To think people are getting scruffier?

[HomeIsHardToFind]

I am currently house hunting, I have been in a lot of properties recently and to be honest I have been shocked by the state of them!
They look fine in the estate agents photos but when you get there it's a different story.....plates and bowls piled up in the sink, crumbs all over work surfaces, disgusting ovens and urine stains/smells in the loo!
My 'favourite' was the house that had holes punched in the doors of every room (double checked the agents pics and they definitely didn't exist at the time they were taken!).
I get it, I can clean if we bought the house etc, but if you are selling your biggest asset and you want the most amount of money possible surely you make it look the best it can for viewings? I feel like I've stepped into an alternative universe at the moment!
I have also noticed that many more people out and about stink. Not just a bit of a pong or like they have a manual job and haven't showered for 24 hours but full on makes me dry heave absolutely stink!!
I put some fuel in the car this morning and the 'gentleman' that came into the garage as I was leaving smelled rancid, it must have been days and days since he had washed🤢 I could smell him outside in the fresh air!
Maybe I'm getting on (I don't think so, only early 40's!!) but I seem to remember people having more pride in themselves, their home and their families (don't get me started on some of the poor kids I've seen with such greasy hair it looks like it's been stuck to their head with chip oil☹️).
Sometimes I wonder if its COL biting but then I think about people I've known that grew up in the 60's and 70's that were dirt poor taking pride in how clean their mothers managed to keep them with nothing but soap and hot water, so I think the only difference is that the pride has gone?
Has anyone else noticed this or am I just unluckily surrounded by scruffy buggers?!

Thank you @EpiscopalOuting. At last someone has read, and answered, my original question.

I give up - I never asked about people's consumption. Never mind, my question has now been answered.

Heated airer from Lakeland. Very cheap to run. Godsend.

No worries - I would temper what I’ve posted (copied and pasted) is from government depts who I personally don’t trust as far as I can throw not to make a profit off poor consumers. So the second post in particular feels like bullshit to me.

The main difference I’d say between UK and NZ is how our governments look after us.

Not everyone can get benefits. In some countries you’d be absolutely fucked. Where is the father(s) of your kid(s)Why is he not paying?

@Hoxite274764 WHEN I was - try reading it properly. Ie, in the past. Did you know that some fathers don't actually pay for their kids in the real world?

Well you were lucky to get them in the PAST. Is that better? Some people can’t get benefits and don’t have the luxury of having a few kids and scrounging off the taxpayer.do you not understand that?Try that in some countries. Yes I know full well that some fathers don’t pay. The government should do more.

You got out of bed the wrong side today didn't you 😂

I am sick to death of working and paying taxes to fund other peoples kids. Why is that the taxpayers responsibility?

Oh my god this! Grey tracksuits are so so vile. Just why????

in response to the OP I hate to even see estate agent photo with the toilet seat up. It takes what, 10 seconds to put it down? Messy houses are unnecessary imo, my house it’s always tidy and clean ( and yes I have a Ft job and some kids) you only have to look at the state of the houses on sort your life out to realise that actually so many people don’t know HOW to keep a house these days. Standards have really really slipped and it’s so sad. When selling you should be making an effort. - @HomeIsHardToFind whats the price range you’re looking in out of interest?

I was on benefits for 3 years as my husband and I got divorced, my son was newborn and as soon as I got some nursery hours when he was 3 I returned to work. There was no way I could afford to pay for full time nursery on what I was capable of earning. My parents both pointed out to me at the time that they had both paid full stamp and their taxes their whole lives (as had I) and I was entitled to some help, so I took it. I don't see why I should have to justify my 3 years claiming income support many, many years ago to you but you seem to have a massive bee in your bonnet about it. Everyone's circumstances are different and I am by no means a sponger.

I still maintain that it is not hard to have a wash and it is down to standards and not income as to whether you smell or not.

