Are you happy in your home? Do you entertain as much as you'd like? Some people have homes you go into and you're immediately comfortable. Are you one of them or do you always feel like there's something you can't quite put your finger on that doesn't work about your home? Here are three unusual ways we use to check what works about our home!
• Splurge on a maid to clean your home: Stepping into your house after someone else has cleaned it gives you a whole new perspective on your home (especially if you're one of those people who cleans before the maid comes!). With everything spic and span and the house smelling clean and fresh, you'll see how your home looks from another person's point of view. Often they'll change things up -- moving the appliances on the kitchen countertop into a different arrangement, arranging things on your nightstand, or putting the towels back a different way — that will give you ideas on how things could be done differently and what works.
• Have guests over: Don't wait, have guests over now and use their visit to learn about your home! What chairs do they gravitate towards? Which tables get moved around? Your dining table seats eight — or does it? Have someone cook in your kitchen with you. Do you have to keep telling them where things are or, after a few minutes, do they move around your kitchen like they've always cooked there? Are there enough towels for an overnight guest or is your home only set up for one? If an arrangement of flowers on the coffee table suddenly brightens the room, make a note to get weekly flowers or use that space to display a collection.
• Go away for a few days: An oft-shared secret among friends is the confession that they're suddenly completing home projects long left neglected in the few days up to taking a vacation! If that's you, it's time to schedule some time out of town. If you can't afford to get away, why not house swap with a friend? You'll quickly learn, when they call you to ask where things are or when you come home to find things left out with a note that says "I wanted to put this away but wasn't sure where it went", what works and what doesn't.
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I still don't understand the going on a trip, must clean the house phenomena. I can live in a pigsty for months but as soon as I'm going to go on a trip... suddenly all the laundry needs to be done, everything put away and the floors cleaned.
I like the idea of house swapping. I would love to see what someone else could do to my home.
Photograph your rooms and examine the photos critically, as would with photos of someone else's home. I find this is the simplest and most effective way to overcome the lack of objectivity that comes with too much familiarity.
@applemanju: You can't explain away a disheveled house to someone if you're not there!
It's like when the fire department broke into my house when I was on vacation and it flooded ... oh well, I guess it was disheveled then.
lightspeed - I really like that idea. The picture taking idea will also help focus your efforts. I often get so overwhelmed with trying to "fix" everything ... that nothing gets done.
@applemanju I think it is just so refreshing to come home from a trip to a clean house. Less stressful to return to a home that isn't a pigsty, even if it normally is. Sleeping in my own bed that was made before I left after a trip is so refreshing (even if I never make it any other time).
I agree with thebrownbrickhouse. Coming back to a clean house makes me feel like my vacation hasn't quite ended yet. I can just put my stuff away and go to bed. :-D
lightspeed... I'm going to try that... I've taken pictures in the past thinking a room looks good and was unsatisfied when I seen the pictures... lol.
How about pretending you are either about to put your house on the market and are inspecting it for things that would turn buyers off, or, if you don't care about other buyers, pretending that you are just now going to buy the place yourself (whether you rent or already own.) If you look at your place as if you have a choice about whether or not to spend money to own it, you might see things that suddenly need attention.
True about the trip and the guests. Nothing gets me into cleaning overdrive than these two situations. We always joke that when the house has gotten out of control, we should invite someone over. That puts a pep in our step!
Love the "Have people over NOW!" part. It's the reverse of going to a well curated home and figuring out why you loved being there so much.
"maid" sounds so...wrong...house cleaner? Could be a guy! Or a crew!
I do one small extra chore a day--I hate to housekeep--but that helps keep it all in check. Things like "clean one radiator" or "wash all the woodwork in one room" I have all of them written out on cards and go thru the deck every day
I agree with Lightspeed too--taking photos is very illuminating -- you really see what your house looks like then
Just not seeing how these are "three unusual secrets...." .... maybe three tactics to figuring out what you hate about your home... but really, are there that many people who have homes an the just can't put their finger on what they don't like about it?
Yeah, if you you're having trouble seeing your space objectively, work from a photo.
I know what I hate about my home. It's a gorgeous investment, but I have no money to make it my dream home... yet. Is that hating my home or just the reality of delayed gratification?
I totally agree with the taking pictures thing. It's my number one way to get a more objective look at the layout of my rooms. Somehow seeing it in a photo really helps!
Take a photo. You'd be surprised at the amount of clutter you "don't see" until it's static in a photograph. Then clean and clear the area. Take another photo; compare the two
I second the "clean before vacation" idea. It's stressful to come home after vacation and have to clean and tidy. An organized environment is so much more calming. Though... One time I did a real thorough cleaning before I went on a ten day trip. When I arrived home I thought my house had been robbed because I had never seen it so clutter-free.
Very smart post! I agree with slurging on a maid, its one less thing to worry about in life (having your house clean)
how can so many people afford to have a maid/house cleaner/crew whatever...?
in austria, you pay 10 euros per hour (a special kind of social insurance included four your both's safety). that is 14 dollars per hour!
how many hours does your maid clean per week? thank you for the answers, this is really interesting! :)
I am the "cleans before the maid comes in type" because I don't want anybody to change or rearrange the place of my stuff. So besides from the cleaning, tip #1 is the thing I try to avoid.
Finja: my neighbors have a maid service, and they only come once a week for an hour or two. It is less about them doing all the cleaning, and more about them cleaning the things you hate to or never clean. They come by and take care of the toilet/shower/sink, do a full vacuum etc.
