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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

My friends house is dirty

246 replies

hollyhee111 · 03/10/2019 08:19

My friend ( not very close but pretty close ) invited me round today . I keep putting off going to her house because it's just filthy , she hardly ever washes dishes , floors always filthy , food everywhere , dog hair you name it . I can't stand being there . And I feel so bad as I just can't keep making excuses not to go round she's even making lunch today for us . I have a toddler too and the thought of him touching stuff etc makes me really uncomfortable . Argh what do I do ?? She's the loveliest person I know . Do I say something or just grin and bare it 🙈

OP posts:
longwayoff · 03/10/2019 13:26

@NoTheresa, you haven't yet explained the difference between baited and bated. Your audience waits.

fotheringhay · 03/10/2019 13:26

Am I the only one who opened this thread just to see if the OP was talking about me? Phew! Grin

SmoothLawAbider · 03/10/2019 13:27

Just grin and bair it.

LakieLady · 03/10/2019 13:30

But I have children, and a job, and a social life. And my house is still in a reasonable state. It's just something you have to do

See if you can find the "slattern" thread from a couple of days ago, @ChippyPickledEggs, and you'll see that there are many people who don't "feel" they have to do anything of the sort!

Very amusing thread, too.

INeedNewShoes · 03/10/2019 13:31

A friend of mine when we were growing up had two dogs and a cat. Her mum vacuumed daily and the house was kept spotless. I'm allergic to dogs and bearly Bear suffered at their house. Honestly, I would say that if you didn't KNOW they had pets you wouldn't have guessed it by looking at/smelling the house!

Longlongsummer · 03/10/2019 13:32

Definitely all my posher friends, well most of them, live in such untidy homes! Even my own mothers house is a bit rank but then she’s getting old. She thinks hoovering isn’t really that necessary so I have to hoover every single time I visit... sigh!

But I love my friends! Unfortunately they never visit me, as I’m the furthest and that seems to be the rule, people nearest London don’t visit anyone else apparently. Grin in my lovely big clean home. And I’m not even allowed in one friends kitchen, as it’s so bad yet I do eat whatever she cooks and touch wood, no illness yet.

You can’t say anything, even indirectly. This is just how your friend is OP. You can see her outside the house as much as you can.

However my friends are absolute gold dust to me, and so is my mother. They enrich my life so much that I just ignore the dirt. And I even have to stay over as they are so far from me!

Although I admit one friend, that I do love, but was just so casual about ‘my kids got nits’ etc and if I visited my kids would always pick up something, that I stopped visiting. She was also incredibly posh and like some of my other posh friends, had no sense of infection and illness control! I do think lower class people have a better idea of cleaning to not pass on infections etc - passed down through generations.

Mind you, see the other thread on taking off shoes! Bonkers.

SmoothLawAbider · 03/10/2019 13:33

Am I the only one who opened this thread just to see if the OP was talking about me? Phew!

Most of us don't have friends so that never crossed our minds.

Longlongsummer · 03/10/2019 13:38

Also...

I have a dog but that doesn’t mean my house ‘stinks’!

All houses have different smells, we humans smell differently, cats and pets and dogs too. However if we all keep reasonably clean it’s not a stink! It’s just a slight different smell and if you can’t cope with that there is something very fussy about you!

RantyAnty · 03/10/2019 13:39

I don't know. I would be more worried about long term filth, bugs, feces on the floor, etc. yuk.

Or do you think the dirty dishes may be a day or two and the toddler's been running around throwing food on the floor plus pet hair; that type of dirt?

After a couple of times with food poisoning, I tend not to eat at people's houses anyway.

I've seen some very poor food hygiene. soaking a raw chicken in water in the sink, dishing up individual servings of stew or curry and leaving it out on the bench all night. yuk.

Some people with ADHD, executive disorder dysfunction, depression find it nearly impossible to be organized and tidy.
People who hoard tend to have mental disorders.
Some people grew up in tips so they aren't aware of how and what they are supposed to do.

So I won't judge because I have no idea what may be going on behind the scenes. I have done some washing up at a friend's place while in the kitchen. I just say I enjoy doing it and it's relaxing. :) Nobody is offended and our group jokes about me.

If you really can't stand to go, just try to meet out or at yours like others have suggested.

macmustard · 03/10/2019 13:44

I have better things to do than clean. However I'm an adult so I do it anyway and don't make excuses for being filthy.

