Today I only do things in portions. There was a time when I would go to work to a paid job and the rest had to be fitted in at home. Now I am a golden oldie and can do it when I feel like it, although I soon discovered that is not the ideal solution. This is mainly due to the fact that to be quite honest, I never feel like anything.
The ideal life would be to get up in the morning, eat breakfast and afterwards perhaps go for a walk, or read a book. If life gets boring you can always play with the computer. Unfortunately things do not happen like that. Of course I could forget the housework. It will do itself if I do not, but I would eventually get the reputation of being a messy, the place might begin to smell, so in my new found life doing what I wanted to do was not the solution,
Windows have to be cleaned, and although you may think me overdoing it, I clean my windows once every two weeks. I have an east side and a west side to the appartment. On the photo you can see the west side. Admittedly it looks as if we are under siege at the moment, but this is due to the renovation of the facade of the appartment building. I clean one side of the appartment’s windows weekly, meaning each window is cleaned every two weeks. I have a super system, Swiss based. Just a drop of the cleaning fluid on the window cleaning gadget, up and down on the window pane and afterwards wipe it away with the scraper. Perhaps a wipe over with a clean cloth afterwards in the corners. This window front takes me about 30-40 minutes because I am a portion housewife. I do it regularly and so no big deal.
However the builders have now destroyed my easy cleaning sessions because of the dirt and dust from the demolition. Everything that is done on the upper floors is subject to gravity and eventually arrives on the ground floor outside in the garden. A further prolem is that they took my metal blinds away outside. Yesterday we had a thunder storm and this morning the righthand window was full of muddy spashes from the rain. The others were protected by the overhanging balcony from the next floor.
I just had a look at the other side of the appartment, the east side and discoverd that they were full of muddy spashes as on this side there is no overhanging balcony. So much for my portion theory.
I just cleaned the shower. Generally I do that one on Wednesday afternoon – a half hour job, but yesterday I was really not in the mood, so what did Mrs. Angloswiss do this afternoon – she cleaned the shower. Tomorrow is a portion free day – week-end shopping in the supermarket and Saturday and Sunday I have no portions, exept to feed the family.
Sometimes I have a feeling that I am doing something wrong, but I will continue with my portion theory until the bitter end. What else does a golden oldie have to keep her fit?
Chronicles of an Anglo Swiss 
I’m really amazed at how much time housework and the garden take. I’m just one (reasonably neat) person, but then there are my roommates… 🙂
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I was a working woman with family of four kids for too long and would have loved to have had one of those neat and tidy places where everything had its place. Now, at the age of 70 I have it, but still have the stress that goes with it. I have to plan it all, must be doing something wrong somewhere. Ok I know, your have a family with three, and each one bigger and hearvier than the other – don’t know how you cope. 🙂
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🙂 You just have to take the good with the bad. If I want to take a walk, there’s always someone who wants to go with me. ❤
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My chronic illness has kept me at home and the one to keep our home tidy. I’ve always been a clean person, but now that I have more time to focus on the house and have even, to a degree, built a home business from the presentation of my home, I can attest to the “not feeling like it” part. Yet I am compelled to portion – constantly – so that I can get tasks done, but in a way that doesn’t make me feel like a maid in my own home.
Usually once I get started with a task I can do it fully or to the extent of energy I have that day. On the days my energy is low, I set a timer. For example if I haven’t washed the dinner dishes from the night before, I set a timer and wash the dishes for 15 minutes (and of course I’m the type that has to wash dishes by hand and then put them in the washer). No more, no less. When the timer goes off I ask myself how I feel, and if I want to go another 15 min. I’ve cleaned the entire house that way. And the days where I only managed 15 minutes? Hey, at least I got something done, which gives me some hope for continuing the never ending journey of caring for ones home.
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I have MS so also have to make sure I have enough energy to cope before I start a job. I am no longer as fast as I was, but there is always enough time. That is one of the reasons I prefer to do things regularly, and not spend hours on doing it. I also like to have a 5-10 minutes rest when finished before I carry on with the next job. That helps a lot. Luckily my other half helps a lot. We both have our own jobs that we do.
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I washed the kitchen floor, one of my least favorite jobs because we have to move a ton of stuff out of the way to even GET to the floor. Cleaned the dog grunge off the sofas and put fresh covers on. And that would usually be plenty for me! But there was also haggling with people who are supposed to be taking care of my grounds — but seem to be doing a disappearing act.
Why do contractors DO that? Vanish in the middle of the job and then you call and there’s never anyone to take your call. When i got through yesterday, i was told they weren’t sure if they could fit me into their busy scheduled (WHAT?) or how much it would cost (HUH?). I contracted for this LAST year.
I do NOT get it. So I found that the guy I was working with last year left who had left to start his own company, so i called him. While I was talking to him, the doctor for whose call i had been waiting all was trying to reach me … and finally, everything more or less settled down and sorted itself out. I’m more tired from the phone calls as from the work.
This house is hard to maintain. It’s old and too big, but no one seems to be volunteering to help, so mostly, it’s me. Garry loves cleanness, especially when I do the work. He did empty the bucket for me, though, when I was finished.
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We are lucky to have an apartment only 20 years old, although thanks to one of the guys that lives here, he hasmanaged to persuade everyone that it’s falling apart due to being badly built. Unfortunately he got followers (reminds me of a certain election where the wrong guy got the job) and we now have to be reinforced with the new building norms, although this would really not be necessary. We do not have problems with builders, they all want to earn money.
Otherwise because it’s a modern place it is easier to keep clean and Mr. Swis helps. I mainly have stone tiled floors, and can just go over them with a damp mop (no soap, just hiot water) which keeps them clean. We also have floor heating. The only problem I have with animals is Tabby -no dirty paws, but a hair ball now and again.
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