Hmm an working with someone who is homeless (sofa surfing) on a zero hours contract and low pay. He pays for a gym membership so he can have a shower. Doesn't smell at all, so not sure how he is getting his clothes clean. Have another client in a 4 bed council home who told me her daughter tells her "she's an embarrassment going out in her pyjamas" finds the money for weed though. Have someone else who stinks but was a victim of child sexual abuse. So much is a combination of factors not just a CoL.

Im in the process of conveyancing on my house and my onward purchase. I totally agree with your comments about houses!

One house we went to the light switches were black, the house looked like a hoarder lived there (EA's photos were very cleverly staged and the owner showed us round and lit up a cigarette halfway through , another was as though they had forgotten and just left 5 minutes before our arrival with dirty plates on the side, washing machine on, and generally a mess.

On the other hand when the estate agent came to view my house for valuation he asked if we had made an effort for the photos. Confused I said no this is how I live. I thought he was trying to be funny but after viewing lots of houses over the last few months I think he was genuine in his question.

I don't think its pride I think for a lot of people it's time! We moved house within the last year and my outside is a state but with 2 young kids (8 months and 2.4) we just don't have the time or energy to do anything about it yet

According to Mumsnet normally - everyone showers at least once a day and washes all towels every day and after each use. All of them even in a family of 4. And everything else.
A far cry from reality in certain places. Washing & drying stuff isn't cheap and needs space

Yes. In the UK we're an homogeneous mass of people and we all wash as (in)frequently as each other. #sarcasm

Google broken for you?

Thats because people talk waffle on here. I'll be honest as I dont really care, we wash our bedding every two weeks unless its summer and super hot when its changed weekly, we share a towel thats changed every week, showering is a quick 5 minute thing every day do we conserve hot water apart from Sundays when whoever isn't working that weekend doesn't shower as thats washing and deep cleaning day for them.

I was literally thinking that, I cannot beleive the poster wanted people to google for her, in fact demanded it, and someone actually did it!

Why? But why? But whhhhhhhhhhhhyyyyyyy?

Like dealing with a 3 year old (who at least don't have access to Google and choose not to use it)!

😂

I’ve not noticed smelly grey tracksuit wearing masses in Central London.

For some reason this cracked me up 🤣
I do miss London! ☹️

What an absolute bellendy post, firstly I'm pretty sure British people invented most hygienic things like the modern toilet secondly if you live somewhere hot you have to shower more often because you sweat more. For the record though with regards this actual thread I haven't noticed a recent increase in smelly people. Yeah there's the occasional person who stinks but it's the same in all other countries I've been to

For the UK it's because the tories have failed to invest in energy security infrastructure.

In the UK around 84% of homes use gas for heating, while around 34.5% of our electricity is supplied by gas-fired power stations. Business across the UK also rely on a lot of gas for many process from cooking and heating to steam generation and other industrial processes.

Despite this reliance on gas the UK has virtually no storage, with a maximum capacity of only 12 days (France has 103 days for comparison). There's also no domestic supply available for the UK as everything produced from UK resources are just sold on the open market. All this makes us incredibly exposed to market volatility, hence the huge increases in energy bills not seen anywhere else.

What's most worrying is that there's no real end in sight as both the tories and labour have turned the actual solution to energy security, renewables, into a political football. With neither side willing to commit to serious investment in the sector, despite the UK having something like 30% of Europes offshore energy potential and there being ample money from investors for this type of work (presumably because so many of them have ties to fossil fuel firms).

YANBU, OP.

When I was house hunting 18 months ago, I constantly viewed houses that either stunk of cigarette smoke/weed, had dishes and plates piled high, dirty floors, dirty sinks (with hair in ffs), gardens full of shit (literal animal shit and also rubbish), clothes on the floor and in one house there was a massive poo in the toilet!

People are just disgusting - both in terms of their houses and their personal hygiene.

Don't even get me started on the man who gets on my train and stinks so fucking strongly of curry that if you end up being the poor bastard sat next to him YOU end up stinking of curry by the time you get into London Bridge. I once had a colleague comment on it to me in a 'I'm really sorry but you smell quite badly...of curry.' I DON'T EVEN LIKE FUCKING CURRY.