What do you class as 'tidy' - are my standards too high?

[readytoliveonanislandalone]

I'll try and keep it brief. Apologies for lack of finer details but this could be very very outing. I just need some outside opinions as I'm starting to doubt myself If this is a me problem?

If you were house sitting what would your level of cleanliness be before you left? Would you consider the below to be a piss take?

• 10-15 dog poos left in garden un cleared.
• multiple glasses left on bed side table
• razors/hairs left all over bathroom.
• kitchen bins full
• week old takeaways leftovers (multiple) in the fridge
• bits of food all in the sink and over kitchen table
• cans/food containers left laying around.

There were more but as I say the specifics would be quite outing. Seeing it written down makes me feel like I'm not BU. And for the record these were not teenagers staying, they were fully grown adults!

I'm starting to think my level of cleanliness is a bit much for some people and I know there's a certain "untidy" but clean. Im the sort of person that can't leave a hotel without folding the towels up and making the bed.

I'm not too sure what I'm after really, just feeling a bit pissed off and not sure if I'm being OTT.

I would expect a housesitter to leave a place exactly as they found it.

Exactly. And this even after staff have walked up and down the aisle three times with a bin bag asking people to put their rubbish in.

It's just a joke, it's really annoyed me! It's nice to get an outside opinion.

Yes I completely agree theres always a kind of "lived in" mess. Where you've yet to empty and fill the dishwasher, or you've literally just made lunch so the kitchens a bit messy. But to leave a place in that state when you actually leave, it's ridiculous.

@armyofants - to clarify, I literally just throw the quilt back over the bed, I don't tuck the sides in lol. I just cannot stand an unmade bed, even at home the first thing I do in the morning is pull my quilt back so it's flat again, if that makes sense.

I do have some odd habits, which I completely appreciate is a me issue, for example, I can't leave the house messy when I leave, so toys have to be put away, kitchen tidy from breakfast, etc but I appreciate some people don't have the time in the mornings but I just cannot come home to a messy house.

I also cant stand things being on the side, so like chargers or deliveries that someone's yet to open. I'm very much keep your stuff in your room and keep your room how you like 🤣

If you are staying in someone else's house, it's just good manners to leave it at least as clean and tidy as you found it, whether you are being paid to be there or not. It's not like a hotel.

I understand, I am exactly like you. I don’t want to wake up or come home to a messy house. We clean even before going on holiday. 😬

@MrsDanversGlidesAgain this is one of my biggest ever pet peeves. I cannot bare the attitude of "it's not my job" it's so so disrespectful. I also think those sort of people should do those jobs for a day and then see how they feel about leaving their rubbish everywhere!

Whenever I'm out with youngest DC I cannot leave without clearing up their mess, I will pick up anything they've dropped like cutlery etc and I'll use a napkin to pick up what I can of food left everywhere! The amount of times I've asked for a dust pan and brush in a resturant 🤣

@armyofants - same! Love a good deep clean before holiday! And I'm also one of these people that cannot, by any means, sit down until I've unpacked 🤣 my DH hates it lol.

That's disgusting, especially the dog poo. I guess the moral is if you lend someone your house, don't let them bring pets.

So grim, and it's the combination. 1 or 2 on the list you could over look but all of them together, smacks of no respect or consideration. I'd have to do a deep clean!

I’m definitely not a tidy person but that is really disgusting. There’s no way that any one of those things on the list are acceptable. That’s way beyond untidy - that’s dirty and unhygienic

Can you clarify, did you pay them or did you not pay them to pet sit and house sit? However convenient it might or might not have been for them to do it, they were still doing you a big favour and saving you a lot of money if you didn't pay them for their services.

I really wouldn't like to come back to that level of mess, (and I most certainly don't live like that) but if I wasn't paying, I'd take a view that on balance, cleaning up after them was a small price to pay for having my pets looked after in their own home where they'd be happiest, and the financial savings of not paying for kennels/cattery/housesitter etc.

I used to do house sitting and left it in perfect condition and get a few bits in, and it was much better than I'd leave my own house lol

@readytoliveonanislandalone More than two decades ago, whilst visiting from overseas, SIL and her partner stayed with us for two weeks. Guest room, ensuite, etc., in the loft. Our children were about 5 and 2 so my hands were quite full.

They were given dinner every day and did not once put their plates in the dishwasher. When they left I went upstairs to change the bed hoover. The shower/lavatory/basin were disgusting with the bin overflowing with sanitary towels. Don't ask about the linens. Bins were full of empty drink cans, wrappers, etc. There were also about 20/30 newspapers and magazines.

They never stayed again. The next time MIL came she commented that DH had stopped using the upstairs shower. I am afraid I simply said "yes, the state your daughter left it in put him off it".

They stayed in SW London with us for two weeks. They saved a fortune. They left us four Fosters. No thank you card. Spoke volumes. They have always said we are welcome to visit them anytime in the Antipodes. Wild horses wouldn't drag me to stay in their home which I imagine is filthy.

You are not wrong @readytoliveonanislandalone

Why did you need a house sitter?

If they've done you a favour by looking after your dogs, I can see why they might not have cleared the garden (although I don't do dogs, so no idea what's normal there) and done actual cleaning. I think the bathroom left in a used state is fine, but they should have tidied after themselves in the kitchen.

It doesn’t matter if she paid them or not. You don’t leave someone elses house like that. You just don’t.

Unless you are terminally rude and entitled.

Im a messy person and this is definitely too messy! I wouldn’t leave the house like that

The dog poos alone are vile

What a horrible mess to come home to! sorry this happened to you. Not unreasonable of you at all, but very unreasonable and rude of them. Agree with @HuevoRanchero and @Sossijiz , above.

Completely understand why you feel disrespected.

The place should have been left as they found it - of course. It’s just courteous. I would have added some bread, milk and eggs to the fridge for your return too…

My rule is leave it as I find it and tidy up after myself. Expectation is bins, get rid of leftovers, beds turned back or stripped, kitchen clean and tidy, bathroom clean and tidy and used towels jn a pile.

Only said by dirty / slobs.

You need to clarify the arrangement

I've been in a similar situation without the dogs.
We - family of 4 based in UK - were visiting relatives based in Australia. By chance their friends across the road were away at that time and offered their house for us to stay in.
We deep cleaned it before we left and we left presents for all the family and did some baking for them (at our cost obviously). They were so kind and left a lovely letter for us saying that their house had never looked so good. Probably not true 🙂 and I appreciated the kindness in them saying that, but if someone allows you to stay in their house it behoves you to leave it tidily. They'd saved us a lot of money as local hotels were very expensive.
I'd have been appalled to find a place left in the way you describe.

There’s a difference between ‘untidy’ and ‘filthy’.

untidy ( to me anyway ) is a few books left on the floor rather than put back on the shelf, cushions not plumped up and arranged nicely, a few children’s toys scattered about the place.
All perfectly normal.

what you described is filthy.

But if you’ve asked someone to look after your house then I’d expect it spotless when I got back. Payment or not.

Yes. I am a very untidy person with fairly lax cleaning standards (by Mumsnet norms anyway) and I too think this is disgraceful.

I'm generally quite an untidy person but I would have left your house exactly as I found it. Definitely no food, glasses laying around, or hair in the sink. They're taking the piss