# How clean is your home?



## debodun

On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 = so dirty nobody wants to come in, 10 = so clean you don't want anybody to come in) is your residence?


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## Shalimar

Seven and a half. I have  two indoor cats, one of whom consistently sheds fine hair--almost impossible to pick off the carpet. There always seems to be a secret hair ball or two which I have missed. Lol. My home is clean, quite tidy, but not compulsively so.


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## Lon

9 1/2   They don't call me Mr "Tidy Bowel" for nothing


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## Falcon

How clean?  Its still livable.  The board of health hasn't paid me a visit....YET.


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## Shalimar

Falcon, HaHaHaHaHa.


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## fureverywhere

Two dogs, six cats, two kids, big old house and the rats climbing up the pear tree, they don't call me furry for nothing
2 1/2 on a bad day, 6 on a good one


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## Warrigal

Falcon said:


> How clean?  Its still livable.  The board of health hasn't paid me a visit....YET.



Clean enough. Nobody has contracted typhoid in the last week at my place. :grin:


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## SeaBreeze

Maybe a 7, I'm not a neat freak, but I try and keep the place fairly clean and sanitary.


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## Ameriscot

About 8 1/2.


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## AZ Jim

9 most of the time.


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## tortiecat

Like Sharimar  seven and a half - I also have a cat and she barfed up another fur ball to-day on my beige rug.
Cleaning lady comes every other Monday and I don\t do much in between.  I have been busy making Christmas
cookies so my kitchen floor is a bit tacky, but she comes tomorrow.


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## Kadee

Well I'd say 8.5 only because my sewing machine is in the repair shop ..if I had to take that room into account when deciding how clean / tidy my home is well the scale would be under 5 .....for that room..


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## tnthomas

Probably a "7" which is not bad for all the indoor/outdoor animals we have here.   It will get cleaned again just before we have company again, next.


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## hollydolly

Clean?...you're supposed to *Clean?* I'm thinking of  subscribing  to the Quentin Crisp book of home management and housekeeping and he clearly states... *There is no need to do any housework at all. After the first four years the dirt doesn't get any worse.* ..and ...

*Never keep up with the Joneses. Drag them down to your level.:smug1:*


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## Warrigal

I like Phyllis Diller's approach. 
Display Get Well cards on your mantelpiece and you will receive sympathy instead of condemnation.


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## Shalimar

I like the get well cards approach also. Pallor inducing makeup and a stoic expression help....


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## Kadee

I always remember what a friend told me years ago ...You can write your name in the dust but not the date ..


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## fureverywhere

Oy that a cleaning person would take one look at this place, then a brief glance at Callie, and run for their lives. I get rooms cleaned. But all the rooms at the exact same time is not going to happen.

Some stuff is just so blinking time consuming. The laundry is ongoing-all the socks that go to live with Jesus, the litter boxes ideally would be sifted daily at least, two bathrooms, cat yack, dust bunnies, something simple...putting my son's photos together. It took three days. Rounding up all the boxes, sorting the boxes, then organizing the results woooof.


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## NancyNGA

Dusting is my downfall.   I hate it.   If my dust is clean, then I have a pretty clean house. 

Clutter is also a problem, though, so I'd probably give it a 5.


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## fureverywhere

A good vacuum can work miracles. Behind the radiators, the spiders in the basement, the fur that settles between the stair pads.


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## Underock1

hollydolly said:


> Clean?...you're supposed to *Clean?* I'm thinking of  subscribing  to the Quentin Crisp book of home management and housekeeping and he clearly states... *There is no need to do any housework at all. After the first four years the dirt doesn't get any worse.* ..and ...
> 
> *Never keep up with the Joneses. Drag them down to your level.:smug1:*



:applause2: I love the way you think. With the exception of down right unhealthy, its all about what others think. 
For myself, it depends on the room. The living room is about an 8. The bedroom is a 2. Over all. I'm a 5, but hey, I'm an old guy who walks precariously. No one coming to visit has its up side.


