Not at all. We are both very lazy about housework and while our house isn't filthy, there's a lot of clutter. I keep meaning to hire a cleaning person but I feel like I need to get my house clean first!

Yes, but I do tidy everyday, try to put things back where they belong and vacuum the living room most every day, sweep and mop the kitchen floor every night after dinner. It just makes me happier to have a tidy house!

I would give myself a B-, it is clean and clutter free, perfect no but I am ok with that.

Yes and no. I keep the house clean,but I have had to reconcile myself to some things because SO is a procrastinator, and can get used to almost anything. My top annoyance is the fact that our old washer and dryer are still sitting in my kitchen a year after we got new ones. Just get them out! Gah!

Or the fact that every time I clean the clutter off our breakfast nook,it gets replaced with MORE tools,car stuff,and whatever else. I guess he thinks I clean to make room for him to put more random things.... Also half of my laundry room is full of tools he had to have but cant be bothered to put together a tool box to organize them. I have told him that if someone were to stop by,I would be embarrassed to have them walk in and see all of that,but he has gone blind to it. Who gets used to an old washer and dryer in the kitchen,collecting stuff? He does. But the rest of the house is clean to my satisfaction,most of the time. Some times I let it go longer than I should,but I am usually on top of it.

My house is clean and tidy because the cleaning lady was here today. The best thing about having a cleaner is that it makes me clean for the cleaning lady. Everything gets put away and I really don’t like clutter so I don’t allow things to build up,. Well, maybe a little!

Yes. I am satisfied with it. As I am in charge of cleaning, it is exactly to my own standard. DH says that our house is spotless. I wouldn't go that far....

No I'm not. My living room and one bedroom are full of my kids' stuff. They are supposed to come get it this spring and summer.

Even though I dust mop every day & vacuum every few days there is dog hair every where. I now remember why I did not want a German Shepherd again. Bailey is a beautiful black & tan 80lb. dog. Got her when she was 8 months old & now she is 1 1/2. She hates to be brushed, it is a fight no matter what you use. The rest of the house is tidy. Guess I have to give myself a D-

I don't worry about it. I feel like it is clean... otherwise, I would put out more effort. But at times, I have my dining table a bit loaded. ;)

Moni

No, but I'm working on it. I just get distracted easily when cleaning. I should probably hire help. We keep our second house very clean, but it is without clutter and we don't live there full time.

Yes, I'm content. I figure if the dust just lies there and doesn't bother me, I won't bother it.

I wish I were neater. I have to have house cleaners once a month as my back won't let me do the floors and yes, I'm very lucky to be able to do this. But in between, those dust bunnies breed like crazy and dust piles up as quick as a wink. I do some housework at the two-week mark, but not nearly as much as I'd like to do.

DH is a hoarder. I used to keep it all in check but having medical issues I don't have the energy to fight like I used to. I threaten to start just throwing his stuff out and he will do a few things but it keeps piling up. So I am down to my areas vs his. Don't put your junk in my area or there is going to be some unpleasantness. I am doing better than I was so watch out. I used to be a spotless sort of person but years ago I was diagnosed with a particularly deadly cancer and survived. Suddenly clutter didn't look so bad but still.....

DH and I are both 'only children'. We're 'neat'. We're also OLD, so it's getting to where I will have to hire help to do stuff like washing floors, cleaning showers and tubs, cleaning inside kitchen cabinets, etc. We built this one-floor house with hardwood floors and wool area rugs to be 'carefree', and the central vac does a great job...however, it's still almost 3000 sq ft overall.

Life with 3 dogs improved with the arrival of the roomba. It's not perfect but it's funny how it makes noises that sound like it's proud of its work--"tadaah!"

Nope. Working on it. I need a house keeper and a smaller house. This house is really frustrating because the design is not as practical as I need and there are tons of places that hold dust. I've spent the day cleaning my closet. I've been deep cleaning and purging for the last two months.

Edit: We have a robot vacuum too. That thing is great.

Our house was cleaner before DH moved his office home. Now I don’t want to run the vacuum lest he get a call from a client, same with making noise with the windows, cleaning closets, moving furniture. I also don’t want any comments or suggestions when he walks in where I’m working. I need him to travel to see his clients at least 2 days a week!

No but we are working on it. DH used be somewhat of a hoarder but now we know it is mostly just not seeing stuff pile up and forgetfulness. Plus a lot of impulsive buys and I will repair it someday thoughts. After he retired he flipped the other way and decided to unclutter his life. He started with the garage which was so b packed with his stuff you could not walk across it. Now I can find things and the floor is kept swept by him etc. It's become one of life's little pleasures to see the difference. He still tends to believe no surface should not have something lying on it but it is much better. On my part I have managed to rein in all the paper clutter and that includes books. I think paper clutter is the worst as far as keeping a house looking neat. mail comes in I shred or file immediately. No more losing things and no more moving stuff around to dust or clean.

