Houskeeping-- What is acceptable/not acceptable? - Page 3

[Youngfrankenstein]

Originally Posted by rhiOrion

It completely appalls me that CPS would care about laundry IN THE DRYER. I seriously think that CPS workers should have to carry around pictures of their own houses to remind them of what normal people do.

THIS THIS THIS!

[2xy]

Originally Posted by Adaline'sMama

There are only so many hours in a day and Im not going to organize my day just so I can clean up after myself constantly. Id rather let it pile up and spend a few hours at once to get it clean again.

This. DH and I both WOTH, and we work different hours. DS1 works different hours from both of us. I'm also a college student. I have a wipe-off board on the side of the fridge that I use to boss everyone around when I'm not home, but it only has about a 50% success rate.

I put things in huge piles instead of on the furniture though. I cant stand not having a place to sit down.

There's been a basket of towels sitting on my couch since Monday morning. It's seldom that more than two people are in the TV room at any given time, so there are still plenty of places to sit. There's also been a load of my white uniforms in the dryer since Monday night. I've been pulling out one complete uniform at a time and ironing on my way to the shower. DH and I both work in food service and DS works in a factory, so we do a lot of laundry. Much of it sits on top of the dryer, in the dryer, or in baskets in bedrooms.

We keep our kitchen fairly clean, but I probably only sweep every other day. Yeah, there are crumbs. We have teenagers in and out of our house all the time, and they like to snack. I've been living on my own for 20 years and have never had a vermin problem. I would expect that roaches or mice would head for the cat food bowl if they were around, anyway.

Bathroom sinks and the rim of the toilet on the first floor get wiped off when they need it, and scrubbed every so often when I have a day off. DS1 is responsible for his bathroom in the basement, and the half-bath upstairs in the master bedroom isn't used enough to worry about too much.

I have one friend whose house grosses me out, and I try not to spend too much time there. Dog pee on the floor, left to dry, a flea problem, dirty kitchen, etc. My kids are old enough to choose where they spend their time, and they have spent the night there before (they are friends with her children). If they were still little, I'd probably be reluctant to let them stay there.

Among the people I know well, who come from all backgrounds and lifestyles, my housekeeping is middle-of-the-road. I have one friend who loves to clean more than life itself, and another friend who lives like a pig. Most of my friends live similarly to me.

[rhiOrion]

2XY- a flea problem might also be on my list of places I wouldn't let DD play.

And it's not because I think poorly of people with flea problems (they can happen to anyone) but rather because I don't want her bringing fleas home. *shudder*

And I don't mean one or two fleas, I mean the type of fleas that my DH's college house got. I would go over there in scrubs (was a vet assistant) after work, and since they were solid colored you could just see the fleas all over my legs as soon as I walked in. And considering that I worked at a vet, the fact that I was completely horrified means it was BAD.

Pretty much my male friends in college are a good measure of if I'd let my kid play there. I swear they had a pube carpet on their bathroom floor.

[2xy]

Originally Posted by rhiOrion

2XY- a flea problem might also be on my list of places I wouldn't let DD play.

And it's not because I think poorly of people with flea problems (they can happen to anyone) but rather because I don't want her bringing fleas home. *shudder*

No, I totally understand. My kids travel light. When they stay over somewhere, they don't even bring a backpack with them. When they come home from that particular person's house, shoes stay outside for awhile and clothes go directly into the washer. They don't hang out with those people that much anymore, anyway, and most of the time it's at our house. Really, though....if you have company and those people have fleas at their house, they could be bringing them to you, also.

Pretty much my male friends in college are a good measure of if I'd let my kid play there. I swear they had a pube carpet on their bathroom floor.

Yeah, DS1's bathroom can get like that. However, I don't necessarily differentiate between pubes, leg hairs, pit hairs, or goatee hairs. It also doesn't help that his head-hair is past his shoulders, and he sheds like a beast. His bedroom/bathroom is in our finished basement....RI had massive flooding this past spring and our basement had a couple inches of water in it. The amount of hair that floated out of nooks and crannies was repulsive.

[yeahwhat]

Originally Posted by texmati

Laundry? (clean but in baskets, left in the dryer, on the couch for days waiting to be put away...)
Floors? (crumbs, or clothes on the floor in bedrooms, toys on the floor, spots on a kitchen floor).
Dishes? (dirty in the sink for how long, clean but not put a way, dishes left in the living room or a night stand...)
closets? How cluttered can they be? stuffed, or tidy and usable?
Bathrooms?
General clutter? kitchen table, dresser, counters?
windows, baseboards etc?, how often would you expect them to be cleaned? how dirty is too dirty.

