# My Half-Assed Housekeeper Tip of the Day **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 22, 2005, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-half-assed-housekeeper-tip-of-the-day/313675 "2005-07-22T16:58:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-half-assed-housekeeper-tip-of-the-day/313675/21 "2005-07-22T19:43:37Z")
I am not the eager girl when it comes to washing windows. Now my new house has it in for me. I can’t avoid it because it’s so ridiculously easy: the windows _can be opened back into the inside_ and the outside, as well as inside, easily cleaned. I love my new house but this is just pure evil. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-half-assed-housekeeper-tip-of-the-day/313675/22 "2005-07-22T23:03:08Z")
Pull your fridge out and clean behind it and then use the vaccume cleaner hose attachment on the coils. Did you pull out 3-inch thick, jet black, clumps of ‘stuff’ like I did? ---
**Author:** ![Ashes\_Ashes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/db5fbb/32.png) [@Ashes\_Ashes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashes_Ashes)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-half-assed-housekeeper-tip-of-the-day/313675/23 "2005-07-22T23:31:53Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > Pull your fridge out and clean behind it and then use the vaccume cleaner hose attachment on the coils. > Did you pull out 3-inch thick, jet black, clumps of ‘stuff’ like I did? The refrigerator is _moveable_? I don’t wash certain windows. My cats just put their noses against the glass from the inside and people walking by touch the outside, to see my kitties go crazy for attention. A day after they’re cleaned, they’re all spotty again. Washing curtains is a lovely thing, even with all the ironing involved. Washing dishes I _hate so much_ I don’t even like putting them away afterward. Currently going on day two with the machine still loaded with clean dishes. I’m not a slob though. You really could eat off my floors, which you might have to do because I didn’t unload the dishwasher. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2005, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-half-assed-housekeeper-tip-of-the-day/313675/24 "2005-07-23T00:22:15Z")
A good even layer of schmutz on the windows blocks harmful UVA and UVB and possibly even the deadly UBX rays from the sun. Since I’m a very concerned parent who doesn’t want her precious offspring to get skin cancer, I thoughtfully leave the window grime intact. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2005, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-half-assed-housekeeper-tip-of-the-day/313675/25 "2005-07-23T00:44:02Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > … and would wash the kitchen floor on average once a month. I have discovered that the best way to get the kitchen floor washed is to wait for maintenance to have to replace my stove or dishwasher or something. Then I go complain about the mess they left, and management sends a housekeeper over to wash it for me. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2005, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-half-assed-housekeeper-tip-of-the-day/313675/26 "2005-07-23T00:50:20Z")
> [@Ellen Cherry](#): > > I am not the eager girl when it comes to washing windows. Now my new house has it in for me. I can’t avoid it because it’s so ridiculously easy: the windows _can be opened back into the inside_ and the outside, as well as inside, easily cleaned. > > I love my new house but this is just pure evil. I want these windows with every fiber of my being. I swear this is going to be our next home improvement project. I’m too damn old to stand on a ladder twenty feet in the air to wash windows and I am not going to do it anymore until Marcie asks me to do it again. ---
**Author:** ![SlyFrog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@SlyFrog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlyFrog)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2005, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-half-assed-housekeeper-tip-of-the-day/313675/27 "2005-07-23T01:59:51Z")
> [@This Year's Model](#): > > I have discovered that the best way to get the kitchen floor washed is to wait for maintenance to have to replace my stove or dishwasher or something. Then I go complain about the mess they left, and management sends a housekeeper over to wash it for me. Uh oh. I smell (no pun intended) a pit thread coming on: [Example](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=324485) ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2005, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-half-assed-housekeeper-tip-of-the-day/313675/28 "2005-07-23T03:23:17Z")
Ya’all wash your _own_ windows? A couple years ago I contacted a window washer for a quote. It was the best $175.00 I have ever spent. Inside and out, window glass and storm window glass. We have a fairly large ranch home with quite a few windows and three sets of glass patio doors. We don’t have the fancy windows that tilt in either. _I_ wouldn’t wash these windows for $175.00 so it was a bargain to me. ---
