Do people really live like that??

[Twinkie]

Watched that How Clean is your House? Last night and I do not for a minute believe people can actually live in such a filthy hovel - I was so appalled - they had cats which shat all over the house - and they did not clean it up - they actually looked quite stunned when they were told that with a small baby crawling about cat shit could actually prove fatal!! There were even traces of cat faeces all over the kitchen surfaces - eeeuuurrrgggghhh!!!

The other kids bedrooms were unbelieveable too - you could literally not see their beds with all the junk on them and to be honest it really did not look like the bed linen had ever been changed - it was really really awful and I think maybe it had to have been staged because I can't believe an adult would let their house get in that state and then let TV cameras in to be embarrassed infront of the whole of Great Britain!!

Give them their due they did keep it tidy and even painted a few rooms after Aggie and Kim had gone but the woman said - it was just the start we neede - it was all piling up and now you have done the main bit it is much easier to keep it like it - so what if Kim and Aggie had not have done their 'bit' they would have eventually had to move after being swallowed by the junk and shit all over their house!!!

DO people actually live like that in real life or is it a few strange people and I think it should be brought in that all school children are given lessons in Health and Hygeine - why would anyone let a cat shit in their house - its would be shot and stuffed if it were mine!!!

All this reminds me of a friend of ours who is an Environmental Health Officer. His mother told me once that when he first started trainign to do that she was always terrified that he'd be inspecting here kitchen and she'd need to keep it spotless all the time (not that it ever looked that bad to me anyway). Actually he's quite relaxed about things, and reckons that it's possible to overdo the cleanliness thing. Somthing to do with a low-level background exposure to minor nasties helps you build up immunity to the biggies, but if you've always lived in a sterile environment you can't cope with it when you do get exposed.

I do remember a friend who had her house nearly as bad as that, it really was disgusting.
I really had to turn over, it is simply not that hard to keep a house hygenic, even if not tidy or clutter free.
I would never let anyone in my house let alone a tv crew if it was like that...

believe me there are lots of people who live like this!
with my job i have visited families with young children and have been appalled - one was so bad my colleague and i stood retching on the doorstep and the door was still firmly closed!!! we legged it without even ringing. plus these people tend to be at home all day, windows shut, fire on full.bblllggghhh

agree with gillw - you can be too clean, your kids then don't build up immunity to normal muck and get ill easily when they are exposed to it.

This woman was awful. We had to shove the front door really hard to open it, and found piles and piles of clothes, washed and unwashed , all ina huge heap behind it. Then it turned into a trail of laundry that ran into the kitchen, stuff in the machine, and falling out, up the stairs, into each bedroom. The cooker was awash with the filthiest black water I had ever seen, combined with debris of rotten food, and the microwave OMG! Fridge was almost radioactive. The woman I was with told me not to even look in the bathroom I would be sick. The living room was chaos, new baby clothes intermingles with cigarette butts and over flowing ashtrays. The bedrooms were just piled with junk and clothes, bottles, cans, ashtrays. Was truly revolting. And obviously it stank to high heaven. I was so upset at the thought of her bringing this baby home to such a mess, I was about 32 wks pg myself.

She had friends round cleaning it for her, and loads of offers of help, but whenever it was tidied up she just let it go again.

As an aside to that, when her ds got bigger, she was v proud of the fact that he had been taught how to headbutt!

Awwwww I love that programme, it makes me feel tidy but I didn't know it was on I was out anyway but could've got DH to tape it.
I'm untidy but fairly clean. One thing I do get embarassed about is having two guinea pigs in the living room but there's nowhere else for them to go. I was told by a guinea pig expert that they'd be ok in the boys bedroom but don't know about that yet. They don't have any allergies so it may be ok?
I have a fair bit of clutter but when I get stuck in it looks ok. My very tidy mate is coming tomorrow to babysit whilst I have my hair done so I'll do most of the housework and she can do some she enjoys housework.

OMG lou33 - it is making me heave just reading it...

I did not watch last night but watched a couple of episodes from last series. Great programme, makes my house look like Buck Palace In answer to the question, yes apparently, people DO live like that. I had a conversation with a friend the other day (she is policewoman) who had been to a house recently where the three young children slept on a filthy mattress and went to the toilet in the corners of the room. How disgusting is that? There are many people who don't deserve to have children

DH said how clean he feels now after watching it last night..... We have a clean house, not spotless, and have a lot of clutter upstairs, but the downstairs is very clean. I have wooden floors and titles downstiars which I find easy to look after with three kids. I don't change the bedding every week, I do try to though. And upstairs is a bit minging compared to downstair!! I have been sorting out cupboards etc, the last few weeks, and I have filled three black bags today, with all the extra bedding and clothes the kids have outgrow. And I still haven't finished......

I didn't watch last nights episode (too busy sobbing at the "Safe as houses" programme on BBC2) but have seen previous episodes.

I completely agree that it is not a good idea to "Dettox/Bleach" every single thing in the house on an hourly basis, and I truly believe in a bit of grit to build up immunity BUT...

thats a thousand miles away from the horrific stories that I've just read on this thread, ie LittlemissBossy, Lou33, Mummysurfer et al.

Poor little kids stuck in all this

I was worried about the state of my house, with Social services due to come round and see the kids soon, and my sister, who works for SS, said "your house is ammaclute compared to some of the houses I've seen" She said Yes, its cluttered but its clean and tidy and you can tell it gets cleaned everyday......

