Disgusted with DD and DS - rubbish in rooms

[gigiloo]

I have 4 DC, 22, 20, 18 and 16. All live at home. All have their own rooms and generally I'd say we don't have any problems, they keep them relatively clean and I don't bother with it.
We are getting our central heating replaced. The contractors told us we didn't have to move the furniture they'd do as they needed, also they would lift flooring as they went, we have hard floors through out, obviously damaged now but it's ok we were going to replace them anyway.
I told all the kids to make sure their rooms were clean, everything put away.

Well contractors in DD1s room (20), get a shout from them saying there is rubbish under the bed which will need cleared before they can lift the floor. It's a divan bed so I can't normally see under.
I was thinking maybe some odds and ends but there was lots of rubbish, wrappers from sweets, clothes tags, packaging from products etc. I was mortified but grabbed the brush and got it all brushed together then into a bag.
Went to check DS1s room (22) and his was worse, food wrappers and food wrappers even food!!

I'm ashamed and affronted these contractors must think we are awful dirty people!

I'm tempted to tell them both to get their own place now as they can't respect mine!!

AIBU to be disgusted, disappointed and tempted to tell them to move out!!

At the very least tell them that this is unacceptable, especially food waste as this will attract pests in no time!

If it makes you feel better I can assure you those contractors have seen much worse.

There’s no need for you to feel ashamed and the contractors will definitely have seen a lot worse. It’s a bit if a knee jerk reaction to asking them to move out over it. Maybe they can purchase new beds that aren’t divans if they can’t move the beds to clean under them.

You seem most angry because of what the contractors will think. They’ve seen it all before and worse, plus you’ll never see them again once the work has finished.

While it's obviously not ideal, it is fairly normal for young adults to still be a bit mucky and disgusting - I mean, student accommodation is known for being grotty for a reason. Throwing them out over it is a massive overreaction IMO.

I'm sure a load of MN'ers will be along to tell me that their young adults all live in spotless rooms though

It's kind of what they do. We have a blanket no food upstairs rule though.

I'd put the bags on their beds ban food in the guilty ones room....if they want to live in a top let them...food excepted ....but tell them if it needs cleaning for things like repairs it needs doing properly. I hope you don't go in for changing beds washing etc?

No never, I thought they were pretty good, they sort their rooms entirely alone.
DD is claiming she had no idea and she's sorry, but there was so much I just don't believe her! It looked to me like it was being intentionally kicked under the bed!

Good grief - I would have been over the moon if my daughter's room had only been like that in her teens or early 20s! Her bedroom, and those of her friends, were truly disgusting, and no matter how often it was cleaned and disinfected it was just as bad again within a couple of weeks.

Get some instant coffee granules. Sprinkle them around the bedroom whilst DC is out then tell the offender that it's mouse droppings....and they need to clean up to prevent the mice coming back.

My DH is a plumber and has found everything. The one I am upset about was a work colleague that wanted a new kitchen sink installed. DH said he’d never seen such a dirty kitchen, nothing had been taken out of cupboard, dirty washing up still in sink. She always seemed such a clean/tidy person to me.

I moved out of my mums in my 30s. Under my bed was absolutely disgusting... I certainly had never kicked things under there or done it on purpose. I found bracelets, hair bands, massive hair and dust balls, old socks and yes... chocolate bar wrappers! I hadn't had a chocolate bar in years (seriously, Id developed an eating disorder mid20s). All sorts of things. It was terrible.

I was rightly embarrassed and mortified. Mum thought it was funny, thank god, probably due to my reaction.

I've embarrassed myself publicly here to let you know OP, as disgusting as your kids may be (as I was at their age, evidently), at the very least I can vouch for it being possible that it was NOT intentional!

Colouring rice black with food colouring is much more realistic.. ...

YABU in my opinion. This is part of parenthood, and perhaps you should have checked under the bed and encouraged more regular cleaning.

As a teen my room was a complete mess, it was partly to do with feeling depressed, something many teens go through. But my mum just helped me clean it and kept reminding me to bring stuff down. My dad jokingly called it my “crack den”. It wasn’t a big problem, I grew out of it and now as an adult my space is immaculate.

If they had told me to move out over it, id have never spoken to them again.

Parent them OP!!!

Things kind of end up under beds and sofas though. When we had a new sofa I couldn't believe what was under the old one. . Apart from the million cat toys there was even a couple of Christmas baubles and all manner of crap.

Don't do this.