My Housecleaning versus Sue's Housecleaning

[JudyJB]

Sue is an amazing house cleaner, and I wish I were so ambitious and well-organized. Unfortunately, my cleaning style is a lot different, so I have described it below:

This morning (or very late morning to be more accurate) is an excellent example of my house cleaning style. I was sitting watching TV after eating breakfast and got up to go to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I opened the medicine cabinet and discovered that the little plastic tray I keep my toothbrush and toothpaste was really dusty and smeary, so I took it out, emptied it of its contents, and sprayed it with cleaner and dried it with paper towel. But then I noticed that the other cabinet shelves were dusty, so I took out the stuff on the top shelf, wiped it all off, tossed some stuff, and wiped off the shelf. Ditto for the bottom shelf.

Then I opened the larger cabinet next to it to put in some of the stuff that I had removed from the medicine cabinet. Except I really couldn't put the wiped-off stuff on the dirty shelves, so I took out everything, including the plastic trays that keep stuff from sliding around. I got some more spray cleaner and more paper towels and sprayed and wiped down everything, then replaced it all. I took more stuff I never use to the kitchen trash can.

Of course, at this point, I had to clean my bathroom counter and then the bathroom sink. Plus, the mirror on the medicine cabinet needed some window cleaner and a wipe-down. Whew! Headed back to my chair and realized I had not brushed my teeth! Still need to go back there and do that.

[Bethers]

Sounds like me.

[OregonLuvr]

Bursts of ADHD at it's finest. LOL Judy

[JudyJB]

Every detail is absolutely true. I have often wondered if I have ADHD because I get distracted so easily. Of course, there was no such thing when we were children, so doctors never evaluated us for it!

[Redetotry]

I'm definitely not a Sue! More inclined to your style Judy.

[JudyJB]

It's sort of "If I see it, I'll clean it."

Otherwise some stuff will go for years, especially stuff at the top because being short, I cannot see dirty stuff on higher shelves.

[Colliemom]

But speaking of mirrors. I found out something the other day that I didn’t know about cleaning mirrors. I’m sure that a lot of us probably just spray window cleaner on there and wipe it off. Found out that’s not a good idea.

Spray glass cleaner or water directly on the cloth, not on the mirror directly—otherwise, liquid can seep behind the silver coating and create black tarnish marks. Maybe that’s why we see a lot of old mirrors that have black blotches behind the glass.

I think a lot of my house, cleaning stuff has become ingrained over the course of my life. We are we did swing cleaning before Easter background that was pretty much a common thing. And then when I became a housekeeper, and then at assistant head housekeeper for the same hotel on the head housekeepers days off, I had to make sure that everything was looking good. I learned what inspectors look for. I am at the state park because my job in the summer entailed keeping bathrooms and showers clean for the public, everything had to be kept to state health guidelines then. too. For a short time I also did private home cleaning to for a couple of people. But it’s kind of pay it off when I get ready to sell my house before I brought this one. The winter before I listed the house I went through and repainted a bit, so the colors flowed from one room to the other. Then I gave cabinets and closetsa thorough cleaning and took out and packed up anything that I did not need. I only kept enough dishes for what I needed, and only the pots and pans that I was actually using. I had all my boxes marked and everything was put very nice and neat on shelves in the basement. And had my carpets cleaned. Once the house was listed, then I made sure that everything stayed in perfect condition. I never knew when I was going to get a car from the real state office that there might be a showing. Sometimes they would call me in the morning for that afternoon and I didn’t have to rush around getting everything straightened up because it was already done. Every day when I got up after I got cleaned up, brushed my teeth and everything. I made sure that my sinks were spotless. It sounds like a lot of work, but it paid off. I had a number of showings, and I got a lot of compliments from the agents, and even some of the people who looked at the house, that they have never looked at a house or shown a house so clean. And one day after doing my morning routine , I went to town to do some shopping and came home to find my agents car in the driveway with another car here. He had a showing and the office forgot to call me and tell me I had left the dogs in the house, of course. But I took them out once I got home, but they said it didn’t matter. As it turns out those people bought the house. And after we moved everything out of the house, I went back and vacuumed, and made sure that everything was all nice and clean for them.

[BarbaraRose]

Judy, I can totally relate to that! That is what happens with me too! I have ADD so I get easily distracted.

