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?!

Yep, my sister rents from a private landlord and she pays rent with housing benefit.

Her house is immaculate save where the rich landlord won’t fix issues.

Her recycling is so clean her neighbours admire it. Her bin is so clean it always look brand new inside, she washes it out with bleach.

Why would you need to name change? Kind of baffled by that. I'm guessing you're Australian.

I wonder if some of it is due to more single men living alone, post divorce or never married. In years gone by women would have been trapped in relationships with less than ideal men and been doing all their washing and keeping their houses clean for them. Now that they're having to do it all themselves they do it poorly or not at all, either as they haven't been taught or are as lazy as they would have been prior to their poor wives getting rid of them.

What a patronising load of waffle

Lol.
At least two of her neighbours admire her clean recycling and told her and she told you about it.

I heard it all now.

Yep, why so jealous?

A lot of houses have excrement stains on the floor..? What do you do?

Perhaps I’m totally naive but this seems utterly barbaric in a country / these people clearly need a lot more help than they are getting..?

I assume they mean dog poo.

It seems quite surreal to me as well - when I was a child, the UK was a kind of dream for me. Than I got there a few times and now I read MN and I can't stop wondering how they got to this state.

How I understand it, the biggest issue is heating and damp. Big part of the UK housing stock is quite old and not well insulated and people don't use wood/coal burners at homes much (yes, it has other disadvantages), which makes them very dependent on consumer prices of energies.

Energy prices has grown everywhere across Europe, but the UK seems to be coping worse than average.

Yanbu.
Tidiness is free.
Washing liquid and hot water are pence.
A cloth, dustpan and brush a couple of pounds. There is no excuse.
People buy too much cheap rubbish they don’t have space for.

That may also indeed be the case. It's the age-old thing of 'keeping up with the Joneses' - these days people are happy to let the basics slide as long as they can have the latest gadgets, trainers, Netflix.
Growing up, I knew several people who you'd think were skint looking in their kitchen cupboards - no food in whatsoever. But their houses were always kitted out with all the latest tech. I dare say little has changed. It's just about what people choose to spend their time, money and energy on.

I'm in no way prudish about my home being spotless but a little self pride in keeping it at least clean & tidy when I'm showing people around to view it. My partner & I are in the process of moving to a new home & in the photos we've seen in the property section have looked gorgeous & clean yet on arriving for a viewing it's the complete opposite. Dishes in the sink, clothes pouring from the laundry basket, animal fur everywhere, the grass overgrown blah blah blah. I can see past that but it's the damage done & seeing damp & mould that's harder to vision staying long-term in the property even though it's just rented accomodation. Then the ones showing us round are in their pj's, hair uncombed & their pets jumping up on us which my daughter's afraid of dogs so it's unsettling to her especially with her autism. Maybe in this day & age it's more acceptable to not worry on these things but it's just not for me!

Pretty sure a decent 12mth contract for the latest model starts at £30 per month.

You are spot on! This isn't the myth people like to think it is.

I wonder if it's linked to poor mental health, possibly brought on by COL?
I've noticed a huge difference in the way people look locally and lots of the places that did tan or lashes have had to close and the beauticians are now working mobile or from home.
Women seem to be less glamorous, (except me who in my new mum uniform of messy bun, sweat pants and hoodie, I'm so glam kris jenner wants to manage me) and being Merseyside there is a huge love of tan, lashes and brows etc, but it's not as prevalent on school runs anymore. Not saying anyone is smelly etc or unclean houses but people, self included, No longer have luxury money.
I think that impacts MH and folks just stop caring. Maybe I'm completely off the mark here, but I think I can see a link.

Are you sure your nose isn't just too far up your arse?

I'm so sorry you had to go through this and I hope you're ok. I can't imagine viewing a home with dishes in the sink, let alone an overflowing laundry basket for goodness sake!

Funnily enough I live in a country which is often maligned on MN, with posters saying our housing stock is substanded and our houses cold/damp - then I read posts on here about people's damp houses, how difficult it is to dry washing indoors and it leads to mold etc., so it doesn't actually sound any better. Here we generally only heat the living areas of our houses, and posters are apparently aghast, then they moan about the cost of energy while they are heating bathrooms and bedrooms. It's downright weird.

Pardon me for breathing! As I said, I don't live in the UK, we didn't have to put on the immersion (whatever that is) to have a bath, the water was constantly heating and in winter much of that heat was generated by the open fire.

I'm trying to understand why energy bills are so high in the UK, but no-one seems to be addressing that. Telling me they are double or triple doesn't tell me why.

Energy prices have shot up massively. That's why.
You're in NZ right? A quick Google actually tells me consumption and pricing is very similar. So perhaps your own consumption is atypical.

You visited a capital city - and likely the tourist areas? And are comparing it with the same in London? I’ve not noticed smelly grey tracksuit wearing masses in Central London.

I'll try again - I understand that energy prices have shot up - but WHY have they shot up is what I am asking??

I wouldn't say my consumption is atypical, I certainly don't skimp on energy and if I'm cold I turn the heating on, if hot I turn the air con on, and I don't consciously do anything to limit my use. Pricing here can vary quite a bit depending on which supplier you use. However, some of the bills I read about on here are mind boggling, and my bills for this last year are pretty much the same as they were for the previous year.

My exDH has his heating/air con on 24/7, whether he is there or not, and he tumble dries all his clothes - and even his bills are nothing like some of the bills I read about on MN.

“The ‘energy crisis’Global prices for gas, electricity, oil and other fuels started to increase from summer 2021 when economies began opening up after pandemic related-lockdowns. This underlying increase was magnified by reduced supply of fuels from some producers and increased tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Prices increased further in late 2021/early 2022 and spiked after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. Energy prices in Europe remained very high for much of 2022 with continued concerns around disruption to supply, particularly from Russia.
Wholesale prices for gas and electricity reached new record highs in the UK, Europe and elsewhere during this ‘energy crisis’ and have not returned to their earlier levels. This led to an unprecedented response from governments across Europe. In the short term this was mainly to support consumers facing much higher prices and, for some, to move away from Russian fossil fuels. Medium to longer term policies in the EU and UK aim to reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels more generally.”

And although global prices are lower now…
”….aren't always passed on to customers: "It's to do with the way energy is bought and sold and the risk associated with this process. To be able to offer fixed rates, energy suppliers need to buy power in advance of selling it to customers. This means the rates at which they have bought wholesale energy to sell today might differ from the current wholesale rates.
"Suppliers also need to factor risk into their price calculations, in much the same way as finance providers factor risk into the prices they charge for credit.
"Energy suppliers are continuously buying energy to make sure there's enough to cover demand. If demand exceeds supply then they need to buy more at current market prices to cover the shortfall. But if supply exceeds demand, then suppliers need to sell the excess energy back to the grid - if the day-ahead price is lower than the price they bought the energy for, then they'll lose money.
"When the market is so volatile, the risk to suppliers is greater and so prices go up. And this is also part of the reason why it can take time and a consistent run of lower rates for any price drops to be passed on to customers."

I have no idea why some peoples consumption has shot up more than the average increase. You'd have to ask them. On average UK and NZ consumption is pretty similar.