Caught out by a dirty room or appliance? Tell Kärcher for the chance to win a £250 John Lewis voucher NOW CLOSED

[AngelieMumsnet]

Kärcher would like to find out about moments where you've been caught out by a dirty appliance or room.

Here’s what Kärcher say, “We’ve all been caught out when visitors drop by unannounced and cringed when they pop in to find the house in disarray, what we would like to know is what has been you most embarrassing moment?”

So, have you ever been caught out with a dirty room? Maybe you noticed a hideous cobweb just as you had visitors over? Or maybe someone caught sight of your dirty oven? Perhaps you noticed something floating in your kettle, just as you were making a cup of tea for a guest?

Whatever way you've been caught out, Kärcher would love to hear about it!

Everyone who adds their thoughts to the thread will be entered into a prize draw to win a £250 John Lewis voucher.

Please note that any comments posted on this thread may be used by Kärcher in further marketing material (anonymously, of course).

Thanks and good luck,

MNHQ

[26Point2Miles]

in laws called round...children let them in...I had just dropped the roast chicken on the floor as I was removing it from the oven! it made a dramatic slide off the roasting tin! I was on the floor trying to coax said chicken back in the tin as they walked in.....BUT I thought id gotaway with it as I had my back to them and I served it anyway.....fil later on (after dinner) announced dinner had been lovely,but the kitchen floor was looking a tad greasy and did he want me to mop it whilst he was in there making a coffee!!?

yes,the floor DID look bad

[TheSpottedZebra]

An in - law one from me too (and why is it always the in laws?).

Mine turned up to see our new house, but the drive was much shorter than they'd expected so they were early. And I'd not finished tidying. So I'd hidden stuff - washing up in the oven, ironing pile put behind the sofa etc. And of coyrse when they'd arrived, my sod of a son referred to each and everyone of my mess-hiders: 'mum, why are there dirty plates in the oven? Why is the washing box behind the sofa?' etc. Traitor.

[CMOTDibbler]

Not a room, but the bloke came to fix my washing machine, pulled it out, and there were the corpses of 4 mice that the cats had lost under there

[Candycharm]

Once when my auntie popped round unannounced (as usual), the house was clean but just bits and toys everywhere. Usually I tidy up if I suspect that she might pop by but there were hangers and clothes over the floor in the living room. So I sneakily tried to use my feet to push said hangers, clothes, and toys under the sofa so not so visible but plan backfired and I ended up slipping over as we have wooden floors. I think it was quite obvious what I had been trying to do, it was abit embarrassing and probably just drew more attention to the mess.

[ArthurShappey]

I made my brand new in laws a roast dinner and couldn't understand the smoke in my kitchen and billowing out of the oven when nothing was actually burning. My MIL came to investigate and took one look at my oven and said 'you might want to clean your oven once in a while' (I informed her that went for her son (my DH) too! There was all sorts of burnt food stuffs on the bottom - we were very embarrassed. Our house is spotless except for the bastard oven - life is too short to clean ovens!

[ShatnersKaBOOM]

Whatever it is, I always point it out to visitors "Excuse the dusty lampshade," or "I missed that cobweb up there!"
Nobody would notice if I kept my mouth shut.

[RubySparks]

Came back from 3 days holiday to find kitchen grotty and surfaces dirty. Friend had come back with me for a cup of tea so I had to clean the kitchen before I could make it... husband and son had been left at home and clearly had done nothing. Sadly no appliance that can fix that!

[0898]

Walking home from school with New Mum Friend and our 5 year old boys. NMF lives about 5 mins walk on from us. Just before we get to our house her boy starts shouting that he needs a weeeeeeeeee riighhttt nooowwwwwww...

"come in and use ours" I said. A minute later we heard a scream from the bathroom where the poor little chap had discovered it full of my husbands scuba gear and masks hanging up like ghouls and a bath full of live fishing bait.

Thanks a bunch, husband.

[fuzzpig]

When DS was born, a friend came over with her husband and her boys to see us. They'd never been over before (or since actually! We don't have company much!) and we apologised profusely for the mess - we've always been messy but with a newborn and a toddler it was absolute mayhem.

So we chatted for a while and the three children played, but when it was time to leave they realised their 1yo had lost a shoe.

30 mins looking for it. Including behind the sofa where among other things there was an old apple core

They eventually gave up and left... Obviously five minutes later we found the shoe. On the opposite side of the room to the sofa.

It haunts me!

[VanitasVanitatum]

My mates came round for dinner the other night and when I was in the kitchen they decided it would be best to pull the table out to maximise seating.. An actual entire warren of dust bunnies behind it. Massive cringe.

[WerewolfBarMitzvah]

When we were selling our house, estate agent sent viewers round when we had requested none (not long after the birth of DS).
Luckily we had visitors anyway so we were dressed and the living room was tidy.
Upstairs was a different matter - the bathroom bin was overflowing with nappies, beds were unmade and worst of all, the floor was covered in hair clipping from DH's attempts at manscaping!
The family who viewed it were very polite and came back for a second (cleaner) viewing. Had I not lost all dignity a few weeks prior giving birth, I would have been mortified.

