Slobs Who Host

[AdminAssistant]

If you want to live in a filthy house, that's your prerogative. However, if you've invited people into your home, have the decency to pick up a little.

Example 1) Friend M loves to have people over, mostly because she has a son and it's just easier for her. That's fine. However, she has a cat. There are 3 people in our group of friends that are allergic to cats. I think that the least you should do is try to vacuum up pet hair and isolate the animal. But, no, the cat runs free and hair's all over the place. As a bonus, she keeps kitty's litterbox in a half bath next to the kitchen, which means litter gets scattered all in the kitchen. mmm, tasty.

Example 2) Over Thanksgiving we spent two nights with Fiance's mom and brother. Their house is one of the worst places I've ever spent time. They have four mini dachshunds who aren't exactly housebroken. Accidents are simply wiped up with paper towels..no spraying or mopping to clean it up. The smell of pee is overwhelming and the floor is sticky. Junk is piled all over the place. We had to shut the door (to keep out the dogs) when we slept, but there was no air circulation so we were roasting. It was just absolutely filthy....I mean, it was Thanksgiving and I had no appetite. (Considering the state of the kitchen I was careful about what I ate anyway.) When we finally got to my sister's, the first thing we did was wash up and wipe down our shoes and luggage. I didn't want to sound ungrateful (we couldn't afford a hotel), but it was just awful. I'll never spend a night there again.

It just...bothers me. If I know that I'm having people over, my house is pretty clean. It may not be spotless, but it's dusted, vacuumed, swept, etc. If people are spending the night, I make up a comfortable bed with access to spare blankets and fans. To me, that's just common courtesy. If you insist on living in filth, then don't have guests. If someone in your social circle is allergic to your pet, either make a genuine effort to clean up the common area or don't suggest your home as a gathering place, forcing the allergic person to choose between sneezing, being heavily medicated, or sitting at home.

ETA: Also, please have enough places to sit for everyone. Fiance and I are both heavy and it's really embarrassing for us to try to get down to and back up off the floor.

[blas87]

I didn't realize how nasty my place really was until I took a really good look one day and saw how much hair was all over my floors and corners, how much dust was all over the place, and how much pink rust was all over my tub and sink. I mean, I have no clue how I am NOT bald with all the hair I shed. And it's hard to see on light carpet, because it's so light it's translucent unless it's on a dark surface.

And now, I can't leave the house until I KNOW it's ok. I still have a really nasty fan full of dust because I can't reach that high, but I dust everything else pretty well and hokey once or twice a week and do the best I can to control hair and free-roaming bits and pieces of stuff on the floor.

I'm really worried about moving back to my parents' house, because even though my mom preaches about cleaning, neither my dad or brother really do much (though brother TRIES to not make messes), and mom cuts her nose to spite her face and refuses to clean, and the house gets so damned gross until she finally explodes at Dad to clean the litterboxes and take out the trash and load the dishwasher. She may do something on the weekend, but in general, their kitchen and bathroom are disgusting.

Even when I wasn't the cleanest lady, I NEVER would have old crusted coffee stains on my counter. I would have wiped them away immediately. I would NEVER have had stray peanuts or cellophane wrappers all over my floor.

Sorry for the family bitching. Their house isn't a biohazard, but you never want to wear white or even grey socks in that house. I always wear flip flops or a pair of flats around the house there. I'm still not the cleanest girl alive, but damn at least you can wear grey socks or go barefoot in my apartment and not get dirty feet.

Oh, about pet allergies....my bf is allergic to pets with hair. It sucks, because two of our pets are very curious, friendly critters, and we hate to have to put them in another room.

[MaggieTheCat]

Our house is not spotless, far from it, but we are the only ones in our D&D group who even offer to host. So if people complain ... that is their problem. They should offer to host instead, but no one ever does. Now, I don't think our place is a complete shit hole. We usually vacuum (including moving some of the furniture around, the stuff that isn't really difficult to move) and mop the floors the day of or day before everyone comes. But we do have 5 cats, and several people in our group are allergic to cats. No, we do not lock them up. That would be ridiculous. The only places we could put them would be a spare bedroom (small) or spare bathroom (smaller) and people usually stay over here for 6-8 hours. I am not locking all 5 of my cats up in a small room for that long.