**Author:** ![GillianBoardman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc79bd/32.png) [@GillianBoardman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GillianBoardman)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2005, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-half-assed-housekeeper-tip-of-the-day/313675/29 "2005-07-23T04:24:08Z")
> [@Ashes](#): > > Washing dishes I _hate so much_ I don’t even like putting them away afterward. Currently going on day two with the machine still loaded with clean dishes. > > I’m not a slob though. You really could eat off my floors, which you might have to do because I didn’t unload the dishwasher. Nonsense! The wonderful thing about dishwashers is the fact that they double as a kitchen cabinet. Why move dishes around twice, when once will do? Which is not to say that we couldn’t eat off your floors, but I’m not so limber anymore. ---
**Author:** ![brianjedi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2005, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-half-assed-housekeeper-tip-of-the-day/313675/30 "2005-07-23T04:31:59Z")
> [@Queen Tonya](#): > > A good even layer of schmutz on the windows blocks harmful UVA and UVB and possibly even the deadly UBX rays from the sun. Since I’m a very concerned parent who doesn’t want her precious offspring to get skin cancer, I thoughtfully leave the window grime intact. > > 😃 But what about the UB40 and U2 rays? Will they be blocked by the schmutz, or will I need red, red wine and huge sunglasses? ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2005, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-half-assed-housekeeper-tip-of-the-day/313675/31 "2005-07-23T05:11:44Z")
I’m slowly becoming an entropian, I hardly see the point anymore. It’s such a redundant and pointless thing, maintenence. It never makes you a good or better person, it just ties you to the wheel. For the sake of an object I will not obsess and disintegrate myself. I know, I’m lazy. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2005, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-half-assed-housekeeper-tip-of-the-day/313675/32 "2005-07-23T05:31:21Z")
> [@Ruby](#): > > Ya’all wash your _own_ windows? Well, not often. Clean behind the fridge and stove, eh? I should put that on my list of things to do some day before I die. **Ashes** , I think if you put enough of us half-assed housecleaners together, you’d get one reasonably clean house. I don’t mind doing the dishes and putting them away, but I don’t wash the floors nearly often enough. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2005, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-half-assed-housekeeper-tip-of-the-day/313675/33 "2005-07-23T05:35:56Z")
Oops, forgot the \ in **Ruby’s** post. ---
**Author:** ![Ashes\_Ashes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/db5fbb/32.png) [@Ashes\_Ashes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashes_Ashes)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2005, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-half-assed-housekeeper-tip-of-the-day/313675/34 "2005-07-23T06:59:44Z")
> [@GillianBoardman](#): > > Nonsense! The wonderful thing about dishwashers is the fact that they double as a kitchen cabinet. Why move dishes around twice, when once will do? Which is not to say that we couldn’t eat off your floors, but I’m not so limber anymore. Sure, if you’re a fancy schmancy type who has more than a square millimeter of counter space. Actually, that’s one of what I call my ‘perverse goals.’ Emptying an entire dishwasher without putting anything away first. And don’t worry about the limber thing. Once you’re down there, we can work on it. **featherlou** , you are so correct. I’m looking for a man willing to do dishes and ironing, in exchange for my floor cleaning and dusting. Marriage made in heaven, that’ll be! ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2005, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-half-assed-housekeeper-tip-of-the-day/313675/35 "2005-07-23T13:05:48Z")
I have my copy of Steinbeck’s _Tortilla Flat_ open before me. "No curtains covered the windows, but a generous Nature had obscured the glass with cobwebs, with dust, and with the neat marks of raindrops. ‘It would be nice to clean that window with soap and water,’ Danny said one time. Pilon’s sharp mind leaped to the problem with energy, but it was too easy for him. It did not require a decent quota of his powers. ‘More light would get in’ he said. ‘We would not spend so much time out in the air if it were light in here. And at night, when the air is poisonous, we have no need for light.’ . . . The window remained as it was; and as time passed, as fly after fly went to feed the spider family with his blood and left his huskish body in the webs against the glass, as dust adhered to dust, the bedroom took on a pleasant obscurity which made it possible to sleep in a dusky light even at noonday." ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2005, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-half-assed-housekeeper-tip-of-the-day/313675/36 "2005-07-23T15:31:06Z")
