weeks of running like crazy and "putting out fires" has left things in a worse state than I can tolerate.

Some degree of cleanliness is necessary for peace of mind and a calm environment lol.

The cat's toys have a basket, the blanket looks fine when folded or draped on the back of furniture, and the dishwasher is where I store dishes just hand-washed while they are drying. Paper mail goes in the trash mostly - but the pieces that aren't junk are still something to constantly deal with.

I'll make a confession I wouldn't generally share though. I keep my Christmas decorations up until after Theophany - Jan 6 on our calendar. A few more days doesn't bother me. But so many things needing immediate attention have come up and used every bit of my energy that - the tree is still in the corner. I put everything else away. But the tree (and the boxes for it and the decorations) are IN MY LIVING ROOM. And it's FEBRUARY. So I'm going to stay home and take it down today, as well as follow up on three critical matters that I've been dealing with. It's either that or decorate it for Valentine's Day! (J/K - that's not something I would do!)


And work is calling asking me to come in ...

 

[JustRachel]

My home is somewhere in the middle. I'd love for it to be spotless. I don't have the motivation since we only have visitors once or twice a year. At that time I panic and go full speed into a cleaning frenzy.

 

[timothyu]

Nothing wrong with a little organized confusion.

 

[~Anastasia~]

Also a big distinction between those who have children in the house and those who don't.

If my house had looked like a showplace while I was the mother of a toddler - I would have felt like a bad mother. I was continually cleaning - but it was always clear that a child lived there 24/7.

Reminds me of a "fun" little thing. I was going into the kitchen and saw what I assumed was a toy snake she must have dropped across the doorway. Turned out not to be a toy ...

 

[Rescued One]

My home is somewhere in the middle. I'd love for it to be spotless. I don't have the motivation since we only have visitors once or twice a year. At that time I panic and go full speed into a cleaning frenzy.

Ditto!

 

[MarIllos]

Cleaning is not so simple thing but we all must do this. Usually you can share this responsibility with the whole family. In such case you will spend less time. Also I recommend to buy and use special cleaning tools, for example nowadays robot mops are quite popular. There can be both cheap and expensive models, so better will be to check reviews before buying.

 

[HisCrossMyPeace]

In our home we normally use the rule “clean enough to maintail your health, messy enough to maintain your happyness” (and always in a way making any visitor popping up welcome when not having dust on his/her brain and being aware that they are visiting a home with four people having a life, not a homestyle magazine).

Twice a year we have a “cleaning amok-session cleaning everything reasonable possible to clean and using about 2 cb mts/50 cb ft of water for that. purpose (That’s the days our cat evacuate to the barn!)

 

[Mountainmanbob]

We keep a pretty tidy house.
When I was single not so much but, a good wife can cause a man to step it up a notch.
For deeper cleaning we have a maid that comes every two weeks.

It's nice to have a comfortable clean house.
M

 

[rebornfree]

I like it clean, but it's not as tidy as our home was when I was growing up. My father was in the Navy and had to live in small quarters, so he learnt to be neat and my mother was also a tidy person. When I was about 15 my room was a mess and he made me stay in until it was tidied up. It took most of the weekend but I'm very grateful to Dad for that lesson. I've never let things get so untidy again.

 

[stormdancer0]

I love to make people laugh, but this is a serious thread. If you look at a messy house, and one day see it organized and clean, does it make you happy?

Look at these pics:

View attachment 250853
View attachment 250854

Don't you love the after photos?

I like these things:

View attachment 250855 View attachment 250856
Do you have any clever ideas or cleaning tips?

Your "Before" looks a whole lot better than my "after!"
I have a lot of gifts from God.
Housekeeping is not one of them.
Mom was a horder, and I never learned. Even now in my 50s, I struggle with even the basic cleaning routines.

 

[returntosender]

Its wonderful! Good job!
I wish I had the energy.

 

[Joni Steele]

My daily housecleaning rule...
If there is nothing growing on it, it's good! Lol!