Is the US love affair with housework over?

[joe_in_philly]

Do you follow a cleaning schedule, or just clean as needed? Generally, we clean the kitchen and bathrooms each week, and dust and vacuum regularly, but don't really have a set schedule for cleaning other things.

Sales of domestic cleaning products in the US have been falling for four years. So are Americans becoming less keen on sparkling homes?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14908756

 

[hunter]

I suspect more...

Household cleaning products are, for the most part, hideously expensive. They don't save time, they often stink of awful perfume, and ammonia and water does better in many instances.

I suspect people simply have no money so they are doing stuff on the cheap.

 

[mixfinder]

I never Clean

I never clean, I just keep it that way.  Its much easier to wipe spots spills, tackle dust or lint and do the laundry when there's a load so the project never becomes an ordeal.

 

[vintagekitchen]

Not a Chance...

In my lil house, I still follow a regular cleaning schedule. Laundry is Wednesday, Ironing is Thursday. Dusting and polishing is every other Saturday, same as floor buffing. Tub is wiped down after each bath, scrubbed with old dutch every Friday, along with all the other sinks and basins. Mirrors and glass surfaces are cleaned every Friday. Rugs are vacuumed daily. Porch is swept daily, dishes are done daily.

Floors are dustmopped daily, mopped every saturday, buffed every other saturday, stripped and waxed every spring and fall. Walls are washed down every spring and fall. Oven is cleaned every spring and fall, spot cleaned in between. Windows are washed inside and out every spring and fall. Curtains are changed every spring and fall, and taken down and washed halfway through each season.

I may be the only person who still does fall and spring cleaning, lol..

I think most people just cant afford to spend as much as they used to on high priced cleansers and gadgets, most of which are no more effective than regular, cheaper methods.

 

[westingman123]

"I may be the only person who still does fall and spring cleaning"

Nope.

Although I get strange looks from friends when I mention it. I wash windows as a part of spring/fall cleaning--and I've noticed the neighbors NEVER seem to wash theirs. I've wondered about that for some time now. When I was growing up, it seemed all the ladies on the block did their windows about the same time.

I love that "fresh" look after the seasonal treatments change. It's like a new home all over again.

 

[whirlcool]

We don't have a schedule, we just clean when it needs it. When the tv screen is covered in dust the whole house gets dusted, when you can see the dog hair on the floor, the house gets vacuumed, etc. We both work on it as a team since I have been retired and it doesn't take long at all.

 

[bugsyjones]

Although it is my goal to keep the house looking showroom, unfortunately, my work schedule is so variable that I have to fit in cleaning when I can. Whether that be 11 am or 11 pm.

I never let the house get messy though. I just don't do the scheduling thing.

Living in the country, dust gets in every way it can. I have to dust furniture quite often because of it. I clean the inside of the windows occasionally, but never the outside. I keep the blinds drawn 90% of the time anyway.

Tim J.

 

[arbilab]

My habits have varied widely over the years. Always kept the kitchen clean, that's where it matters. Don't want the shower tub sticking to your feet either. But from 1964 when I moved out of parent's house I didn't even own a vacuum until 1984.

From then until 2007 when I lost my house, I did it religiously every week. In this box (apartment) I lost my pride. Still do the kitchen, brush the toilet when it shows a ring, but the rugs and baseboards are a mess. I quit vacuuming when it got too hot to open the windows in late spring. They REALLY need it, but it's STILL too hot and I don't want the house/box filled with vacuum breath I can't exhaust.

Maybe next month. Same thing happens in the depth of winter. So I'm only 'CLEAN' clean 4 months a year. Loathesome, but nobody knows but me. And you. You won't tell anyone, will you?

 

[lordkenmore]

Another possible reason for cleaning supply sale's decline is how busy people are. Many people are having to work longer and harder than they did 5 years ago. Companies downsize, but expect the same volume of work to be done, so a person may end up doing his or her job, and half the job of someone who was downsized. Some people are taking second jobs just to survive. At some point, the time and energy drain is too much, and something has to go. Housework is probably high on the list of things to go.

 

[lordkenmore]

My own cleaning habits have always been pretty much as seldom as I can get away with. I have mixed feelings. A part of me likes the idea of having a nice, orderly place to live--whether it's a mansion, a cottage, an apartment, or a rusty Ford Pinto on blocks. But I have never had much luck keeping up with a cleaning program. Laundry is about the only cleaning task I really enjoy. (Surprise!)

