The thread about people just popping in (and a few comments that the house isn't always totally clean) made me wonder.
FSIL's house is always perfect. Like, it looks like it was set up to be photographed for a magazine. Everything is always super clean and organized. I've been led to beleive it's ALWAYS like this.
Our house is almost always in some state of mess. I do a lot of projects so there's a pretty good chance that the coffee table is cluttered with paints, brushes, scissors, whatever. There's almost always dirty laundry in our bedroom. There's usually a dirty pan or pot or something in the kitchen. Stuff like that. I feel like a gross lazy loser who sucks at being an adult, cuz it seems like other people do a way better job of keeping their house constantly clean.
And honestly, I spend a little bit of time every day cleaning, and I will crawl behind the toilet to clean the baseboards by hand and things like that so I get very detailed and very meticulous when I do clean. I care about the house being clean. I just don't always have the time or the energy to have it looking perfect on a 24-7 basis.
So at any given moment, how clean is your house?
Re: Spinoff: how clean is your house? (normally)
Our house is relatively clean most of the time. There will be a little clutter, and empty water glasses all over the house, but nothing we couldn't scoop up and take care of in 5-10 minutes. I'lll admit, there are weeks when I'll get super lazy and let stuff like the laundry and dishes sit out, but usually H will swoop in and pick up the slack. Our house is never dirty, however. I do my very best to stop on top of things like wiping down counters, having a clean bathroom, vacuuming the floors, etc.
I aspire to be my MIL. She's meticulous about cleaning and her house is always spotless. She is always apologizing for "the mess" but it's seriously never anything less than perfect. She cleans houses for a living and has this insane amount of energy left when she gets home. She pretty much never sits down and always has to be doing something, whether it's cleaning or yard work or working out.
But there are piles of papers around, laundry that hasn't been put away, ect. Lets just say no one from Home and Garden is showing up and going "Oh we just MUST photograph this home".
Right now, I've been bouncing between staying with my parents and staying with FI until the wedding.
My parents house is always immaculate. Super organized, super clean, perfect.
FI's (and soon to be my) house is different, we like you @novella1186 are usually doing some sort of DIY project so sometimes it seems like stuff is everywhere. Also right now we are doing a major renovation to add a bathroom upstairs in our house from scratch. So we currently have a bathroom vanity in our living room with a bunch of random tools stacked on it.
I'm hoping that once the bathroom is done the house will have a little more order to it. I'm not too worried about keeping it looking perfect because I know that's just unattainable. FI is the messy one in our relationship, and I don't see him changing (nor would I want him to) his ways. He's very "I need to be able to see my stuff" if that makes sense haha. He likes organized chaos pretty much because he feels like he knows where stuff is better as opposed to having it super organized.. I know that's weird..
Not very clean, not very dirty. Having my house be magazine-clean does not make me happy, so I do not spend time getting and keeping it that way. As long as the kitchen counters and bathrooms are clean, clutter isn't taking over multiple surfaces, and there aren't tumbleweeds of dog hair drifting around, I am happy.