Dear housewives,
The time has come. Frenzied cleaning purges, fits of temper and closet-space emergencies: all welcome here. Yes, there are moments in our lives when we are defined by our housework. Times when our husbands aren't home, and we are left to our own devices. If these walls could talk....
Coffee, anyone?
― j lol (surm), Saturday, 4 June 2011 18:59 (2 years ago) Permalink
i just got a new vacuum named Regina.
― j lol (surm), Saturday, 4 June 2011 20:30 (2 years ago) Permalink
well it's actually a new old vacuum. she's from like the 60s. but she works great!
― j lol (surm), Saturday, 4 June 2011 20:37 (2 years ago) Permalink
so much to do. not sure when i'm going to do it. i need a housework day.
― tehresa, Sunday, 5 June 2011 17:11 (2 years ago) Permalink
tbh i'm considering calling a cleaning service for a one-time super clean.
― tehresa, Sunday, 5 June 2011 17:12 (2 years ago) Permalink
omg ryan and i just made the same decision. i know, feels like such a cop. but we need to paint the bathroom and i think a super clean first would be beneficial.
― j lol (surm), Sunday, 5 June 2011 18:11 (2 years ago) Permalink
we got the house super cleaned for my mom on her birthday
― b.o.s.e. (banned ones still envy) (J0rdan S.), Sunday, 5 June 2011 18:12 (2 years ago) Permalink
that is a very awesome present
― j lol (surm), Sunday, 5 June 2011 18:27 (2 years ago) Permalink
i was just writing a friend an email because once when she was at my house, she said that my living room was nice, but that my bathroom and bedroom were "shitty." at the time i was angry, but i also made a laundry list of all the things i needed to do around the house, and i did them. so i just wrote her an email thanking her for her honesty. sometimes the truth hurts.
― j lol (surm), Sunday, 5 June 2011 18:28 (2 years ago) Permalink
Yeah I think a one time super clean could take a bit of stress out of my relationship!
― tehresa, Monday, 6 June 2011 01:50 (2 years ago) Permalink
Maybe I am weak for not summoning the energy to 'do it all' or maybe I am just an empowered woman for saying, 'hey, I don't have to do this if I don't want to!!'
― tehresa, Monday, 6 June 2011 01:51 (2 years ago) Permalink
honey, there's really only so much we can do in a day
― j lol (surm), Monday, 6 June 2011 02:23 (2 years ago) Permalink
i spent an entire day cleaning our house before we went on vacation, and within two days of getting back, the whole place looks like a bomb site :/
― just1n3, Monday, 6 June 2011 02:27 (2 years ago) Permalink
i can think of many an ardent housekeeper i could never love as well as i love thee, justin3.
― estela, Monday, 6 June 2011 02:31 (2 years ago) Permalink
my house is also currently dreadful.
Why do people never clean their kitchen cupboards why why why. How can they stand that the layers of grease make the doors actually STICK to their fingers? I'm dreading all the work of cleaning yet another person's kitchen so I can not feel kind of gross about using it, and I just wonder whyyyyyy.
― Back up the lesbian canoe (Laurel), Monday, 6 June 2011 02:33 (2 years ago) Permalink
Also I washed the floors of my new place today and whoever mopped/swept left kitty litter scattered around part of the living room. Maybe this hiring a cleaning person idea would give me some breathing room while I put normal life back together?
― Back up the lesbian canoe (Laurel), Monday, 6 June 2011 02:35 (2 years ago) Permalink
i think sometimes people go to clean their kitchen cupboards but just as they are about to start they realise it's going to be a very boring way to spend the next hour or so and so they do something else instead.
― estela, Monday, 6 June 2011 02:38 (2 years ago) Permalink
i remember when i realized i had to clean the outside of my kitchen cupboards. it was a real lightbulb moment.
― j lol (surm), Monday, 6 June 2011 02:40 (2 years ago) Permalink
It's not that it's fun, it's that the stickiness and grease nag me and take the enjoyment out of other things until I do it. I know it's only going to get that way again, but I have a compulsion to at least START OUT clean.
― Back up the lesbian canoe (Laurel), Monday, 6 June 2011 02:43 (2 years ago) Permalink
yes, i always have to start out clean in a new place because other people's layers of grease is completely gross, but i do have some tolerance of my own. only up to a point though. my main housekeeping problem is clutter, books and papers.
― estela, Monday, 6 June 2011 02:49 (2 years ago) Permalink
the thing about moving into our current place was that it was completely, spotlessly clean - that lasted all of a couple weeks.
i would really like to hire someone to clean my bathroom and the kitchen floor.
