How Do People Maintain A "perfect Home"?

An ever clean, spotless home is a myth! I have only seen that in movies, in model homes and in magazines!

I have wondered & struggled with that forever & still home is only ‘reasonably’ clean all the time. If the home is ‘perfect’, the lady of the house won’t be as she will look like a kaamwali working 24 *7 Unachievable target I say!

 

Have you visited the same home without any notice? You may get a different picture. I think it's possible if someone is there to clean home full time. With kids and work it is not possible to maintain a spotless home without help. Do whatever you can do and don't compare.

 

Ankita, it takes a lot of time and combined effort off course !
My parents were very disciplined about keeping the house always clean. When we were young, we were often taught to place things right and keep everything clean .
It was difficult but my parents worked really hard because both were working and had little time to get hold of things at home .

1. My mom always made sure she cleaned kitchen end of the day after cooking . She did not make mess while cooking . Everything in kitchen had particular place.She was very particular about cleaning slabs everyday .

2. My dad took care of the rest . Washing clothes to everything else . Sundays he used to wash all of our uniforms , bed sheets , pillow covers , clean bathroom and toilet . Dust parts of house each week.

3. We were very disciplined to keep everything at the right place else definitely punished.Slowly they started getting us involved in the cleaning activity as we grew up.

It definitely takes some effort to keep house neat n intact . You can't run a one man show. You have to work it out as a family.

 

Anika, also I would like to differentiate here between ‘clean’ & ‘organized’. I personally think it’s easier to keep house clean (floors, glass and generally dust free) all the time but organized not so much. Being organized all the time would entail running after kids to keep sorting their toys & cleaning their mess all day, following your Dh to make sure you clean up his messes (or deal with the headache of training him), keeping kitchen sorted all the time (how does one cook then?) .. to me the bigger challenge is keeping house organized at all times.

 

My parents together wanted a neat n clean home. It was more of a manual work those days . Even today, they do not rely on maid they do everything on their own including washing clothes. Once you are disciplined and get used to there is no escaping is what my dad says!

 

If everyone in home, work as a team, then it is possible. But doing every thing alone everyday will not bring the same result especially when you have kids. Or hire some to clean home. I get time for detailed cleaning only in weekends. Some people like cleaning all the time. I don't have that much time or help in usa. Even though I prefer a spotless home, i dint like cleaning process, but I like cooking. So for me its lot of effort from my side. But I try to maintain neatness as much I can.

 

My SIL is like that!!! She will be in my house until 4'o clock and leave at 4.15 saying that she is expecting guests at 5. :-o

While me, I need at least a 24 hour notice for guests so that I can at least hide the clutter in the closets, or depending on who the guest is, figure out which rooms I will need to clean! It definitely comes from upbringing. Though my husband and SIL grew up in the same house, I think my SIL got the clean house bug from her husband. He is very meticulous and is the kind who will immediately unpack, immediately unload groceries, immediately clean up after a party, immediately put away the dishes etc. So I think it helps if at least one spouse is like that, because once you are used to a clean and organized space, it is easy to maintain it (at least that is what she says!!)

While my husband and I are procrastinators of the worst kind!! We're both not that great at housekeeping and it definitely shows. Once when my husband was traveling and the kids did not have any classes in the evening, I decided to clear out one of the rooms and asked my 7 yr old to get the broom. My 3 yr old immediately asked "amma, who is coming to our home?", and that is how I know it starts from childhood, being organized!!