Domestic cleaning

Get A Cleaner!

Another Role to Fill I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that modern life wants us to be all things to all people. There’s so much to do – I shan’t list because you know what you have to do each day, and I’ll bet it’s a lot.

In order to make sure I do everything I have to do I force myself to stick to my routine, but it’s dull, dull, dull. As I’m sure is yours.

As a work-at-home mum I don’t ‘need’ a cleaner, but what I’d give to be able to not have to think about what tiresome cleaning job I have to do each day. And I actually enjoy cleaning!

Grubby Attack

How annoying is it when you realise that, although all your maintenance cleaning has kept your home looking clean enough on the surface, all the bits you don’t do on your daily wipe around start to make themselves known: cobwebs in the corners and draping themselves around the light-fittings; grubby finger-marks on the light switches and door handles, and the oven, oh goodness the oven.

Lists Ad Infinitum

I’m one of those list-makers, so my way around these grubby attacks is to create a list. Every day I give the toilet and the bathroom five minutes’ attention with a anti-bacterial wipe, the shower fittings get a squirt of my vinegar/lime/soap and water solution, which brings them up perfectly, Imake the beds and do the dishwasher. Every morning, without fail.

Each day of the week then has an extra small task: wipe the handles and light-switches; clean the windows/mirrors and stainless steel things (all with the same glass cleaner and kitchen roll); dust; part-change the fish-tank water … you get the idea. Something small and easily achievable but useful in the long-run.

Each month I have a bigger job to do: clean out the cupboards in one of the rooms; take all the books off the bookcase, dust them and the shelves and return them; clear out the kids’ room and pass on any toys we don’t need any more. Those big jobs are likely to take a few hours, but when they’re done it feels wonderful.

Waste of Time?

Crikey, now I sit down and think about it I can’t believe how much cleaning I do. I wonder how much of my day is devoted to keeping our little space in the world pleasant to live in. What could I achieve in a day if I didn’t have to clean? I might even be able to get forty minutes’ yoga or pilates in in the morning. A run. Read a book. I could do all those things that people who go out to work think ‘we stay-at-homes’ do with our day!

Hats Off

Not ironing saves an awful lot of time. My husband doesn’t need to have to look dapper for his job in IT (he’s one of the ones that that Microsoft advert said were snowboarding!), so there really is little need for our iron to make a regular appearance. To those who need to iron as well as the rest of the running of a home I take my hat off to you.

My hat is also tipped to families with two parents that go out to work, and to anyone who has to run a home without being ‘home all day’. Honestly, why bother adding ‘cleaner’ to your repertoire of jobs to fill? There are so many excellent cleaners who would do a better job at it as well. I can’t see anything but benefits: more time for family and friends, cleaner home and all the niggly grubby attacks a thing of the past. Now it’s just a matter of convincing my wallet… sorry, husband.