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?!

I have some more viewings booked for later this week, hopefully we will find something slightly more impressive than the ones we've seen so far (we have upped the budget slightly as we decided we could find what we wanted for our original budget!).
I have to admit when I am looking at filthy homes that no-one has even bothered to clean for a viewing I do wonder what bigger things haven't been done for a while (guttering, boiler service etc) so it does put me off even though I know logically I can just clean (some other mingers mess) when we move in.

The “don’t judge” society that we live in today has made it so some people feel it is totally acceptable to live in a junk yard and not bother washing. Look at all the parents that wear their PJs on the school run- there is no need and it would not have happened 20 years ago.

A home should look lived in but there is no need for dishes piled high and piss stained bathrooms. This is nothing to do with poverty or time short- it is lazy. If you keep on top of the small jobs, they don’t become big jobs.

I have friends at either end of the grub scale. One couple with two children who both work full time, one of the parents often still working online at 9pm. Their house is always clean, lived in but clean. Another couple with 3 older kids, stay at home mum and dad that has been on gardening leave for the last six months and their house is always in disarray. Dirty bathrooms (ie poo stained toilets and rogue pubes) and kitchen always looks like they have just cooked a 3 course meal for an entire army. It is most definitely nothing to do with poverty as they are both fairly affluent and the time rich couple are the ones living in a messy home. They just don’t care.

Each to their own, I say.

I agree
It's an odd assumption that renters are slobs that don't take pride in where they live
It's insulting too

This is my experience living in a small space due to rental costs in my local area. Getting toys out in a small space looks different in a large open plan space. Quicky very cluttered. Of course there is more surface area to clean in a larger space, but in a smaller space you need to clean those spaces constantly as it rarely stays clean for long and no spare room to bung your clutter or laundry in. You have to deal with it right away or it is just there in your face all of the time. I think it is a but of a myth that large house = more cleaning. Totally depends on your circumstances and who lives there/if you have kids. My flat would be very easy to keep tidy if it was just me living in it.

Again this was my experience of a working class estate. May have been different if I was from a middle class family, but I was just saying that people have always been a bit grubby and a lot of my friends had theone bath a week rule as kids, and not all of them were living in poverty either.

My own kids shower everyday as I cringe now that we didn't bathe much as kids.

I'm not particularly keen on being around people that stink, but there can be a whole number of reasons why they might stink and I can't tell why by looking at someone. Some people are on medication that can make them sweat a lot, and they are really self conscious about it because they know people are judgemental. They do shower daily, but they worry it isn't enough.

No one is saying people who rent have less tidy and clean houses. But if I was selling my house I would have a good tidy up of every room. If my landlord was selling then people looking round would have to take the house as it happened to be that day.

The rest of the house is clean and I frequently wash floors and surfaces etc (renter) but my bedroom is a tip.

I have to admit that I get a bit depressed by it but I can't put it off much longer so I'll do that next week.

Trying to clear elderly relative's place this week in a different location so that takes priority for now. It sort of makes you realise how much crap we accumulate.

Pretty much everyone can boil a kettle and have a wash at the sink, if they can't afford to heat loads of water. And showers are very water and energy efficient. I think lots of people are just making excuses for being slovenly.
Skanky people have always existed - I don't believe it's worse now than it used to be. Even wfh, the majority of people are hygienic and will still shower etc, because that is what's natural to them.

If people appear less 'dressed up' it's because comfortable leisure wear is now a thing, whereas in the past people wore 'proper' clothes. But there's a difference between being a bit too casual or scruffy and being actually dirty and stinking!

Society used to have expectations around keeping communal areas clean in blocks of flats etc. It was respectful to other people living around you and it was part of tenancy agreements when my mum was young. You could be evicted if you didn't keep your house in good order. It was a bit ott back then but we could do with a return to some of the societal expectation around respecting communal spaces. Slobs now don't have any societal pressure and just dump their shit anywhere. It doesn't help that councils don't do weekly bin collections anymore either.

Re drying clothes - a dehumidifier is the absolute best thing I've bought for my house - it dries laundry and keeps the house dry and condensation free.

Yes and I am one of them you should see me on the nursery run. However I do like to have a few days of deep cleaning the house but it always ends up in the same state and the cycle repeats

Anyone who thinks this is a new phenomenon never lived in student or other shared accommodation in the 80s! (Oh, those filthy rugby gloves in the kitchen sink!)

It's possible that the pandemic made some people scruffier, because they didn't have to worry about keeping their house fit for visitors; while others became more hygiene-conscious, 'cos germs.

