Imagine that! Me giving lessons on cleaning house! 🙂
For anyone wondering why there were so many bags of yarn in the extra closet that I had forgotten about, this blog post may help explain it completely. Someone calls and says they’re coming over! No further explanation needed. Everything goes into the nearest empty spot. Yarn in the closet. Books under the bed. Kitty litter in the pantry. At my house . . everything has a spot and that is anywhere it will fit and be out of sight when the need arises.
New Cabinet Location
The other night we had friends coming over. I had bought a bag of those teeth cleaning bigger ball size dog food for Speck but it hurt his teeth for him to eat it. It had been sitting on top of the dog crate . . see that little cabinet that’s turned at an angle in the corner . . behind there is a perfect “out of site” spot. I thought I had stuck that bag of dog food behind there. While our friends were here, I thought . . they have dogs . . I can give this to them. She saw me go searching behind the cabinet and she cracked up at my hiding spot. Turns out I had stuck the bag inside the cabinet so I gave away my good housekeeping tip for nothing.
After ordering the new cabinet for this area, my friend wondered if there was going to be a secret hiding place behind the cabinet!
I used to think that some day I would be a good housekeeper but have come to the conclusion in my old age that there are only 24 hours in my day and I just don’t have time for cleaning and I’m never going to allow someone else to come in and do it so . . it is what it is. All I need are more hiding spaces! 🙂
Claudia W says
Oh, man! If my DH would be willing for me to pay someone else to come in and clean, I would do it in a minute! I hate to clean. I even hate to fold laundry. I am ok with putting on clean clothes from the laundry basket, but for some reason DH thinks underwear should be folded and put in a drawer. The last few times it needed doing I asked him to do it. I wonder how long it will take him to be OK with getting dressed from the laundry basket. Life is too short to do stuff that doesn’t NEED to be done! That’s my story!
shirley bruner says
I’m totally with you, Judy. If you come to my house….do not open a door without standing to the side….something might fall out and hit you on the head. LOL
Judy Laquidara says
Yay Shirley! You can come to my house any time! 🙂
Diana in RR, TX says
then that means you can both come to my house. just give me time to get the stuff to the hiding places!!!!!
Helen Koenig1 says
Uh uh, Diana! You all have to visit MY place first! I’m VERY good at stashing stuff! In fact, I’m so good at it that I may not figure out WHERE I stashed it for years and years! (and yes, I did give away my dd’s dress for mending – size 6 a year ago. DD is now – uhm – in her later 40’s! Essentially)
Lee says
I’ve many a time hidden things…end up finding them eons later of course. I’m with Claudia though on hiring someone to come in a do those things I absolutely detest: windows, floors, bathrooms, dishes, dusting. I don’t mind laundry or even folding though I’m not a fan of ironing! except pressing my quilt pieces 🙂
JudyL says
I don’t mind so much doing the every day stuff . . it’s just finding a place to put too much junk and that’s not something a housekeeper could solve. I’m pretty obsessive I suppose and I just don’t want someone else in my house cleaning. When I worked, I had someone come in and do it but I don’t see that ever happening again.
Pat Hathaway says
My problem is dust build up. When I hide something in a secret spot like that and it sits for awhile it is coated in dust and fur balls from the pets. I’m only 5’1″ and the same thing happens for high places. I’m always embarrassed when my 6’4″ SIL comes over because he can see all the high places I never pay attention to!
Helen Koenig1 says
But Pat – don’t you know that we are ONLY responsible for those things at eye level??? Things that are too high or too low are not our responsibility. Since SIL is 6’4″ that means it is HIS responsibility! So hand him that dustrag and stand back to let the guy fulfill his chores!
Shelia says
Judy, you are my kinda housekeeper! And I soooo agree with Shirley, open the door carefully. I have tried to stay more organized and picked up but I find all I’m ever doing is picking up! Need that quilt time and Grandkid time. Thanks for sharing you life with us, it never fails to give me a pickup.
