Do you manage to keep your house clean?

Fran27

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#1
Neither me nor my husband have ever been really picky with keeping a perfectly clean house. We have cats, so we're used to hair, vomit, one of our cats used to pee a bit everywhere because he got old too (he was put to sleep last December because he was in lots of pain).

But still... since I got Boris it seems that I should clean the floor every 3 hours. It's not only all the twigs and leaves that he brings home from outside (although that doesn't help), I just look at the kitchen floor and I sigh. The rest of the house is wood, so it doesn't show as much, but I know it's about the same.

Of course, it's raining. He's usually free to go outside during the day, I just close the door from time to time so he still learns how to hold from time to time. So, he comes in with his muddy paws and leaves a mess in the whole house. Last time I cleaned (typically, after it rained), I cleaned one room with bleach and the water was already black. Ew. Today he got on the bed when I wasn't looking, and there are huge muddy stains on the sheets (which is how I found out :rolleyes: ). Needless to say, my white shirt I just got out of the laundery is going back there tonight (although that was from picking up Tips after he was outside).

So, do any of you manage to keep the house clean with dogs? Any tips you want to spare, or the name of a terribly efficient floor cleaner? :)
 
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#3
So glad that someone else shares the frustration of having a dirty house!!! LOL The kitchen floor...aye aye aye...In the winter, I have these two huge rugs that cover my whole floor, so all I had to do was vacuum, but, when we got the puppy, he kept peeing on them, so I pulled them up. Now, that it's summer time, and I live on a very, very, very, busy main road, all the dirt from the road(blows right in the window :mad: ) and the dirty paws and the sticks and leaves from the doggies, etc. etc. my floor is always gross!!!! LOL I mop that floor twice a week now! The front room, which is the doggies main play room is always littered with toys and chewies so I'm constantly trying to keep it somewhat organized. I really, really, want to teach the puppy to "Tidy up!" so that he can put his own toys away, but everyone thinks i'm crazy!!

As for a cleaner, I found this pinesol stuff, lemme go check the label, all the dirt from the mop sinks to the bottom of the bucket so you are always mopping with clean water....it's just regular pinesol, but it's the new formula. I think I got it at Wal-Mart. That works well in keeping the floor clean, but I do love my bleach!

Aside from the doggies, and constantly cleaning up after them, my boyfriend is another story!!! Anybody have any suggestions on how to train a man to find the garbage can so that wrappers and packages get thrown away?!?!!? I tried treats and even tried making signs and arrows pointing to the garbage! Still, to no avail, he can't get where the garbage is!!! :rolleyes:
 

avenlee

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#4
While I'm no June Cleaver, I do tidy up and dust the tile floors and vaccuumm. I really need to set aside at least a half of day soon and do my windows and walls. And oh yeah, dust the cobwebs off the ceilings in the corners :eek: They aren't that bad but I tend to look up and see them then go about my business lol. We have only one room downstairs with carpet and that's trashed. I'm continously shampoo'ng it on the weekends. With three girls and a hubby, my laundry is never ending. Everyone's socks and underwear get put in a big laundry basket and they all fend for themselves. I could never tell them apart.

Melissa my oldest helps me out alot with the dishes and laundry. She's such a sweetheart :)

oh yeah, I have a full time 9-5 job also and Tony works 11 pm - 7 am. Thats better than his last shift though which was 3 am - 3 pm for the last 6 months.
 
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#6
Hmm...somewhat. We do a full cleaning once a week - floors are washed, carpets vacuumed, windows washed....of course, it doesn't last long. Two days later the backdoor has nose prints all over it, the carpet is covered in dog hair and there are muddy foot-prints on the floor.
 
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#7
My house is usually pretty clean. I have a really nit picky husband who likes the house pretty much spotless all of the time. He helps alot also which is nice. He's about that with our cars also. :eek: That gets a bit old. He can tell if I've gotten drive through food and have had it in the car. He wants me to put it in the truck so it doesn't smell up the cars...LOL :rolleyes: Thats a little hard to do.
 

Athe

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#9
I have 3 Newfoundland dogs with tons of coat, Rottweiler and a Dobe. With the Newf's when it's raining or other wise miserable I put bath mats on the floor leading from the front door to the area they like to flop. I put down soaker blankets from the Vet clinic to soak up excess moisture. I also keep a high velocity dryer at home, soapless shampoo and a hand vacuum. I don't let tundrals of coat bother me to much, or the drool on the walls, ceiling, fridge, oven bother me too much either. I just carry a damp sponge to wipe drool off when I am walking around doing normal household things. If I go to the bathroom and I see drool I wipe it up...it's a lot harder to get off when it drys.
With my Rottie and Dobe if its raining I just towel them off and wipe their paws. I always keep old blankets on my bed and couch so I can just throw them downstairs to be washed if the dogs jump up on the bed. A bathmat by my bed to catch the excess water.
I don't find it too bad to keep up with the dogs, a good towel is always handy to towel dry when they come in from outdoors. Bathmats spread around on the floor and soakers have made my life very easy. ;) The bathmats and soaker blankets were worth the investment.
 
