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

[balihai550]

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

My parents have a zero clutter policy in their kitchen. Which is great except it includes appliances as well. So every time you want to make toast, you have to go out to the utility room and fetch out the toaster from its special cupboard. And then put it back when you've had your toast.

Oh, my Pil could beat the toaster in the utility room - they kept everything in the garage!

They also had this strange cabinet to house the television. It all closed up like a magician’s box and there was a plant on the top. To watch tv you had to lift off the heavy plant, carry it out to the conservatory, and then replace it after you’d finished a programme. What a pain!

My mother’s house is so hot I usually get a nice headache when visiting. You can hear her TV from the garden.

Staying at the house of my lovely friend. Her guest room was located in the attic. You navigated a steep set of stairs to go up. It was located on the third floor of her house. I spent half the night worrying about fire and how I would get my two children out safely.

We seldom put the heating on and have most windows cracked open as I can’t stand to be warm and love fresh air. We are a barefoot at home family. . Our cats are our family and can sleep, eat, walk where ever they like. Fortunately, we are Very anti social. We haven’t had guests in about three years. We like it that way.

Oh God - my parents house. Their upstairs bathroom is separate to the loo, so they never close the door (despite there being a bath in there). So I didn't realise the door handle had broken, closed the door to have a bath with DS, and then was locked in there for 2 hours (they were out at the time). And it was apparently my fault, because I was the first person this happened to - so obviously it wasn't a problem.

I also once electrocuted myself using my mothers hairdryer - the cord had worn through, so my dad 'fixed' it using some odd contraption that you have to handle in a certain way - and didn't tell me.

The only house I would judge is my parents and only because my DM is only too happy to tell me all the flaws in my house....she memorably commented on the dust on a picture frame when I was recovering an emergency caesarean!
Her house is filthy, understandable now as DM has limited mobility but it's been the same for years. Even before Covid I was wary touching bathroom door handles or light switches!
She also smokes so much everything in the house stinks. Whenever we went over there was a race when we got home to shower and get into fresh clothes as we would all reek of smoke.
But as I say I only judge her because she is less than polite about my, lived in but basically clean, house.

I love to have friends over so I have taken a leaf out of 'hotel Monica' and have provided everything I could think of in our spare rooms. Including international adaptors for when we have friends visiting from overseas. I love the idea that our friends are comfortable and have a nice time when the come to stay. This includes checking whether they are hot/cold. I'm quite happy to put on an extra jumper if they are hot or take a layer off if they are cold.

Whenever we visit my brother their home is clean, tidy (they have a dog) and very comfortable. Besides my ex PILs' I don't think I've ever visited anywhere I thought was horribly dirty or annoying. Luckily, because I'm quite picky when it comes to cleanliness.

Fruit in the fruit bowl still in netting/mesh

@olderthanyouthink

Some of you would love our bathroom and en-suites that have no windows at all. Extractor fans only run with the lights on too.

We don't have a bathroom bin we moved here when I was pregnant and I've had one period in 3 year and I use a cup. Other than pregnancy tests whats to throw away? Will get a bin for guests (that will go unused for months at a time)

Agreed. What does in a bathroom bin? Take it downstairs and put in kitchen bin. I'd hate to have multiple bins to empty each week

Probably already mentioned, but used washing up cloths/sponges/brushes that are evidently going to be used again. 🤮

Cloths should be washed after one use. Sponges should be thrown away. Brushes could, I suppose, be put in the dishwasher.

But never, ever reused after sitting there damply all day. XH would have reused the same sponge for a week if I hadn't thrown them away as soon as he had used them.

[quote Pipandmum]@olderthanyouthink
Kleenex after blowing your nose
Cotton wool after applying or removing make up
Cotton buds
Empty toothpaste tube
Wipes
And so on...[/quote]
Snotty Kleenex should be flushed away. Yuk!

@lemonsquashie you shouldn't flush Kleenex because they don't fall apart like toilet roll does and it contributes to the fatberg/wet wipe blockage problem in the sewers.

