Selfsufficientish.com

Ah, but you don't understand - my floor doesn't LOOK dirty! I have tiles that look like Stoney's (saw a piccy on his blog) and apart from the odd splot which I wipe up, the floor looks as clean as if it was...... clean. There is no access to outdoors direct from the kitchen either - we have a mud room, so no muddy pawprints either.

My house is quite tidy though as I don't like clutter.

Now, clutter's what lets me down. I never like to put anything away unless I can put it away 'properly', which invariably involves a big sort-out that I never seem to have time for. Since I haven't unpacked all my 'official' letters, documents etc since we moved in , I don't have anywhere to file things, so there's currently a pile of bits of paper on my table that's getting bigger and bigger....

I with you MMM!

I have Indian slate on my floor, previous owners paid for it, and it if I were to wash it it wouldn't look any different and still actually be dirty. I do run 'henry the vacuum' over it and wash it very occasionally

Ina, real lino! You would definitely need to win the lottery to get that these days.

We're scruffs. Thank goodness my mum and dad drop by occasionally, otherwise the place'd never get cleaned!! Only joking. However I believe strongly that living is more important than cleaning. Saying that, generally our house is pretty clean - with 4 dogs 3 cats and 1 child it doesn't stay that way very long though.

I really do believe that if you have kids around, being with them (even if that means Josh helping me to clean the floor or something) is more important than putting the paperwork away.

I wouldn't eat off our floor though!

i think I need indian slate! We've got this awful cheap nasty laminate stuff in our kitchen. It shows every mark and is worse than an ice rink to walk upon when it's wet. It's also chipped in many places now.

We didn't install it - it was in the house when we moved in. In the rest of the house we've got bamboo flooring and that's much easier to cope with and feels nicer underfoot too.

Housework has very much taken a back seat since I hurt my neck - I can't do half the stuff I used to be able to do.

I like having a clean and tidy house too. I think looking after what you own is part of the selfsuffientish philosohy because you're not having to replace your belongings. I'm not fanatical about cleaning but it all gets done somehow.

Andy, you can lightly clean carpet with bicarb. Check out your carpet and see if there are any stains. These will need spot treatment with soap, water and a brush. Try not to get the carpet too wet and dry the spot with a towel before you go on to the bicarb. When the carpet is dry, sprinkle the bicarb over the carpet. Leave it in for a day, then vacuum it off.

I did finally wash my kitchen floor! What was interesting is that the water was no more dirty after 4 months of not being washed than it would have been if I'd washed it as normal, about once a month!

I miss our old landlady, she was lovely. left us alone until we needed something and was prompt about getting stuff fixed... our new agents were total buggers until james started quoting snippets from the landlord and tenants act at them. funnily enough, they're really nice now. the place was a state when we moved in though.

we too will be having inspections and it is an incentive to be tidy-ish. I'm not a good housewife at all (tea can vouch for that) and james tends to keep the house going!!!

haha murphy's law... my house had been pretty good until exams drew near and drowned house work out... then I come home to find that some friends had dropped around and had left a note saying they were worried about me because my curtains had been shut (early in the afternoon ) and through the kitchen window by the back door they had seen massive piles of dirty dishes and rubbish and clutter and unfolded washing. Now it's all tidy and clean again I bet they won't visit for another month or two lol.

Worried about you in that you had turned into a complete slut or worried in case you were dead?

Millymollymandy wrote:Worried about you in that you had turned into a complete slut or worried in case you were dead?

Lol in NZ slut means a very promiscuous woman (woah that's great spelling). Probably that I'd lost my will to keep up with the Joneses (ie them... two adults plus three kids to keep things tidy... their house is immaculate I'm a full time student and solo mum to a human tornado... my house gets messy get over it ).

Yep slut means that here too but also means slovenly!

The friends with the immaculate house came to visit a few weeks ago and the wife made a few comments along the lines of 'wow you can see the bench and the floors.' My come back was along the lines of 'well now that I'm not studying full time, not walking backwards and forwards across town X amount of times a day, not helping to care for my dying father, and the human tornado has learnt to put rubbish in the bins and plates etc in the sink, it's amazing how easy it is to find time to keep the house tidy and clean' . That shut her up.

A house should be clean enough to be healthy and dirty enough to be happy

I keep waiting for a rainy day as an excuse to do some cleaning but it hasn't rained in ages so I just have to keep working in the garden.

What a shame!

getting there wrote:haha murphy's law... my house had been pretty good until exams drew near and drowned house work out... then I come home to find that some friends had dropped around and had left a note saying they were worried about me because my curtains had been shut (early in the afternoon ) and through the kitchen window by the back door they had seen massive piles of dirty dishes and rubbish and clutter and unfolded washing. Now it's all tidy and clean again I bet they won't visit for another month or two lol.

Doesn't that always happen!

When the house is organised and tidy no one calls, when it's a tip suddenly the world descends on you!