The clutter now is renovation clutter. Our house is older now and needs work. One of our goals is to make it more accessible in our older years. DH has already has some need for some more safety features. He retains the skills for doing the job of installing and upgrading if he doesn't stumble coming through the door. ;-)

DH is a clutterer from a family of clutterers. When we built this house we had the option of adding on an office so I thought - wow, all the mail can go in there as soon as it hits the door and all of DH's "stuff" can go in there too. Not. There is one side of the one kitchen counter that is ALWAYS cluttered with his stuff - it drives me nuts. I guess what I need to do is take it and put it into the special junk basket that I intentionally put in the office for that very reason and have reminded him at least a hundred times that it's there. He does not care if something sits on the counter or the kitchen table or anywhere that it doesn't belong forever - SERIOUSLY - FOREVER!

My house stays pretty tidy, but it is almost always dusty because the windows stay open year-round. I wish I had a magic dust remover.

He does not care if something sits on the counter or the kitchen table or anywhere that it doesn't belong forever - SERIOUSLY - FOREVER!

Yes - this!

I can't stand clutter. I want this home to be clutter free so as long as I don't go into DH's office or the room next to it, I'm pretty content. I have just hired a cleaning lady to do the bathrooms and floors and so I will be even more content.

I know she isn't going to wash the baseboards or the tops of the doors or sanitize the sinks as I do but I can continue to do that.

Yes. A+. Our house is always ready to show, if you know what I mean. We've always lived like this. A place for everything and everything in its place.

When I come home from visiting the grandchildren's rooms, my house is a stress reliever. LOL

ritaweeda, I got a junk basket for my husband also. When I explained what is was for, he said "Oh, so this is my organizing basket?" The funny thing is, since it got piled up with his stuff, he's now pretty good about clearing it out and putting things where they go.

Pretty much, yes, I am satisfied most of our home is clean and orderly. I don’t like a lot of clutter sitting around so when things begin to look that way, it’s time to take action.

I have been weeding out closets and drawers for a while. Making progress, but it seems to be endless, mostly because a DH doesn’t ever want to get rid of some things. I don’t touch his desk. If I clear out a drawer or a shelf, it’s fair game for him to put something random in it.

Another question - do any of you find that some of your rooms get more dusty than others? I have cleaning ladies who clean every other week and they do a pretty good job. However, they don’t always clean baseboards and often miss some things. I find our bedroom and bathroom get especially dusty in spots like baseboards and over the mirrors, and if I don’t keep after it every few weeks, I am surprised at how much dust builds. Gah, it drives me crazy and especially since dust mites are my enemy.

I’m a neat freak - can’t stand clutter/untidiness. With two dogs, I have to accept dust and the occasional dust bunny. My cleaning lady comes every other week but is lousy at dusting.

Now that all my kids are grown and my husband has passed away my house is clean and neat all of the time. My husband always had things laying around and sometimes it bothered me. I would gladly put up with the clutter though if I could have him back.

I clean. I’m not as compulsive as I used to be but I like to have things put away. The one and only bathroom has to be clean. It’s thoroughly cleaned weekly and kept clean on a daily basis in between. Kitchen as well.

My husband and I almost see eye to eye in this department.

I love cleaning when no one is home. That’s rarely the case.

The issue with my husband is he likes to keep things “just in case”. I try and get rid of the useless junk whenever I can.

We pass the vacuum around often. I could dust more but compared to most homes I’ve seen lately ours is a solid B.

Dust doesn't bother me as much as stuff! I throw everything out or donate, but never admit it so when the DH is looking for something, I say "I haven't seen it, where did you leave it?"

My house is always tidy...but as for clean? Let's just say it looks a lot better when I know company is coming! Especially with the wood stove, the dust accumulates so quickly...and cat hair is ubiquitous. While a cleaning service would be nice, I view house cleaning as part of my aerobic activities and calorie burning efforts.

Not at all happy with the clean part, but that is because for the past 2 years I have had an every other week cleaning lady that does little more that a 'licken of promise' as my Mom used to say. Fired her 6 weeks ago and am currently trying to find someone else. In the meantime DH has been doing some more serious cleaning one room at time. He does a very good job when he does it, but he doesn't do it often enough to suit me. I am very limited in what I can do.

Now, clutter can drive me crazy, and unfortunately DH is a major clutterer. At best, I try to keep the everyday clutter under control.

OutsidePlaying,

We believe our bed linens cause most of the dust on baseboards, tops of mirrors and headboard.