[RunByFruiting]

Cup of soup pinged in the microwave, no lid so usual tomato based chaos ensues, cba to clean.
mil goes to uses it that evening for dinner & there's an audible tut from the kitchen. Dh takes the blame, cleans it whilst she's cooking and gets it in the ear about his low standards ever since he left for university! Ha!

[JazzAnnNonMouse]

Dhs mum and dad dropped us back to out first flat after a week away at theirs - we couldn't work out the stench. Smelled like dead things. Soon discovered the half eaten chicken carcass we forgot about festering away in the oven

[ouryve]

Even though the dirt is usually long gone, I've lost track of how many times I've had a delivery arrive just as I'm finishing off cleaning up after a particularly eye-wateringly stinky nappy.

My supermarket delivery arrived before I'd had chance to clean up the kids' usual mess, this morning. I made the most of it and used Thomas the Tank Engine as a doorstop :o

[missorinoco]

A friend came round. Went to sit down at the kitchen table to have a cup of tea, then got up to wipe the smear of butter off the back of the chair kindly left by my children at breakfast time.

[HowlyBabblyBansheeeeeee]

A few days after bringing home my first baby I had a visit from the health visitor.

"Now this is what I like to see" says she "a new mum who ignores the house and concentrates on baby".

I wouldn't have minded if I hadn't just spent an hour tidying up. :(

[IAmAPaleontologist]

When we are having people over I end up doing a whip round downstairs gathering armfuls up and putting them in my bedroom. This results in piles of crap on the floor. My room generally looks like a hovel (I feel the need to point out we have 3 young dcs, I'm a full time student who does placements involving long shifts and dh works long hours too often commuting to another city). I frequently get away with it and fool people into thinking I'm on top of the crap. Then a helpful relative will decide to fold the laundry for me off the airer and take it upstairs to put away. They open the door and see the piles of shit on the floor, the overflowing bin, the piles of folded laundry I've not yet distributed to dcs rooms, the overflowing ironing basket. The several loads of clothes waiting to be folded that I had hastily thrown up there just before they arrived. Then I die a little inside.

[OutDamnSpot]

Never had any but I think I am a shameless slattern. I remember at ante / post natal classes discussions about letting cleaning slide, only mopping floors once a week etc and thinking "once a week seems a bit excessive".

That said, I honestly don't think my house is that bad apart from the oven. Would love to know how people keep them sparkly and clean. No matter what I try, it remains black and greasy...

[Dolallytats]

The heating engineer came to do the yearly gas check. To be fair we hadn't received the letter and had no idea he was coming. The dishes hadn't been done yet and, I don't know why, but there was a huge amount of them waiting to be washed and were covering every kitchen surface.

I'm afraid we had to turn him away and rebook, I was too embarrassed to let him in!!

[mipmop]

Mine is about the weird embarrassment of explaining to tradesmen that I've just moved in, it was the previous people who never attended to these things (I'm sure the oven cleaning people hear this a lot so it felt like a flimsy excuse to say it wasn't my fault the oven was disgusting).

[PrettyPictures92]

A couple of weeks ago my hoover broke down which was bad enough, except I have a carpet where every tiny bit of dirt shows up on it. Normally I don't have visitors so when my health visitor showed up without announcement to check in and see how I was doing I was mortified for her to walk in on us with a carpet that was covered in three days worth of crumbs, fluff, and sausage roll pastry from my three year old who was currently eating lunch.

She was polite enough to not pass comment but I still felt the need to explain and was still mortified even afterwards

[Roseformeplease]

Friends came round to admire one year old son. They spent quite some time praising him. He behaved beautifully, sitting quietly observing us all, chewing his fist. Until I realised it wasn't his fist. It was a piece of toast he had found under the sofa - at least 3 days old, if not more.

They were the ones who said, "Oh, look, how nicely he is eating his toast"

Aah!

[IAmAPaleontologist]

Rose that reminded me. One day a friend came round and sat on my sofa. a brown affair with fringes to the floor. Brown patterned carpet (rented). When she got up she left poo footprints across the room. yes, yes indeed the potty training toddler had done a poo, hidden it among the sofa fringes and none of us had noticed it until it was all over our guest's shoes .

[Keepcalmanddrinkwine]

I hide everything in the spare room when entertaining and just shut the door. We have been decorating so there was a lot of stuff just piled up in there, plus ironing, charity bags, piles of work things (files, books etc.) and unwanted toys. I was horrified when we had people over and the children decided to play hide and seek, the spare room being the best place to hide ever!

[Whyisitsodifficult]

My friend dropped in unannounced we had a chat she popped to the toilet then left. Then I remembered I'd been meaning to clean that toilet as my lovely little boy had left a skidmark in the pan! Mortifying that she must have seen it!!