Firt of all, you can wash windows and floors with a water/vinegar solution. Safer and cheaper. Check the bottom of the inside of your frig to see if there is a drip tray. Pull it out, retch at the mold growing on it, clean and disinfect. This will help keep your frig from smelling. I didn’t know these things existed till I read this tip in a book on natural cleaning. And remember: Horizontol surfaces get dirtier quicker than verticle surfaces. ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2005, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-half-assed-housekeeper-tip-of-the-day/313675/37 "2005-07-23T16:32:55Z")
Ah. Yes. The drip tray. Maybe I’ll ask my husband to clean it. No. Too cruel. Maybe I’ll do it in a couple of weeks. Does anyone else hate putting things away, ever? Tidying is my very least favourite type of housekeeping, right after dishes. I hate doing dishes. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2005, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-half-assed-housekeeper-tip-of-the-day/313675/38 "2005-07-23T18:11:14Z")
My husband I are both pilers. Any flat surface, pretty much. I have a tendency to like my stuff _out_ - I probably have drawers around here that are completely empty. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2005, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-half-assed-housekeeper-tip-of-the-day/313675/39 "2005-07-24T03:01:38Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > Well, not often. Sorry about yesterday’s post. Sounds kinda arrogant but it was meant to be smartassy. I’m not the best housekeeper but hubby and I are both pretty tidy. I can stand quite a bit of dirt but can’t handle clutter very well. My mom was a clutterbug so I think it must be a way to rebel. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2005, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-half-assed-housekeeper-tip-of-the-day/313675/40 "2005-07-24T11:24:52Z")
The following was e-mailed to me by a friend. This is why my house never seems to get clean, even though I’m busy all day… > [@](#): > > Recently, I was diagnosed with A. A. A. D. D. - Age Activated Attention > Deficit Disorder. > This is how it manifests: > I decide to wash my car. As I start toward the garage, > I notice that there is mail on the hall table. > I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car. > I lay my car keys down on the table, put the junk mail in thetrash can > under the table, and notice that the trash can is full. > > So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take outthe trash > first. > > But then I think, since I’m going to be near the mailbox when Itake out > the trash anyway, I may as well pay the bills first. > > I take my checkbook off the table, and see that there is only one check > left > > My extra checks are in my desk in the study, so I go to my desk where I > find the can of Coke that I had been drinking. > > I’m going to look for ! my checks, but first I need to push the Coke aside > so that I don’t accidentally knock it over. > > I see that the Coke is getting warm, and I decide I should put it in the > refrigerator to keep it cold. > > As I head toward the kitchen with the coke a vase of flowers on the > counter catches my eye–they need to be watered. > > I set the Coke down on the counter, and I discover my reading glasses > that I’ve been searching for all morning. > > I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I’m going to water > the flowers. > > I set the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container with water > and suddenly I spot the TV remote. > > Someone left it on the kitchen table. > > I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV, I will be looking for the > remote, but I won’t remember that it’s onthe kitchen table, so I decide > to put it back in the den where it belongs, but first I’ll water the > flowers. I splash some water on the flowers! , but most of it spills on > the floor. > > So, I set the remote back down on the table, get some towels and wipe up > the spill. > > Then I head down the hall trying to remember what I was > planning to do. > > At the end of the day: the car isn’t washed, the bills aren’tpaid, there > is a warm can of Coke sitting on the counter, the flowers aren’t > watered, there is still only one check in my checkbook, I can’t find the > remote, I can’t find my glasses, and I don’t remember what I did with > the car keys. > > Then when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I’m really > baffled because I know I was busy all day long, and I’m really tired. > > I realize this is a serious problem, and I’ll try to get some help for > it, but first I’ll check my e-mail. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-half-assed-housekeeper-tip-of-the-day/313675.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-half-assed-housekeeper-tip-of-the-day/313675.md?page=3)