Let's Discuss

What is a clean house? How do you define 'clean' in your life and in your home?

How do you accomplish it? Do you accomplish it? Do you feel as if you're failing or succeeding?

Let's discuss.

Comments

Lady Fromage said…
My house is clean when the floors are swept and all the crap is put away (or well hidden!). The smell of pinesol also helps.

Life? Must be nice to have a clean, organized life! I have enough trouble with the house... :)
Meaghan said…
My house is about a twelve by twelve room. I have a claim to half of it.

I don't know the definition of clean any more. :)
Gr8Life said…
My house is 2200 square feet. To me it seems small because it's 3 bedrooms and I have 4 kids. And my kids are hoarders they save everything and it can be very hard to persuade them they don't need to save everything that they have ever acquired. Plus I have 2 special needs children so we have all sorts of medical equipment sitting around and taking up valuable storage space but I need it so I can't get rid of it. Right now my idea of clean is the bathrooms are cleaned 1 time per week the house in mopped 1 time per week and dusting is done 2X a month. And the dishes are done daily as is laundry. That is not my traditional "before I had Kids" idea of clean but I don't think I will have my idea of clean for a very long time.
Rachel Sue said…
My house is never clean. At least the whole thing at the same time. It is occasionally "company ready". My goal for February is to clean my WHOLE HOUSE. Wish me luck.
Cannwin said…
Rachel Sue,

I love that! "Company ready" very descriptive.

I'm a major spot cleaner. If I spot it I clean it, but what I don't see doesn't bother me.

I've been under the impression recently that I have a dirty house. Not messy but dirty. Every little comment seems to be like a dagger in my homemaker pride.

Is my house really so bad? I wonder if I'm a bad housekeeper or if I'm a normal housekeeper comparing myself to a good one.

So this is the low down (brutal) of my house.

There is a constant pile of laundry by the washing machine. Sometimes I even forget I own certain things because the turn around is so slow.

The bathroom always smells like pee and I'm not sure I've ever cleaned the shower. In fact, I'm not sure I know how to clean a shower... but it doesn't look dirty so how dirty can it really be?

My bedroom, where the diapers are changed and tossed constantly smells exactly like thrown away diapers.

9 times out of 10 there is food imbedded in the carpet of the family room because my kids can't remember how and where to eat.

And that's not even starting on the kids bedrooms, which can range from crazy to clean to crazy in about 2 seconds.

I'm not sure when I washed my windows. And I'm pretty sure I've only ever washed my walls maybe 5 times in three years.

Am I normal? Or worse than normal!? What is normal?
Anonymous said…
I consider my house clean when there is nothing left in the sink, the laundry is in an appropriate place (either basket, dryer, or put away), and the garbage is taken out, living room vacuumed. Having my bed made makes a huge difference on how it looks to me too.

I no longer care about how my kids' room looks. Eventually they'll realize they can't find anything and clean it. I'll help them when that day comes.

:)

On laundry--one load a day helps. I have one basket for each of us that way when it's done I can put it away more quickly instead of walking it around from room to room. And I don't get into separating by color, most of our stuff is dark anyway.

I'm really bad about cleaning the shower too :)
Cannwin said…
I'm so glad I'm not alone in the shower thing.

I remember resisting my mom when it came to cleaning the bathroom so hard that I don't think I learned a thing about how to clean it.

I pour bleach into my toilet and call it good, I take bleach water and my mop and wash the floor and outside of the toilet and I wash the sinks and mirror. When I notice grime around the doors knobs and light switches I clean that too, but I admit I'm not consistent on the bathroom.
Claire said…
I grew up with an OCD mom, so I definitely know a clean house. Your house is lived in. My house is filthy. If you want to feel better about your place, come spend some time at mine. At this point, I'm just trying to find the source of some stench and get rid of that. A clean house is the one thing that I miss the most about my gimpy back. That, and being able to run around with my kids and dance while holding the baby. For the record, I've never walked into your house and thought it was dirty. Some days, I'm amazed how clean it is and other days it just looks like I'd expect it to look with four kids running loose in it, but never has it looked nasty.
Cannwin said…
@Claire Wessel

Aw Claire, you warmed my heart right up. Thanks.
Polly Scott said…
To me, clean means no clutter. No stuff on surfaces. Organized closets. I have OCD. It's not clean if I haven't taken something to good will.
Cannwin said…
Polly,

Ha! Love it, I love getting rid of things too. But I totally freecycle everything, that way I don't have to deal with it more than to stick it on my doorstep. :)

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