I don't think there's a huge correlation between dressing smartly and keeping a clean house. Many people I know, including myself, prefer comfort to smart clothes (I don't mean going around in pjs), but still prefer our home not to be a tip.

Covid lockdown and WFH turned a lot of people into total slobs. Stop going to the office every day, so stop showering every day…slippery slope.

I've never stopped showering every day, despite WFH since Covid. 🤷‍♀️

This is partly what I don't get! I don't shower just because other people might notice, I shower because I feel manky if I don't....I showered daily through lockdown as did my husband and children.
A significant number of the really stinking individuals I bump into must have partners or families. Why do they think everyone wants to smell them, their houses must stink just from the BO!

Covid didn't change my showering habits. I've always showered every other day unless I've felt particularly sweaty. Even then I don't smell.

With regard to musty smelling clothes people these days seem to have an aversion to hanging clothes on the line to dry. Loads of people never used to have tumble dryers so hung the washing out, my mum has never had a tumble dryer and lives in rainy Wales, but looks at the weather forecast and hangs her washing out to dry all year round. Obviously she has to sometimes dry things indoors but mainly hangs them out.
Also these days people don't seem to iron their clothes much, when you iron clothes which are a bit damp it dries them out so they don't need to hang on the airer so long to dry. Combi boilers also mean that often people don't have airing cupboards which are very useful for helping to dry things properly, I had a new boiler, chose not to have a combi and kept my loft tanks and airing cupboard for that reason.
Very many people rarely open their windows these days either which must surely add to the mustiness and damp when drying clothes indoors. I have noticed that lots of my neighbours hardly ever open their windows, their houses must be so stale. I keep my upstairs windows open all year round, and if I'm drying clothes on an airer I open it in that room too, they are dry overnight so no mustiness.

I used to help survey social housing back in 2006-2008. Asbestos surveys in fact. So every room was surveyed. Bearing in mind, the houses are pretty identical building wise, it's definitely the people that live in them that make the difference. Saw some lovely places and some dreadful places with faecal matter smeared up the walls. From animals. Most of stinky places had the latest TV, etc. Occupants could easily afford cigarettes and alcohol but not cleaning products evidently.

Holes in doors ☹️ clearly domestic abuse, I'd be calling social services and the police to let them know, if could be part of a bigger picture.

You dry clothes inside with multiple windows open in the winter? I'm struggling to see how they dry overnight.

I've definitely become scruffier and couldn't care less if I'm wearing makeup since Covid. That being said. We sold our house last year and the place was spotless for viewings. We had some professional cleaners do a deep clean before photos and then kept on top of it before viewings. It was the most miserable time of my life and after 2 failed sales, we took a low ball offer as soon as it came in because we couldn't face another month of cleaning for viewings.

As someone who lives outside the UK now, when I visit there is a noticeable increase in obesity, overweight people and a very casual attitude to clothing and appearance among a lot more people. I grew up in a working-class household in a working-class area - it was rare for people not to be house proud and take care of their appearance. In fact, it was the middle class at school and work who seemed to be much more relaxed and "scruffy". I know people are financially struggling now but also the lack of social cohesion within families and neighborhoods is very obvious. People were poor in the past, but many had support and encouragement from extended family and those around them. Now I see people in my old neighborhood accepting much lower standards of dress, cleanliness and behaviour. I do think people are overwhelmed, and demoralized.
There is a lack of hope for the future and general malaise everywhere. The closing down of so many high sts and community resources (hospitals, libraries, banks etc.) in many areas adds to the impression of a struggling society.

Yes that's right. Is it so surprising, been doing it for decades. All my upstairs rooms have the window open all the time, obviously in winter I don't open them wide, my windows have a small window part so that's open all year round. I have a tumble dryer but there are some clothes that can't go in it and I dry them on an airer in the spare bedroom. I'm just about to put a wash on of clothes that can't be tumbled, they'll go on the airer and will be dry in the morning. The heating will go off about 11.30 tonight but there will be residual heat in the room.

I think it's the energy costs. Having a bath Vs heating a room.

@GetWhatYouWant does your mum work ft? Just wondering as even working from home there’s a very limited number of days I can get the washing outside to dry. It’s rare in many parts of the country to get a totally rain free day apart from maybe 2-3 months a year. And if I was having to drop the kids off at school and then get to a separate workplace, there would be no time at all to run a wash and get it out on the line before leaving for work.

@GetWhatYouWant like you I do leave windows or at least trickle vents open, and also use a heated dryer.

I can't dry clothes outside so have to dry inside
There is no way mine dry overnight though, it's usually 2 days and that's with a heated airer and dehumidifier!