A.G. Blog: Women's Day

This month welcomes us with an important celebration in its first half. It is dedicated to our mothers, daughters, sisters, grannys, aunties, girlfriends and wives. They care for us, our children and households and despite all this impressive work, which can never be appreciated enough, they still give us warmth and comfort. Let’s make this International Women’s Day special to our dear ones by re-thinking our in-house share of duties.

I bet the problem of cleaning is one of the main causes of arguments in many houses. But where does this come from? Let us now imagine a typical couple living together. How do they share what has to be done within the house between themselves? Chances are great that it’s the woman who – besides her job – cleans, cooks, does the laundry and even looks after children, while all an average man does is normally limited to his job and taking care about his car, or if need be, fixing some minor faults, like a broken light switch. It doesn’t seem too fair, does it? In some cases, men see this just as well, and the woman is being offered some help (otherwise, ladies, do ask for it!). Help, which might be a bit different when it comes to cleaning from a man’s point of view.

Men tend to limit their activities in this matter to hoovering the living room, mopping the kitchen floor, and maybe putting dishes to the dishwasher. In other words, they focus on a very general idea, in most cases not realising that this may not be in-depth enough. As a head of a cleaning company, I know this isn’t. Although – let’s face it, guys – some of us do operate this way at least to some degree.

Having done this self-critical overview, shall we consider what can be changed and how we, men, can contribute to making this year’s International Women’s Day a happy one? I think we all have the willingness to help, don’t we?

My first and quite obvious idea (providing that you live in London) is to employ our company! If you’re interested in more details, please follow this link. Otherwise, grab a mop, a few cloths and get to work! Think for a minute and get organised. I advise beginning with the very top of a room – the places that are hard to reach for women, who are usually shorter than men. It’s a good idea to wipe all the tops with a wet cloth and a drop of washing up liquid. This is due to the fact that the high situated tops of furniture collect dust and grease, which is then dissolved in the washing up liquid.

Going downwards, what always brings attention of women and should do the same to the men slightly more often, is mirrors and glass. Use a dry cloth, perfectly a microfibre one, or a paper towel to wipe off any smudges. Don’t limit yourself to the middle part of the mirror. I am sure giving all the corners a wipe would be appreciated even more!

Speaking of the corners, when you hoover or mop the floors, make sure you reach out as far behind the furniture as your equipment allows you to do. Don’t miss a single corner – otherwise it will be spoted by your woman in no time.

Also, remember that it’s not enough to wipe your furniture around frames and decorations. These need to be moved before you even touch the surface. And if you then put them back in place moved slightly away from where they stood before. This can give your dear one a hint that you’ve been cleaning there!

Another thing that men usually miss while cleaning is tidying up. Have a look at the room after you think you’ve cleaned it. Can you see any loose items? Any pieces of clothing, papers or children’s toys? Put them all in place, it will make the area look much clearer, even if your actual cleaning skills are not as great as you think they are. Don’t forget to put all the food and cutlery from the kitchen in the fridge, cupboards or wherever else a woman would put them. In short, make it look neat.

Trust me, these things will not take much of your energy and will make a substancial change to your woman’s mood when she gets home, receives flowers from you and looks around.  Gentlemen, it’s always a good thing to help on a regular basis. Even if you’re not as good at it as your lady or the cleaner that you employ. The effort will surely still be appreciated!

And ladies, forgive us, men, if we’re not as good at cleaning as you might expect us to be. After all, we’re only men!

All the best,

Andrzej Goluch

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