I am not at all pleased with myself regarding house cleaning. I have knee problems and some other limitations physically. Probably my biggest issue is that basically Im lazy. I don't like to clean so I don't. I don't like to organize so I don't. I have a cat who because of a thyroid problem sheds horribly. I have fallen into a bad habit of just sitting and reading, watching tv and being on the computer. There is not a room in my house that doesn't need a major cleaning.

As long as we aren't living in filth or unhealthy conditions and it doesn't look like hoarders live here

That's the line in the sand. My first exMIL was a major clutterer. I adored her and would give anything to sit in her cluttered kitchen again. I would love for my home to look like a magazine cover and my body to look like it was fit for Playboy but not enough to spend hours in the gym and then hours pushing the vacuum cleaner. But the home is certainly tidy and picked up and the body still manages to get out of bed every morning even if it isn't working perfectly any more..

Occasionally when I am having a debate between my good tidy Self and my lazy unproductive Self, I will settle the argument with the use of a timer. It is really amazing when one sets a timer for 15 minutes and the rules are that one stays in that room cleaning until the bell rings, how much one can get done.

i would give my house a solid B. there is always dog & cat hair but a quick vacuum and its gone. we have no carpet on main floor so its easy to clean quickly.

the kitchen is done once a week or as it gets dirty. bathrooms - once a week.

it gets dusty but its a qiuck fix.

i agree about the timer., its amazing what you can do in 15 mins!!!

the biggest issue here is paper clutter. ugh, sometimes just can't keep up! thinking of cancelling my paper which i am down to thursday, friday, saturday and sunday. most days i can't even get to read it. probably will go to digital only.

i try to get rid on senseless mail immediately which helps a great deal. we are in the middle of redoing our Master Bedroom, so lots of things going to Good Will. i just keep thinking, "will my kids want this" or "what will my kids do with this when we are gone?' most likely trash, so out it goes. really trying to de-clutter!!!!!

I wouldn't give myself an F, maybe a C- to be honest. It's not dirty like you'd be grossed out but I always seem to have something out that needs to be put away...well a lot of things that are out that need to be put away. There's probably, ok not probably but 99% of the time, dishes that need to be washed. I live in condo so I have no excuse, I just procrastinate and put off and put it off...

LOL I hope so. If I were so lazy to not clean up to my own standards that's pretty sad. The question is ,Is the cleanliness/tidyness of my home good enough for _______?!! MIL, mom, sisters etc. I would get a B- on the best of days--solid C the rest of the time. And I AM GOOD with that!!

I was an F, had a deep cleaning done a week ago. I have been able to maintain since then. It had gotten out of control with the dogs, I had neglected the baseboards and behind furniture. Hopefully I keep it up now.

Sigh, I like paper! I have some recipes, the calendar, and notes on my kitchen table. I also have a bunch on the sofa where I'm trying to go through and organize them. I like fiddling with them when I'm watching a tv show.

When I see dust on the tv cabinet which is black, I'll dust it, if I haven't done a regular dusting around the place beforehand.

I guess it all depends who is coming I have some friends who could care less what my place looks like, one is cluttered almost to the point of hoarding.

When I know my brother is coming.......I clean, clean clean!

I'm like you Jasdip, I clean when family is coming over. I used to keep a very neat and minimalistic house but as I've gotten older, I care less about all that than I used to. My house is pretty straight and pretty clean, we'll just leave it at that. HA! I wouldn't eat off the floors!

Ditto what Arkansas girl said. I keep it straight, keep dishes washed up, clean litter box completely every day. Sweep every day. Laundry every day. Make my bed if I feel like it. If someone comes to see me, I appreciate a little advance notice, but if they are allergic to cats...best not come. And I don't care. I live here and I am fine with people staying away.

I'm still enjoying tidiness and order. I guess I was born that way. I'm the type that puts away everything in the proper place and likes cleaning. I don't vacuum, DH does that and he polishes the floors. Strangely, it doesn't bother me at all if I'm in someone's messy home, as people mean the most to me so no judgment. I have one child just like me, the others are normal lol. One thing I don't do is iron, I send it out to be done. My Mom loved ironing so I guess I'm rebelling. I never liked it.

I'm OK with it. But it probably would not pass muster with many here who have already replied :-) A small living space that has to multifunction so clutter is common. And it is a lower level unit on a dirt road so dust is omnipresent as are spider webs and dog-generated dust bunnies. I try to keep them under control but I am not obsessive about it. Kitchen and bathroom are clean.

I have no cleaning service but also do not entertain much nor have a lot of visitors - space is just too small for much of that - so if it;s satisfactory to me, that's all that matters.