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## Bobw235

Our home is probably an 8.5.  Biggest problem is dust.  We have had a person come in to clean once a month, but that's ending after December.  I told my wife that she and I will do a better job and save the money.  I keep up with the vacuuming and she tends to make sure the bathrooms are clean.  Both of us hate clutter, so the house stays pretty neat.  Biggest problem is my office area, where there are always papers lying about, but that's going away soon.


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## QuickSilver

My house will be cleaner when I decide to retire..  Hubby is retired and tries his best..  I am not about to look a gift horse in the mouth.. He cleans but not like how I would do it.. and I am going to complain..  The fact that we have 9 animals living with us doesn't help.. but I wouldn't trade all the love and companionship for the cleanest house in the world.


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## GeorgiaXplant

I'm with NancyNGA...if my dust is clean... Sometimes I just rearrange the dust so that it's neat and tidy; other times I just blow it off anything dark where it shows up more.

There are times when I rue the day I opted for a tiny living space, but cleaning time is not one of them. On a scale of 1-10, my place varies from 1-10 (this from a former cleaning fairy!).


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## Butterfly

Mine varies -- last week it was probably a 5, sometimes it's an 8 -- depends on what else I'm doing.  Dust -- yikes -- everywhere -- but here, you can dust one day and the next day it looks like you haven't touched it in a year, especially if the wind has been blowing.  I HATE housework, always have; and I'm ashamed to admit it hasn't improved since I've retired.  Better things to do.


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## debodun

2 -4. I was more diligent about cleaning when mom was alive. I always started early in December and REALLY cleaned to get it good before Christmas. I would also vacuum every Friday. Like many responders here, I have pets (2 cats) that are constantly leaving me little surprises for me on the carpet (which end they come out of is anyone's guess). Can't get new carpet until they go to the big catnip patch in the sky or they'd ruin it in a week or two. I really need new carpet because when my mom was here, we kept 11 cats between us and they weren't always fastidious where they relieved themselves despite having numerous litter boxes. There is probably gallons seeped into the carpeting. Some people that come inside feel they have to mention the "cat odor"; one woman even went into anaphylactic shock! I guess I'm so used to it, I don't notice. It's been at least 5 years since I dusted my knickknacks (and I have A LOT). Now that I'm much older, cleaning just doesn't seem productive anymore, things only get dusty again. I limit my vacuuming to jubefore I have estate sales.


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## Ameriscot

I hate to dust. We have this shiny black TV table that attracts dust. It is dusty 5 minutes after dusting. My smartas* husband likes to write in the dust.


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## Lon

Heating and Air Conditioning ducts are the major cause of dust in your homes. Clean the vents and have the ducts professionally cleaned. This will not only reduce dust but also reduce allergy symptoms.


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## applecruncher

8.5 - I'm a neatfreak and I cannot stand clutter or unpleasant smells of any kind....ugh. Everything must be in it's place. My cat is also a neatfreak so that works out well.


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## Butterfly

Here in the desert we have so much dust blowing around it doesn't much matter how often you dust -- the minute you open the door, whoosh! in comes some more.


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## oldman

Lon said:


> Heating and Air Conditioning ducts are the major cause of dust in your homes. Clean the vents and have the ducts professionally cleaned. This will not only reduce dust but also reduce allergy symptoms.



I agree. We also had our's sprayed with an anti-bacterial spray. As for cleaning, well, we have a lady that comes in once a week and cleans, except changing the bedroom linens. My wife has a thing about someone touching her linens.


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## Karen99

My house is usually about a 7 but sometimes I might make an 8.  I am not obsessive about housework and my husband does most of the laundry and a few other chores.  He absolutely does not cook but he will help with cleanup.  I just don't like a stranger cleaning my house but who knows...I might change my mind if circumstances change.


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## fureverywhere

Want an inspiration to do some deep cleaning??? I came home and my son came over with a funny look on his face..." Um, Levon was playing with something earlier and it looked too lifelike to be a cat toy...I took it away and got rid of it...but poor Mr Mouse had no head...be on the lookout". EEEEEEEEEK

For the record we have six cats, and a bit of a mouse problem...lazy beasts...not to mention the gonads on those mice...to set up housekeeping in a house of six cats and two huge dogs...