― just1n3, Monday, 6 June 2011 03:06 (2 years ago) Permalink
I think even once a year would be FINE for cupboards! I'm hoping ammonia will be enough to do the trick, because I bought a large bottle of it today.
estela, I do know a trick for the books that always (always) pile up, that might help: I just don't consider them clutter. Once your eyes adjust, you'll be amazed how much better the room looks!
― Back up the lesbian canoe (Laurel), Monday, 6 June 2011 03:07 (2 years ago) Permalink
i've noticed that when writers and academics get interviewed in their own studies, many of them have loony piles of books and jutting papers and folders in apparently uncategorised stacks on their desks and floors so the room looks sort of tidy, but you can tell the stacks were hastily formed that morning before the interview, and that now they won't be able to find anything they need for weeks.
― estela, Monday, 6 June 2011 03:17 (2 years ago) Permalink
I once briefly worked for an editor whose motto was "piles, not files." I hated him for it.
― Back up the lesbian canoe (Laurel), Monday, 6 June 2011 03:18 (2 years ago) Permalink
that's a sorry looking bunch of commas up there. xp
― estela, Monday, 6 June 2011 03:19 (2 years ago) Permalink
Mostly because he wanted me to sit with him and hold up one piece of paper at a time, describe it to him, and note where he said it should go...and then amass piles relating to certain projects and keep them straight and separate. It was the whole "holding up sheets of his own correspondence and reading lines off to him until he recognized it" that killed me.
― Back up the lesbian canoe (Laurel), Monday, 6 June 2011 03:21 (2 years ago) Permalink
i would hate him too.
― estela, Monday, 6 June 2011 03:22 (2 years ago) Permalink
i'm moving in about a month and a half. i need to go on a mad cleaning spree so we can get all or most of our security deposit back!
― are you are missing whiney (get bent), Monday, 6 June 2011 03:24 (2 years ago) Permalink
I am a terrible housecleaner because (1) I hate cleaning and (2) I just don't know how to do it on a regular basis, I only only do it when it gets so gross that I can't stand it anymore and cleaning is somewhat satisfying because it looks visibly different. I totally hate cleaning. I don't even really know how to do it right tbh.
― Garyln (La Lechera), Monday, 6 June 2011 03:27 (2 years ago) Permalink
i clean the kitchen more than any other room, because i cook a lot and food bits end up on the counter, the floor, the stove, etc. my fear of bugs and varmints outweighs my dislike of cleaning.
― are you are missing whiney (get bent), Monday, 6 June 2011 03:31 (2 years ago) Permalink
Oh, that's when I do it, too, A. I'm not one of those people who dusts weekly or something, heaven forfend. I wash the floors when I can't stand the amount of sand/hair/schmutz sticking to my feet, I do laundry when I've handwashed all my bras at least twice already, and I wash out the fridge when...it looks like the fridge I'm going to be sharing as of tomorrow.
Also I'm with JBR about the fear of bugs.
o_O
― Back up the lesbian canoe (Laurel), Monday, 6 June 2011 03:33 (2 years ago) Permalink
Don't get me wrong -- I also cook a lot and I do regularly clean the kitchen. My threshold for not being able to stand it is fairly low in the kitchen. In the other rooms, not as much.
― Garyln (La Lechera), Monday, 6 June 2011 03:33 (2 years ago) Permalink
same, where i live is sub-tropical so i don't dare leave food and dirty dishes lying around, there would be bugs everywhere.
― estela, Monday, 6 June 2011 03:33 (2 years ago) Permalink
I secretly LOVE to leave dirty dishes in the sink, that's my chosen decadence: cooking and eating and saying "Fuck it, those plates will still be there in the morning and I'm okay with that."
― Back up the lesbian canoe (Laurel), Monday, 6 June 2011 03:37 (2 years ago) Permalink
another thing is i cannot stand to have my bare feet on a sticky or crumby floor, feeling things sticking to my feet sends me through the roof, so i tend to keep the floors very clean as well.
― estela, Monday, 6 June 2011 03:38 (2 years ago) Permalink
Yes, that's what I meant about what forces me to clean, any schmutz being tracked around on my feet. Also I'm anti-mop. It's a rag and a bucket and accept no substitutes.
I guess one of those squeegee mops would be fine for the middle of large open floors, but for the edges and the baseboards and the kick-plates under the counter, you're not going to get the debris except by hand.