Laundry. Hmm. I don't have a problem with clean in baskets, in dryer, stacked on the dresser to be put away. Once you have on the couch for days I get icked out because I know here that nothing would be left undisturbed on the couch for days and they'd be trailed all over the floor, sat on, stepped on, etc. Yuck.

Dishes. Dishes in the sink and drying are fine. Dirty dishes stacked all over the place so that food prep must be difficult = yuck.

Closets. Um, I don't look in other people's closets. Out of sight out of mind.

Bathrooms. Gross and dirty is a huge deal breaker, but I don't expect perfection either. We have 6 people using one bathroom here, and it doesn't stay totally clean for long even though the sink, floor and toilet are wiped down daily.

General clutter. Some clutter is fine. Clutter that prevents the house from being usable is bad. Personally, I hate clutter, it makes me anxious and annoyed when it's in my own house, and I'm constantly fighting it. At other people's houses, it annoys me but I wouldn't stop my kids from playing there unless it was also dirty or dangerous.

Windows/baseboards. As long as you can see out of them, I don't generally notice how clean other people's windows are. You can't really clean outside windows here for close to 6 months of the year anyway.

[choli]

Originally Posted by texmati

Laundry? (clean but in baskets, left in the dryer, on the couch for days waiting to be put away...)
Floors? (crumbs, or clothes on the floor in bedrooms, toys on the floor, spots on a kitchen floor).
Dishes? (dirty in the sink for how long, clean but not put a way, dishes left in the living room or a night stand...)

Those three would be unacceptable in MY house, but as for playdates, as long as it's not a danger to my child's health and/or safety, I really don't give a rat's @ss.

[texmati]

Originally Posted by rhiOrion

I'm a WOHM, so my answers will likely seem gross to many of you. But, keep in mind that we're not home all day, so things don't get dirty as fast. Plus by the time I get home I don't feel like cleaning.

Laundry? Is never done. Currently on the futon in the basement next to the dryer there is a load of lights, a load of darks, and a load of diapers. There is probably something in the dryer, too. It completely appalls me that CPS would care about laundry IN THE DRYER. I seriously think that CPS workers should have to carry around pictures of their own houses to remind them of what normal people do.

Floors? I have a dog, so not too many crumbs. But, because we have a dog and cat there are usually some fur bunnies hiding in corners and under things. DH does the vacuuming, because I'm allergic. I'd say we vacuum once a week, and maybe run the dust buster over the fur bunnies one other time.


Dishes? I have been making an effort to get the kitchen clean as soon as I get home from work. If I start dinner in a clean kitchen I'm more likely to clean as I go and end up with a clean kitchen. Sometimes it does get away from us and we might have the counter right above the dishwasher covered in dishes. We both hate emptying the dishwasher!


closets? They're closets. I don't give them too much though. Slightly cluttered, but usable.


Bathrooms? The main bathroom gets wiped down when I think about it. That's probably usually twice a week. Now that my post partum hair loss is waning it's not nearly as bad between wipe downs. The tub gets wiped out when I think of it, but I don't really really clean it very often. It needs it now, though, for sure. The toilets are usually something DH does. They don't get cleaned nearly as often as most of you guys seem to- but we're home much less and really, they're toilets. I poop in them. As long as there's nothing obviously growing in there I don't care too much. I do wipe the back of the toilet whenever I wipe the bathroom counters (counters first, then toilets, of course!). The basement bathroom- I have no idea. I rarely go in there. It always has a bit of cat litter on the floor.


General clutter? We have a bit of a paper problem. I hate junk mail- it's the source of most of our issues. I need to shred a bunch of stuff. But, I do try to keep it in one of two places- the dining room table next to my computer or over by the front door next to the shredder.

windows, baseboards etc?, Do what now? I'm not sure I've ever cleaned a baseboard. The windows desperately need cleaning of cobwebs on the outside. But, I haven't lived anywhere longer than a year since I moved out of my parents' house. So, I'm going to say they get cleaned once a year! I would wipe up obvious spills on them, though.

My biggest battle is dog hair! ARGH! The dog thinks the couch is the best bed, and it makes me crazy. Sometimes I don't want to sit on the couch because there is dog hair on it. But then I realized that I'm not sitting on the couch so that the dog can, and damn it, she didn't pay for the couch! So, we've instituted a doggy couch ban- we'll see how it works.