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## Shalimar

I grew up in house immaculate. I am surprised I wasn't encased in Saran wrap. Eek. I want a home, not a monument to OCD.


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## Cookie

I must confess, my home is not at all clean at the moment.  Crumbs on the kitchen counter, fridge needs cleaning, bathroom needs scrubbing, windows need washing, dust dust dust dust everywhere ....... Oy Vay!  Thank god my mother is not alive to see this mess. The shame, the shame!  Perhaps I should call in the troops at Molly Maid to help.


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## Shalimar

Cookie, have some wine, and forget about housework for another day!


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## Kadee

My new stick vacumn cleaner has a soft dusting tool I have been using it to get rid of ever ending crumbs on the breakfast bar ( I measured the BB yesterday to get a quote to replace to top) it's 3.3 mtrs long 
Anyway after vacuuming the top ,and what other dust I can see ,without putting my glasses on .....I just put the long attachment on and vacumn the floor it's cordless makes my jobs so  much easier


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## Warrigal

Quotes on housecleaning



> Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing.  —Phyllis Diller
> 
> My second favorite household chore is ironing.  My first being hitting my head on the top bunk bed until I faint.  —Erma Bombeck
> 
> I'm not going to vacuum until Sears makes one you can ride on. —Roseanne Barr
> 
> My idea of housework is to sweep the room with a glance. —Erma Bombeck
> 
> You don't get anything clean without getting something else dirty. —Cecil Baxter
> 
> When it comes to housework the one thing no book of household management can ever tell you is how to begin.  Or maybe I mean why. —Katharine Whitehorn
> 
> My idea of superwoman is someone who scrubs her own floors. —Bette Midler
> 
> Few tasks are more like the torture of Sisyphus than housework, with its endless repetition:  the clean becomes soiled, the soiled is made clean, over and over, day after day. —Simone de Beauvoir
> 
> I am never five minutes into stripping the clutter from my life before I start running into the clutter that is my life. —Robert Brault
> 
> I always clean before the cleaning lady comes. If not, when I come home, I can't find anything. Cleaning ladies are always hiding things you leave out. —Celia Cruz
> 
> I have sporadic OCD cleaning moments around the house. But then I get lazy and I'm cured. It's a very inconsistent personality trait. —Chris Hemsworth
> 
> A bright person can always think of something better to do than housework. —Ruby Lou Barnhill
> 
> At worst, a house unkept cannot be so distressing as a life unlived. —Rose Macaulay
> 
> Dust is a protective coating for fine furniture. —Mario Buatta
> 
> For a woman to get a rewarding sense of total creation by way of the multiple monotonous chores that are her daily lot would be as irrational as for an assembly line worker to rejoice that he had created an automobile because he tightened a bolt. —Edith Mendel Stern
> 
> Have you ever taken anything out of the clothes basket because it had become, relatively, the cleaner thing? —Katherine Whitehorn
> 
> Housekeeping ain't no joke. —Louisa May Alcott
> 
> Housework can't kill you, but why take a chance? —Phyllis Diller
> 
> Housekeeping is like being caught in a revolving door. —Marcelene Cox
> 
> Housework, if you do it right, can kill you. —Erma Bombeck
> 
> Housework is a treadmill from futility to oblivion with stop-offs at tedium and counter productivity. —Erma Bombeck
> 
> Housework is what a woman does that nobody notices unless she hasn't done it. —Evan Esar
> 
> If your house is really a mess and a stranger comes to the door, greet him with, "Who could have done this? We have no enemies." —Phyllis Diller
> 
> I'm eighteen years behind in my ironing. There's no use doing it now, it doesn't fit anybody I know. —Phyllis Diller
> 
> I hate housework. You make the beds, you wash the dishes and six months later you have to start all over again. —Joan Rivers
> 
> I make no secret of the fact that I would rather lie on a sofa than sweep beneath it. But you have to be efficient if you're going to be lazy. —Shirley Conran
> 
> My favorite way of getting out of doing chores is by acting like I'm asleep. But it never works. —Devon Werkheiser
> 
> Nature abhors a vacuum. And so do I. —Anne Gibbons
> 
> One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries. —A.A. Milne


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## fureverywhere

Cookie, have some wine, and forget about housework for another day! 

