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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To have a very messy house because it's too hot to clean?

63 replies

hhhhhhhhi · 09/07/2026 23:10

Honestly the only way I can cope is to have a fan pointed at me at all times. I can barely find the energy to cook dinner let alone tidy up. Anyone else?

OP posts:
BogRollBOGOF · 10/07/2026 06:43

A few days I've replaced "run o'clock in the morning" with "housework o'clock" but that doesn't solve noisy jobs like vacuuming.

The evenings are out as by the time I've litterally chilled from working in a greenhouse school, the house is still heating and the outside hasn't been cooling enough to draw heat out from inside until towards 10pm.

There's also been the issue of a constant string of busy weekends since May half-term so it's been hard fitting in catch-up cleans and get things actually tidy.

Just two more weeks of term to endure...

hattie43 · 10/07/2026 06:48

I’m up doing chores at 6am . Laundry on line , kitchen and bathroom spruced up . That’s it . Anything else can wait . I hate this prolonged heat and spend the days keeping my dogs cool . Have booked AC to be installed but as expected a long month or so wait . Can’t come quick enough .

Passaggressfedup · 10/07/2026 08:40

You do what households do in got countries, you get up earlier and do it all before 8am. You then take a long nap in the afternoon.

If you work, you go to bed and get up earlier.

TheGoddessFrigg · 10/07/2026 08:43

KissKissByeBye · 10/07/2026 00:10

I unapologetically had a cornetto and a handful of strawberries for dinner. Even the idea of getting out the salad spinner and making dressing seemed too much.

This has made me feel so much better. My main meal the other day was two choc ices and some cherries

OvernightBloats · 10/07/2026 08:53

Having grown up in hot countries when DM had 3 of us, cleaned, cooked every day, no AC and DF was training with a backpack, leather boots, full military uniform in the rainforest, no this is pathetic IMO. @Itsalittlebitwarm

Buildings in Asia are built for the heat, buildings in this country are built for the cold with plenty of insulation. You are comparing apples and pears! Living in Asia gives you a chance to acclimatise to the hot temperatures - we don't get the same opportunity here because the high temperatures are in short spells.

We will have to adapt but the infrastructure is totally different.

KissKissByeBye · 10/07/2026 09:00

TheGoddessFrigg · 10/07/2026 08:43

This has made me feel so much better. My main meal the other day was two choc ices and some cherries

Hey, that’s a balanced meal! 😀

rightoguvnor · 10/07/2026 09:14

No one ever died from living on sandwiches fruit from the fridge and magnums. Fact.
Rinse and repeat every day in this house.

Tiddlywinks63 · 10/07/2026 10:54

I was up before 6 to get the bare minimum done, including changing the bed and putting washing on the line.
I’m having a salad sandwich, packet of crisps and a yogurt for dinner. Cba to do more.

Thebellsofshoreditch · 10/07/2026 15:31

Oh this is a comforting read! Everywhere i look there's something that needs cleaning or sorting out but I'm too lethargic..plus if I attempt to do a task one of my toddlers is meanwhile making a new mess elsewhere 😂😂 thanks OP for helping me realise it's ok

tulippa · 10/07/2026 15:43

The house is ok as I managed to blitz it this morning before it got too hot. The back garden is an absolute state though. You can't exactly mow the lawn at 6am!

MsGreying · 10/07/2026 16:01

Health advice is to do less, stay hydrated.

FeliciaFancybottom · 10/07/2026 16:04

Nope. I can't stand a messy/dirty house, I'm cleaning, tidying and doing laundry as normal. Cooking can get in the bin though.

FFSItsTooHot · 10/07/2026 16:05

Join the club. I can barely function to do the essentials like changing my cats litter tray and wiping the worktop down,never mind anything else.

Netcurtainnelly · 10/07/2026 16:08

Itsalittlebitwarm · 10/07/2026 00:05

Are you at home all day, alone or with DC? Not that it matters but of course it's not too hot to do bloody housework!

Having grown up in hot countries when DM had 3 of us, cleaned, cooked every day, no AC and DF was training with a backpack, leather boots, full military uniform in the rainforest, no this is pathetic IMO.

