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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Am I the only one that gets annoyed by a messy house on TV?

31 replies

bumblebee50 · 14/01/2017 11:46

I was watching a new sitcom - it wasn't very good and I only watched about ten minutes. The family house it was set it was cluttered with stuff everywhere in the kitchen, toys on the stairs etc. This really annoys me - I hate to see a messy house on TV. I was like this a bit when I was young - watched Swapshop instead of Tizzwas because I couldn't stand the mess made on Tizzwas. Before I get flamed, although my house is usually tidy I'm not the least bit bothered if a friend has a messy house, it's just on TV.

OP posts:
MommaGee · 14/01/2017 12:07

Yabu and a little bit odd... Confused

harderandharder2breathe · 14/01/2017 12:09

Yabu, i think mess is more realistic anyway, most people with young children seem to have toys everywhere

VeryBitchyRestingFace · 14/01/2017 12:12

Did you want to tidy it, OP? Grin

CremeEggThief · 14/01/2017 12:13

YABU. I'm fanatical about tidiness in my own house (I even check that playing cards are all the same way around and we're past the jigsaw stage, but unmade puzzles wouldn't have happened in my house), but I don't really notice it in others' or on telly. It has to be at a hoarding stage before it bothers me!

garbagegirl · 14/01/2017 12:15

Was this Not Going Out last night? I noticed the stairs too but said nothing because my house is a tip

HerBluebiro · 14/01/2017 12:44

Surely they are just trying to add to realism. Some houses are pristine show homes. Some are dumps. Most are somewhere in between with stuff where it shouldn't be. I have load of washing on my stairs to take up. Just went up without it. Still there now. A few toys might be there if the dig has got bored half way up.

Relax. It isn't your home.

IWantATardis · 14/01/2017 12:50

That's not something that generally bothers me.

As long as a TV house isn't so far off one end of the cluttered tidy scale that I can't imagine someone actually living there, I'm fine with it.

WorraLiberty · 14/01/2017 12:55

Very odd.

If it was Not Going Out, I noticed some toys on the stairs and thought it was quite realistic considering they have 3 kids.

The TISWAS/Swapshop thing is bizarre.

OneWithTheForce · 14/01/2017 12:57

YANBU! I do too, and when people post photos on social media and their house is messy. I want to scream "tidy your fucking house"

And my house is currently a shit pit Blush but at least it's not on tv/FB.

NightWanderer · 14/01/2017 12:58

See I loved the chaos of Tiswas. My house is messy though, that probably means somsthing.Wink

bushtailadventures · 14/01/2017 12:59

I'm the other way round, I get annoyed if a supposed family house is too tidy, it doesn't seem right somehow.

notsmartenough · 14/01/2017 13:02

I'm the opposite. I see the pristine TV show homes - no clutter and not much storage and wonder where all their belongings are.

Original poster
bumblebee50 · 14/01/2017 13:24

It was "Not Going Out". It was the stairs that bothered me the most - I would take a header down them for sure. Maybe IABU but I can't help it. I couldn't watch Steptoe and Son when I was small. I also hate to see someone smashing plates on TV or throwing their tea against a wall - I just keep thinking that some has to tidy it up!

OP posts:
MuteButtonisOn · 14/01/2017 13:25

I hated the chaos and messy slapstick on tiswas.

SnugglySnerd · 14/01/2017 13:29

Presumably they are trying to make the houses look realistic, that doesn't bother me but I was surprised to see a photo on Rightmove recently with the ironing board set up in the living room and a big pile of laundry on the chair next to it. You would think that people trying to sell a house would tidy it up.

CheerfulMuddler · 14/01/2017 13:33

I'm the opposite too, although what really annoys me is when a character works in telesales or in a shop or something and lives in this enormous expensive house. How on earth does Rachel off Friends manage to afford to live in a lovely spacious New York apartment on a waitress's salary? How does Joey manage it as a failing actor?

I'd also like to see more houses that look like they haven't been designed by an interior designer but are just lived in by ordinary, busy people who didn't quite manage to get around to finishing decorating the baby's rooms before he got here.

LadyCallandraDaviot · 14/01/2017 13:34

SnugglySnerd I always think that means they are tenants who the landlord is selling from underneath, so it isn't really to their benefit to speed a sale.

Katy07 · 14/01/2017 13:35

I also hate to see someone smashing plates on TV or throwing their tea against a wall - I just keep thinking that some has to tidy it up!
Totally with you on that Grin

Bonhomie321 · 14/01/2017 13:35

Topsy and Tim's house is a mess! Stickers stuck on furniture!!!!!!! Stained carpet etc. It makes me very twitchy. No one is taking ownership of that house. I hoped that when they moved, things would improve. It annoys me that people assume that having children = messy house. I remember my sister in law telling me gleefully how my house would be a tip once I had my baby. Yes, there is more clutter to deal with and messy handprints and spillages, but it doesn't mean you have to automatically lower your standards. My husband and I both work full time and keep the place clean and tidy without a cleaner etc.

SnugglySnerd · 14/01/2017 13:36

I'd never thought of that, yes perhaps you are right, LadyCallandra.

BraveDancing · 14/01/2017 13:40

I am definitely the opposite. My house is clean and tidy, because I like it being ordered, but I get really annoyed with a pristine show home on TV that I refuse to believe real people ever lived in. At least have a soft toy or something out somewhere!

WheresTheEvidence · 14/01/2017 13:41

Just watching this on iplayer and agree it is quite a cluttered house - but they are supposed to have 3 young children.

OneWithTheForce · 14/01/2017 13:47

How on earth does Rachel off Friends manage to afford to live in a lovely spacious New York apartment on a waitress's salary? How does Joey manage it as a failing actor?

Monica's apartment was really cheap due to rent control and chandler subbed joey massively

IndianaMoleWoman · 14/01/2017 14:09

YANBU. I have tried to watch Outnumbered twice but can't get past the state of the house in the first episode. It's more annoying because it's obviously a beautiful, expensive house but they treat it like a shit tip!

ExcuseMyEyebrows · 14/01/2017 14:15

I watched a bit of that (had to switch off because it was so unfunny) and also hated the messiness.

I suppose it's the reality of a family in an open plan house though.