Thank you so much to everyone who popped by and left some tips to help me overcome my obsession with keeping my house perfect. It really is something that I want, and indeed need, to overcome. I was a LOT worse particularly when the children were little, but they have helped me at least 'soften the edges' of my mania. I'm not in the realms of those people on Obsessive Cleaners or whatever that programme was called, but it has prevented me from going out and stopped me from inviting people in over the years, so I would class it as a problem.
Today is my 'non-birthday-birthday outing' which a very good friend and despite coughing like someone with a 60 a day habit, I'm going to enjoy myself!! My Birthday was last month but we booked in the 21st of this month instead!
Your tips were:-
A) focus on what is really important. ....I'm going to focus on me and my relationship with the lovely L today.
B) just tackle small amounts each time rather than trying to control it all. ....I'm going to clean the upstairs bathroom before I go
C) turn your back on the rest and do something else. .....I'm going to keep the bedroom doors shut...yikes!!
D) decide which areas of the house are a priority and focus on those first. .......Obviously, I like to have visitors and I want them to feel comfortable, so I will do a very light tidy and sweep downstairs too (all hard flooring) before I leave, just in case!
Final piece of advice from Susan M? .....
Blow the dust
Hang the washing
Sod the lawns !!
Love it :)
So you see, your advice was welcome, listened to and actioned!! Now I just need to keep it going to avoid the stress moments! Thank you everyone and I hope you have a lovely non-birthday day too x
I think it's actually harder to keep your home cleaner and tidier when you're working in it all day because inevitably you are going to create work mess. You wouldn't expect your office or classroom to be immaculate all day every day when you're working would you? Your visitors will probably be just as comfortable seeing your house with the 'lived in' look and feel. After all, they're coming to see you, not your house. Have a wonderful day. Still to celebrate my birthday and silver anniversary from last month but with son's big exams looming, everything is on hold until they're over xx
ReplyDeleteGCSES or A Level? Last year we had SATS, GCSE, As level and degree all happening at once! That was a bit manic. This year's it's just A and As levels. Good Luck to him!
DeleteScottish Highers which are the qualifications required to gain entry to university up here in Scotland. Last year he sat the new National 5 exams, which are equivalent to the old Standard Grade exams. Thanks for your good wishes x
DeleteHello ! Just catching up on blogs after a hectic week. Interesting post. I remember your living the dream post, which I totally relate to, as it was my dream for years before it became reality over 30 years ago. I am not a houseworky person in any way, but if I was I would drive myself mad while living my dream. Open fires, animals, mud, constant visitors,hay down your knickers and stuck in your socks and the myriad other interesting aspects of smallholding really don't fit well with "houseproud". I see pictures of people's houses on blogs and wonder how much they must beat themselves up to keep them that way when they are processing mountains of muddy carrots and parsnips, crushing buckets of apples, mixing buckets of lamb milk replacer, mending another pile of working clothes... you get the idea.
ReplyDeleteI am told that the reason we have so many visitors is that my house is "comfortable and welcoming" for comfortable read full of old miss-matched furniture and sundry baby animals!
And if you have good homemade food and drink to offer guests they don't care how much dust is on the top of your doors!
Gill
I want to come to your house :)
DeleteI think having a 1930s suburban house doesn't lend itself to being a mess either.
I'm really not so sure about hay in my knickers or how it might get there .......!!
You would be welcome!
Deletere. the hay We have quite a few power cuts so make our own fun in the country ;) (more realistically I am often taken short while down the field and at my age when you gotta go you gotta go!)
I can certainly relate to that need!!!
DeleteI have to say that even though I can go a bit mad cleaning and tidying before visitors come round to mine, it really doesn't worry me how other peoples houses are when I visit them. I think I worry too much about what other people think of me and will try and take on board some of the above advice. Thank you. X
ReplyDeleteI'm just the same. I think people worry I'm going to judge them because my house is tidy, but it's not theirs I worry about, it's mine!
DeleteI used to be a bit obsessed, but there are more important things in life, I just do a few small jobs everyday, just to keep on top of it,if I am having a day out, I'm having some time for me, so I won't come back home and start cleaning.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first stopped work, I was doing exactly that - a few small tasks a day to keep on top of things. I seem to have slipped off the wagon rather and need to get back on! Perhaps if I have one blitz to get everything back up to scratch and then maintain from there?????
DeleteOne thing that helps me is LISTS. Instead of worrying that I shall forget something important, once it's committed to paper I can clear my mind of it.
ReplyDeleteWhere would we be without lists? I love lists and have done a number of posts about lists :)
DeletePerhaps the best way is to keep those areas clean which would cause embarrassment if a friend - or even a stranger - came in and asked, say, to use the loo. So I try and keep our bed made (we have a ground floor bedroom) in case the door should be open when someone calls; to keep the downstairs shower room clean, so that the loo and basin are clean enough for friends/.strangers to use (with clean towels out, too); and the kitchen moderately clean, i.e. the sink not piled with pots and the floor not full of crumbs. In the sitting room, provided you keep it reasonably tidy, just remove old newspapers and any dead flowers, vacuum the carpet and plump the cushions, no one would notice a layer of dust if they have somewhere comfy to sit and a vase of pretty flowers to look at.
ReplyDeleteThe most important area for me is the hall. I like to keep that litter-free (stuff for the charity shop goes into a rather nice basket rather than just a cardboard box), don't have a pile of coats on the newel post. We have a table opposite the front door which I try and keep dust-free and this has a posy of flowers on it (leaves and berries if there are no flowers in bloom in the garden) so it looks like I've cared for the place; flowers take attention away from cobwebs!
And as Saraband says, make LISTS! When on a cleaning splurge, I make a LIST of all the jobs I have to do. It's very satisfactory crossing them through when each job is completed.
Margaret P
I like to keep the entrance to my home tidy and welcoming and the downstairs bathroom clean. I have to be extra vigilant in the kitchen as my eldest daughter is coeliac, so I need to avoid contamination as much as possible! Lists are invaluable, aren't they?!
ReplyDelete