I'm in my 50s, menopausal, teaching in sweltering classrooms, windows only open a crack, my fan blows warm air. This is nowhere near what my parents endured in summer Asia.

Come home, house is much cooler as curtains have been shut and DH wfh so has an AC unit in his office. I strip, lie down in front of it, have a cold shower then get on making dinner and looking after DC, do some marking then go go bed still sweaty with a fan on, get up extra early the next morning for a cool shower then leave at 7.30am for another exhausting day.

It's not just the heat at work, it's exacerbated with teenagers complaining it's too hot and I feel for them, behaviour, pressure from above to ensure you're teaching the boring prescribed powerpoints, have marked in 67 different coloured pens, noted every incident with 100 drop down boxes etc.

So, if I was at home, I would be hot but be able to make myself cooler, like DH. I walk in a dripping mess, he gets it!

Not too hot . Plenty of people doing it as a job. I wouldn't want too though.

thejelliclecats · 10/07/2026 16:09

I'll be unpopular I'm sure but I've just been cracking on as normal. I'm up early for work so can generally get everything done before I leave the house at 7.30 - no kids though and I don't cook, lol.

Netcurtainnelly · 10/07/2026 16:09

tulippa · 10/07/2026 15:43

The house is ok as I managed to blitz it this morning before it got too hot. The back garden is an absolute state though. You can't exactly mow the lawn at 6am!

No lawn to mow it hasn't grown in the heat.

StripyShirt · 10/07/2026 16:30

Just wash the pots and clean the worktops every day - nothing else should really be pressing unless you throw food and crumbs around your house and are unable to use the toilet without missing 😄

purpleme12 · 10/07/2026 16:33

I have not been able to do anything today at all

So bad

The house is stifling

And it makes me feel unwell

Tedsnan1 · 10/07/2026 16:38

Belladog1 · 09/07/2026 23:20

I haven't done anything this week. Last Saturday I cleaned the house as it was cooler, but even then I didn't go mad. This week I've done absolutely nothing. It's supposed to be a bit cooler on Saturday, so I'll get reaquainted with the vacuum then

32 here tomorrow. My hoover will be staying firmly put.

Tedsnan1 · 10/07/2026 16:40

quantify · 09/07/2026 23:55

How messy are we talking? 🤔

Our house ( kitchen mostly) is so messy it makes me want to cry but its too hot to cry so I just forget about it until the next time I pass through 😂

😅

EilonwyWithRedGoldHair · 10/07/2026 17:18

quantify · 09/07/2026 23:55

How messy are we talking? 🤔

Our house ( kitchen mostly) is so messy it makes me want to cry but its too hot to cry so I just forget about it until the next time I pass through 😂

This, essentially.

DS chose the last heat wave to get all his Nerf guns out, I've not had the wherewithal to do anything about the chaos that's caused so they're still everywhere and it's going to have to wait until after I've recovered from this one. The way the summer is going that might not be until September. Maybe October.

Wolverine23 · 10/07/2026 17:28

ConstantlyFuriosa · 10/07/2026 05:13

That works for you? Great crack on. Plus enjoy your air con.

People have the right to express their different experiences to extreme heat. And yes, it is fucking extreme for this country.

before air con in hot and extremely humid countries women cleaned, cooked and looked after children. Get up early, fling some windows open and crack on. The excuses from people in this country is silly. It's not that extreme at 34c in hottest parts and humid levels aren't that high. The mornings are lovely and perfectly doable. Granted in the afternoon I agree as even in hot countries they have a siesta

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 10/07/2026 17:55

I’ve been trying to keep up with it because things not being clean is so much worse in the heat. Probably not to Mn standards though.

Cooking has been hellish but it’s hard to think of cold things for every day and DS is so fussy.

justasking111 · 10/07/2026 18:06

Netcurtainnelly · 10/07/2026 16:09

No lawn to mow it hasn't grown in the heat.

Ours hasn't either just the odd Tufts.

Fifthtimelucky · 10/07/2026 19:05

I suspect you are being unreasonable, but my house is also very messy, for the same reason, and I don’t care!