To ask for another annoying things about other peoples homes thread?

[balihai550]

This one two years ago made my christmas... can we have another? 🎄 🙏

TV at huge decibels

My parents house was always too hot and I used to make my mum all sniffy when I put my radiator off at the wall and opened a window! We were sweating. We lived at the time in an old atone cottage with crap heating so got used to the cold. We used to have to borrow heaters for when the visited so we drove each other mad on equal measure

My brother has a sound bar which makes his enormous tv unbearably boom! This really hurts my ears and I know then think I am an horrific snob to ask them to turn the tv down/off. They said after I had children I’d realise the tv needed to be on....um, no!

Houses that are so immaculate you can’t relax as you make the place look untidy just by being there

Yep
I have a couple of friends with houses like this, which are the very last word in high end design; every single thing is the very best, placed just so for maximum tasteful effect, and by heck they're beautiful

But they're showplaces rather than homes and every conversation is about "how much value they're adding to the sale price"
They're the only places that can make me feel discontented with my own nice place when I come back, but then I remember it's so much more than just "things" and relax

@Puzzledandpissedoff

Houses that are so immaculate you can’t relax as you make the place look untidy just by being there

Yep
I have a couple of friends with houses like this, which are the very last word in high end design; every single thing is the very best, placed just so for maximum tasteful effect, and by heck they're beautiful

But they're showplaces rather than homes and every conversation is about "how much value they're adding to the sale price"
They're the only places that can make me feel discontented with my own nice place when I come back, but then I remember it's so much more than just "things" and relax

My homes a bit like this, I won’t lie.we’ve been renovating it for six years. I can also assure you my mates have no hesitation in relaxing in it, from passing out on the sofa because we have partied too late, to making their own food and drink, and basically treating it like home.

I think your ability to relax in someone’s home is about both your friendship with that person and their attitude as host.

I do realise that we are crap hosts and I try not to host very often or not host intolerant people anyway.

We both work FT in busy jobs, have other commitments and aren't great at tidying/ throwing away. Made worse by losing the attic in the loft conversion. Our house looks pretty 'lived in'. I spend all bloody weekend cleaning it but tidying defeats me. The spare room is full of accumulated crap that I have no time or energy to deal with.
If people come to stay I make sure it's clean and that the junk has got pushed in a corner and covered up but that's all I can manage. Interior decor is just a very long long way off from my reality. Charging sockets! We don't have them ourselves.

I make sure that the bedroom and bed linens are clean and there's a clean towel. Toilet and bathroom are clean and place is hoovered and dusted. We have both bathroom and kitchen bins and I care not if you keep your shoes on or off. You will get a hot beverage on arrival and I will buy in food you like and make a nice dinner.

The tottering piles of crap I realise are hardly appealing but it's the best I can manage. I don't try to pretend it's the Dorchester.

@Chickenwing

Im confused about the people with no toilet bin... where do you put the cardboard bit of the toilet roll? Or empty shampoo/conditioner? Face wipes, sanity products, cotton pads????

I dislike when people make me take my shoes off. Or if there's nowhere to sit.

Anything that can be recycled gets brought downstairs to the recycling bin. Beyond that we dont create any waste in the bathroom really as we use washable reusable cloths, cloth san pro etc - so no need for a bin. Yes visitors might need one but in 2020........... what are visitors?? ha ha

I hate dirty dishcloths/sponges/dish brushes and smelly t towels.
My other pet hate is having to view other people's eliminations, as in a potty full of pee (or worse), an unemptied commode or an unflushed loo. People who try and save on water bills by only flushing a number 2. Fine, if that's what you want when it's just you and your family, but don't expect guests to happily settle down over a dark yellow watered loo full of soiled loo paper. On the same subject, I am always worried when the pull cord bathroom light string is suspiciously brown, and make sure I pull it as high up as possible on the still white bit.

Those eat / love signs aren’t to my taste but wouldn’t make staying somewhere over Christmas unpleasant. Whereas dirtiness would

Im confused about the people with no toilet bin... where do you put the cardboard bit of the toilet roll? Or empty shampoo/conditioner? Face wipes, sanity products, cotton pads????

I just take empties downstairs when I go. Nobody uses face wipes or cotton pads. We could do with some sanity products - where do you buy them?

I dislike when people make me take my shoes off.

Me too. Those people only get visited once.

People who don’t have a hand towel in the bathroom annoy me so much, do they really expect people to dry their hands on their used bath towel!

I also hate staying anywhere with a rubbish shower, the ones with not enough power, just a dribble of water. How do people live like that.

People who insist we take our shoes off.

PiL's heating always comes on at about 5 in the morning. The bed is right next to the radiator so I wake up with a headache every morning.

My sister used to insist we were only allowed to use the downstairs toilet to pee. Sometimes it's just not possible to know what you need to do!

I put out bath towels as hand towels 🤷🏻‍♀️ we use a fresh towel for showers and they go straight in the wash after.

I also have a dedicated wall to "hanging crap" with quotes on, I love how cheesey they are

My pet hates:

No kitchen bin. Hate seeing rubbish on the worktop.

