As I was cleaning last night I had Tradding Spouses on, and the one mother really anoyed me. First she complained that they were sending her to Chatanooga, TN, then IMO she nit-picked about her new family's house. To me her new family's house wasn't that dirty, although i will admit the ants, flies and dog poo did gross me out (that was until I found out the poor little dog couldn't help it, as he needrd some sort of surgery) Their new wife/mom kept saying how clean and organized her house was (I think she said or it was mentioned that whenever she has company she makes everyone remove their shoes in her home) Granted, I live in a 2 bedroom apartmernt and there is only me (and my boyfriend on weekends) it is clean, I have been told it has a "cozy" feel to it. I have a friend who when you go to her house and it is so cluttered (she lives alone, so I don't understand how/why it is that way, but everyone has a right to keep their home how they are comfortable) Another thing they showed this woman when she returned to her house, she was talking to her husband and made a comment like "I'm back, this is my house and my rules" Are there really women out there like her who feel that they can rule their house? I don't think I could ever be that bossy, however I did make one rule.. my soon to be in-laws are never to return to my house

So how clean is your house and who makes the rules?

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~~~~**Maryann**~~~~

I just got a firm grip on reality....
Now I can strangle it

Our home is lived in and the animals make the rules.

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Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass
It's about learning to dance in the rain.

Our house is very lived in. We do keep it swept, moped, vacummed, etc...but we do clean a little more when people are coming over. When school starts, it will get a little more organized.

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Our home is immaculate. After katrina hit and we remodeled. I just love it. So its nice to keep it clean and orderly.

My home at the current moment is a MESS. We are remodeling and I have plastic between the upstairs and downstairs and the first floor has no furniture to sit on. I have to clean the countertops and stove top daily whether we used them or not because of all of the construction dust. My upstairs is suffering too because I don't want to clean the carpets until after the drywallers come. So, my house is currently a huge mess but I plan to keep it pretty tidy once renovations are complete. Most of the items removed from the house to our storage pods will not come back into the house which should make it easier to keep clean. The older I get the more simple I want things. If it doesn't serve a current purpose then throw it out .....animals and people excluded

Biobrain, I'm the same way. If it's not "doing" something then I don't need it. All the little nik naks, they are gone. I don't have the time or patience to dust them.

Our home is usually clean. But there's a reason it stays clean. I came up with a rule at the first of summer that for the kids to have friends over the house has to be spic and span. The main reason the rule was made was because all the kids that hang out here the house was ending up in a HUGE mess every night. Pop cans, video games... that kind of stuff thrown here and there.

I dust daily, because it's a pet peave of mine to see dust. I have no choice but to sweep daily thanks to 3 wonderful dogs.

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My house can go from really clean to a big giant mess in no time. My kids are 2 and 6. Some days I just follow the 2y.o. around and clean up his messes. It's usually pretty lived in looking. Sometimes I'd be mortified if someone dropped by. I think the trick to keeping it clean is to keep inviting people over. It is never immaculate.

I guess I make more of the cleaning/house rules but we equally share behavior rules and how they will be followed. I am home and I am the one keeping the house clean so I feel it should be to my standard (which is lower than DH's). My house would not pass the white glove test by any means. It's clean. We do not have bugs, ants, flies or anything of the like in the house (unless they come in thru an open door or window). I have my kids pick up their toys/stuff when they are done playing/using it and put it away. I don't like my living area littered with kids stuff (when they were toddlers it wad different though). We have a comfy house...lived in. I do not make my bed every day. In fact, I only make my bed when someone else is coming over and will see it. I have the kids keep stuff up off their floors so it can be vacuumed but it's their space and they need to be comfortable in there so I am not making them keep it super tidy.

I feel I am organized. Not as much as most but I know where my stuff is. I hate clutter so we don't keep what we do not need which helps with organizing. I can invite people in without having to "apologize for the mess" but hopefully they aren't tall because what I can't reach doesn't get dusted LOL. I spend roughly 15 min a day cleaning my house tops. My kids are in charge of their rooms and their bathroom (I clean the mirror because it's hard for them) and DS gets paid $1 to clean the guest bathroom. I don't have a system. I clean areas when they need to be cleaned.

I remember watching a Wife Swap episode once where the wife cleaned like 5 hours each day. Cleaning stuff that was already clean...like my MIL. My house is probably filthy to her but it's fine for us. My kids aren't as sick as some of the "clean freaks" I know. Their kids are sick all the time and I wonder if it has to do with their body not knowing how to fight off germs because their houses are so clean and full of chemicals???

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Well, I don't have "stuff", so that makes it easy. I give everything away and I don't keep anything I don't use. We have no knick knacks, I don't "collect "anything. The messiest room right now is the playroom, but as soon as the kids are in school all day that is getting an overhaul.

Before kids I was almost OCD about being clean, but kids sort of throw a wrench in that. My kids clean more than most kids I know, just because when the house isn't clean, I feel overwhelmed and I just can't take it! I am still obsessive about washing hands, but I don't mind that.

But my 12 year old car is DISGUSTING, go figure!


ETA my house is more neat than actually clean, the dust is an inch thick as my grandma would say.

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"A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked." ~ Bernard Meltzer

My home is clean but messy. We do live here afterall. Everyone who lives in this house is responsible for cleaning it. I don't get paid for doing it so none of my kids did either. If it needs vacuuming then you better vacuum.Organization is my best friend, I have labels in my fridge for what goes on each shelf. Nothing is on my kitchen counters, nothing. Closets all have the same type of hangers and clothing is hung by item (shirts, long sleeve and then short, pants, skirts etc.)There are 2 things that I consider non-negotiables, beds are made as soon as you get up and no dishes the sink at bedtime. I hate waking up to dirty dishes and by making the bed immediately I remove temptation for going back for a snooze.