Also, I hate to dust because it makes me not be able to breathe.

As far as what I would allow DD to play in once she's older- I agree with many of the PPs- mess I'm okay with, filth I'm not. Obvious feces, urine, etc is bad. A slight cat box smell is okay, but an overwhelming ammonia smell is not. A few crumbs here or there I don't mind, but a floor covered in sticky spots and crumbs that appear to have been there a long time I'm less okay with. It would also depend on what rooms were dirty compared to what rooms were going to be used for play.

oh.. .thank god for this post!!!! I wohm too, but dh, ds and nanny are at home all day. Nanny does no cleaning-- only what we specifically ask her to do that day. I've even seen her put empty containers back in the fridge, I guess, to avoid washing them out.

I'm lucky, I get home at 5. My son goes to sleep at 8ish. I would like to be asleep by 11pm. So I *do* have 3 hours-ish that I can work on the house each weekday, minus the time it takes to eat dinner. I just need to find the energy. But even then, I feel like it would still be 9pm before I could get to any of it, and it would look crummy when people dropped by.

I recently had the opportunity to observe a 'cleanie' in her own habitat for a few days. She never sat down. She literally spent the entire day walking around picking things up and putting them in other places. She didn't have kids, so I didn't see her doing much of the floors. But even with no kids, it was a constant battle against clutter. I was exhausted just looking at her.

I have suprise company staying from Fri to Mondayish. I'm just tired of feeling panicked everytime someone comes over, and feeling like a failure every time I tell my husband we need to 'crisis clean'. This is how I grew up, and it's not fun.

[EdnaMarie]

Originally Posted by texmati

Laundry? (clean but in baskets, left in the dryer, on the couch for days waiting to be put away...)

Clean or dirty, but in baskets, and if dirty, in the laundry or bathroom, not just all over.

Floors? (crumbs, or clothes on the floor in bedrooms, toys on the floor, spots on a kitchen floor).

Spots are understandable, but crumbs should be swept up once or twice a day.

Dishes? (dirty in the sink for how long, clean but not put a way, dishes left in the living room or a night stand...)

24-hr limit on dirty dishes, really ought to be two meals max, if they are clean fine.

closets? How cluttered can they be? stuffed, or tidy and usable?

My only thing is, they should be full of non-food items, no pet residue, etc. I don't have time to fold all our clothes, but they're organized by person.

Bathrooms?

Swept, toilet brushed, mold bleached or otherwise removed, nothing wet lying about, towels hung to dry.

General clutter? kitchen table, dresser, counters?

I don't mind non-food clutter to visit, but I like things put away.

windows, baseboards etc?, how often would you expect them to be cleaned? how dirty is too dirty.

You can't see dust most of the time so if you can see it, time to wipe! I wipe with water and a rag. It does NOT take a long time just to wipe them down.

Honestly, if you don't have piles of dirt, dirty clothes, or food around, I'm okay with that. Or, obviously, sharp objects or a serious bug (flea, lice, bedbug) infestation. But I wouldn't un-friend you. I would mention the bugs--OMG did you see this? Did you know what these are? You need to call...--but otherwise, party at my place. LOL.

I clean weekly and sweep up and wipe down daily, cook a lot, work from home, it's tiring but my kids need a clean, tidy house.

We don't ahve a ton of stuff so that helps.

[philomom]

Laundry? I do clothes on Saturdays. Each child receives a basket of clean clothes to fold and put away. I do sheets, towels and dishtowels on Monday mornings and put them away myself.
Floors? Once a week, I sweep, then mop. I do it right before bedtime so no one tracks on wet, clean floors.
Dishes? I stack them all day in the sink and do them each night after dinner. I wipe the counters and table at this time.
closets? I check on closets seasonally or if the door suddenly can't be closed properly.
Bathrooms? My eyes tell me when a touch up is needed. Generally scrub them once week. On a Friday, because I have more company on weekends.
General clutter? I have a couple of small piles, mostly paper and I tackle them often so the buildup doesn't get too bad.
windows, baseboards? I do baseboards three or four times a year. I'm not a big fan of window washing but if they look dirty; I hand one of the teens my window spray and put them to work.

[mommariffic]

Laundry:
We have a guest bedroom we don't use, and I put all clean laundry on the bed in there to be folded on an "as I can" basis. This way it's kind of out of sight, but that doesn't mean that clothes don't end up all over! I try to honestly keep laundry baskets downstairs and up because I'm constantly changing one of the kiddos and don't wanna run/up down.