Pam says
This is TOTALLY me! I hide things wherever they will fit. And no I wouldn’t let someone come in to clean for me, EXCEPT I have let my daughter do it a few times (she’s 22). SHE is totally OCD about cleaning lol, she certainly didn’t get it from ME… I think she got it from my mother in law (UGGH). BUT (unlike my mother in law) my daughter never judges me, which is the only reason I’ve allowed her to clean for me!
I’d much rather have fun or be creative than clean!!
Ellie says
What a laugh I got from this post! That is me all over. My DH is even worse. He doesn’t bother to even hide the piles, he just moves them from place to place and then forgets where they are or what is in them. Creative activity is more important to both of us so if untidiness bothers you don’t let the door hit you on the way out!
Mary in Va says
I told my husband when we were dating that I was a casual housekeeper. He married me anyway. I keep things tidy (meaning the dust bunnies mostly stay under the couch) but I don’t have enough time to work, deal with a garden, quilt/knit, help with the workshop, pet the chickens, play with cats, cook, AND keep a perfectly clean house. Anyone who disagrees is welcome to pick up a dust rag or a broom. So far no one has volunteered….
Linda says
I just got a lady to come in the first of this year. She comes in for 2 hours a month. I have bad knees and it kills them to clean tub. She starts in bathroom (first time took 2 hours), bedroom, living room, dining then kitchen. So far last 2 rooms have been mine to clean. Another month and she will be able to go through whole house in 2 hours. Works for me, can go down in sewing room.
Katy S says
I am with you. Clean houses are highly overrated. If I spend half the time cleaning that everyone else does, I have that much more time for sewing!
Emma says
I’m of the opinion that houses are meant to be lived in. My mother was very open with having people over for meals (sure, just bring them over! Just give me 30 minutes notice if they’re eating!) but my MIL was the opposite. Had to scour the house down to the baseboards for 2 weeks before anyone could come in. Then she always wondered why the boys never invited friends over…
I live in my house. It isn’t going to look like a museum. Not even worth it!
Susan says
I’d allow someone else to do the surface cleaning in a heart beat, and not clean up everything before they got there, either! But I’m never going to be a good housekeeper. My mother turned me off that by making me do so much when I was young! I know how to do everything there is to do, but I’m just not interested. My house is sometimes dusty, but not filthy, and that’s good enough for me!
Linda Steller says
That was my method too, till I moved into this house with no closets! Not good.
Donna says
When I worked I had a neighbor going through a rough time moneywise. She asked if she could clean my house once a week for $20. She did 3 other houses in our neighborhood.It was a while ago but still a bargain so I let her. She dusted, vacuumed, changed sheets on the bed (I washed them) and cleaned bathrooms and mopped the kitchen floor which was great except that I spent the night before she was coming to clean doing the same thing (except changing sheets). I was glad when her money problems were solved and I didn’t have to worry about my house being too bad for her to clean.
Linda in NE says
I agree….more hiding places. 🙂
Trina Miller says
That how I clean house too. LOL. Especially when someone is coming over.
Trina
Brandy M. says
Judy,
For not considering yourself good at cleaning, your home usually looks pretty darn clean/picked up! I’m glad to know someone who feels about cleaning like I do… I like it “clean” – no piles of bacteria laying about. But there are piles of mail, piles of serving dishes that need to be brought to their storage places, piles of sourdough making stuff, piles & piles of this & that. Ugg!
I’m sure glad I’m not alone in this little trait.
🙂
Dar in MO says
Judy, I agree wholeheartedly with your way of keeping the house “looking” tidy when anyone is coming. I am so busy doing everything else, the house is the last thing that gets attention! If only once you straightened up it would STAY that way more than a couple of hours! I dread the thought of what will happen when all my closets and hiding places become too full!
Robin Crittenden says
Judy, we are so alike. I do exactly the same thing.