We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.

This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.

📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!

Hygiene of friends

1567911

Comments

  • engineer_amy
    engineer_amy Posts: 803 Forumite
    I've been Money Tipped!
    I was invited to the house of a friend of a friend. I had only met her once or twice socially, but was asked round for a glass of wine. From walking in through the door, within minutes I decided I wouldn't be staying long and had an excuse ready that I had somewhere else to go. Mysterious stains on the sofas, hair and dust everywhere, cigarette ash in the creases of the cushions. I didn't want to sit down in case I got dirty


    I didn't see a dog or cat while I was there but there was a dish near the door with bits of cat or dog food spread out around it, some looked as if it had been trodden into the carpet. I cant understand why you wouldn't run a hoover around and tidy up if you had invited someone round to your home.


    on the other hand, my friends house is clean and tidy, but she has 2 young toddlers running around, and you always have to check your seat before sitting down or leaning on the table as the kids have usually had sticky fingers over the furniture or chocolate smears
    Mortgage = [STRIKE]£113,495 (May 2009)[/STRIKE] £67462.74 Jun 2019
  • themull1
    themull1 Posts: 4,299 Forumite
    I'm not a snob by any means but if i went to a house that was that bad, it would put me off being that persons friend.
  • melanzana
    melanzana Posts: 3,953 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker I've been Money Tipped!
    I rarely visit those who have animals in their houses. Unless it's a bbq outdoors, that's fine.

    No matter how clean the house is there is always animal hair somewhere and that makes me feel ill.

    Those who have dogs/cats don't often see it, despite their best efforts with the vacuum and so on. But others do, and bring it home with them on their clothes.

    It cannot be helped.
  • Gaia2014
    Gaia2014 Posts: 259 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary Combo Breaker
    DSmiffy wrote: »
    A neighbour of mine had an immaculate house, always spotless and very clean, they had a dog too but there were no pet hairs on the furniture.

    One day she invited me over for a coffee and I sat in her kitchen while she opened the dishwasher to get a couple of mugs out. the dishwasher was crammed with clean, washed crockery and sat in the middle of it all, in the bottom rack, was a toilet brush !!! Blerrrggghhhh.

    Yuk!!! Toilet brush :eek:
  • zaxdog
    zaxdog Posts: 774 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Name Dropper
    melanzana wrote: »
    I rarely visit those who have animals in their houses. Unless it's a bbq outdoors, that's fine.

    No matter how clean the house is there is always animal hair somewhere and that makes me feel ill.

    Those who have dogs/cats don't often see it, despite their best efforts with the vacuum and so on. But others do, and bring it home with them on their clothes.

    It cannot be helped.

    I'm the same about people with babies/toddlers. The sticky marks & the stench :eek:
  • lostinrates
    lostinrates Posts: 55,283 Forumite
    I've been Money Tipped!
    melanzana wrote: »
    I rarely visit those who have animals in their houses. Unless it's a bbq outdoors, that's fine.

    No matter how clean the house is there is always animal hair somewhere and that makes me feel ill.

    Those who have dogs/cats don't often see it, despite their best efforts with the vacuum and so on. But others do, and bring it home with them on their clothes.

    It cannot be helped.


    I thnk that's a fair assessment. I would feel the same if I had problems with small amounts of animal hair

    There are times I work very hard to keep animal mess and odour down, but hair is something its really hard to win the battle against. I don't think its true we don't all see it. I think some of us are just ....resigned to it? Always fighting it? Used to getting through insane numbers of vacuum cleaner bags? :o
  • BigAunty
    BigAunty Posts: 8,310 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    I visited the parents of an ex and was already forewarned that they never cleaned the house, rarely washed themselves or their clothes, that they were too stingy to put the heating on (even in winter), would sit in the dark, they didn't own a kettle (as they didn't have hot drinks), didn't own an iron, a fridge or a hoover.

    So unsurprisingly it was the dirtiest, smelliest, dingiest property I had ever visited. As they'd lived in the property for around 20 years, and never had once cleaned it, the dust blanketed the whole place in the thickest layer I have ever seen. The stench of BO was the worst I'd encountered (even worse than a warm youth hostel room of french teenagers who wore lots of make-up but seemed never to have showered).

    The parents, sporting stained clothing and with the father's trouser zip held together with a safety pin, barely spoke to me as they were transfixed with watching tv. There were newspapers piled waist high.

    My ex told me that were always surprised that they and their siblings were never on the social services radar for neglect as they were underfed and had to scrounge their clothes from salvation army donations. If for example, any of the kids were late back due to a school or social commitment, there was no evening meal for them whatsoever, not so much as a sandwich. If the loaf got mouldy, sandwiches were still made with it.
  • j.e.j.
    j.e.j. Posts: 9,672 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    DSmiffy wrote: »
    A neighbour of mine had an immaculate house, always spotless and very clean, they had a dog too but there were no pet hairs on the furniture.

    One day she invited me over for a coffee and I sat in her kitchen while she opened the dishwasher to get a couple of mugs out. the dishwasher was crammed with clean, washed crockery and sat in the middle of it all, in the bottom rack, was a toilet brush !!! Blerrrggghhhh.

    I was joking about the chamber pot, but i have heard of women putting their moon-cup in the dishwasher :eek::rotfl:


    Apart from anything else, who'd want dishwasher fluid up their ....
  • BigAunty
    BigAunty Posts: 8,310 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    j.e.j. wrote: »
    Apart from anything else, who'd want dishwasher fluid up their ....

    Eco friendly detergent and a bit of salt - sounds natural to me...

    But who would want lady juice on their crockery?
  • kboss2010
    kboss2010 Posts: 1,466 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    This reminds me of my paternal grandparents' house as a kid!

    Constant blue fog of cigarette smoke, sticky carpets, clean(-ish!) clothes in plastic bin bags on the bedroom floors, kids with food all down their t-shirts, everything in the kitchen, including "clean" crockery covered in a layer of grease so off putting that 15 years later I still have an aversion to cooking oil!! I always wondered why my dad's sister was OCD about cleaning her house, now I know it was from growing up in that house!!

    There isn't much you can do, I'm afraid. Except invite them out of the house for a pint! Also, sometimes people get so accustomed to their mess that they stop seeing it. They'd probably be embarrassed if you brought it up.
    “I want to be a glow worm, A glow worm's never glum'Coz how can you be grumpy, when the sun shines out your bum?" ~ Dr A. TappingI'm finding my way back to sanity again... but I don't really know what I'm gonna do when I get there~ LifehouseWhat’s fur ye will make go by ye… but also what’s not fur ye, ye can jist scroll on by!
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 352.1K Banking & Borrowing
  • 253.5K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 454.2K Spending & Discounts
  • 245.1K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 600.7K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 177.4K Life & Family
  • 258.9K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16.2K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.6K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.