― Back up the lesbian canoe (Laurel), Monday, 6 June 2011 03:41 (2 years ago) Permalink
I look forward to having fewer opinions about cleaning when I can relegate it to the 37th place spot in my life that it deserves. Between one thing and another I've been cleaning in hyper-mode for over a year, and I'll be happy to put that behind me.
― Back up the lesbian canoe (Laurel), Monday, 6 June 2011 03:43 (2 years ago) Permalink
i finally just got a dustbuster for the first time in years. i really don't know what i was doing without one.
― j lol (surm), Monday, 6 June 2011 03:45 (2 years ago) Permalink
i'm fairly neat, i think (though things might not always be in their proper places, they at least have proper places). but i find that kitty's ability to make things furry outstrips my motivation to clean.
― mookieproof, Monday, 6 June 2011 03:47 (2 years ago) Permalink
Someone Lauren and ian and I know threw up her hands and had both her cats shaved about 3 mos ago. They looked funny for a while but it kept cat hair at bay.
― Back up the lesbian canoe (Laurel), Monday, 6 June 2011 03:49 (2 years ago) Permalink
my dog never sheds hair, i'm so glad.
― estela, Monday, 6 June 2011 03:52 (2 years ago) Permalink
lucky. i buy a ton of those lint roller things.
― j lol (surm), Monday, 6 June 2011 03:54 (2 years ago) Permalink
(and they are not very cheap. i just discovered they sell refills for cheaper)
― j lol (surm), Monday, 6 June 2011 03:55 (2 years ago) Permalink
it's actually not as bad as i would have anticipated (or i'm less militant/more lazy about it). but there are some things like throw blankets or shirts of a certain fabric that just cannot be de-furred.
it's a good thing he's so fucking cute
― mookieproof, Monday, 6 June 2011 04:04 (2 years ago) Permalink
<3 he certainly is.
― estela, Monday, 6 June 2011 04:13 (2 years ago) Permalink
ha - we don't have a problem with pet hair; we have a problem with MY hair! i recently complained to ytth that our vacuum was a useless piece of shit, so he sat done for half an hour and removed the equivalent of a decent head's worth of hair from the little bristle things. it made a difference!
― just1n3, Monday, 6 June 2011 04:31 (2 years ago) Permalink
Hair wrapped around the axles will strain those little rubber belts that run the beaters until they burn out and snap. I remember the smell of burning hair and rubber quite well from my childhood spend using one of several vintage vacuums that my dad could always repair.
― Back up the lesbian canoe (Laurel), Monday, 6 June 2011 04:34 (2 years ago) Permalink
i actually hate clutter even more than i hate dirtiness. dealing with dirt is straightforward, if somewhat time-consuming and back-breaking, but clutter drives me crazy. finding places for things, sorting through and figuring out what to dump... ugh. and i just hate piles of stuff. it makes feel irrationally stressed out. when i moved to the US i was sad to let go of so many of my possessions, but goddamn it was freeing to only own 2 suitcases of stuff, instead of an entire household.
― just1n3, Monday, 6 June 2011 04:39 (2 years ago) Permalink
and laurel: i'm totally with you re mops. what is even the point of them, unless you use them literally every day, before the grime can get trampled into the floor.
― just1n3, Monday, 6 June 2011 04:40 (2 years ago) Permalink
would steel wool scratch? i have scouring pads
― the bagel is the bagel (donna rouge), Wednesday, 10 April 2013 02:13 (2 months ago) Permalink
steel wool dude, it won't harm any. scouring pads would work too but less effectively. maybe a little baking soda
― surm, Thursday, 11 April 2013 15:22 (2 months ago) Permalink
Or Bon Ami maybe.
We have a porcelain kitchen sink that the gloss has worn off from, and food stains had kind of taken it over. I've scrubbed it with hot water and dish soap many times, and I reassured myself that I knew it was clean, it was just that color permanently.
My mom took one look at it and got out the bathroom bleach cleanser and my sink is now rawther blindingly white.
― lets just remember to blame the patriarchy for (in orbit), Thursday, 11 April 2013 15:25 (2 months ago) Permalink
Another food stains remover for mugs and porcelain sinks: denture cleaner. But my summer of bussing dishes have given me a love of bleach.
― karl lagerlout (suzy), Thursday, 11 April 2013 15:44 (2 months ago) Permalink
bleach is some intense shit
― surm, Tuesday, 16 April 2013 23:04 (2 months ago) Permalink
Full-on scrubbing the kitchen floor today armed with a brush, pile of microfiber rags, basins of water, cucumber smelling cleaner. It's completely filthy and now I've started I can't not finish. Ugh.
