how did you learn housekeeping?

[greekislandgirl]

My mother has never been into housekeeping because the house is a big farmhouse on a dirt road, constantly getting dust everywhere from the road, and she has FAR too much to do outside the house (23 acres) that when she is inside the house, if she's not cooking, she doesn't want to be working.

I pretty much figured out all of it by myself. I was the MOST messy kid you can imagine. My room literally looked like a tornado hit it, all the time, and my mom didn't care or make me pick it up. I had to do my own laundry since I was 8 or so, though, which is pretty rare as I understand it (although at the time I guess I thought it made sense for everyone to wash their own clothes.)

Now I am VERY organized to the point of obsessive but I am not so on top of the cleaning. I tend to do it in spurts where I will do all the stuff I don't do often like the windows and the tile grout and behind the stove etc all together rather than regularly. I tend to keep things pretty clean in a general sense and I cannot cook in a kitchen that's not sparkling. DH does the bathroom and the floors. I guess I figured stuff out by myself? I never read any books. I could be a better housekeeper for sure.

[wjcalderon]

I think I was born with an overactive cleaning "gene".
When I was young, I kept my room spotless and super neat.
My sister, on the other hand, had such a messy room that one year my mother hid my father's Christmas present under a pile of "stuff" in her room - it was a recliner!
Once I moved out on my own, my mother commented that my apartment looked like nobody lived there.
I've relaxed a lot over the years, but I still like a neat, clean house.

[monkeywrangler71]

I never did any chores growing up, my mother did everything at our house. I got a job at a maid service when I was 18 and was given formal training in how to clean everything. I got fired after about three weeks for being too slow , but by then I'd learned everything I needed to know, and speed doesn't matter at your own house.

Everything I've learned since then has been from the Internet.

[frugal is fun]

My mother kept a moderately clean house, I remember her always dust mopping the floor. I didn't have regular chores but it was always my job to polish the furniture before holidays. That's really the only time I can remember helping my mother clean house.

My parents were HUGE readers so our living room and dining room table were always cluttered with newspapers and books and it drove me crazy!

I basically taught myself to clean when I had my first apartment. I wanted everything to be perfect!

[annymoll]

I learned from Mom. There was a time and place for everything. We spent time together cleaning and doing chores( our own bedrooms,dishes, sweeping and vaccuming etc.),time on homework and fun time as well. There was not an excuse for lack in any area because we had time to do the things we wanted and needed to do.I did the same with my own kids, although we have a housekeeper.

[mom+2children]

I learned to clean by doing chores.

[Debbie-cat]

I didn't grow up in a spotless house but I did have cleaning chores each Saturday. My home now isn't spotless but picked up. I detest clutter and garbage. It would be really clean if my DH wasn't such a slob!