[quote olderthanyouthink]@lemonsquashie you shouldn't flush Kleenex because they don't fall apart like toilet roll does and it contributes to the fatberg/wet wipe blockage problem in the sewers.

[/quote] Ah didn't know that. Sounds unhygienic though. Would rather flush bodily secretions away

Cloths should be washed after one use. Sponges should be thrown away. Brushes could, I suppose, be put in the dishwasher.

How have you lived to be a grown up? That's bonkers, you throw sponges away after using once? poor planet 😕

Snotty Kleenex should be flushed away. Yuk! You really shouldn't do this.

Also, throwing away sponges after one use it needlessly adding to landfill.

Cloths thrown away after one use

Ye gods, how many cloths and sponges do you buy?!
What a waste.

Fake plants or worse grass - let’s just wrap the planet in plastic. Wall to wall grey, cigarette smoke smoke and that heavy greasy smell that comes from never opening windows. Plug in air fresheners - I know 2 people who have them in their bedrooms . Heating turned up to a million degrees in January while the occupants walk around in shorts. Mad!

Yikes, I only use tea-towels, j-cloths and sponges for one day. They all end up in a big string bag in the laundry and when it's full go on a hot wash. This means a pretty large supply of all of them. Thanks to my dear late MIL I have piles of linen towels bought every year from People's Friend.

But never, ever reused after sitting there damply all day. XH would have reused the same sponge for a week if I hadn't thrown them away as soon as he had used them.

Your X had more sense than you, no wonder the planet is screwed with those kind of insane ideas.

Toothpaste all over the bathroom sink & taps with half squeezed tubes dripping 🤢🤢🤢

@echt

Yikes, I only use tea-towels, j-cloths and sponges for one day. They all end up in a big string bag in the laundry and when it's full go on a hot wash. This means a pretty large supply of all of them. Thanks to my dear late MIL I have piles of linen towels bought every year from People's Friend.

Same here, I wash cloths daily but that's different to throwing them away.

Having a pandemic was a tad of an overreaction, but the upside of not making the annual trek to MiL's meant sparing me from 4 days of:
Being frozen to the core. There comes a point when no amount of clothing will warm you up. (We managed to escape to McDonalds and I actually ended up in a PMTed, sobbing mess on discovering that Irish McDonalds don't have hot chocolate, after days of contantly feeling chilled)
A soggy double bed where I end up twisted and rolling up against DH.
Further insulting my tense, aching back with a 45-50 yo sofa where you slide off the loose leather cushions as they sneak their way to the floor, and end up with your back at a really awkward upright manner and cricking your neck to watch the TV at 90⁰. Then again, it's normally Columbo or Murder She Wrote on, so not really worth the neck pain.
Before I switched to reusable san pro, having to ask what to do with my pads and walk them out to the wheelie bin... for 4 days.
I like MiL, and I'm sorry that we haven't been able tonsee her for so long, but missing out on 4 days of pain freezing was a silver lining.

BiL tries to blast you frozen with a wind tunnel effect.

DM has no sense of smell and 4 cats of dubious continence...
No one has been able to sit on the 50 year old sofa for at least 15 years since the structure collapsed.

General thing, most sofas are not designed for humans to sit on comfortably unless they're at the taller end of a professional basketball team. Having your ankles waggling out in mid-air is not comfortable.

Teetering around in a lobby, packed in with too many people in a tight space as you're forced to remove shoes instantly is not welcoming.

Provide a toilet brush and bleach. It's very awkward when there isn't the means to clean up after yourself.

Houses where everything matches make me uneasy. Like the kettle and the toaster matching the tiles. Or all the cushions, pictures and ornaments being a particular colour. Do they change everything when they decorate? Seems such a waste. I really dislike Christmas decorations with a colour- theme as well. I pick things I like not because they go. Im sure other people would dislike my home because it is cluttered. I'm not a hoarder but I like to have books and pictures and bit and pieces on shelves.

@PickAChew this is the exact reason I have cushions on my leather sofa - sciatica. It’s perfectly comfy for everyone else but I need extra support. (Husband hates the cushions!)