My neighbors are both doctors, so ~200 a month for someone to deal with the really tedious cleaning is probably a big relief for them. A cleaning service also tends to be way faster than you are at cleaning, both due to it being their jobs and them having nicer equipment and stronger cleaners.
@Finjia: well we never had a maid but we always had a "housekeeper" (Haushälterin). She would come three morning per week, cook, clean, wash. So despite my mom and dad both working we could always have lunch together. No, she wouldn't do all of the cleaning- not enough time but she did some of it, which was a big relief for my parents. Yes, it is expensive but what else could we do? My father is independent, he couldn't reduce his hours. My mom could have reduced her hours even further (she was working maybe 70%) but my mom isn't the housewives type, she would have become very unhappy if she had to be mostly a housewife. That way she worked maybe 70%. Since my mom makes more money per hour than a housekeeper it actually made sense financially and made time management easier and made my parents marriage definitely easier.
thank you all for the comments!
sounds like 2-3 hours a week for a very fast wipedown is enough - maybe if the stress is growing further on (hello mr. burn-out, nice to meet you) i should consider hiring a maid/cleaner.
thx again! :)
If you're going to splurge on help around the house, I'd suggest doing your research - don't just hire the cheapest/biggest outfit in town. Check out Nickel & Dimed for the way companies like Merry Maids operate.
We have two guys come over for just a hour a week and they do the kitchen, bathroom and hoover everywhere plus a bit of dusting. It's so worthwhile and costs us (I think) £12 person/hour so maybe ~£100 a month.
We have to tidy up for them so they can do a good job, and allows me to concentrate on keeping things tidy and getting laundry done and so on.
Embryoconcepts offers good advice on researching the cleaners. Even if a smaller operation says they will come themselves, you need to check. Often they start sending a "crew" that is not well treated or well paid. Find an actual person who does the actual cleaning on their own so you know who is in our house.
Perhaps this should have been titled 'How To Get A Fresh Perspective On Your Home?' because the only way I know, to ensure you have a 'Home That Works' is to define what you need from your home and then make sure you have spaces that fulfill those needs. Too often dwellers get stuck in 'a DR must be a DR' and forget they need more comfortable office and library space than a LR sofa offers. Many homes I see now, in SF where dwellings tend to be smaller, is DR's becoming office/libraries since we gather more often in restaurants than private homes for group dinners.
And, for my money, if I'm spending upwards of $1K a year on housecleaning then I'm going to clean the house myself so that $1K+ goes toward my vacation fund... ;)
We had someone come clean every other week for a few hours at a previous house (not my decision); it was very helpful, but I hated hated hated how she rearranged everything. I couldn't find stuff afterwards. I've since heard that sometimes it's a "thing" with house cleaners—makes it obvious to the client that the cleaning has been done.
Going away is a great idea. I first found this out when I went to Europe for two weeks after graduating from high school. When I came home, everything looked so STRANGE. I had seen so many things in Europe my mind actually forgot what home was like. I now try to embrace my environment when I go away, taking in all the visuals I can. When I get home, I then see my rooms with a more objective eye.
Agree with Rucy re "Home that Works." For me the secret to a home that works is an assigned, hopefully obvious place for everything.
I do NOT have a place for everything, and it makes the chore of putting things away much more mentally taxing, because you have to consider each item and where to put it, every time. If each thing has a "home," as my husband would say, there's no brain power and tidying is SO much easier.
I am still working on this.
Separately, I 100% agree with the photo idea. We have a baby so we take a lot of pictures and it drives me CRAZY that every one has background clutter. It's more motivating to clean when I'm cleaning for posterity!
I'm kind of shocked how many of you have maids/housekeepers. Growing up, both my parents worked but money was tight so that just wasn't even an option. Still isn't for my husband and me today. People have very busy lives but can still find time to clean up I think. It's too easy to hand it off to someone else.
My boyfriend recently moved in and that forced me to clean some things up and get rid of other things. I recently realized that I don't have just 1 spot for everything (e.g. I keep my various purses in 3 different spots), so I'm working on that now.
I have housecleaners that come every other week for a couple hours and it really helps me out. I do the dishes and keep the kitchen neat and do the laundry myself, but they clean the bathroom and do other deep cleaning. Usually it makes me crazy when they move stuff around, but now I will try to see it as an opportunity for reorganization!
I don't really understand any of these. Cleaning before the cleaner?? Having guests over frequently is one of the reasons our house is disorganised and messy - unless the guests are considerate enough to help out. And going away already creates extra work, without the added pressure of completing home projects.
Love the idea of pretending you are looking to purchase your home/space. Because we know our situations (time, money, energy spent), doesn't mean it has translated well into our homes or the reverse; doesn't mean all the idiosyncrasies show poorly or need attention.
love tip#3
because nobody wants to come home after vacation to a dirty place!
No one mentioned the obvious reason to clean up before going on vacation. What if you hit an abutment! Then your relatives, especially your mother, won't know that you lived like a pig!
@jmorri26 Wow, way to be judgmental.
I have a cleaner who comes once a week a couple of hours because I am out of the house long enough during the week that I don't want to spend the weekend cleaning instead of relaxing. I still do the smaller chores myself, but it's way more manageable.
If you can afford it, then why not? It saves time and it's nice coming home to a clean house. I'd have her come more days a week if I had the money.
...and hiring a cleaner also means you have just provided a local person with employment (perhaps someone who might not otherwise got employment).
When my kids were younger if they saw me cleaning they would say, "who's coming to visit, mum?"