If anyone in our group has a problem with us hosting, I would tell them that they can start hosting instead if they still want to play. But half of our group lives in 1 bedroom 800 sq ft apartments, and we have 8 people in our group. I don't think it would be very comfortable, but I would be willing to give it a try if someone else actually offered to host. Those who do have houses, are smaller than ours and still have animals. Fortunately, no one in our group has complained. Everyone understands that our house is really the only one big enough (and with enough furniture) to accommodate everyone.

We do clean up (including sanitizing) when the cats make a mess somewhere. Anyone who doesn't properly clean up after their pets is disgusting.

[Andara Bledin]

My last place was a mess. It wasn't a permanent residence and I didn't like being there, so I didn't really keep it nice at all, and it showed. But then, I also didn't invite anyone over because it was tiny, cluttered, messy, and there were no extra seats. >_<

Now that we have the house, things are still cluttered (we probably have enough stuff to fill a 4-bedroom place) but we keep the place clean enough that I'm not embarrassed to have people that aren't close friends over.

Advice for those with cats: Get a covered litterbox and a litter carpet. You'll still end up with some sand outside the box, but the cover will keep it to a very small area in front of the opening, and the litter carpet will keep the cats from tracking it away from the box.

And for those with carpets who do or have pets that do a lot of shedding: save your vacuum and take a broom to the rug before you do the vacuuming. Hair and fur can clog up a vacuum, but will ball up when you go over it with a broom. Then when you do the vacuuming, all the other bits and bobs are easier to get sucked up out of the carpet.

^-.-^

[boringscreenname]

My house is far from spotless, but if I know we're having people over then I make sure the place is clean. I live with two toddlers, a husky who sheds an enormous amount of fur and my husband who could probably be classified as my third kid.

We're very lucky in that our dog is completely house trained and she never has accidents. She goes outside once a day and that's the end of it. But she sheds like crazy. Our living room floor is wood and the kitchen is tile so we just sweep the floors whenever necessary. Her fur does have a tendency to gather under our couch and loveseat though. We're trying to get in the habit of moving all the furniture on a regular basis and sweeping under it.

I also try and keep the kids' toys and stuffed animals contained to their room, but my daughter is especially bad about dragging stuffed animals, pillows and blankets out into the living room. She's also going through a destructive phase and she likes to pull the dvds and books off the lower shelves on the bookshelf and scatter them throughout the living room, but I always pick them back up and straighten up the shelves.

She has also developed a really gross habit of getting into our trash can and bringing trash to me, which drives me crazy. Anytime I see her headed near a trash can I tell her no and move her away from it, but sometimes I'm busy with other stuff and she manages to get into it anyways. All our trash cans do have lids, but that does not deter her. We also can't leave stuff like empty gallons of milk or empty boxes or cartons next to the trash can anymore, because she will drag them into the living room. I've gotten into the habit of just taking that kind of stuff immediately to our outside trash cans, because I really don't want her dragging an empty gallon of milk through the house.

One of my friends is a terrible housekeeper. She has two young kids just like I do, but she stays home all day and doesn't work outside the home at all. (I work 40 hours a week). Anyway for awhile she was staying at home and still sending her kids off to daycare. She agreed to watch my kids one day for me, which we set up in advance, so it's not like I just dropped the kids off unexpectedly. Well when we dropped the kids off her apartment was a disaster and her kids had been at daycare all day, and were still there. We still left the kids there, because it was only going to be for a couple hours and we didn't have time to make other arrangements. When we came to pick the kids up, I noticed my daughter's white socks were black and the knees of her khaki pants were black too, and all she'd been doing is crawling around on the floor. Her clothes did come clean in the wash (I would've been pissed if they didn't), but I haven't asked my friend to baby-sit again.

[blas87]

My floor pisses me off because even though I live alone, never wear shoes in the house, am hardly home at all for 3-4 days a week (and during that time, sleeping or cooking something quick) religiously clean the floors once a week thoroughly and touch it up once or twice during the week, I would never dream of wearing white socks.

My Swiffer WetJet cloths are always black when I'm done, and when I paper towel dry after a vinegar-water soaking, it's also dark and gross, even after I've cleaned. The bathroom floor isn't quite as bad, but still never wipes away clear and clean.