Dishes:
One day is okay. Of course, one day for us can be crazy because I cook a lot here! And I have a dish washer!

Floors:
Toys are okay, but not like..filth.

Closets:
Who cares! that's what I say, out of sight out of mind.

Bathrooms:
Must be clean. I mean, it's not hard to make sure the toilet and shower aren't growing anything.

General Clutter:
I honestly see nothing wrong with clutter, because clutter/toys are not filth you know? Having things everywhere can be fine, as long as there's nothing moldy growing!

[Kinza]

Originally Posted by rhiOrion

It completely appalls me that CPS would care about laundry IN THE DRYER. I seriously think that CPS workers should have to carry around pictures of their own houses to remind them of what normal people do.

I was a hotel desk clerk during college, and we weren't allowed to leave laundry in dryers. The owners were fined and warned because of this. Apparently the Health Department considers it a fire hazard. I'm not sure why, exactly, since laundry left in a dryer implies that the dryer is not running. I don't know if they worry about lint spontaneously combusting, or what. (Lint drawers had to be cleaned out after every load, per the Health Department.)

I know a hotel is a different thing from a private home, but I'm guessing that if one government agency supposes dry laundry in a dryer to be a fire waiting to happen, other agencies do, too. I, personally, leave laundry in the dryer until I'm ready to fold it and put it away. So far, none of the laundry has exploded.

[rhiOrion]

Originally Posted by Kinza

I was a hotel desk clerk during college, and we weren't allowed to leave laundry in dryers. The owners were fined and warned because of this. Apparently the Health Department considers it a fire hazard. I'm not sure why, exactly, since laundry left in a dryer implies that the dryer is not running. I don't know if they worry about lint spontaneously combusting, or what. (Lint drawers had to be cleaned out after every load, per the Health Department.)

I know a hotel is a different thing from a private home, but I'm guessing that if one government agency supposes dry laundry in a dryer to be a fire waiting to happen, other agencies do, too. I, personally, leave laundry in the dryer until I'm ready to fold it and put it away. So far, none of the laundry has exploded.

Haha, that clean laundry in the dryer that's not running, such a ticking time bomb. I wonder if we can get MDC to add a ribbon for victims of spontaneous laundry combustion.

I'm surprised they don't expect everyone to bubblewrap their kids. In non flammable materials, of course.

[OkiMom]

Ill break this down between my home and someone else because the standards I have for my home is a lot different than someone else.

Laundry? (clean but in baskets, left in the dryer, on the couch for days waiting to be put away...)
Mine- All dirty laundry needs to be in baskets. Clean laundry gets taken out of the dryer and (hopefully) put away promptly. If it isn't put away I have it on my bed in a huge pile. I do this so I have to put it away before I go to sleep
Others- Since the washer/dryer in the on base housing is in the middle of the entry way or kitchen I almost expect to see a load of dirty and a couple loads of clean whenever I go over to someones house. It doesn't surprise me. I would only worry if there was dirty clothes all over the place where I was tripping or if there was dirty (or clean) clothes/baskets on the stairway because i would worry about one of the girls tripping down the stairs.
Floors? (crumbs, or clothes on the floor in bedrooms, toys on the floor, spots on a kitchen floor).
Mine- I sweep the kitchen and dining room after every meal. The living room gets swept once a day. Every other room I try to get to at least 3 times a week.
Others- I prefer there be no food on the floor.. Food meaning whole pieces not little crumbs. I cringe internally if I see poop/pee (human or animal) on the ground because my youngest has a tendency to put things in her mouth still so poop=yuck to me. Anything moldy in the middle of the living room also makes me worry.
Dishes? (dirty in the sink for how long, clean but not put a way, dishes left in the living room or a night stand...)
Mine- I load the dishwasher after every meal (it gets ran once a day) and I do pots/pans after every meal.
Others- As long as there is nothing moldy I don't really care. If its moldy, smelly, bugs all over etc then I would mind.
closets? How cluttered can they be? stuffed, or tidy and usable?
Mine- Usable but not necessarily worthy of Martha Stewart.
Others- As long as my girls aren't going in their closets I don't care what they look like. I would only worry if they left their closets open and there were obvious hazards (guns, knives, poisons etc) in them.
Bathrooms?
Mine- I wipe the sink after i brush my teeth. It gets cleaned about once a week.
Others- As long as it doesn't smell, isn't moldy or growing something or doesn't have questionable yuckiness on the wall (I grew up with brothers who didn't have a good aim) then I don't really care.
General clutter? kitchen table, dresser, counters?-
Mine- I prefer to keep clutter to the minimum because i worry of my youngest getting into things. I do have my sewing stuff all over my chest freezer right now. I have books on my night stand, I have a box of shoes I'm going through on the side table in the kitchen.. I probably still have the mail from the other day laying on the sink.
Others- I don't mind it as long as there is nothing down that could injury someone. Change/small pieces are the only thing I worry about.
windows, baseboards etc?, how often would you expect them to be cleaned?
Mine: I clean inside windows about every other week, sliding door gets cleaned once a week. I have a set of windows and doors that are lined in foil to insulate (it gets HOT here) they haven't been cleaned in months.. Baseboards.... yea.. you are suppose to clean those??????
Others- As long as it isn't turning into a science experiment I don't care.

