fifty shades of dust and clutter

The annoying thing is that jobs that get put off for days only take 10 minutes when you actually get round to them.

Oh well done Jalima1108 I haven't used mine this year!!! You are on your way to earning your clean-freak badge!

In my youth I could transform a mucky playroom/sitting room into a respectable room for grownups to meet. One visitor asked how I'd done it in the time as she'd been round earlier that day. bit of a cheek
It is amazing what you can do if you have to.
Those were the days when we gathered in eachothers houses weekly to discuss an important topic.
Probably these groups have been superseded by book clubs or other interest groups or are they still a feature in some places?
NHR stood for national housewives register so it was already becoming an anachronism back in the 1970s.

I love everything being clean and tidy, I can't relax in mess and muddle. DH is away at the moment and I'm relishing the peace and quiet in a lovely environment. He's the most untidy individual ever, he has an office you can't even get into because it's full of crap so the dining room table is used for his 'work' - it drives me nuts because we can't even eat at it.
When I came home after 10 days in hospital, and having been told that on no account was I to do anything housework-wise until the consultant says, there were mouse droppings everywhere - I nearly told him to take me back to the cardiac unit.
I sometimes think living alone must be bliss!
His idea of cleaning is to dump the vacuum cleaner in the middle of the living room and wait for it to miraculously do its job ?

I not only said 'hello' to the steamer - I used it!

MawBroon My friend used to say that it was 'surprising what you can do in 15 minutes if you know someone's coming'!

I have friends and relatives whose houses are so neat, tidy and free from books, newspapers, papers and items that speak of their personalities that they are not homes. If you put a belonging down you get the impression that they resent your "mess". I wonder if the fact that order & appearances are so important to these types is down to their lack of self esteem: they cannot bear for others to witness the essential messiness of real life. After all, people and how your surroundings make them feel are more important than things.

My mum used to swear by two things if there was the “threat” of unexpected guests- empty waste paper bins and as many vases of flowers as she could fill at short notice.

I think I'll go and say hello to it, just to let it know it's not been forgotten

I've got one of those as well Jalima1108 and I do love it. When I bought it I had this picture of me doing all the floors every week (HA!). Still when I do use it I feel very virtuous!

I have a steam cleaner, it's very good.

Sometimes I even wipe the dust off it and use it, then admire the results

I like this thread. I don't feel 'alone' Being surrounded by clutter is comfy & cosy. Wouldn't be without it! However I had a half a day's notice on saturday of overnight visitors. It's amazing what can be achieved in just a couple of hours. For the first time in ever, the kitchen work tops & dining table were free of stuff. The cushions on the sofa were plumped, the hoover worked its magic - everything was near perfect. The visitors came & went, the clutter mysteriously appeared from nowhere and 12 hours later I was back to normal. Phew, such a relief ....

Steam cleans floors and dries in minutes,having a long hall with black and white tiles it is essential.

What is a steam cleaner?
I heard this evening on the One Show that the increase in allergies is probably/possibly due to too much cleanliness sterile environment
I'm not taking any chances mabon1

As a c.b.a. person who lives alone with a hairy big dog and a horse I try to keep the mud ,hair and straw to a minimum but its a wet muddy winter and I'm fighting a losing battle. Thank goodness for cordless vacs and steam cleaners.
As for being tidy, I wish! Oh to be able to find stuff

I cant see why people must clean clean. For example if you clean the kitchen one day its the same the next day so why clean. I just clean when something is dirty. I have a life and i go out to live it sod the house

I like a tidy house, but I am a realist. I raised 7 children and while my house wasn't a pig sty it wasn't a show place either. It was a home, lived in a comfy - 2 Yrs ago I only had 3 kids left at home, and one of them was away at university, then our married daughter, son in law and granddaughter asked to move in with us while son in law goes back to school for LPN, its been 2 yrs, and another 2 yrs to go!
It's been tough seeing the house a mess always - but I do get help from them cleaning up, and I appreciate it. She makes meals on my work day s also, but it does get to me sometimes, just can't wait until its just hubby and I with frequent visitors, lol

It is said that housework never killed anyone, but I'm not taking any chances!!!!

Well done lincolnimp that is some achievement, you have helped so many people over the years that is the real meaning of home.
Love your name, my two daughters live in Lincs so the imp is known to me.

Just to add more levity to an already amusing thread...

This clip is aptly called "Company is Coming".

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBwELzvnrQg

I find it depressing to live with clutter and it makes it too easy to lose things. Yes, a house should be a home but I don't like to live in complete chaos.

I once watched a proggrame called "Scrimpers" many, many years ago (when Channel 4 was getting established), all about recycling and making do - one woman NEVER threw anything in the bin and one upstairs room was almost impossible to access because it was chocful of 'usefull' bits and bobs.

It made me boggle but she did say one thing that really made sense:"A home should be clean enough to be healthy and dirty enough to be happy in."

EllanVannin I treat that as my reward for all my work. It's usually coins down the side of the sofa.

Strange how you can find something when there's clutter rather when you've tidied it all up.

I don’t tidy up for visitors I tidy up for me. I can’t stand mess. Unfortunate I am the only tidy one in my house and I have a dh and 3 adult children still here. I twitch when I go into dds room she’s so messy. But I close the door. It’s her room her domaine.