Things you wish you'd never started

Oh dear; I was going to attack the cupboard under the stairs this afternoon - you know, the one into which everything is slung when you move in? But now I think I'll just have a little toes up first, in case it morphs into clearing another cupboard to make room...(faints at thought).

I tend to start one specific task and then it sorts of morphs into a major operation: start doing some filing, think I'll check the drawers in the sideboard to see if there's any stray paperwork, decide the drawer's in a terrible mess, start sorting that out, find articles in there that belong somewhere else in the house ... and so it goes on.

I rarely have the problem with the curtain hems as I make my curtains upside down - finishing with sewing on the heading tape. However I have just made a pair for the dining room and measured SOO carefully but realised when I came to hang them that I forgot to allow for the bit above the pole!. The good thing is that when if I have mouse visitors unless they are athletic they will not be able to just run up the curtains and nibble them

I have just been cleaning kitchen cupboards, spice racks and now stuff all over kitchen table waiting for cupboards to dry. Trouble is I need to sit down for a while to take the weight off my back before it locks up. Then I need to put stuff away or chuck stuff away. Why did I start! Best find is an unused pack of fenugreek powder bbf 2004.

I detest hanging curtains particularly drawing up those fiddly string things. When I bought the last new curtains I told DH that I got dizzy standing on the stepladders so I got John Lewis to prepare the curtains and hang them for me too.

I've hemmed curtains by ironing that sticky hem stuff along the bottom of both the curtains and the linings while they were still up at the window

Bags, whilst I agree that grubby curtains don't matter, DH knew a dentist who wasn't allowed to have curtains in the waiting room as the Inspector said they can spread germs!

How reassuring that others cut corners/turn a blind eye to details of housekeeping. Life is too short I reckon and a bit of comfortable slumming is good for us!

Gally my sitting room windows have little hand prints on them from when I stood my dgd on the windowsill to wave to passers-by!
That was just after Xmas!

I like this thread!

merlot brilliant idea - sadly my curtains are so enormous that they won't fit in the tumbler drier so they will just have to remain filthy
Sometimes I wish I'd never started cleaning the 13 x 7' high bi-fold windows in my kitchen. I only do them when I can't see the garden any more

The left hand curtain at the family room window is hemmed the right hand sits behind the chair and it still waiting to be taken up but you can only see it if you move the chair

Good tip,, Merlot. Thanks!

The best way to freshen up curtains is to put them in the tumble dryer (cool setting) with three or four tumble dryer sheets. The curtains come out lovely and fresh and you will know they needed doing because the sheets come out dingy grey - or even black in my case!!

have had tempting text from DD saying she is at home & would I like to pop down to play! Perhaps i could defer to cleaning and sorting!

I've stapled curtain hems too anno. As you say...temporary. Have also re-stuck fire surround tiles with condensed milk. Have coloured in worn bits on a carpet with felt tip pen....

Sorry, straying

Oh! this is all very reassuring.

When I was much younger (and more foolish!), I would spring clean by moving ALL the furniture into the middle of the room, emptying the bookcases and take down curtains. It was always at this point I would regret having started! Now I am older and wiser(?) I clean around and under!

My bedroom curtains are fashionably 'puddled' on the floor! Far too much trouble to shorten them

I need to file loads of papers...sometime. I seem to remember stapling the hems of curtains as a temporary measure. But how temporary is temporary?

absent it took me a year to hem my kitchen /diner curtains and I still have to do the linings properly as they are only pinned

I have two jobs on the agenda today that I suspect I will regret starting..one is to clean the oven and the other is clearing and sorting the cupboard under the stairs!

Ah, but I have no idea how long they had been hanging at those windows before I moved in and, judging by the edges it was probably quite a while. The colour has also faded along the pleats where they tie back so they probably did need a good slosh about in soapy water. It was just having to stitch the damn hems that seemed such a chore. Still it did give me a chance to sit down. So a silver cloud knocks round every dog's corner.

Too much work taking down curtains,I just dust the gathering at the tops and open them out every so often,easy peasy.Quick spray of frebreeze and job done.

Three years? Is that all? That's nothing! Bez is right – unless you have open fires or a smoker in the house, curtains can stay up for many more years than three without needing cleaned. And even if they do get a bit grubby, so what? It's not going to hurt anyone, nor are many people going to notice – probably not until they take them down to decorate.

Sometimes I think we invent work for ourselves.

I think washing some curtains ruins them - and having them cleaned costs a fortune. I bet they were not very dirty anyway unless you have an open fire in the bedroom or smoke a lot