I’m Not Cooking Dinner Tonight.
I’ve spent the last four hours cleaning every bathroom in our house and I’ve learned one thing.
If I ever have a son, I might die because I don’t think I can handle the mess of two males using a bathroom. And Mr. How Sweet is a neat freak. Remember when he got MRSA back in January? Yeah, well I’m such a warm, loving and kind wife that I banished him to another bathroom to shower so we didn’t have to share. He’s been there ever since. It’s been kind of nice… but deep cleaning two showers is not nice. I cleaned all day and all I have to show for it?
A kitchen that is still a mess. At least the dishwasher is full.
[What is your best tip for keeping your house (especially bathrooms!) clean? Have a routine? Please share. And yes, I’ve already been to flylady.]
70 Comments on “I’m Not Cooking Dinner Tonight.”
Best thing that ever happened to me: my fiance declared that he was allergic to our dogs (he does have a history of being mildly allergic) but that it only bothered him when the house got really dirty. After last summer’s lack of rain, our two dogs really did a number on the house and I just couldn’t keep up. So I convinced him that I needed help – and we found a housekeeper from an ad in the local paper. She agreed to come every other week and clean our 1900 sq ft, 4 bedroom, 2 bath house for $50!!! I would gladly pay $100 a month to not clean my house. She even cleans the microwave – THE MICROWAVE FOR GOD’S SAKE!
You need to convince Mr. How Sweet to hire a housekeeper ASAP, it will be the best money you ever spend.
PS – the less time you spend cleaning, the more time you can spend cooking.. remind him of that
And if you can’t get a cleaning lady (you really should though) you need to buy kaboom mold and mildew. A spray and walk away that actually works… (does streak a bit if you have shower walls and not tile).
How many bathrooms do you have?
I agree with Mandy…if you can afford it hire someone to clean for you bi-weekly. I cleaned my home myself for years and years (even after my children were born), but finally decided several years ago to hire someone to help. It is the best thing I ever did! It is so nice to have the whole house clean at once! My cleaning ladies also wash and change the sheets and wash the towels. They even wash and fold my children’s laundry while they are here. I’m telling you…it will change your life! Just think- you would have more time to write and concoct more amazing recipes! :-)
I have a sponge in my shower that I use to wipe it down every time I shower. I’ve never had to really “scrub” my shower by doing this one small chore that takes one minute every day. Once a month maybe I’ll wipe the shower floor with bleach.
I hate to even admit this, but I hate cleaning so much, but enjoy a clean home, that I got a cleaning lady to come every other week. It allows us more time to do the things we love, we argue less about dirty spaces, and it’s fairly inexpensive. We just sacrifice going out to dinner 1x per week. Our marriage is better for it – plus this woman can clean WAY better than I ever could! She uses her own products too which is an added bonus!
LOL! Thought I was the only one with this problem of killing myself off cleaning the bathrm vs washing the dishes. HMMMMM! No choice. Not lucky to have a dishwasher,but think they are rare over here. The bathroom, well, since the whole bathroom is the shower stall, and it has an open drain on the floor. I found that using a regular broom, nylon bristles, makes short the work of scrubing the floor. Some water, some scrubing powder, more water, CLEAN Floor. The sink and commode are still done the same way, no easy trick there. I have two men, my hubby and my 10yr. old son. MESS, mess, mess…and they argue how neat they are. Well, there not.
Good luck with your Mr. I will say a prayer for you and a quick clean bathroom.
Frankly, the only way i keep my kitchen clean is to just clean as I go. If I use a spoon to stir something, immediately rinse it off and put it back into the drawer. If I use the spatula, same. And if I spill something, I wipe it up. That’s really the only way I can keep it clean enought to where I’m not going crazy (since my hubs doesn’t understand that if a dish is dirty, you should OPEN the dishwasher and put it in there!).
But I can’t vouch for my bathroom…cause just….yea….it’s bad….I scrub the shower maybe once a month…which sounds super gross, but we seem to get by lol. I do however attempt to use some shower spray everytime I get out of the shower, so I think that helps…but yea.
I live with two people terribly messy. I’ve lost patience several times with this, but they just do not care about cleanliness and hygiene. I learned to do my part and keep my environment clean and try to live with it …
All I have is a husband and 2 large dogs and I can’t seem to keep my house clean no matter how hard I try! If you learn any secrets in response to this post, please make sure you share :-) A cleaning fairy is sounding pretty darn good to me!
I’m all about routines to keep things up. Jon and I “keep up” in our bathrooms (we don’t share either…both of us hate sharing bathrooms), then deep clean our bathrooms once a week.
Try the Mr. Clean magic erase marker. I used to clean my bathtub like once every six months (i know, i know… disgusting! But I hated doing the job *that* much.) That thing makes cleaning the tub a BREEZE! I’m literally done in like 5-10 minutes. Now I don’t mind cleaning the tub monthly… changed my life.
You just gotta prioritize. I keep the common areas cleanest, so the kitchen gets cleaned once or twice a day but the bathrooms, not so much. My husband and I are pretty clean so the bathroom really only gets clean-cleaned about once every two weeks, and he does it. I’m up to my eyeballs in laundry, diapers, and vacuuming crumbs up off of the floor.
If a kid pees on the floor, obviously that has to be cleaned up before the dishes are done; if the dishes are piled up then the bathroom can wait, etc. etc. Also take advantage of your energy bursts! If you feel like running a marathon, take advantage and clean your house, but don’t beat yourself up when you don’t feel like it :)
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Move into a place with only one bathroom. Get rid of half of the stuff in your kitchen that you probably don’t really NEED need. That’s half of your work taken care of right there.