I do have to mention we have a bit of a bug problem in our building. No matter how much I clean they still are here so I clean more now than I did before we lived here. I HATE HATE roaches and living in a multiple story apartment building (9 stories, 50 apartments about) they are very very very very very hard almost impossible to get rid of. At least my apartment isn't as bad as some of the people Ive talked to. I only have the problem in a couple of areas (surprisingly the kitchen and dining room aren't among them) and I only see them at night/early morning.

[2lilsweetfoxes]

My house is nowhere near my standards.
Bathrooms: Standard: Toilets clean inside and out all the time; sinks clean; chrome sparkling; bathtubs clean, with toys/shampoos/bodywashes neatly organized; floor clean with a fluffy rug to stand on.
Reality: Toothpaste drippings everywhere; mirrors covered in flecks and handprints; toilets haven't seen a scrubber in who knows how long.

Kitchen: Clean, clear countertops; Dishes either in dishwasher or put away as soon as they are clean.
Reality: 2-3 dishwasher loads worth of dishes in the sink, spilling over to the countertops; spills all over the place; food crumbs on the counters and floors; counters covered with papers, toys, and everything else.

Laundry: Neatly sorted into 4 baskets for doing on Saturday (towels/underwear, shirts, pants, diapers). Once washed and dried, immediately put away.
Reality: Strewn all over the upstairs. Some has made it into baskets, some hasn't.

Toys: Neatly arranged on shelves or in bins in the toy storage closet.
Reality: Thrown into a cardboard box with the intention of putting it away later. (to keep it from getting chewed up by the dog)

Windows: Clean, print free
Reality: covered in prints, play-doh tracks, and who knows what

I try, but it seems that I'm the only one who cares when DH is sitting there either watching TV or playing on the computer or sitting there with his clipboard and pencil in hand--he's a writer (he stays home with the kids. I feel I'm expected to do all the housework and make all the meals when I'm home from work. When I bring it up, he ends up yelling and carrying on about how he does everything and the house would fall apart without him. Yah, he comes up with the "great ideas" then *I* have to implement and enforce them. Basically, I've learned to not bother talking to him about it and just quietly and meekly do everything. As for the writer comment, he's never really "off" from that.) and the kids are busy messing things as fast as I clean or whining and crying and keeping me from cleaning...after a day or two, I'm already exhausted from working full time...so I decide I deserve a break and then end up with more work.

[EdnaMarie]

Basically, I've learned to not bother talking to him about it and just quietly and meekly do everything.

Sounds like my sort-of-ex. (Separated but not divorcing for economic reasons... which sucks because I still pull all the weight but at least now I feel comfortable telling him what an ass he's acting like. LOL!)

[Delicateflower]

What makes me wonder, when I hear that someone had their children taken away for clean clothes in the dryer, is where all the foster homes are who run to the dryer the moment it finishes and fold everything? Or where they run a load of washing for the dirty shirt every time they put a clean shirt on their child during the day, then immediately dry it, fold it and put it away. It just doesn't compute to me.

[Pepper44]

I don't think CPS is that picky. I think people who have CPS issues becaus of a dirty house don't realize how dirty it is. CPS looks for piles of crusted dishes, dirty diapers and trash in the floor, floors so dirty your feet turn black, and piles of clean or dirty laundry all over. I'm sure most social workers expect your house to be slightly lived in.

[jennifercp8]

Laundry? Each room has it's own hamper, and I only have out as much laundry as I can put away. Basically, I am an ex-FlyBaby, and I only do one load (sometimes 2) of laundry a day. It may not always get put away at that moment, but it is folded and out of the laundry area by the afternoon.

