Aggie MacKenzie (pictured), believes ironing can calm her down, and help to smoothen out some of the rough parts in her day
YES
By Aggie MacKenzie
You may be shocked to hear that, despite my TV career cleaning other people’s houses, when my boys were teens and I was working full-time, I had a weekly cleaner.
She was with me for two weeks after my divorce. I paid her a happy salary, but I quickly realized I liked doing my own cleaning, and I gave up on her.
I also rather enjoy ironing — I find it calming. As I take the hot steam over each duvet cover, pillowslip or tea towel, it’s as if I’m smoothing out the rough patches of my day.
There may be some health benefits to ironing and cleaning, especially for people over 65. The authors of this study believe that the domestically active elderly they interviewed — surprise, surprise, they’re mostly women — were fitter, had better cognitive function and were less likely to land in hospital.
A 70-year old friend of mine was discussing how he used to hire a cleaner but does his own cleaning.
He enjoys the feeling of organising his home, cleaning up as he goes along, and he thinks he’s much fitter and better organised for it.
Hot steam helps smooth out the day’s rough patches
I’m sure he’s right. Let’s face it: cleaning is an evil necessity and we all have to involve ourselves with it in some way or other.
There’s something hugely empowering about being in charge of your own surroundings rather than paying someone else to be.
My belief is that housework can be a productive activity, with tangible results. It’s obvious that if your home’s untidy and dirty, you’ll probably feel a bit chaotic and possibly depressed.
Cleanliness and orderly living will help you feel calm. Post-pandemic most people now realize that mental well-being is as important as physical health.
My experience as a yoga teacher at 66 years old has given me some valuable tips. While you’re at the sink doing that washing up or in front of the cooker making supper, a good thing to do is to stand on one leg — even for a few seconds.
You don’t need to lift the other foot particularly high — a few inches is a great start. You can do it both ways and continue to do so as many times as possible. It will strengthen your tummy muscles and improve your balance and, consequently, you’ll be far less likely to have a fall.
And carry on cleaning, it’s now proven to do us the world of good!
NO
Jane Gordon (pictured) suggests that we try to move out of the home, and not clean it.
By Jane Gordon
The latest suggestion that one of the most effective ways of ‘ageing healthily’ (oh, how that expression makes my heart sink) could be to spend a minimum 15 hours a week getting ‘down and dirty’ doing housework has made me absolutely furious.
According to an absurd study of 500 adults in Singapore — half aged 21 to 54 and half 65 to 90 — a vigorous session combining ‘heavy’ and ‘light’ cleaning had a positive effect on the cognitive and physical functions of the older adults.
Apparently, a few extra hours in my Marigolds mopping, dusting and scrubbing ‘round the bend’ (that’s the old Harpic TV ad slogan, for you young folk) could improve my memory, sharpen my mind and reduce the chances of my suffering falls, becoming immobile and dying!
Now, while I accept there are a few household chores that are truly challenging to body and brain — struggling to change a king-size duvet you have spent an hour ironing for example — I am absolutely not going to embrace this patronising new directive for us ‘oldies’.
And while I can see that window cleaning (a ‘heavy’ task) could improve my concentration and balance (if I was up a ladder), it’s not something I intend to take up.
I find myself becoming more and more annoyed by all the advice being given to me at this age. This makes it sound like we’re all weak, fat, and an overall burden. Hardly a day passes without me being talked down to by companies marketing terrifying-sounding ‘retirement villages’, incontinence aids and (yes!) exhortations to ‘plan your own funeral’.
Not cleaning the house but getting out of it, we should be trying to do this.
Yes, yes and no. I am a little sceptical (not to mention judgmental) about women for whom cleanliness seems to be the most important thing.
How Clean Is Your House? was my idea of TV Hell. (sorry, Aggie) and I never got beyond page one of Anthea Turner’s book How To Be The Perfect Housewife or the first sentence of Lynsey Crombie’s Queen of Clean blog. And as for Marie Kondo, just don’t ask!
I’m not even convinced by the sparkling Mrs Hinch (aka Sophie Hinchliffe) even though she has amassed a fortune and 4.2 million followers on Instagram.
Have fun, keep learning and you will be able to age well.
Dance, take up a language, learn to fly, make new friends and for goodness sake ignore this new nonsense — get out of the house rather than wasting precious time cleaning it!