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Laundry & Dishes! Dishes & Laundry!

--The only two chores I enjoy--maybe 'cause I have machinery to do it for me!

My wife (surprise, surprise!) has a weekly bathroom cleaning ritual! Despite the messy method she has (throwing everything from the bathroom: baby's bathtub, wastebasket, step stool (which she never uses; often climb it to get stuff for her) into the hall!) she DOES get it clean! Though she doesn't let the floor dry so when she throws the mats back on the floor they tend to stick...

The kitchen is an important room to clean--but somehow every time we try to sweep & mop (when we can get around to it) it still seems dirty & floor is STILL sticky (usually as a result of our daughter spilling something or throwing something on it) and I still have "black" on the bottoms of my feet...

We mostly have hard-wood floors & the main area of the basement, the den & baby's room are the only rooms fully carpeted so we have a canister vac, that only I know how to use, for vacuuming there as well as the area rugs in the living room & the bed rooms...

So housework is something I try to make time for & do just adequately, not going terribly out of my way for, giving the house the right amount of cleanliness (though not hospital-sanitary, I'm afraid! Sssshhhhh!)

-- Dave

 

[rapunzel]

Standards and priorities have changed

Once it was the woman's sole domain and her housekeeping was a social statement.

Things have changed since then. Now academic skills and having a career take priority over housekeeping. Kids don't do home economics anymore. It's considered sexist and boring. Very few mothers teach their daughters (and sons) how to cook, clean and do laundry. What was once the norm is not considered so normal anymore. If you talked to most kids about housework they'd wonder why one would waste their time on such mundane pursuits when there is so much more interesting stuff to do.

Those households where both parents are professionals will often pay someone else to clean and do laundry.

This is not only an American trend either.

 

[akronman]

Let me be the first to say

after reading all of your posts, I AM A SLOB!
But I have very clean clothes.

 

[ozzie908]

No home economics taught anymore

If thats the case and sadly it seems so here as well who is going to do the household chores in the near future if no one cares about them now? They won't all be able to afford a cleaner to do it but then they will be scarce too! Is everybody soon going to live in hovels and shit tips that they have no idea how to sort out ? If thats how its going to be then why bother having any domestic machines every thing may just as well be throw away.
Glad I won't be around to live in a flea pit as long as I can I will always keep the main parts of my house cleaned almost daily the rest weekly the thought of animal hair and dead skin every where makes my skin creep same goes for cold water washing but thats another thread...

Austin

 

[paulc]

I clean at the very least every other day. Bathroom and kitchen get cleaned with bleach and the whole flat (apartment) gets dusted and vacuumed. However, I am not as fussy as I used to be. In my 20's I used to spend a whole day doing a "spring clean" every week, I used to move every bit of furniture, damp dust and vacuum everywhere. As I have got older I have realized that life is too short to be constantly cleaning and don't get stressed out so much about cleaning.

 

[mrb627]

Question:

What is Old Dutch?

Malcolm

 

[circlew]

Old Dutch

is a brand of cleanser, like Ajax or Comet.

 

[vintagekitchen]

Old dutch

Its a scouring powder, like ajax or comet. One of those things of, "I know its old fashioned, but it works, and to me, the smell equals clean, lol"

 

[rapunzel]

If bed bugs are an indicator...

...we may be revisiting the past. A changing world economy, greater uncertainty, increasing unemployment, spiraling living costs, changing life styles and changing attitudes/priorities regarding hygiene; it is not so inconceivable that there will be even less emphasis on cleanliness in the future.

We all take having a shower for granted. Though, how many people really do know about good personal hygiene? Standing under running warm water for a few minutes and quickly rubbing a cake of soap over ones extremities doesn't necessarily constitute a good wash. Even with hand basins, soap and running water available in most modern toilets, the simple act of hand washing after toileting still represents an insurmountable challenge to many. This includes highly educated people in health care.

If people don't know or care about good personal hygiene, they probably don't know/care all that much for keeping their living space, or very much else, clean either.

Housekeeping is a skill that has to be learnt and, as with any skill, it isn't simply a matter of knowing about it, but doing it to a certain standard.

 

[bajaespuma]

As Joan Rivers said:

..."you wash the dishes, you clean the toilet bowl and then six months later you have to do it all over again"

 

My Parents' home was cleaned by women that worked for them for over 30 years. I can't match that. The best I ever did was by employing a free-lance house cleaner who came in twice a month and did a really fine job. I used to look forward to coming home on those Wednesdays; the house felt just like what TV commercials want you to believe a well-kept home should be.Then my health insurance premiums tripled. No more cleaning lady.