Floors? Stuff picked up off the floors, for the most part. I like a broom swept home, and I mop every few days. I have hardwoods downstairs and carpet upstairs, and we are a no-shoes-in-the-house family.

Dishes? I run the dishwasher at least once a day, maybe twice - depends on what I have made. I have a double bowl sink, so I tend to keep one side clear. But, I have no problem leaving clean dishes to dry in that clear side.

Closets? They are not cluttered, and are cleaned out quite often. Organized, and definitely overstuffed. I rotate all of our clothing seasonally, so they all get sifted through a few times a year.

Bathrooms? I am still hanging on to my FlyLady days, and for the most part I clean the bathroom toilets, sinks, and counters every single day. I have found that I love my bathrooms much more when I do this. When the kids are taking a bath (I like to bathe them in the morning), I scrub toilets, wipe down sinks, and sweep the bathroom.

General clutter? In general, clutter doesn't bother me - especially since DD is climbing and into everything, so everything seems to get piled on my kitchen counters. I can be ready for company in less than 15 minutes, so I must be doing something right. There are a few places I wouldn't bring a guest, but my downstairs is pretty much ready. Except for the toys that need to find their way back into the toy box.

windows, baseboards I do these quite often. My dog has little black hairs that seem to accumulate along the baseboards, so I always do them when I vacuum my floors. They really don't need to be wiped down, though. High traffic windows, doors, and railings get wiped down weekly - but the formal dining room and living room don't nearly as much maintenance as the rest of the house.

I worked hard for a while to get into a routine, and recently I have fallen out of it. I am newly pregnant with #3, so I just don't have the energy. The weather has turned, so now we are spending more time inside, and I need to get my butt in gear!

[mamadelbosque]

OK heres me:

Laundry? Dirt clothes are (mostly) in hampers. Clean clothes are (mostly) in drawers/closets. I currently know that there are (clean) clothes in the dryer waiting for me to pull them out and fold/put them away... I mostly do that in the evenings so I don't have to deal w/ little ones unfolding as i attempt to fold. But I didn't get to it last night, so maybe tonight


Floors? I generally vacuum about once a week, and otherwise spot clean (ie we usually sweep under the kitchen table after dinner, and if a mess is made otherwise I'll clean that up). FWIW we have all hard-wood floors with area rugs in most rooms.


Dishes? We don't have a dishwasher so everything is washed by hand. Mostly I do dishes 2x a day - once after lunch and once after dinner. There are almost always dishes in the drying rack and a couple of cups or bowls or what-have-you waiting to be washed (but generally rinsed off, so not sitting with food drying and caking on them).


closets? Our closets are fairly organized... or at least *I* know where everything is and if you spent a bit of time, so would most anyone else. But, they are full.

Bathrooms? Our bathroom is usually decent... I clean the shower about once a week, the toilet/sink as needed - so sometimes 2 days in a row, but usually more like 2-3x a week.

General clutter? I wipe down counters/table/stove after cooking (after doing the dishes generally), though we also tend to leave notes for each other and the mail on the table, so sometimes/often theres a few pieces of paper, mail, magazines, etc laying on it. Those get moved to another counter when I go to cook/eat. We have a couple of constant-clutter spots - the other counter in the kitchen being one, and ontop of 2 different bookshelves being the other (one at the top of the stairs and one in the family room...). I try to sort through them once a week or so so they don't get bad...

windows, baseboards etc? I think we generally wash windows about 2x a year. Its just not worth it otherwise. Baseboards get vacummed when they look gross during the weekly go through.

There are almost always toys scatterd around the house - but isn't that part of having kids?? Other wise I think my house is generally pretty decent... it can be made presentable, within 5-15 mins notice.

[Phantaja]

Originally Posted by Pepper44

I don't think CPS is that picky. I think people who have CPS issues becaus of a dirty house don't realize how dirty it is. CPS looks for piles of crusted dishes, dirty diapers and trash in the floor, floors so dirty your feet turn black, and piles of clean or dirty laundry all over. I'm sure most social workers expect your house to be slightly lived in.

I really do think that that's what they expect from foster homes. When I had my homestudy for foster care, I KNOW my house was clean. I was so nervous that I cleaned for two days and THEN had a professional cleaning service come out. The SW that come out denied me because my laundry tub wasn't wiped out. She told me to call her when I'd bleached and scrubbed the tub.