Floors that haven't been hoovered or swept.

Bars of soap. I prefer liquid soap and wouldn't share a bar with anyone.

Grubby hand towel in the bathroom.

Condiments on a table in the living room.

Dining tables with crumbs/spilt salt on them.

Fizzy drinks that aren't stored in the fridge.

Bistro/oxo gravy.

Gravy which is served in a Pyrex jug and looks the same whether it's chicken or roast beef that's being served.

What I expect people hate about my house:-

I prefer shoes off.

I like it kept tidy and don't like sticky fingers on the wall/sofa so if you have little children you probably don't feel totally relaxed. That makes me sound awful!

If a house has no books, I judge

Fair enough, but it can be best to make sure it really doesn't have any first

My ex once invited his Chair of Governors for dinner and of course I tidied manically, including putting all books away into the study. He then spent dinner remarking loudly about how odd it was to find a teacher without a single book in the place

We could have explained, I guess, but instead we just didn't invite him again

and wouldn't share a bar with anyone.

What exactly do you think you are going to catch from a bar of soap?

People who judge for no books - have you never heard of kindles?

@dayswithaY

My ILs house smells of dinner, all the time. When you leave your hair, clothes and skin all smell like mince and gravy. You can even smell it as you approach their front door. They refuse to open any window anywhere in the house ever, as they pay too much for heating in winter and don't want flies to come in in the summer. They keep a well used plastic fly swatter on top of the bread bin, unaware of the horrors festering on it.

@dayswithaY I wonder if you're my exBF's wife his parents house smelt of mince and gravy all the time and yes I could smell it from outside! Revolting

MIL has a rectangular flip top lid bin but for some reason won’t buy the right sized bin liners for it, so instead she stretches a carrier bag across two corners. It’s such a fucking pain the the arse. You can’t just open the bin and just throw some rubbish into it, you’ve got to make sure you get it in the minute triangular opening of the overstretched plastic bag

Lol @RUOKHon see if that was me I'd be passive aggressively buying her bin bags for Christmas

@Ginfordinner I don't think I'll catch anything it just makes me feel ick that they could have rubbed it over their crotch or used it to wash their hands after they've had a poo 🤮

That's not what happens with bars of soap. The outer layer is washed away.
You are not using the same soap.
That's why the bar gets smaller and eventually disappears. It is perfectly hygienic.

Oh! I hate bars of soap too, especially of they’ve got those cracks in them 🤢

In laws: kitchen cupboard jenga where only they can find anything without ruining their 'system'.
Everything decanted into not necessarily prettier or even functional dispensers. Washing up liquid that dribbles out a mililetre at most as a consequence and sugar that refuses to exit its shaker. All original containers retained, lord knows what for? They also have the European Tupperware mountain. The dishwasher is for storage and too expensive to use. The tumble dryer cost more than a small car (joke) so that's fine to use despite it's less than z energy rating.
DPs:
have crystal ornaments on a glass shelf at shoulder height next to the loo just ready to be shunted into shards of oblivion.
Stunt toiletries in pristine packaging never to be used.
Windows or doors open at all times.
Mums friend has all white everything everywhere and will give you a tour announcing the shop she used and price of all her furniture. Biscuits are served from a special drawer in individual packets of two like a hotel. She claims to be allergic to curtains and carpets(!) so has a permanent echo 😀
We have no loo roll holder. You may wear shoes. I'm a bit Monica about the (only matching set of) plates. Our books are stored out of sight. We have bathroom bins (and a pile of recycling next to the door .

Haha I love that phrase- my MIL has stunt toiletries prominently displayed. They haven’t changed since she moved in- the label is all faded on one side and they have a noticeable layer of dust...

@SimpleLife003

People that leave tea bags on the side! Or pile them up on a plate, why?!

They need to rest! Or so I tell DH. I worry that putting them hot in the bin will melt the bin bag. Also I don't like them dripping on the floor and the bin is across the kitchen from the kettle.

I have bins in every room. Doesn't stop mountains of empty loo rolls piling up in the bathroom and toilet, because I feel I should recycle them so they don't get out in the bin. No one ever (me included) takes them straight down to the recycling. SIL used to take the piss, good-naturedly, about my loo roll tube collection. I counted over 20 once!

I do worry about the litter trays smelling, I can't smell them presumably because we are used to it. If the cats wee on the floor I notice that though.

Our heating isn't on much but I do whack it up for visitors.

In terms of other people's houses, SIL has quite a cluttered kitchen but to make it look tidy she drapes decorative tea towels over the many baskets of crap. Looks very odd...

We have three bookshelves and far too many books that just look dusty and untidy (because I'm too lazy to dust and tidy them). I'm very unlikely to read most of them again as I use the kindle app on my phone and have realised from this thread that I'm actually only keeping them all because I like what having lots of books says about me! I'm going to get rid of a load... Everyone I know, knows that I read a lot.

People that leave tea bags on the side! Or pile them up on a plate, why?!

To put on the garden. Some of us love gardening.