To think people are getting scruffier?

You’re right, poor mental health encompasses a huge amount of variance, and no it does not simply correlate to how well someone takes car3 of themselves.

In fact ocd is a mental illness and can result in someone being supremely and excessively clean and tidy. And yes for others it can result in a decline. As said, there is no straight line correlation there at a macro level.

it also can’t be ignored that this has always been an issue for some folks.

Working in mental health I think that it’s probably got a lot to do with the decline in mental health for so many people. Covid, wars, cost of living etc has really affected many people.

Poor mental health does not mean that you smell or are automatically untidy but can and does effect how well people look after themselves and their property although I’m sure someone will be delighted to berate me.

Yes I remember this as the norm. When I sweep my front garden and wipe the sills folk look at me like I'm a freak!

A gif doesn’t make spag pedantry any less annoying.

😂

It’s not either/or and I wouldn’t want to live in a shithole and am quite houseproud.

But I think if you have kids being anally tidy to the point you are always telling people off if a cup is left on a table or dusting all the time is not great.

It’s nothing to do with “making memories” I just it’s stressy being around people who are that uptight about it. It’s also hard to see how people get anything else done if they’re cleaning all the time.

(Sorry).

Yes the wash at 30 doesn’t help.
I would never wash tea towels or bedding at 30, ever.

Some of the smelliest people I know are successful / rich.

My boss smells of cigarettes and coffee breath.

My rich colleague looks clean but smells of rank musty clothes.

My other rich colleague only developed a weird cloying smell during pregnancy.

My manager rubbed a bogie all over his face.

These people all earn 6 figures.

I think it is laziness.
Branded trainers are not cheap, neither is the latest phone. Yet I see men with these but in dirty, stained track suits.
Its gross. It would probably cost less to buy a smart pair of jeans or trousers and a shirt.
Also how many people drive huge, expensive fuel guzzling cars yet don’t look clean and smart. It’s a choice.
Having a litter strewn garden or drive is lazy. Put your rubbish in the bin.
No excuse.
People throw litter on the floor outside the building I work in. There us a bit a few feet away. Complete scrubbers.

Less people working than in many years- many more on sick.

Don’t get me started on halitosis on the tube… I’ve had to move carriages many a time to get away from the folk that can’t brush their teeth and tongues before heading to work. Floss your teeth, people too!

I guess fashions and standards have changed a lot over the years. I've never owned a pair of grey tracky bottoms but see them being worn everywhere now. Yes I do agree the generic clothes have become more comfort biased so do look scruffier. Attire was definitely of a higher standard when I was younger, most people looked smarter, made an effort, absolutely no pjs in the street or anywhere!

Now clothes shops have a huge section for lounge wear, didn't exist when I was younger. I do believe this has been part of a transition from walking kids to school (no other alternative) to being able to drive them, park on double yellow lines while not having not changed from sleepwear. Just an observation and how society has gone. I drive my DC to school but have a shower and get dressed as I have to go ro work, guess if I could wfh it may be different lol 😆

They also tend to use loads of washing soap and enzyme detergent. Eco, nonbio stuff is popular here, coupled with cold water you may as well swish your washing in a puddle.

People are demoralised. Soap may be cheap but hot water isn't. Two partners working is the norm now.

WHERE DO YOU LIVE??

I rarely meet people who smell all that, and all the many many many houses we looked round last year (pretty low priced from a south London perspective) were cleaned as you'd expect when someone wants to sell them. Most of the replies suggest this is unusual though! Where do you all come from?

There is also the wash at 20 movement, whilst it is good for the planet it doesn't kill all the bacteria in clothes (especially clothes people sweat in) and every so often they need a good hot wash to kill everything off.

In some parts of the world people wash everything in cold water. Their clothes don't smell.

All of us also have takeaways all the time, don't forget 🙄

I live in a country where we don't have central heating and sometimes have to dry my clothes inside in winter, lots of people do - they never smell musty. We had a twin tub too when I was married and working full time, I loved my twin tub!

Incidentally, I haven't noticed more smelly people than usual here.

We had to break into our kitchen once in our HA home, because the mechanism stuck fast. DP shoulder barged it to try and get it to open, but just put a shoulder sized hole in it. It looked like it had been punched. Ds2 was 2 weeks old... HV was due round the day after for a visit so we put a picture Ds1 drew over it 🙈

We had a new one hung the following weekend

@BoobyDazzler - door punchers are violent people. No mystery. Often a message to the rest of the house not to screw with the puncher or get the same treatment

I don’t think social care has always been like this, there was more residential care. My elderly relatives went to care homes when they were still functioning reasonably ok and they wouldn’t have been self funding. Further back there were sanatoriums etc where people went for months. There has been a big push for ‘care in the community’, mental health wards closed down en masse. It doesn’t only affect the person but the family too. Not that it’s a bad thing for people to not be institutionalised but it’s been replaced by family carers (or no carers) rather than professional care

I’ve worked front end of social housing for > 15 years and would wouldn’t believe the proportion of homes I’ve been in that have punch marks in the doors, i’d say at least 50%! What are people doing with their doors? Who are these people?

(This is not intended to be a dig at SH tenants, grew up in SH and a lot of the homes I go in are much tidier than mine! - #selfconfessedscruffywench! it’s just meant to show that this kind of door punching behaviour is normal for a large proportion of the population. I’ve never personally known a door puncher)

This would be logical if it hadn’t always been like this. And it has.

@Screamingabdabz I’ve come to realise that some people really don’t care what their environment looks like.
We live in a very small mansion block with no cleaner employed for the stairwell. Over time our neighbours have moved out and less, shall we say, ‘approachable’ ones have moved in. It would seem that some people will quite happily drop old tissues, sweet rappers, cigarette butts and even cat litter in their own building and just leave it there.

I used to pick up the odd piece of litter I found on the stairs but I now see that it’s an impossible task so I do my best to ignore it. I cannot understand it though, I simply can’t.