[Boozy]

Also, please have enough places to sit for everyone.

Oh my god, I could not agree with you more.

I have friends who always invite us over for dinner when we're in town, and we have to eat out of our laps in the living room. They have a full dining room set, but it's covered in crap and inaccessible.

If they give you a beverage to wash down your dinner, you cannot find three square inches of space on the coffee table or side tables to set it down. So you have to balance your glass in between your knees.

If I lived in a situation like that, I would not invite people over to dinner. I would make reservations somewhere and take them out.

[Giggle Goose]

FOUR miniature dachsunds? Whoa, that's a lot of pee.

I know my house is a disaster area at the moment, so I don't invite people over!

[DrFaroohk]

My house is pretty much always a mess. I clean it to keep it sanitary - no empty chip bags, wet diapers or used tampons on the floor. But beyond that, it's insanely cluttered. I almost never have all the laundry done, and when it's clean it's not necessarily folded. Dishes are usually clean but not put away, I just use the drainer thing as my cupboard. Our bookshelves are filled with much more than just books. My computer desk is a graveyard for anything remotely electronic. The living room has like three random boxes of toys that get strewn.

Cat hair...is cat hair. It's not going away. I also smoke in here at night when the kids go to bed. The way I see it, no one is under any obligation to come over here. If someone else in the house wants company, and that person feels the house isn't up to code, then that person can do what they want to do to fix it.

[AdminAssistant]

We have a Christmas party every year, and the usual host is researching in Kyoto for a year. I was considering hosting, but then M said she might want to...so I jumped in and said I was. It'll be nice since we got a huge couch over the summer, so plenty of places to sit. I'll admit that some may have to hold their plate, but at least they won't have to hold their plate and sit on the floor. Of course, this runs the risk of M bringing her son and having to entertain a boisterous 10 year old but at least I won't have to drug myself up or leave early because I can't breathe and I'm tearing up.

[telecom_goddess]

I work 40 hours a week and still have at least one child who is a major slob living at home plus a bf who's next to useless and doesn't help me at all with housework. But my house is still clean...and I don't just clean it for other people. I clean it for myself, my own sanity.

One thing I don't have is enough table seating....on Thanksgiving we used the dining table to hold all the food and ate in the living room. I just don't have enough room to do it right.

[guywithashovel]

I'm getting ready to move into the house I bought a while ago. I've been spending weekends getting it fixed up, and now that most of the repairs that needed to be done for the place to be habitable are done, I've been working on getting it clean. I almost feel like I might never get this place clean. I have been over the floors in the kitchen and dining room at least ten times with Swiffer Wet Cloths, and every time, they are soiled when I'm done. The basement floor was filthy, but I hired a cleaning service to do that, and now it's nice and clean. Thing is, it was a HUD house when I bought it, and it had been vacant for a while, so it collected a lot of dust.

I'm probably blowing this out of proportion, because overall, the place looks pretty clean to the eyes. I still need to clean up the one bathroom I'm going to be using for now. The other one still needs some work.

I've been planning on having some kind of "open house" party with some of my coworkers to celebrate getting the house, but I'll probably have to keep putting that off for a while because I don't want them to see it if its dirty.

[AdminAssistant]

If your floor is seriously dirty, I recommend tossing a little Pine-Sol in a sink full of very hot water and mopping with that.

[Boozy]

Swiffers are fine for daily upkeep, I guess, but once a floor is dirty, they don't do shit.

If your home's previous owners let things go, you're probably looking at scrubbing the floor on hands and knees. It will take a while, but if you stay on top of things with regular washing afterwards, you probably won't have to do it again.

[tabbyblack13]

I'm not the type of person that will clean my entire house everyday but I will do something small everyday. That way my house doesn't need a major cleaning every weekend. Just keeping everything tidy does take a lot of time out of the day but it is worth it. A tidy house is a lot easier to keep up.

As for the swifter floor cleaning stuff. I never use it because I have three cats and there is a concern that the cats could be become sick from the cleaning fluid. I used a steam mop with a microfiber pad and it works wonders. Just don't let it sit in the same spot too long.