Pass the bottle, my parents house was so clean you could eat off the floors. Our creatures get fleas we do what we can. Once, just once my mother's cat got fleas. They almost gutted the house...new carpet and half the furniture replaced plus an exterminator and vet treatment.


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## debodun

Cookie said:


> I must confess, my home is not at all clean at the moment.  Crumbs on the kitchen counter, fridge needs cleaning, bathroom needs scrubbing, windows need washing, dust dust dust dust everywhere ....... Oy Vay!  Thank god my mother is not alive to see this mess. The shame, the shame!



I hear ya, Cookie!


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## Aunt Marg

9.9 (I'm a fulltime homemaker).

We enjoy company and welcome people into our home with open arms.

Even when my kids were babies, I washed floors daily. Couldn't stand the thought of dirty floors with them dropping their soothers and bottles on the floor, then picking them up and putting them back in their mouths, not to mention, they spent their days crawling and rolling around on the floor, so I was at it all the time.


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## debodun

I use a lot of body powder and that stuff is insidious. It is carried through the air and settles on and in everything upstairs, even the VCR. Makes the whole house look dusty. It's difficult to clean up and even if I do, a few days accumulation and it's back to square one.


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## OneEyedDiva

LIke @Butterfly, mine varies. Certainly wouldn't want to go below a 5.  I don't know about today; I need to get to work in here. I love the description of your scale.  LOL


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## Aunt Marg

debodun said:


> I use a lot of body powder and that stuff is insidious. It is carried through the air and settles on and in everything upstairs, even the VCR. Makes the whole house look dusty. It's difficult to clean up and even if I do, a few days accumulation and it's back to square one.


ROFLMAO!

Just how much is your definition of "a lot", Deb? 

You're supposed to just dust yourself with it, not bath in it.


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## debodun

Aunt Marg said:


> Just how much is your definition of "a lot", Deb?
> 
> You're supposed to just dust yourself with it, not bath in it.


 No matter how little, it still invasive. This is a countertop in the bathroom.


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## Aunt Marg

debodun said:


> No matter how little, it still invasive. This is a countertop in the bathroom.
> 
> View attachment 138753


Holy smokes!

I remember my mom always used hairspray, how she loved her hairspray, anyhow, the bathroom counter had a permanent lacquer-like film all over it, because of all the spraying she did.


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## debodun

That white coating is all dusting powder - about a week's worth and I am standing about 5 feet away from that counter when I apply it.


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## Aunt Marg

debodun said:


> That white coating is all dusting powder - about a week's worth and I am standing about 5 feet away from that counter when I apply it.


That's crazy.


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## debodun

Can you elaborate on "crazy"?


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## Aunt Marg

debodun said:


> Can you elaborate on "crazy"?


Just crazy how it dusts everything thoroughly.


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## debodun

That's good for some places, not for others.


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## Kathleen’s Place

I require two weeks notice for overnight guests, but only one week for drop in’s . Probably I would say an 8. It’s clean but the everyday clutter drives me nuts. Obviously not nuts enough to do anything about it.


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## Kathleen’s Place

Lon said:


> 9 1/2   They don't call me Mr "Tidy Bowel" for nothing


Dear god but I hope that was a typo!!!


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## Aunt Marg

Kathleen’s Place said:


> I require two weeks notice for overnight guests, but only one week for drop in’s . Probably I would say an 8. It’s clean but the everyday clutter drives me nuts. Obviously not nuts enough to do anything about it.


Me, too, Kathleen... clutter and disorganization, two things that drive me absolutely batty!


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## Remy

Maybe a 5. I do need to improve.


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## Ken N Tx




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