The baby was 6 months and crawling around!!!

I wanted to know about the lemon oil too - she had a huge bottle of it - wonder where it comes from.

I am terribly obsessive about cleaning and bleaching - I love it and have to say that I dettol the kitchen and bathroom everyday and bleach the loos and sinks and DD has never really had anything serious wrong with her - the odd cold and cough and once an ear infection but nothing like some of my friends kids have had.

lou33 that sounds awful it makes you wonder why these people have children - thought the idea was to nurture and care for them - and to let them live in a house like that does not sound like they do. - mind you the woman last night was quite surprised about toxoplasmosis, she acted like it was the first time she had ever heard of it and after having 3 kids too - did she not have any maternity care or read any books???

I must see this programme. To be honest, without seeing it I still find I'm slightly at odds with some of the comments here. Collusin's dustbin in the living room family sounds awful, though. As for a house smelling, well I have to say our house can smell to high heaven if our cat has done something, even if I have cleaned it up - and even more so when I can't find the mess. And we have a bit of a problem with our ancient drains. It doesn't mean that no housework gets done or that I am a really bad parent. A clean, non smelly house does not IMO equal a loving parent or even good parenting. A super clean house might equal just the opposite, in fact. I do think some order is important for children so they know where to find their stuff, but don't think they feel cruelty is being done to them if there is a bit of dirt lying around. Do children really care that much about having a clean tidy home as long as they are warm, well fed, clean clothed and loved?

Just to let your bleach fanatics know - I have now cleaned the slightly cat poo-ed duvet with a mixture of water and bleach

I agree with Tigermoth. I try to maintain a decent level of hygiene but a bit of untidiness is not such a big deal. Would rather spend time playing with kids then bleaching all the surfaces every day. Funny what an emotive subject cleaning can be...

Spot on there Tigermoth!

My friend is obsessive about housework - does the complete EVERY single day - changes bedding 4 x a week!!! If I pop round for a coffee, I feel like I'm in a showroom and when I get up to go to the loo/put cut in sink etc, she's behind me puffing up the cushions

If I tell her stuff that me and the kids have got up to, beach/park etc, she always complains she never has time because she has "chores" to do. Don't get me wrong, I do housework too, but generally spend 1 day blitzing the whole house, with bleaching toilets/Dettoxing worksurfaces/sweeping on a daily basis. Hoovering I normally do every other day.

This is a friend who has 2 children - who even when they were babies/toddlers, if you stepped into her house you would never guess children lived there as she kept toys/books etc out of sight

Just to add....the little girl comes to play occasionally - one time she said "I love coming to play here because we can do painting!!"

My brother is currently suffering from a form of Wiel's (sp?) disease. He thinks he caught it from the condition of his ex-gf's flat, where her cats do their business everywhere and she doesn't clean it.

I can hardly believe it, and she is distraught that he split with her over it, and denies it all. I've never been there, but bro caught this from somewhere so I don't know what to think.

I can't understand why he kept sleeping there if it was that bad. Some men will put up with anything to get a shag.

When I was a teenager, I used to babysit for the people who had the "poshest" house in the village. The sitting room was ok, mantlepiece full of gilt edged part invites etc, but upstairs was gross. Childrens beds stank of urine where thay would wet bed and bedding not be changed, piles of dirty clothes everywhere, cups full of mould all over the floor etc, dog pooh all over the place (on upstairs carpets-not garden!). They used to ask me to stay over-no thanks!
Tigermoth-you have to see the programme, its not a bit of untidiness and a bit of a smell, its a million times worse.

yeah tigermoth - it really wasn't just your average messy house (i.e. mine ) these people had mouse droppings and urine all over their 'clean' crockery and kitchen surfaces and their lounge doubled as a huge cat toilet. The oil in the chip pan was a viscous black sludge. It really was just grotesque. Their little boy said he never has friends over because they just can't get in...

Much as the dirtiness disgusts me I have to say I am fascinated by what people live like. There is a house in nearby Knowle (v posh area) and I kid you not, you cannot see in the front window (from the roadside) because of all the clutter. I wish I could photograph it and show you - it's absolutely amazing..

Seriously, I haven't seen a house on these programmes as bad as the woman i knew. And before I knew about it, I had lent her some maternity clothes! I couldn't bring myself to wear them after my discovery. That sounds awful doesn't it!

My dps mother lives in a tidy but filthy house and the cats shit in the bath.

I know its vile charliecat but I couldn't help but laugh at your comment.

i wish i'd have seen this. im constantly wound up at the state of my house. i think i have a problem because no matter how much i clean it, it still looks dirty to me! Cats are filthy creatures its got to be said. Mine is an absolute nightmare. I changed the throwover on my sofa the other day and literally 5 mins later she threw up a big nasty furball thing on it. Why!!? theres a catflap! i think im probably not too bad really. My house is clean, quite minimalistic and tidy most of the time...i cant stand any kind of clutter around me. (have been know to follow ds around as he went from toy to toy, putting them away) Twinkie, my friend cleans her house before the cleaner gets there aswell! (sure you're not her?)

visited an old friend last week who is a uni professor living in a townhouse in the west end of Glasgow (house prob worth about half a million) and he lives exactly like that and always has done. No kids though but he does rent out to students and there is a queue of students wanting to stay in his legendary house.
It is so dirty it's funny. And he is a lovely man.