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BigDog2191

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#10
Hehe, 3 big males in one house... um... somewhat.

Like last night, my dad and I just started going on a cleaning raid... it's going to get dirty again, although right now: it's very clean.
 
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#11
Athe.... you sound like me. I have tons of old sheets, towels, and blankets laying everywhere so I can just wash them and what's underneath stay more clean. Also, when the mud is REALLY bad, I dip each paw into a warm bucket of water (when it's cold) then towel off...
 

Barb04

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#12
Clean house, very rare. Let's see the Maine Coons are shedding, Max's shedding competes with the cats, then there's CJ & Kona with fine hair that you don't see much. I vacuum today and tomorrow it looks like I didn't vacuum. I keep an extra slipcover for the couch handy in case someone should come over. When I only had CJ, I knew what a clean house was most of the time, now it's some of the time. There is a hubby here, but do men know how to clean?
 

Fran27

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#13
Lol Barb

My husband cleans some, but he's worse than me when it comes to keeping a house clean and tidy. And really bad at leaving his stuff everywhere too, which of course Boris loves.

I'm glad I started this thread, I know I'm not alone... My in laws must freak out when they come visit, lol.
 

Love4Pits

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#14
I am a neat freak! I get lazy sometimes but I get on it quick I have this fear of people thinking my house stinks because of the animals. Well they don't :D
 

smkie

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#15
that is why i chose dogs with no undercoat and very little shedding..geez i just can't do hair. we had an old cat that had long grey hair and she left a sheet of it no matter where she was. finally i took the clippers and just about made her bald..no more hair balls, and she lovvvvved it. Wish i had done it a decade earlier. It didn't matter how much you brushed, her coat was just disasterous. I vacuum once a day and when we do bathes every other day i towel buff off just as much as i possibly can. Since i paint i can't have hair floating around in the air.
 

Irish

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#16
I guess it all depends on how you define clean. I think of my house as clean. I despise clutter so everyday I go through the house and put everything in its place. But as far as my floors go: I just can't mop everyday. After it rains we call Bear Mr. Muddy Paws, which of course is self-explanatory. And my couch we discovered after we bought it is a hair magnet. Everyday I sticky roller it but toward the end of the day - it is a couch shaped hair ball. We have dog beds in the bedroom and cat beds in the living room. I guess its all relative.
 

Gustav

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#17
Clean, clean *Thinks for a moment* I recognise that word but i'm not sure what it means!! 3 horses, dog and cat! DIY projects started all over the house! I'm definatley not going to cry over spilt mud or hair! lol! :D
 

bubbatd

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#18
LOL!!! I'm glad I don't have pop in visitors !!! I used to have the house in A 1 shape just in case.....now, if they don't call it's their fault what they find.....the joy of being over 70 !!!
 

juliefurry

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#19
Let me see...the last time my house was clean...oh yes it was the day before we brought Mack home. With Mack all we had to deal with was muddy pawprints and cleaning up a few accidents here and there. Then we got Shelby and we had more muddy pawprints, LOTS of fur (she's a husky), and even MORE accidents. Then we got Hannah and we had MORE muddy pawprints, more hair, and EVEN MORE accidents. We haven't stopped cleaning up pawprints, fur, or accidents since the day they started coming into this house. Oh well, I wouldn't trade the mess for anything. I would rather have dogs and a messy house than no dogs and a clean house (although the altimate would be dogs AND a clean house but I guess that's just in my REALLY good dreams).
 
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#20
Charley is worse than all of the dogs put together - even allowing for Shiva raiding the garbage!

And did you know that newspapers mate and multiply while you're not looking?

There is not a vacuum cleaner in this house. Nor a dishwasher or garbage disposal (besides Shiva). Farm dirt is never-ending. There is nowhere to put things away to speak of. The kitchen cabinets are, except for two that have no doors, completely unusable as the table is butted right up against them because the room is too small to open the refrigerator door otherwise . . . The closets are either full of junk or the ceilings are falling in . . . want to hear more?

And I have a lovely old turn of the century house in town with a completely modernized kitchen (with dishwasher and garbage disposal) and bath, big rooms with 10 foot ceilings, a fenced yard that goes all the way across the block, lots of shade and a whole-house fan that keeps it beautifully cool even through August . . .

Love makes you stupid.
 

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