Inter-cultural question on, ahem, cleaning :-)

[Nettio]

When we moved from California to Colorado, I just remember being amazed at how big the houses were here. Basements are really rare in CA but they were in almost every house we looked at here. I just remember looking at 3 bedroom houses that had almost double the space we thought because of the giant basements and thinking that a) we had no where near enough furniture to use this and b) holy cow would it take forever to clean. :blink:

We ended up with a 1500 sqft townhouse with no basement instead. It's the perfect size for us and since it's just me here right now, I just clean when things start to annoy me. But for the most part it stays pretty clean.

 

[rach3975]

We have 1700 sq ft, and I can't keep it clean. The daily neccessities (laundry, cooking, cleaning the kitchen, straightening up, etc) eat up all of the time I have to devote to the house. One of these days, when the kids are older and able to be a help (or at least not a hindrance) maybe I'll manage it.

 

[kristine]

We live in Europe, so I'm not sure I'm qualified to answer But we live in a 2100 square feet house (lots of space and not many people in Norway), and I was last in the que when the housewife genes were handed out.. What works for me is that I have assigned each of the most used rooms in the house to each own day of the week (monday is kitchen, tuesday is bathrooms, wednesday is livingroom etc), and I spend 20-30 minutes cleaning that room in the evening. Then I spend 10 minutes picking stuff up when I get home from work, and 10 minutes before bed. This pretty much works out, and cleaning is a lot more manageble this way instead of doing it all at the weekend (for me anyway). Downstairs is a mess though, but noone ever goes down there I will get that organised too though, eventually..

 

[krystalhartley]

nearly 4000 sqft here, too. I loathe cleaning, and we are looking at getting a housekeeper to help with floors (the tiled areas downstairs) and bathrooms (my least favorite tasks). And over the last year or so, I feel like I can never get caught up on laundry...and I used to be so good with it. Our family room is VERY lived in, too. I have no idea how it gets so messy.

 

[junebug]

I have come to the conclusion that my small 1100 sq ft. house will not be truly clean and uncluttered until the kids are older. my seven year old isn't too bad but the younger two (3 and 4) are HUGE mess makers. not just in their room, oh no they take their messes all over the house! someday we'll have a bigger house. and then i think it'll be easier cause i 'll have more places for things. we don't have big closets here or really a lot of storage places and we have a lot of stuff, lol.

but i did notice when we were in Germany that the house were small and cute. i saw this show that had a single mother of two in Sweden or Norway and her apartment was SOOOOO TINY!! it was unbelievable! plus it had a lot of glass and white and stainless steel. with my kids it would have been torn up. hers was spotless!

 

[Kiki]

Oh, and here's a hint, if you get a washcloth wet and throw it in the dryer with the wrinkled items it helps to "steam" out the wrinkles. LOL.

That's my trick too. Two words...permanent press.

We are currently in a 1200 sq ft apartment and are moving to a 1700 sq ft townhouse. It's just me, hubby and the pets. I just cannot keep everything clean in the apartment now because hubby is a book hoarder, and loves his tools and woodworking and crafts and doesn't have a place for them. I can keep the bathroom and kitchen clean if I don't have to unclutter elsewhere. But I'll come home and find plants in the sink (he collects plants like bonsai and orchids) or find dust and woodchips on the diningroom table. Very annoying.

But in our new place we have a basement (semi-finished) and a garage for DH's toys and an office for me, and a spare bedroom too. I think it will be much easier for me to manage since everything will finally have its own space.