To think that I can't be the only person who lives in a messy/sometimes dirty house and cleans before anyone comes round.

[Bumpandkind]

This morning I wake to... last nights supper on the table, bomb site kitchen, evidence of baby led weaning on the floor, bin juice stains in the porch, last Saturdays paper all over the sofa (family section partially eaten by baby and stuck to floor). I could go on. My brothers family are coming over for lunch so my husband and I will blitz this over the morning and the outside world will never know. I would never be truthful about this in real life so just curious if there are any other closet statterns out there?

Having said that, I do tidy to "perfection" if I know people are coming round!

I used to be like that, but since having dd and our new house something inside me snapped! Now the most work I ever have to do if I have a visitor coming round is do a bit of washing up.

I tidy as I go, and am in the process of training dp to do the same!!

I try to leave the house tidy so do a swoop round before we go out or go to bed. It means 2/3x5 mins tidying a day but the house never gets that bad. Plus you only have to sort the surface. Friends who leave it and do blitzes do it less often but probably spend longer overall as everything gets in a muddle.

Ohhh. No.
I couldn't live like that.
The thought of leaving yesterday's dishes actually makes me anxious!
I feel so much better - and it's so much more pleasant to live in a clean and tidy environment.

Put your house on the market to sell. Doing this has really undone any secret slattery. My house used to get so bad it would take a day to tidy but these a regular whizz round is all hats needed.

When I was pregnant I was waiting for the nesting impulse to kick in - it never did. I saw that as validation for what I always suspected - I am missing the cleaning/caring about cleaning gene.

I like the house/room when it is clean but am just not willing to do the work to keep it that way.

DH and I clean when people are coming round, the rest of the time, not so much. We have equally low standards.

You are definitely not the only one. I struggle to keep on top of the housework and laundry and it is the first thing to go when I've got loads on at work.

I do always clean the kitchen straight after tea though, I'd hate to be facing a mess first thing in the morning.

Everything else gets done when visitors are on their way round!

This is such a reassuring thread.

My house is also on the messy side unless we're expecting visitors (although all the dishes did go in the dishwasher before bedtime last night) and sometimes I do wonder if we're abnormal as everyone else seems to have such lovely tidy, clean houses.

This sounds just like our house. Even before DC. We are morning people so happy to get up early and clean up ready for the day, but I never do it in the evening, after 8-9pm I am half dead. Dinner plates are sometimes even left with half eaten food on on the table (on really bad days). By the time we get ds to sleep it's 8.30. Then we have dinner and go to bed at 9.30-10. There is no time to tidy. I think I'd actually cry if I had to clean up then. So I get up to the house being an absolute state and loads dishwasher, clean kitchen then while the porridge is on. House gets cleaned and hoovered once a week when dh takes ds out. Other than that we just let the mess go free range unless someone is visiting - then I tidy and clean like a bastard and it's immaculate

Not here but I do have a huge cupboard in the house that I would probably die if anyone went into. Things are just chucked in there in any old fashion, weirdest thing is, it has order to me. I know where everything is and it's perfect but anyone else would probably just go

It's my Monica cupboard. I like my messy cupboard.

this thread is depressing. it is not normal to not be able to sleep if your house it a bit dirty.

talk about first world problem!

our house goes from messy to tidy! I don't show off in front of guests, except I try not to leave loads of washing up. its just stuff. friendships are more than material goods.

people are weird.

I couldn't live like that.. mess stresses me out.

Plus we get ants every year so leaving the kitchen like a shithole is just asking for trouble

I should say though the house get's the special clean for visitors.

All except the cupboards, there is only me and DD so it's not that hard to keep it tidy.

Nope. My place is genuinely always spotless. And I don't spend loads of time cleaning, I'm naturally so clean and tidy that 90% is done as I go along.

Wouldn't ever, ever, ever leave dirty dishes on the table!, not even taken to the kitchen?!. I wouldn't be able to sleep if I tried to do that.

I might leave a chocolate bar wrapper on the coffee table for a while but it would be binned the next time I got up. That's as messy as I get.

I really can't be any other way!.

My childhood home was like that. As a teen I had to do a big clean up before I could bear to invite friends home.
The week I got married I went back to my parents' house and spent 2 days cleaning up as they had invited my future PIL to tea and there's no way my (lovely) MIL would have been anything other than confused and stressed by the mess.
As a parent myself I have been happy that my kids never had to think twice about bringing people home. You may be happy with your way of life, don't assume your kids are.

I too came from an untidy home and was ashamed to bring anyone back to it. I fight against it every day, horrible to say, but in my head goes round,'What would so and so think?'

It's terrible and no amount of training, my sons will make them better. I shut the doors of their rooms in dispair, last week I relented and tidied their rooms. But I feel such a fool for doing it.

It's a constant and relentless job and no one thanks you for it.

Here Melika have a bunch cos I doubt they will remember on Sunday!!

You're not the only one. My house used to be spotless before I had DS, but now it's a tip.
I hate having a messy house, but it's either that or spend all my time cleaning. Something has to give.

I'll be honest, some of what you are describing is dirt (plates with food on, food on the floor, rubbish everywhere etc) as opposed to just mess (toys and books everywhere).

I am guilty of leaving the place a mess until visitors are due, but I could never, ever leave it dirty!

Meh. Depends on the day.
I have no social anxiety linked to untidiness. Last night's dinner stuff (that wouldn't fit in the dishwasher) was still out this morning, but we lay down on the sofa and watched a film instead. Long week.

I have gradations of 'friends' based on this. You are a true, everyday friend when I don't clean up and you don't care because I have seen your house in a shit state as well.

It always gets done in the end

Wouldn't ever, ever, ever leave dirty dishes on the table!, not even taken to the kitchen?!. I wouldn't be able to sleep if I tried to do that.

well in my defence I live in a tiny flat, I do not have a 'kitchen' I have one room with a cooker and a small work surface and sink in the corner, a small dining table for 2 and a 2 seater sofa. So I physically cannot take anything to the kitchen. Everything which needs washing up has to stay on the table as there is nowhere else for it to go. It's easier to be tidy when you have space, or even a few cupboards! Putting things away for me means folding them nicely and stacking them on the floor in a corner

it doesn't really matter though as it's your house so it's how you choose to live.

I just can't stand it though. my lovely lovely sils are all messy, think coats piled in the sofa, dishes In the sink, newspapers and books everywhere, every surface dusty and cluttered. but they are fantastically lovely women.

my house is tidy and clean. fresh flowers and polished surfaces.

however I am not a better person, far from it. I just couldn't live in a mess.

it's not a competition it's just how we are.

melika my older ds is a slob. pure and simple. ds2 and my dds are tidy.

I just barge in and tidy his room as I just can't stand it. he's not moved back home temporarily and I love him to bits but Jesus the kid is a slob.

his student house, 5 lads, was beyond dreadful. I fantasised about breaking in and cleaning it.

mind you he's got me a bottle of wine for Mother's Day so forgive him.

I have to sort out floors, dishes and laundry straight away. Nothing to do with appearances, as any clean freak can (and does; thank you MIL) see beneath the veneer of tidiness. It's more that I can't stand the thought of these things waiting for me.

I much prefer to visit friends who are slatternly like me, but too busy to get the superficial stuff out of the way. Superclean houses make me feel tense and worried I'll drop or spill something.

I'm always reassured by threads like this one. That description of yours op, I reckon you had a quick peek in my kitchen windows first because that is exactly my house. I don't even have the exuse of blw baby, mine is now two and weaned, though she does create an almighty mess when she eats and I don't always clear it up between meals.