Fun Stuff
Household tasks that are..... no fun at all.
And avoiding them for as long as possible.
Like most people I do my own house work. I know several people who have the financial means to pay someone to help them with that, and/or others who find a way because physically they can no longer complete some of these tasks. No one in my family or in my current circle of friends has a lifestyle where attending to household chores is of no concern, but completely handled by paid staff. Once upon a time life took me overseas for a number of months, where hiring locals to keep house was expected. Many of them depended upon the income so it was the right thing to do. For over two years I actually had nice nails! But I digress.
I'm grateful to be able to keep up my own house, and I like a reasonably clean one. Doing laundry, dusting,vacuuming, even keeping up the bathrooms are no problem. The refrigerator cleanup requires a bit of a pep talk, as does the little bit of ironing my wardrobe requires. There's no reasonable explanation for why I'm more inclined to do some jobs as they need it, but avoid getting to others.
It's always been that way. As girls my sister and I had our chores to do. Fortunately our preferences were not the same. She didn't mind ironing or dusting, I was happier to tackle the vacuum cleaner and the bathrooms. It was a harmonious arrangement. But she doesn't live with me. (She would say, thank the heavens for that!)
We couldn't have been unique. Everyone must have household duties they don't mind, and others they do. If a householder hates all housework, period, she or he has a problem. That's their problem.
My big problem is the oven. I don't have a self-cleaning oven. It is supposed to have a steam clean feature, but that's a joke. It does nothing for grease buildup. So, every so often cleaning the oven must be done. Once it was getting so bad my husband called my attention to it. Now that's bad.
In the spring the oven wasn't that dirty and the summer was too hot. Now it's cooling off. It can't be put off much longer. But we have some outside painting that needs to be done this week, so that comes first. I'd rather do that. The kitchen needs to be well ventilated before spraying oven cleaner. I wonder what essential task before the cold weather sets in can give me an excuse for waiting another week or two?
Housework never ends.
ReplyDeleteI grew up with maids, as did my husband, as our mothers did not want to clean their own homes. Fortunately, the maid we had through most of our childhood taught me a few things about cleaning, and ironing, and I learned more working at a daycare center in high school, where the last task each day was cleaning EVERYTHING, including parts of the bathroom I'd never thought about.
As a result, I'm very picky. My husband hired a cleaner when we got married, and at first I loved having someone else do the work. Of course, I still had to clear the clutter before she came, or she wouldn't be able to get to things to clean them. I was amazed at how much faster she could clean the house than I could, until, little by little, I caught on to her shortcuts and realized how much was never getting cleaned. After numerous requests that she clean the entire shower floor and the walls, or take the time to pick things up to dust surfaces entirely, or change the water in the mop bucket instead of trying to do the entire house with one quarter-filled bucket, I let her go.
After two back injuries, though, I just can't do it. And my husband, who means well and wants to help, thinks sweeping/vacuuming and mopping the floors once in three months is sufficient. I don't. It never occurs to him to wash the cabinet doors, or the baseboards, or the outside of the toilet bowl, much less behind it. So, he has finally agreed that we need to hire someone.
And then he started worrying that an outside helper would increase our risk of catching the coronavirus. So, we're back to where we have been.
As far as preferences, we have our own -- as did my mother and I and my sister and I. Actually, they would prefer to clean nothing at all. I actually like polishing silver, cleaning windows, and generally making things sparkle. I'm not a fan of polishing brass. I hate ironing tablecloths, but I don't mind ironing clothes.
And the oven? I have self-cleaning ones, but the only one that really cleaned itself was my GE Monogram. All the rest need help. And it's too hot in the Deep South to let the oven run at more than 500 degrees for five hours on the self-cleaning cycle for at least eight months of the year, which means that I don't clean it like I should. Mine is disgusting right now. I can't wait for cooler weather.
I have two friends who enjoy house cleaning. So they are out there! For myself,
DeleteI simply like the results.
My oven has a steam cleaner which as you say is a joke. Does your oven have a self-clean? Mine does. I used this feature in my former oven and it worked great. The high heat burnt all the dirt off. Although the glass window has to be clean separately and the racks have to be taken out and cleaned separately, too. Anyway, since the new oven is over all so cheap I have been afraid to try the self-clean. I wondered if you ever used it.
ReplyDeleteMy oven does not have the self-clean feature. I opted out of it, so knew what I was letting myself in for. But, our budget for this latest stove meant making a couple of compromises.
DeleteAnd when I did have it, as Carole above says, you still had to have a day with good ventilation and open windows for several hours.
Yep, the oven is a bugger - with a little effort I'm sure you can find just about anything that will keep you from having to clean it - LOL. I try to break down projects into 15 minute intervals (only 15min a day, mind you, not two or three in a day) but the oven . . .
ReplyDeleteLike you, I prefer cleaning my own house.
Like anything else - as Carole touched on - you have to look for someone you can both trust and does a good job. I have the time to - usually - keep up my house reasonably well.
DeleteI set tasks for myself every morning - none of this clean the whole house stuff in a day!
Well, the oven is finally, and mostly, clean. It took three cycles of self cleaning plus some elbow grease with an SOS pad, and I really ought to give the SOS another go, but it is pretty clean. The racks are still in two black plastic bags with Easy Off foam. I need to rinse them off. I am determined not to let it go as long again.
ReplyDeleteI'm psyching myself up to do mine; I doubt it will get as good a cleaning as yours did.
DeleteIt is so dang awkward reaching in there....
But the job is scheduled for the first week in October.
Since we are having guests for dinner in a few days, guess I'd better do some window cleaning in the kitchen dining area.....
I was afraid if I waited it would turn hot again. It isn't exactly cool here, but the overnight temperature isn't so bad, so I ran the cycles in the early morning or late evening. I also did something I'd only read about, put the racks in two black, plastic garbage bags, coated them with oven cleaner that is safe for stainless steel racks and left them (in the garage) overnight. Most of the grime and gunk rinsed off and what didn't was easily removed with an SOS pad. It was the easiest clean-up ever, except for my beloved G.E. Monogram oven, which had heavy-duty racks designed to be left in place for the self-cleaning cycle. Which really did clean. It was the priciest oven I've ever had, but, gosh, it was worth it. I didn't get one here, only because the range costs twice as much as the cooktop and the wall oven, and they weren't cheap. But, now I regret it. As much as I like to cook, and as difficult as it is for me to scrub something at that level, it would have been worth sacrificing a lot of other stuff.
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