Housekeeping in the Tropics

If you're not a fanatic house cleaner, dish washer and in general a maniac for details, DON'T try to live in the tropics. The extreme year around warmth and humidity makes everything you don't want to grow, grow with abandon and without restraint. This includes the in-house creatures like spiders nesting in holes in the ceiling plaster, cockroaches that rival the Miami breed in size, plus some smaller sorts with a name I can't say or spell.

If you like to leave troublesome dirty pans or dishes soaking overnight, don't do it here. If you drop one drop of cough syrup or even leave a dead bug unattended, in a few hours it is black and squirmy with ants. Garbage goes out like clockwork or trouble descends.

If you like to sleep in, your wash will never dry. You have to get it hung out early so there's a chance to dry before the rains move in around 4 pm. Or else do like some I've seen and hang the clotheslines in the living room.

You think daily mopping is insane? Not here. Otherwise you're ankle deep in dust and/or bugs that have dropped in overnight. Did your kitchen table collapse and break the legs when you were pouring boiling water on it to kill the bugs? Don't worry, set it out in front and someone will offer to buy it, or request its donation to a worthy cause, or- better yet, the carpenter working next door will offer to fix it for you.

There's more wisdom I could pass on. But just take all you know of hygiene and sanitary precautions, and Quadruple it, then double it- I think that about covers it.
Oh- one more vital piece of advice: If you're living in the tropics, don't put a man in charge of cleaning and/or cooking. They haven't the eye for details that can be a matter of life or death around here. Good luck to you!