I know its no secret, I am a lousy housekeeper. I don't really hate doing housework, I'm just not really good at it. I know a lot of it has to do with the stage of life I'm in right now... I can clean one room only to have the next room torn to shreds while I'm doing it. But besides the kids, I always have piles around my house, so I don't feel like its ever really clean.
My question to you is, What is your favorite chore around the house?
Why do you like it? I have several that I don't enjoy. But I need to hear some positives to get me more motivated. I am seriously wondering if hiring a maid would be totally out of the question. :)
My favorite chore is laundry. I know most people don't enjoy it and probably think I'm crazy. I like it for lots of reasons. I can be "lazy" while I do laundry, isn't that terrible, that's a reason I like it? I like that it does itself and I can get a lot done in the process. I also like it because it cleans up much of the other messes in the house. I like folding laundry and putting them in piles and then not having to find someplace to put them. They all have their "homes" so its very easy to take care of. Its a never ending job, but I know that and I expect that. I don't feel pressure because of it. Every job around the house is never ending, but some of them feel like they should be done when you're done. With laundry I know what I'm getting into. I love the smell of clean laundry. I love to see all the cute things we've blessed with from family and friends. Laundry is just a good job.
OK, now you know what my favorite is and why I like it. Please share some positives with me!
15 comments:
well...you guessed it..I love to vacuum and dust. I love a smooth sea of carpet, and I love to see the clean surface after I dust.
Dishes are my thing. You can see such a dramatic change when they are clean. Of course, I love my magic machine (dishwasher), but I love to hand wash the pots and pans. It is the one time of the day when I can truely feel really warm. In fact, my mom and I fight over who does dishes when we are together. We love the warm water!
i stink at keeping the house clean. but something that did help recently: after the kids went to sleep i threw away a chunk of the toys. then i moved another chunk of them to the basement to be rotated in as necessary. they haven't even noticed and it's staying a little cleaner. i think the only job i really don't dislike is wiping the counters. that means the kitchen is done. my mom always repeats this rhyme when i complain about my messy house: "cleaning the house while the children are growing is like shoveling the walk when it hasn't stopped snowing." i guess we have to work at it so we don't get snowed in, and that's about all anyone can expect. :)
I love doing laundry too. And freshly vacuumed carpet. I like to avoid sweeping and mopping for some reason but LOVE the feelings of a freshly mopped floor (after it dries of course). :) I guess anything that has an immediate effect is my favorite. I used to clean the whole house every Saturday and it felt good to have it 100% done at least once a week. But that was when I was working or only had one baby. Now my house is a whole lot bigger and I've got three (four counting hubby) messmakers and I would drive myself crazy trying to keep it all clean. I try to do two projects each day and then utilize my Saturday mornings for some of the big stuff I didn't get done throughout the week. I don't know if there are many women who actually enjoy housework, so don't feel like you're the odd one out. :) My mom always put on her favorite CDs really loud and danced around the house while she cleaned. She's so awesome! And a fabulous housekeeper, so hard to live up to!
A favorite household chore? I don't think I like any of them! I do enjoy the euphoric feeling I get when the whole house is 100% clean- but it doesn't last very long. One thing that has helped me in my cleaning lately is something I read in Dr. Laura's book, "The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands," she pointed out that if we are the homemaker, we agreed to take on this role, and the housework is really our responsiblity- it helps me to have a better attitude about doing it. And it makes me appreciate Kevin's role more as well. I also recently read a book called "The House that Cleans Itself" and there were some great ideas- I need to live somewhere longer than 6 months before I feel like I can really benefit from them- but I'd recommend it. I especially like the idea of different "stations" and reminders that doing the dishes after dinner is much easier than doing it the next day- when everything is dried on. It was a quick read, and our library had it. But seriously, one day if you can afford it, I don't think there's anything wrong with having someone come and help you keep the house clean- I've worked for a lot of families that have had that help- I used to think they were lazy, but now I realize they needed the help to stay sane- and I can respect them for realizing they needed the extra help!