IwantedtobeEmmaPeel · 03/10/2019 13:47

Most of us don’t have friends so that never crossed our minds 😂

ParkheadParadise · 03/10/2019 13:49

Years ago when I had Dd1 I met a women at a baby group.
She invited us to her house she lived in a massive house in a lovely area.
I was only 17, dd was 2. My mum gave me biscuits to take with me😆 and off we went.
Jesus Christ her house was bloody filthy. She didn't seen to notice or care.
Dd sat on the floor, which I'm sure had never seen a Hoover.
When we got home my mum went mental because dd was covered in dog hair😂😂.
She was a really nice person but I never went back we met in the park after that.

Belfield · 03/10/2019 13:50

Can you suggest going to your place, avoiding, meeting on a cafe or something. My friend is ocd and I don't feel comfortable at her place because she is sweeping up around you, staring at where the cup is etc. I find it too stressful so I understand, although it's the other side.

Drabarni · 03/10/2019 13:51

My house in minging, had workmen in this week, so as soon as they go, just packing up, I've the whole house to do.
Oh well, here we go.

Northernsoullover · 03/10/2019 13:53

I do wonder if its really filthy? We all have different standards. Mine are quite low. I clean rental properties between lets and I've often been briefed that a house is disgusting to find that it really isn't!

NoTheresa · 03/10/2019 14:00

@longwayoff

It’s bated breath not baited. Bated means to hold your breath due to suspense or whatever. Bait on the other hand is what a fisherman might put on a hook to catch fish.
It is nonsense to say baited breath, therefore.

HTH

ChilliAnd · 03/10/2019 14:01

Am I the only one who opened this thread just to see if the OP was talking about me? Phew!

If your house is so dirty there’s even the smallest risk someone might be put off visiting by it and start a thread on MN, I suggest you get cleaning even if you’ve ascertained the thread isn’t specifically about you 😂

dickiedavisthunderthighs · 03/10/2019 14:01

My in-laws are very posh and live in a massive, beautiful house that is absolutely filthy. There is stuff everywhere, and that I could put up with, but it's the layers of dust, stains, cat hair, unidentified sticky bits that I cannot cope with.
I came home from the last overnight stay there with about 60 flea bites.
Since then I told DH that I'm never staying there again. The Premier Inn at the end of their road is spotless...

SchadenfreudePersonified · 03/10/2019 14:05

NoTheresa

It’s bated breath not baited. Bated means to hold your breath due to suspense or whatever. Bait on the other hand is what a fisherman might put on a hook to catch fish.
It is nonsense to say baited breath, therefore

I think you'll find longwayoff spelled it ""baited" intentionally. Read the post again.

LemonGingerCakes · 03/10/2019 14:06

counterintuitively, it's bad for our DC to live in very clean houses isn't it? Having a dog is the best thing you can do for your child's immune system (and perhaps mental health).

There's a whole range of difference between living in a sterile environment and living in squalor. Just because sterile environments aren’t good doesn’t mean we should be aspiring for filth.

SmoothLawAbider · 03/10/2019 14:10

It's so tough to find a balance. By way of compromise, we keep the kitchen spotless but the living room filthy.

NoTheresa · 03/10/2019 14:11

@SchadenfreudePersonified
Which post? Perhaps she did; someone else did so too and I responded with 🤣🤣🤣.

Anyway, it might help the legions who are unaware of the error. Lol

AmICrazyorWhat2 · 03/10/2019 14:13

Yep, all homes that have dogs in smell like dog. I like dogs so I don’t mind.

I'm first-time dog owner and I'm sure my house smells different since we got him! But, regular baths and grooming keep it under control, there's no need for a dog to really stink. Ours usually smells of a mixture of "dog smell" and shampoo. I couldn't bear (note the correct use) a strong doggy smell. Grin

I agree with PP's, there's a distinction between a bit of mess/needs a quick hoover and piles of unwashed dishes/filth. I'd be concerned about the latter and wouldn't want to spend much time in the house. Make it a quick visit!

SaraNade · 03/10/2019 14:14

@INeedNewShoes who should of
I am biting my knuckles pretty hard not to respond to this, lol Grin

SaraNade · 03/10/2019 14:21

OP, this is a tough one. It really is. If her house is really that filthy that it makes you uncomfortable, you shouldn't feel guilty not going. I see both sides of the offer to clean argument. On one hand, you could offend her. On the other, it may break the ice over the issue and she may admit she has a problem and is overwhelmed, and your offer of help could make all the difference. Still, on another (if you don't have 3 hands, use one of your feet, I guess lol), it might genuinely not have occurred to her just how bad her house is, and it could be the wake up call to her, and may save her from years and years ahead of losing friends and no one visiting and her not knowing why. Sometimes people do really need to be actually told, because they don't realise.

I guess it really depends on how close you are and what her temperament is.

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