<p>I am totally serious about this question. I am not being snarky nor am I stupid. I have however cleaned my house. My mother always had help and I have always had help.</p>
<p>My housekeeper is gone on a vacation for a month. Although she offered to get me a cousin to work…I have used her before and she didn’t work out. I knew that I could do this. Yesterday I used no brainer chemicals for the bathroom. (The kind that you spray and they do the work.) So…my question of the day is about polishing furniture. Is all wood to be polished? Or do you dust some stuff (the piano for instance) and only polish dining tables, cabinets etc? Would I be “safer” just dusting?</p>
<p>I know that I don’t polish the floors…I am using the swifter.</p>
<p>IMO, there are many different schools of thought. I hope someone answers your question. (It ain’t gonna be me.)</p>
<p>Did you ever read The Women’s Room by Marilyn French? It was written in the '70s about women in the '50s. I recall vividly that one of the women would thoroughly clean – moldings, remove curtains, roll up carpet – a different room every day of the week. That’s the type of cleaning that I don’t even do once a year.</p>
<p>Ah, yes, I have a copy of that book! My sister helped with that level of cleaning last summer while I was recuperating – and believe me, it has not been done since. I think I am going to tell DH we need someone to come in for serious cleaning before everyone descends on our house for the wedding celebration this summer, though. I can’t be the wedding consultant, dessert chef AND the house cleaner.</p>
<p>Ellebud, if your housekeeper is gone for just a month, I would dust and she can polish when she returns. I only polish a couple of times a year. Save your energy for things that are more fun!</p>
<p>Except for a brief period of time when my children were young, I have always done my own housework… because I enjoy it. Also I have a lot of antiques I prefer not to have someone else try to clean. My Mother always said, “if you keep picked up, it is easy to get cleaned up if necessary.” I agree with this. If your housekeeper has everything in tip-top shape, really only picking up needs to be done during the month. If you keep the bathrooms and kitchen wiped up, that is great. Use a wet wipe to pick up spills on the floors. It is not necessary to mop a whole floor. I only polish furniture twice a year. I use a static free dust cloth to wipe the tops of tables every other day. You can use one of those swifters If you see dust on sofa, chair legs, you can use a swifter there, too. If you don’t see dust, why bother? I use Mr. Clean magic sponges for fingerprints or smudges on light switches, white woodwork, etc. I use a broom to very carefully be sure I have no spider webs in corners or on chandeliers. I find it makes a noticeable difference to change water in flower vases (if they are crystal or glass) every day. And pick up mail and magazines and papers. Neat is what company notices, imho.</p>
<p>If you have inside pets, that is a different set of rules probably. I don’t.</p>
<p>^^^^
Agree with Counting Down, just dust. And don’t worry, I don’t polish anything anymore. All my wood furniture has a coating so polishing just makes it oily. Smells good though.</p>
<p>I never polish my furniture…I have some antiques and other furniture made from very old reclaimed wood. I use a damp cloth with a diluted solution of Murphy’s oil soap. I think furniture polish is a dust magnet and I * DO * have hairy pets that shed like it’s their job :)</p>
<h1>6 I don’t actually “polish” either. I use a special solution from a shop we deal with to clean old wood. Sometimes I wax. On painted pieces I use a feather duster, very gently. I tend to err on the side of caution. ;)</h1>
<p>I sweep the kitchen floor at least daily. It’s where everyone and everything comes into the house, plus DH and S2 make messes when cooking.</p>
<p>I am ruthless about tossing junk mail, newspapers and containers into recycling as things are opened/used. If it were up to the others in the house, none of that would happen. My daily goal is to get the kitchen counters cleaned, dishwasher run, floors swept and recycling/mail recycled or sorted, and laundry done/folded/hauled upstairs.</p>
<p>I have never had a housekeeper and have always worked full time. My housework is nothing to praise.The whole family pitches in. When the kids mop and vacuum it is barely a passing job, but I’ve simply learned to live with “good enough.”</p>
<p>I have a cleaning “couple” that comes every two weeks. That was the deal when I went back to work full time. Not to mention that my job involves cleaning and maintaining an art classroom that hosts 630 children per week. Enough cleaning is enough!</p>
<p>Between visits from my cleaners, I pick up, keep the kitchen and baths presentable and do laundry. I did notice that the windows need to be washed soon. Ugh.</p>
<p>Dang, didn’t know I was supposed to polish furniture. I just dust and 2-3 times a year wipe it down with Murphy’s Oil Soap. I am nuts about having uncluttered kitchen counters. I’m the only person dealing with mail so it gets taken care of quickly and if they don’t read the newspaper today, it goes. It’ll be old news tomorrow anyway :)</p>
<p>Love clean windows. Unfortunately I have 29 huge ones and Andersen really lied when they called them “tilt-wash”.</p>
<p>THANK YOU!!! I will swifter everything until she returns. I have two large hairy dogs and a grandpuppy who visits often. He actually sheds more than my dogs. So, I really have to swifter a fair amount. </p>
<p>I tip my hat to you ladies who clean their homes or other people’s homes. It can be a daunting task.</p>
<p>We have a wonderful robotic vacuum cleaner that we love. It makes cleaning so easy–we set it to go off every morning @ designated time. Just clean tray out every day or two. We love it and each of our kids bought one as well. My SIL and bro have about 3 of them. I even got one for my mom. Love it!</p>
<p>Wow – we have not power washed or had the windows done in the 15 years we’ve been in this house! Maybe before the wedding…</p>
<p>DH is violently opposed to a cleaning person, both when I was working and when I have been home because of medical issues. If I can’t do it, it doesn’t happen. So…a lot of it doesn’t get done.</p>
I think I am going to tell DH we need someone to come in for serious cleaning before everyone descends on our house for the wedding celebration this summer, though. I can’t be the wedding consultant, dessert chef AND the house cleaner.</p>
If you see dust on sofa, chair legs, you can use a swifter there, too. If you don’t see dust, why bother? I use Mr. Clean magic sponges for fingerprints or smudges on light switches, white woodwork, etc. I use a broom to very carefully be sure I have no spider webs in corners or on chandeliers. I find it makes a noticeable difference to change water in flower vases (if they are crystal or glass) every day. And pick up mail and magazines and papers. Neat is what company notices, imho.</p>