Right now my house is a total disaster inside and out. It gets this way every summer, but this time is the worst. My son is home all day while I am work, and when I get home I am too stressed to deal with it. So it continues to pile up. He is 17 - it's not like he couldn't pick it up. It's just not worth fighting over to me. He knows he can't have any friends over unless the house is clean so I figure it is his loss to some extent. I can't wait for him to go back to school so I can clean the house. And next year when he goes to college I can clean it and have it STAY clean!!

PRDNME you took my answer. I always say my house is clean but messy!!! I clean very often...vacuum every other day or so, dustbust daily, clean bathrooms and kitchen daily-NO dishes in the sink ever, if they are dirty they belong in the dishwasher, if they are clean they belong in the cabinets! No shoes in the house unless you are company AND have clean feet.LOL Sons friends know to take off their shoes at the door. I have no problem with my teenage son having a messy room but there better not be food or dust in there with the mess. The shoes hang out on the rug near the back door, the beds are not always made, the Wii is out in the livingroom(we use it several times a day), and I do have some stuff on the counter but everything is CLEAN!!

I am anal. Everything in my house: drawers, cupboards, closets, shelves are all organized within an inch of their lives. My house is clean and neat except the floors which are a bit dusty as we live in the country and there is no paving. I have a dog, cat, and husband who doesn't like to take his shoes off.

When company comes it's different. I was taught you are gracious and hospitable when you have company. I come from a big Italian family we treat guests as royalty.

I feel chaotic when things are messy and/or dirty. I can only relax when things are in place. I get up early every day it's just my body clock. My house is clean and I have more done before most people get out of bed.

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Well our home is very clean and organized its the way we like to live our lives, however its a very much lived in house, it has to be I have 2 teenagers 16 and almost 20 and 3 dogs 4 cats, ferret and rabbit. in addition to that there are always and I mean always many teenagers here friends of my kids. However we live in a very big house 3 levels a center hall colonial. The way we give it clean is the dogs have the kitchen, laundry room and huge den and the whole basement. We do not allow the dogs upstairs too much hair. At this point we have we also have a few rooms like our formal dining room and library and formal living room which are truly for company and show off . We truly do not use those rooms too much. We fixed the whole basement and the kids go stay down there , they have the den the huge kitchen and the florida room. Also we have a huge rule, no shoes allowed, they truly helps with so much cleaning, We like the teenagers to enter into the mud room and leave there stuff there, also no smoking so thats a big issue with us and that also helps. When you have teenagers and so many animals you never say you have a spotless home. Peace . catherine

Reasonably clean, but typically messy. We can go from clean and organized on cleaning lady day to papers and crap everywhere in about 24 hours.

cj/

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I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

Very lived in...Daniel has autism and well, he reminds you of the pigpen character on peanuts..lol..not that he is dirty but he seems to leave a wake of crumbs etc. behind him where ever he goes..there are 3 of us living here at all times, plus 2 girls who work with the boys everyday..and David does niteshift..so at any given time in that 24 hours someone is up and awake. And we have junk..sigh...and I collect above all things books, so there are piles of them everywhere plus on the bookshelves...
But on the bright side I am far from having the health dept condem my house..lol..
I know what you mean about the women who *rule* the house...Mama used to tell me about women who made their husbands come in thru the basement and take a shower and change clothes before they let them in the main house..WTF??? I can see me doing that one now...lol..he makes the house payment..also was this club of women in our town who got up and cleaned their homes everyday within a inch and then stayed out of the house all day long so it wouldn't get messed up...and I remember the kids who were kicked out of the house every morning and not allowed back in until dinner because they would mess up their moms house..
Now it would be called neglect, I just thought it was sad.

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"Cast upon this globe without physical strength or innate ideas, incapable in himself of obeying fundamental laws of this nature which call him to the supreme place in the universe, it is only in the heart of society that man can attain the pre-eminent position which is his natural destiny. Without the aide of civilization he would be one of the feeblest and least intelligent of animals.."
Jean-Marc-Gaspard Itard

Our house is lived in. Not too clean, not too dirty, not too neat, not too messy.

We had a neighbor when I was growing up who never cooked because she didn't want to mess up her kitchen. The family ate every meal out. She didn't even make coffee in her house. She'd go to the local coffee shop instead.

I have an old,ugly house that falls apart when you try to clean it.I keep a few things clean it.Mostly the kitchen and bathroom but as far as the rest of the shack goes ,the most it gets is vaccuumed,dusted and windows cleaned.It took me about 4 hours the other day to clean my dining room blinds and I don't even want to think about tackling the 3 blinds in the living room.Before we moved in this place it looked like it hadn't been cleaned in 50 years.I will forever hate this house and lately it seems to be possessed with my bfs voice.

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Thats how my mother was. It didn't bother me though because I could do and go anywhere I wanted as long as I was home for dinner.

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Do you have mini blinds by chance? If you do, this might help. I used to take the mini blinds down and hang them on the outside clothes line and spray them down with a cheap cleaner and then hose them off. Also works in the bathtub too. I've got those suction cup things you can get with the hooks on them and just hang the blinds on those in the bathtub.


The family that used to live across the street from me when I was little was like this, lol. She would make them sandwiches and throw a bag of chips out to them to eat so they wouldn't get the house messy.

These blinds seem to be permanently attached to the window somehow.I once tried to take them down and they started falling appart,lol.

Yep,my mom use to throw us out sandwiches too,LOL.

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