― Jaq, Sunday, 28 April 2013 21:22 (1 month ago) Permalink
This thread always makes me feel like such a Filth Wizard.
― It is like ganging up on Enya (Trayce), Monday, 29 April 2013 04:57 (1 month ago) Permalink
u should get a roomba trayce. they are quite amazing
― owner of a bonely part (electricsound), Monday, 29 April 2013 07:07 (1 month ago) Permalink
Nothin' would save the carpet at mine. It needs a major steam clean. Also how do you shot stairs w/roombas?
― It is like ganging up on Enya (Trayce), Monday, 29 April 2013 07:17 (1 month ago) Permalink
well stairs are a conundrum
― six times? (electricsound), Monday, 29 April 2013 07:18 (1 month ago) Permalink
The day will never come when my house is clean. But there are days now and then when it is noticeably cleaner than when I woke up. This contents me. Attempting the impossible just leaves me disgruntled.
― Aimless, Monday, 29 April 2013 17:58 (1 month ago) Permalink
I would take a picture of the contrast between the cleaned and uncleaned section of the floor, but I am seriously mortified and scandalized by how totally filthy it got without me really noticing.
― Jaq, Monday, 29 April 2013 18:44 (1 month ago) Permalink
I am suspicious of people with spotless kitchens. I suspect they do not cook, ever.
Some yuck on the floor of a kitchen a) never hurt anyone and b) is merely the aftereffect of deliciousness.
― quincie, Monday, 29 April 2013 18:48 (1 month ago) Permalink
That said, I was a bit of a desperate housewife today: took out the three (small) area rugs to beat/air/vacuum, got the sand out of the bed (sand in bed is awful! Awful!), swept floors a little bit, cleaned the stainless appliances (all the while making the spouse promise me we would never, ever put stainless in our own home), watered some plants, topped off the pool, folded laundry. Need to do some serious Windexing, but am taking a pina colada break.
― quincie, Monday, 29 April 2013 18:52 (1 month ago) Permalink
damn that sounds amazing
my new bathroom secret is disinfectant wipes
i'm late to the party i'm sure
― surm, Monday, 29 April 2013 18:54 (1 month ago) Permalink
i tried for years to get our horrible vinyl floor in our kitchen clean & shiny. eventually I accepted it's inherent grunginess. it's clean, and that's about as much as I can do. horrible stuff. vinyl flooring is the worst. i have never hated a floor more than my kitchen floor.
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 29 April 2013 18:59 (1 month ago) Permalink
Dumb question but is vinyl the same as linoleum, or are these different beasts?
― quincie, Monday, 29 April 2013 19:03 (1 month ago) Permalink
They're different compositions, and I think linoleum might actually be a trademarked name? Vinyl is like...kind of...a tiny bit spongy. Barely perceptibly, but it doesn't have that hard glossy surface unless it's been waxed and waxed...linoleum may have been created to mimic waxed vinyl floors?
― lets just remember to blame the patriarchy for (in orbit), Monday, 29 April 2013 19:06 (1 month ago) Permalink
When we win the lottery (that we don't yet play, hmm) and redo our kitchen, I'm pretty damn sure that I'm going to go with prefinished hardwood. Stuff wears like iron and doesn't have the GROUT DOWNFALL, which I loathe with my current tile floors and OMG TWO INCH TILE COUNTERTOPS. Tile countertops! What were they thinking?
Silestoe or Zodiac composite will be my choice for countertops, as I dislike working on marble and granite. Subway tile with BLACK grout for backslash!
― quincie, Monday, 29 April 2013 19:18 (1 month ago) Permalink
um backsplash, not backslash
― quincie, Monday, 29 April 2013 19:19 (1 month ago) Permalink
Linoleum is older than vinyl - it's made from linseed oil and a bunch of other stuff. The lino in our kitchen is the original - laid down in 1940! Still has structural integrity but will never be shiny.
― Jaq, Monday, 29 April 2013 19:20 (1 month ago) Permalink
Hell yes
We have light-colored textured vinyl or lino or whatever, so the dirt can't just be wiped with a mop, it has to be scrubbed, and because I cook a lot and am not tidy, it looks dirty within half a day of cleaning
― just1n3, Monday, 29 April 2013 19:21 (1 month ago) Permalink
Did I mention that the two inch tiles on my countertop are dark blue and the grout is white? I mean that would be hell as just a blacksplash, but as the actual countertop all I can do is smdh.
― quincie, Monday, 29 April 2013 19:22 (1 month ago) Permalink
Also, Regina is a v. good name for a vacuum!
