Over the years I have cleaned to pretty much every standard on the spectrum of house cleanliness, from my student days of dust bunnies the size of the Easter 
Bunny, to having my first child and sterilizing the entire house to laboratory standards.
Our last house was for sale for a full year, thanks to a tricky market. To maximize our chance of selling, we kept it so tidy it looked as though nobody had lived there, EVER, and pretended that was normal.
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Currently, we live in a house that needs a full renovation and because we don’t yet have the funds to renovate we’re living with some quite tatty and unusual décor.
Even when this house is clean, it still looks AWFUL. If I’m honest the incentive to clean has disappeared so we’ve regressed to the student standard of cleaning. The ONLY time we clean is if we KNOW someone is coming over.
This works most of the time but it fails miserably if anyone turns up unexpectedly…
Even though beforehand I tell myself if people turn up unannounced it’s their own damn fault, it ALWAYS makes for an awkward visit. Sure, they politely pretend not to notice the tower of pots looming ominously, but ultimately we BOTH know it’s there.
I now realize that, like everything in life, cleaning is best when done regularly and in moderation. There is no need to go overboard, but keeping on top of things like washing up and laundry is better than letting them get away from you – when they turn into monsters that can never be tamed!
On the other hand keeping a house so pristine it could be used as an emergency medical facility is too much work, leaving little time for much else in life. A happy balance needs to be found.
I love, and have mostly lived by the old adage:
BUT I also love it when I’ve cleaned the house top to bottom in anticipation of a visitor and then they cancel and we get to enjoy the tidiness all to ourselves. Maybe that old adage needs updating to “A clean house is a sign of a wasted life . . . but sometimes it’s bloody lovely”.
Karen McClane blogs under a pseudonym to avoid identifying family members – partly for their privacy but mainly because they might get cross with her and she doesn’t really like confrontation. She lives in England with her husband and two boys. Her blog notwerewolvesjusthairy passes on life advice to her children and explains family quirks, including ADHD as well as the anger-management issues her father has.
She likes to think she looks like this:
. . . But she doesn’t. Like most animated characters – in real life she is about twenty years older and two dress sizes bigger, but the issues she has are very REAL. Check out her blog at notwerewolvesjusthairy.com and follow her via twitter.
Very Informative Blog thanks for sharing.
Cleaning is very overrated! Of course, I have a cleaning woman every 2 weeks courtesy of my daughter and due to my free babysitting services for my grandchildren.
Great solution Sandy x …although often babysitting is far tougher work.
I love this! My husband’s granny has a sign hanging in her kitchen that I try to live out when it comes to my housecleaning. It says, “My house is clean enough to be healthy and dirty enough to happy.” I try to keep the absolute fifth away, but a little bit a dirt never hurt. 🙂
Ooh that is a great saying I might adopt that one too! Thank you Nicole.
So funny, I love your pictures they’re great. The one with the baby dressed all in white in the white room I can especially relate to. Love the updated adage about a clean house being a sign of a wasted life but also lovely.
Aw, thank you! I’ve just taken a peek at your blog too, love it!
Great post! I really identify with fluctuating between the two cleanliness extremes! 🙂