One time at one of the shops I was at, I was folding towels. Then the phone rang so I answered that. While I was on the phone, I noticed some products on the shelf that needed straightening, so I went to do that, but saw some magazines that had been left on a couple of chairs so I went to put those away. But one of the magazines had a headline for an article I wanted to read so I started on that. Finally my coworker asked if I was gonna finish folding the towels anytime soon! Squirrel!!!

Sue, now I can see why you are so into cleaning! I was never really taught how or expected to clean when I was young so I never got used to doing so. I have a hard time getting started with it now but once I do, I am super anal-retentive about it!

[BirdbyBird]

I almost responded when this thread first started but didn't. Sue your explanation of your early life experiences and life career choices explains how your attention to house cleaning skills brought you positive reinforcement praise and accomplishments throughout large chunks of your life. We all have different experiences ADHD or not. Anyone who has meet Judy over the years is aware of at least parts of her life story. She definitely has determination, excellent organization skills and attention to details. She worked full time as a single mother while putting herself through college and later while obtaining her PhD in graduate school. She often worked in a male dominated environment and excelled at her job. Even now in retirement her more recent ability to plan ahead and her attention to detail for her travels here at home or her trips to Scotland are amazing. I also think of the attention to detail that Karen must have had to her patients and the hospital environment to have excelled at her job all those years in a nursing career. Martha, managing accounting books and cattle farming, raising children and raising and training reining horses with Harold. Most all of us have wonderful skills we have just chosen (and often been positively reinforced over time) for different things. We have made choices of what are most important to us. We understand the positive benefits that having a spotless, well repaired house, but through our personal life experiences we have just chosen different responsibilities and actions.

Personally, earlier in my life, I lived in a house for many years where the message became apparent from my step mother was that clean houses and appearances of houses were more important than people inside the house. Luckily, I also had several role models touch my life that demonstrated that people for them were more important than the things. I went with that model, was reinforce positively in my education, in my career and in my life. I have never looked back and been sorry. I know that no one will praise my cooking or housekeeping skills but I don't hear many eulogises that mention either of those in Memorials. My home will never sell except as a fixer upper but I am okay with that. My energies and attention have consistently been focused in other areas. And now in retirement, I have an RV and I have dogs and I have been able to travel and have been able to meet and spent time interacting with some of the most fascinating people both in showing dogs and in RVing. Life is a series of opportunities and choices. Many of which are not necessarily good or bad but were the best we could do at the time but they do make us who we are today. I'm okay with that.

[Acadianmom]

My housecleaning skills are definitely lacking. I did a lot better when I was working and things had to be done now when I had time. Now everything can wait until tomorrow and tomorrow seldom comes.

I have wondered if I didn't have ADD. In school I felt like I didn't know what was going on. Probably because I was day dreaming and not paying attention. This morning I got out Annie's flea treatment. She is the only one that gets one from the vet because she is allergic to fleas and will scratch herself bald. On my way to the bedroom where she was I stopped to give Possie and Rascal some dry cat food. When I remembered that I was going to give Annie her flea treatment I couldn't find it. I looked all over and couldn't find it. When I headed back to the kitchen I had put it down when I stopped to feed the cats.

My younger son had a terrible time in school. In kindergarten and first grade he couldn't tell the difference between all the small words like this, that, them, who, what, when. I held him back in kindergarten because he was having such a hard time. That didn't really help. I had shoe boxes full of file cards with spelling words trying to help him pass spelling tests. I still have trouble spelling. I have a dictionary and a word finder on my desk. Sometimes I can't get close enough to the spelling to find a word in the dictionary.

Martha

[Cudedog]

We have made choices of what are most important to us. We understand the positive benefits that having a spotless, well repaired house, but through our personal life experiences we have just chosen different responsibilities and actions.

Well said, Tina! I am totally there. My house is a shambles most of the time - but I am comfortable in it, and happy.

I still have trouble spelling. I have a dictionary and a word finder on my desk. Sometimes I can't get close enough to the spelling to find a word in the dictionary.

I hear you, Martha!

Although I love to write (and have self-published two novels) I have been a poor speller every since I was a child. I don't think I ever successfully passed a spelling test back when I was in school. I still have the two volume boat anchor, library style, English dictionary (it even came with its own magnifying glass, because the print is so small!) that my ex bought for me at a used book store.

I have had it for at least 25 years, and used to use it all of the time.

But not so much anymore - If I am unsure of the spelling of a word, I just Google it. Google will almost always bring up the word I need, even if I enter it with "alternate spelling". Google is great as a theasaurus as well as a dictionary.