Surm, I use disinfectant wipes in the bathroom as well
― ljubljana, Monday, 29 April 2013 19:33 (1 month ago) Permalink
Hmm, that sounds... anyway, on BATHROOM SURFACES
linoleum is natural, vinyl is synthetic. some vinyl flooring is ok, but our vinyl floor is cheap as shit - has a 'no wax' sheen to it that just makes it look hella dirty all the time.
xpost ugh quincie that sounds like my kitchen. pale grey 1/4 inch grout and blue square tile. it's impossible to keep it clean, I have to basically bleach it every couple of months.
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 29 April 2013 19:59 (1 month ago) Permalink
omg I never understood the tiled countertops in the US.Ha, ljub, my dad used those wipes thinking they were MOIST WIPES
― kinder, Monday, 29 April 2013 20:35 (1 month ago) Permalink
O_O
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 29 April 2013 20:37 (1 month ago) Permalink
And then told you, and potentially others?!
― ljubljana, Monday, 29 April 2013 22:51 (1 month ago) Permalink
My mum told me with much glee... She was probably the one who noticed all the Flash wipes were disappearing!
― kinder, Tuesday, 30 April 2013 07:05 (1 month ago) Permalink
i was just talking to a friend about how sometimes if u want to clean a kitchen you just have to get a new one o_O
― surm, Tuesday, 30 April 2013 15:12 (1 month ago) Permalink
^^^ might be one reason why I've moved so often...
― Jaq, Tuesday, 30 April 2013 16:49 (1 month ago) Permalink
i might move into a new place this summer with a recently renovated galley kitchen
kind of flippin out about it
― surm, Sunday, 5 May 2013 15:20 (1 month ago) Permalink
! exciting!
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 5 May 2013 15:27 (1 month ago) Permalink
:-) i think the counter is actually a material and not plastic
― surm, Sunday, 5 May 2013 15:29 (1 month ago) Permalink
ooh.
i dream about concrete or soapstone countertops.
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 5 May 2013 15:32 (1 month ago) Permalink
omg. i saw a soapstone countertop recently. it was insane. deep green with white streaks.
― surm, Sunday, 5 May 2013 15:41 (1 month ago) Permalink
for me, it would just be nice to be able to put something down without having to move something else
― los blue jeans, Sunday, 5 May 2013 15:45 (1 month ago) Permalink
yeah soapstone is gorgeous. realistically it's probably not meant for a kitchen-godzilla/clutz like me, since it's soft and I'm sure I would ding the hell out of them over time.
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 5 May 2013 18:42 (1 month ago) Permalink
ditto
― surm, Monday, 6 May 2013 00:37 (1 month ago) Permalink
maybe something in safety-yellow industrial rubber, lol
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 6 May 2013 00:40 (1 month ago) Permalink
i am definitely the glass-breaker of the household
― surm, Monday, 6 May 2013 00:42 (1 month ago) Permalink
yep me too
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 6 May 2013 00:48 (1 month ago) Permalink
Yeah thats one prob with hard counters like stone or marble. Say hello to the breaking of everything you own! (I had a ceramic sink, once. Ugh)
― It is like ganging up on Enya (Trayce), Monday, 6 May 2013 01:03 (1 month ago) Permalink
i love marble. we have this one strip of marble at the entrance of our bathroom, on the floor. seems to be some kind of a brooklyn apartment feature that i've noticed in other places as well. you get a room for $1500, but you get a strip of marble.
― surm, Monday, 6 May 2013 01:19 (1 month ago) Permalink
This is why the counter of my dreams is Silestone of Zodiac. Stainless and butcher block are great to work on, too, but too difficult to maintain (well stainless easy to maintain, but will look like shit all the time).
My experience with concrete, marble, and granite have been TOO HARD.
Also: in three weeks in a furnished rental, I have broken three wine glasses, one wine bottle (red, of course), and a large serving platter (owner's, not mine). Given that we are supposed to be here for at least three more months, the body count is not looking good for our security deposit.
― quincie, Monday, 6 May 2013 01:23 (1 month ago) Permalink
uhh the fact that there is even anything called Silestone of Zodiac kind of just made my night
― surm, Monday, 6 May 2013 03:05 (1 month ago) Permalink
well technically that should read Silestone *or* Zodiac, but I'm with you on this one!
― quincie, Monday, 6 May 2013 15:03 (1 month ago) Permalink
haha :>)
― surm, Monday, 6 May 2013 15:40 (1 month ago) Permalink