What conditions do you think constitutes the house of a Slob?

[ipanemagirl]

I want to know if I qualify!

[breaghsmum]

more than a days dishes sitting by the sink? when you have no clean underwear cause you havent done washing in a while?

[ipanemagirl]

Oh thanks Breaghsmum, I'm not there yet! 1- 0 to me so far!

[cheesesarnie]

more food on floor than in cupboard.
when you cant find dc under mess.

[SomebodyandNobody]

Food that has been hidden by brats lovely cherubs has shrivelled to a 1/4 of it's origional size by the time you fish it out.

[sherby]

dirty toilet

more than a days worth of dishes

[SomebodyandNobody]

You start hunting for clothes, not from a clean pile (god forbid it should make it to the wardrobe), but cleanest out of the dirty bunch.

[Smittals]

It's not just dusty it's fluffy.

[superfrenchie1]

when you can't see any clear (let alone clean) surfaces - everything is covered in junk

[HuwEdwards]

someone who has to dress their kids directly from the ironing pile, who opens shopping directly from the carrier bags to use immediately; someone who only clears out food cupboards when the kitchen is re-fitted only to find packets that went out of date in 1994.

Not me obviously, nope, a friend....the dirty scutter....

[IAteMakkaPakka]

When you have to dust before you can find the hoover ...

[snowleopard]

What ironing pile?

As I'm a slatternly besom (have fluff galore, never iron, hoover is dusty etc) the things I really find disgusting are quite extreme but I have visited one house where I thought things were beyond the pale (and it was a family home not a student/bachelor pad...):

• dangling flap of jelly-like grey slime at bottom of fridge door
• no space on kitchen table to eat
• ponging kitchen bin bags stored up in utility room instead of taken out
• piles of newspapers from years ago filling several rooms.

Now that was a tip. I do have some standards.

[Woollymummy]

oh my god, it sounds like you have been round to my house....

except our house is so small we don't have several extra rooms to fill with all the newspapers i have read and not bothered to take cuttings from....

[HuwEdwards]

oh snow, you're a complete slattern - ever left the washing on the line for 3 days though, because of intermittent showers?

[Woollymummy]

except we do a lot of hoovering in our house because DD likes to say bye bye to all the dirt and leftover food pinging its way up the tube, the shame of it is there is so much dirt it is actally like a rainstick in reverse

[snowleopard]

Oh dear woolly I did wonder if that house would be recognised! But it was a big house so not yours.

[solidgoldbrass]

HuwEdwards - about 5 days last summer . But most people make far too much fuss about housework anyway - as long as there aren't smells, you can find clean pants and you don't get food poisoning too often, it's not worth stressing about as there are always better things to do.

[snowleopard]

2 weeks Huw. Count 'em

[MotherBored]

Huw, what's wrong with taking stuff out of the carrier bags and using immediately? Do non-slatterns store stuff for a certain amount of time before usage?

For me it's sticky walls in the kitchen. I know a kitchen like that. Makes me want to clean before making a cup of coffee.

Oh, and people who give you coffee in a cup which has clearly not been washed. Complete with crusty lip mark on rim.

[snowleopard]

Ooh yes filthy mugs are horrible. Interestingly/terrifyingly, my mum always used to despair that at her dad's house the mugs weren't washed properly. Now she's older, and I always find the same thing at her house. So one day I will be like that too, and not notice...