 

Now that I have to do it myself, I have to admit, for someone who collects appliances like vacuum cleaners and washing machines, I seem to actually use them less and less.

 

I think as far as shrinking sales for cleaning products go, it is a reflection on an economy that has mostly screwed the servant-less classes. Also, I know I have changed my shopping habits; I buy fewer "dedicated" products and use more of my old standbys for more jobs. Also I know a lot of people who are trying to be "green" and have stopped buying products like paper towels altogether.  I have another set of friends who use "Simple Green" for everything in their house. Windex does 80% of the jobs in my house. I use dishwasher detergent for many jobs. For laundry, I use a detergent, a fabric softener, bleach (peroxide 75% --, Clorox 25% of the time I use any bleach at all). I don't use much chlorine or "sanitizing" products because I think they're overused and I have a septic system. I was told by a septic system engineer that using too many hard-core bleach-based cleaning products damages the system.When I lived in Europe, where toilets use a tablespoon of water for each flush, I got into the habit of brushing out the commode after each use (here, I do it every couple of days) without any chemicals. You had to. I believe more and more in elbow grease and less and less in P&G and Drackett.

 

I think a lot of people are taking a more common sense approach to housecleaning: clean is good enough. It's absurd to think that normal household surfaces can be sanitized for more than a very short period of time. It's overkill. One should view  "The Andromeda Strain" again to see what sanitizing really requires. Or "Mommie Dearest".

 

[vintagekitchen]

mommy dearest...

Had an ex who used to start quoting that movie when I was doing hardcore cleaning....

 

[appnut]

Well, my situation is a combination of Mark & Ken's scenarios and history!!

 

[chuffle]

Oh boy...

...I was raised in a house where my mother had her daily set of chores, and to this day, at 54 years of age, I find that pattern (can we say "baggage?") something that I adhere to "most of the time."

I live with a dog, so I vacuum the area rugs daily. The hard flooring gets vacuumed with a canister vac every other day or so, though if I am going through a low energy period, the hard floors get vacuumed when the dog fur tumbleweeds scatter as I pass through.

Dusting is my achilles' heel, as while I don't let things get to the point that one could write messages on my furniture, the job does not get done weekly, either. I don't like clutter, but do have assorted chotchkies on the furniture, for I don't like an "empty" look, either. Chotchkies keeps me from dusting!

Laundry is done Sunday morning, and what needs ironed, sees the iron as it comes off of the line or out of the dryer. I scrub the kitchen and bathroom floors plus clean the other bathroom bits either early Saturday morning, or early Sunday morning, so that the cleaning rags can be laundered and then put away. This weekend regimen falls by the wayside if I go away for the weekend, to see my S.O.

The first of the month, I flip the mattress, vacuum the coils of the fridge, and move furniture while vacuuming. The first week that school is out for the summer, I do the spring housecleaning.

This all works for me, and doesn't seem to get in the way of my life. Not being much of a social person, things get done easily. That being said, I would never turn down a weekend away or an evening out, just because I have house work to do!

 

[rapunzel]

Whilst dusting I was contemplating this thread and began to

Could it be that angel dust is beating house dust in popularity? Maybe with all the legal and illegal drug abuse that is going on, people find very little time to look after the housework. I bet a gram of crack is cheaper than a bottle of furniture polish and if one hits the Valium a dirty toilet wouldn't measure on the scale of things to bother about.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

At this point, maybe everybody should include "Someone to Clean The House" in their budget!

& w/ the way the economy is going, there are probably still a lot of people out there who would do it...!

If only...

-- Dave

 

[jerrod6]

I don't have any specific day to do laundry and tend to spread it out over 7 days.   But I do have a specific house cleaning schedule that gets followed every week.

 

Unless I schedule it as if I am scheduling an "office work task or meeting" it doesn't get done....so yes I have a schedule and try to stick to it.  I know what is going to be done tomorrow(WED) and I know the time period it  must be completed by(Ok......will be completely by since I am the only one that is setting any deadline).

 

However I don't use many cleaning products.....I use a swifter duster.....I use Windex with vinegar, I use water, I use a cleaner for my wood floors and one for tile floors in the kitchen and that's it.

 

Once in a while I will use Murphy's oil soap to wipe down the kitchen cabinets, and I will use  Neoblank to polish stainless steel in the kitchen but these are an exception to the regular routine.