My favorite is washing the dishes - that always means Lance has fixed dinner.
My favorite is washing the dishes - that always means Lance has fixed dinner.
ugh. cleaning. the never-ending side of being a mom. laundry and dishes are on my top disliked list. mainly because they literally never. end.
i love sweeping, vacuuming and dusting the house. it makes everything shiny, sparkly, dust-free and clean-looking (if that's even a word.. ish)
good on you trying to be positive about it.
I hate clutter--I'm like a clutter freak. So I guess that's my favorite because I like the end result. Most chores I don't mind, except laundry. you can come do mine too! we'll trade! I got a lot of great advise from the fly Lady--I think she's online. One day it'd be nice to have a new house that was easier to clean. lately my boys seem to follow me around destroying everything I just cleaned. so frustrating. we're working on cleaning with Paul--but it's not going well. Any suggestions on that end? I also think there's nothing wrong with a housekeeper--especially when you have lots of little kids. I think it'd be great to have someone come in once a month or so and do my deep cleaning. Anyway, Dr. Laura helped changed my perspective too. I try to look at it as my job and somehow that makes it easier. I also like to have a schedule or reward myself with a treat or good book if i get all my chores done. hey, it works. i just wish it would stay done, but that's the nature of the job I guess. Good luck!
I definitely don't have a favorite.
Growing up, Saturdays were always our big cleaning day. This is what I have always done, until now, because by the time all of the chores are done there is no time for fun!
So, I have been doing just one chore daily and this helps a lot. For example, bathrooms get done on M and TH, Laundry on T and F, and Mopping and sweeping on W and S. Daily I make sure that the kitchen and bedrooms are clean.
This way, each chore gets deeply done twice a week, and Saturdays are much more open. Also, I don't care what time the chore gets done. So, if it gets done after the kids go to bed then Nate gets to help!
Anyway--that was quite the novel. Sorry!
When you and your brothers were little I kept the house up more to my liking. When I was growing up Saturday was the day the house had to be cleaned from top to bottom. So once I had my own home, Saturday was not the cleaning day. I washed the dishes on walls every day, vacuumed, dusted & cleaned the bathroom at least once a week. But the laundry always got the worsed of me. So I would say that my least favorite was the laundry because there was so much of it. Now I don't mind the laundry and never do all of the other things. Go figure.
Love you tons.
Mom
Flylady.net ... I totally love the set-up... I've yet to follow it the way I want to, but I use it as a great resource until I can get my butt in gear. The website has a lot of info on it, don't get overwhelmed... Look for something called Baby Steps to help you get started... You can also search "laundry" to find tips on how to stay on top of Mt. Washmore.
Great ideas everyone to read Dr. Laura's book... I have owned it for several years and yet to read it... Bad wife! :)
As far as Twilight goes, I am totally jealous of Heather! To be honest, I, myself, have been quite surprised by my obsession... it was completely unexpected. Okay, not completely...I've always had a soft spot for vampires, especially the kind that want to overcome what they are to be something better! Weird... I know! Plus, I just love a love story...
I love to vacuum, that is probably my favorite. I am also a laundray fan as well. I love the smell and feel of clean warm clothes and towels. I love clean kitchen counters too. Shiny with no crumbs on them - which is a rareity but when it happens it is wonderful!
I like cleaning bathrooms because it is easy to make them shine like new without too much elbow grease. Mopping floors is my least favorite and to be honest I'm not totally sure why. It might be because of the amount of prep involved. Keeping the house uncluttered is definitely a must in making it easier to clean.
Clean? What is that? Maybe I need to get Dr. Laura's book! And I totally like the hiring help idea! Do what it takes to survive. Scott told me about a former General Relief Society Pres who hired help when her kids were all young. So there you go! Love, JTM
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