[ladykemma2]

spinoff from another thread: http://www.frugalvillage.com/forums/general-chat/140538-how-do-i-help-friend.html

how did you learn housekeeping?

to some people it comes naturally, to some it has to be taught.

 

[heartofmine]

My mother always was and is still at almost 70 with some major health issues a meticulous house keeper and I learned from her. I had to step up as a young teen and do a lot of it myself when my mom was very ill. Cook, clean, do laundry on a ringer type machine. I like a clean home. Messy, dirty, cluttered up would drive me crazy.

 

[fernykins]

My mother went over board with cleaning. She did not think school was important( she went to the 8th grade) We were always cleaning. I made up my mind I wasn't going to be like her. I spent more time with my kids doing homework and playing. I am decluttering but at my speed. Its not like it won't be there tomorrow.
Fern

 

[ladykemma2]

my mother taught me.

and then i taught myself as an adult.

after i became an adult and began to care about myself and my surroundings-- somehow in my 20s it just didn't matter if it were a rental or student apartment. i lived like a slob. then we bought a home and everything changed.

i am a reformed slob. and cleanliness/organization doesn't come naturally to me. as an adult i had to learn. i learned from sandra felton's books Messies Anonymous, and another called confessions of an organized housekeeper. i looked up housewife skills on the internet and studied old books from the 30s, 40s, and 50s.

i learned more efficient ways of cleaning from the speed cleaning books (author?).

i bounce beween a daily cleaning schedule and do it all on saturdays.

 

[McD]

I am learning as I go. My mother is not much of a housekeeper and I tend to put more emphasis on spending time with the kiddos versus cleaning.

I'm getting into a daily routine, which is helpful. Good idea about the books from the 30's-50's, kemma.

 

[TigerGirl1226]

I really haven't learned, but I'm trying. I am doing FlyLady and it's working for me so far.

 

[pollypurebred39]

Well my Mom has an OCD with cleaning, I learned how EVERYTHING MUST be cleaned. There was never a reprieve as a child. It did not make me feel warm and fuzzy about housekeeping, but since clutter and dirt make me feel kind of crazy, I clean and organize.

I found it much harder when I added kid's & hubby messes to the mix because housework was ALWAYS shared growing up. I tried to teach my boys and husband to at least be helpful by keeping their things picked up and by trying to teach them to do chores. But the truth is my Mom was so crazy about housekeeping as a kid I just did not have the heart to force anything with my guys. The last thing I wanted to become was my Mother. So I mostly do it all myself and am EXTREMELY grateful if I get assistance. I do try to encourage them, but it rarely brings real help into fruition.

It all became so overwhelming that I developed a index card system that helped me a great deal as the kids were growing up. I've abandoned the system years ago, but I've been thinking on bringing it back after I get this house completely decluttered. I've spent years cleaning around everyone else's clutter, making spaces for their clutter. Frankly that really was the worse thing I could have done because it never taught them that they must reign it in. But like I said, I never wanted my kids to grow up being miserable about housekeeping like I did. Whoever my boys marry are going to have to rule the housekeeping roost with an iron fist or be willing to clean up after them like I have all these years. I plan on apologizing to my future DIL's on that front.

I myself, look forward to the day where the only person I have to pick up after besides myself is my husband.

 

[Dancing Lotus]

My mother to this days keeps a meticulous house. She never made us kids do any of it, we just came home from school and it was done.I must have thought a magic cleaning fairy did it because the first few years out on my own my house was always a mess. Being I grew up in a clean environment I soon learned I wasn't comfortable in a mess and figured it out.

 

[rudypoo98]

My mom wasn't the best housekeeper except in the kitchen.She loved to cook and bake ,she would never cook in a dirty kitchen.I used to like to clean house but I'm not as particular as I used to be.I let grandkids get away with more than I ever did their mom.I used to clean everyday but have slowed down on it now ,but I also won't cook in a dirty kitchen.

 

[frugalfranny]

I guess it came naturally..........when you are raised by the
'original' Mrs. Clean.........you learn by example.

I didn't have to do much cleaning inside the house (had to help with meals) except keep my own room clean............and I did.....found that I liked it that way.
Then this followed when I left home.

Though I have relaxed on it some.........used to be just
as fanatical as my mother.

 

[Syn D]

Not from my parents.. Growing up my sisters had to clean my room, I never had to lift a finger.. I started having to clean around 17 y.o (first time on my own), but wasn't great at it.. It took me yearsss to become a semi-susie homemaker.. I didn't have stacks of dirty dishes in the sink, piles of dirty clothes, and food got thrown away, but I wouldn't say house was clean clean, it was just picked up..

About 7 years ago when we owned a business, my way of cleaning totally changed and now I can't handle stuff out of place ~ on the floor, counters, etc... It wouldn't pass the white glove test, but if anyone came in my house and did that, they would get kicked out anyway

 

[Hamada]

I learned from my mother. She had a "german" approach to cleaning. Everything had to be cleaned a certain way. Growing up everyone cleaned their own room and then the rest of the house. This also included seasonal cleaning and family cleaning of the basement and porch. I always hated cleaning. Still loath the fact that I have to clean.

I try hard to keep a clean house and clean on certain days of the week. I enjoy a tidy home. If my place is unorganized I start to feel uneasy and unsettled.

 

[Darlene]

I think I just learned as I went. I'm not super clean but I'm not a slob either. What works for me is picking up daily and doing a bigger clean once a week & a super duper clean one room at a time top to bottom a couple times a year. If you spot clean and multi task as you wait for this & that (like washing some dishes while your pot boils for water or pick things up while on phone etc.) things just get done and you don't feel overwhelmed.
I often crank up the tunes and cleaning can be fun, lol. :loop:

 

[onencgirl]

Saturday mornings were for cleaning growing up. If your 'chores'
weren't done by noon you didn't get to go to town. We lived five miles from town so the weekly trip was a treat.

 

[gapeach]

I didn't grow up in a super neat house but it was usually picked up. Once I got out on my own my housekeeping skills developed into a neat and organized home. It's usually company ready but not always spotless. I still like to enjoy life!

 

[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.