And since (when I am writing) I'm on my computer anyway, Googling a word is quick and easy.

Anne

[OregonLuvr]

I love all the different styles of life we all have. I am a bit of a fuss budget about clutter. I hate clutter and yet I still get some cluttered areas to sort thru and like Martha, oh well there is always tomorrow. My tomorrow comes tho as I said I dont like clutter. I am not a fastidious cleaner but I do like my house clean. I dont like dirty dishes in my sink so I wash them as I use them. I do have a dishwasher but I find them more trouble than they are worth. Easier for me to have hot soapy water and 10 minutes....bam I am done. I dont think I am at Sue's level ha ha ha but I am fairly organized but not as much as when I worked. Now I need a calendar to check weekly. Mostly because of my doc appts sheesh. I do like my life easy so Henry helps with that and I do love that contraption. I do like a cleaning project every day whether it is big or small I like that feeling of accomplishment. I am also a list maker of what I need to get done that week. I dont do any big projects every day or week but I do something. My afternoons are my own. Sometimes I read, watch tv or play on the computer so I dont feel like I am working all the time. I value my friends that come to visit and I know they come to see me not my house!!!! So I dont stress if I am having company. I did grow up in a very clean and orderly house so that probably influenced me.

[Acadianmom]

Karen, having a clean sink is about the only thing I am on top of. I wash things as I use them and seldom go to bed with dirty dishes in the sink. One of my counters was full of freezer containers. I finally got a basket and put them all in the basket and put them in a cabinet. The bread machine made it out when Shirl was talking about making bread. I need to use it or put it back up.

Martha

[Shirlv]

I hope everyone has a sense of humor. My home is not dirty but it is not clutter free. There is a little wooden block on my fridge that says “ Dull women have a clean houses Honey I come from a long line of Fascinating Women.” I no longer spring or fall house clean but I do occasionally straighten up. I also laugh a lot.

[JudyJB]

Tina got it almost right, but my parents paid for my BA degree, and I got my MA when my kids were in elementary school, and finished it just before my divorce in 1984. The Ph.D. I got in my 50s, and my employer paid for it, but at the time, I still had a teenager or two, was teaching two college classes, and taking two classes, while working a full-time job. Just not doable, so in 1997 I took a 5-year hiatus from teaching. I thought I had quit college teaching forever in 1997, but in 2002, my old dept chair called me and asked me to come back to develop the online class so the college would not assign someone who had never taught it to do it. It was the best thing that happened to me because by that time, my kids were married and gone, and i had more time. I never made much money at my regular job, so teaching part-time allowed me to save money for retirement, and eventually to buy my RV and live my current life. I am very thankful to that college that paid and treated me well over 30 years of part-time employment!!

Frankly, I never planned most of my life--I just got jobs accidentally, for the most part, or because I needed money. I got my first job as a factory training coordinator after getting divorced because I hit it off with the training manager. (I was desperate for money after my divorce and would have taken any job, but even at that job I earned less than the college interns I managed!) My second job with a training and consulting company because they wanted someone who had worked for GM as a training coordinator. And because that second job was with a small company, I got to do things because no one else wanted to do them or were not available. I learned marketing and the printing business because I was given the job of managing the production of the GM training catalog. (Had the power to stop the presses and got to watch the big newspaper-type presses run.) Also learned about direct marketing and the fulfillment industry. Also got to do multiple customer satisfaction visits in 52 GM plants in the 90s. mainly because everyone else had more important things to do!!! Really. That turned out to be really fun, and I learned a lot about manufacturing and getting along with the UAW.

Oh, and the truth is that I cannot spell well either. However, teaching made me more sensitive about watching for errors and using spelling checkers so students would not catch me making errors, which they loved to do!!

And I think working multiple jobs, especially since my main job had so many varied tasks I had to do at the same time, really taught me to document stuff and make lists, etc. At any one time, I could be editing other people's work, writing training manuals and developing training courses, teaching technical writing seminars all over the country, answering weird calls the receptionist always sent me because I would take them, producing a catalog and brochures, taking orders for catalogs from GM training people, writing and arranging for mailing of a customer newsletter, keeping track of the company's supplies of give-aways, and sometimes even making cold calls to sell training. My cube was full of sticky notes, but all of this is REALLY what made me even partially organized.

Retirement is MUCH more relaxing.