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Original poster

"Hinchers"

51 replies

SunflowerSeed1234 · 16/10/2022 23:58

OK so please don't think this is an attack on Mrs Hinch, because I promise it is not an attack on her personally.

Does anyone else just hate the whole "hinching" trend? I feel like I'm completely alone in this.

Yes I want to live in a clean home, yes I'd love to live in a show home but much more than that I want to experience life. I want to spend time with my 4 year old not following him around with a hoover flinching everytime he makes a mess.

It's made me feel really anxious about having people over. From comments from people talking about spending hours wiping skirting boards all over their houses and wanting lamas. I just can't keep up with it.

I feel like this trend just makes me feel like people will come over and be inspecting my house and my skirting boards. I go into a mad panic cleaning for hours on end now before guests arrive. Not because I want to, but from the fear of being judged for small imperfections in my home which are plenty already.

I even have a small tin of paint I use to go around the light switches to cover the marks..... all this and my home still looks like someone has taken it, turned it upside down and given it a good shake 🤣.

I really can't keep up and I just miss the days when I could invite my friends or new people in for a hot drink and a chat without worrying about them peering in my cupboards and inspecting my skirting boards. I am not perfect, my home is not perfect and I want to go back to a time when that was OK.

I also am skeptical about the cost of all these products on the environment, pouring fabric softener down the drain and excessive product usage to wipes that don't break down and sit in landfills, the plastic packaging all these products come in. I think it's hurting the planet. A lot of the time you can use one multicleaner or even buy tablets to dilute in water and reuse spray bottles. Along with the plastic cost they all have very strong chemicals in these products which are linked to things like pet deaths and miscarriages. Not to mention the pollution in the air making all of them. I feel like the world has gone made with it all and we've all lost focus on what matters opting instead for what looks good and fitting in with the cleaning craze.

The thought of cleaning for 4 hours a day just gives me the shivers. We only get one life. I want to spend it with my son and husband, making memories. I'm sure no one sits on their death bed wishing they had cleaned more....

OP posts:
Whatevergetsyouthroughthenight · 17/10/2022 00:14

It sounds like you need to stop watching/reading this sort of content. Most people aren’t like this in real life. Everyone isn’t judging you! Try and relax.

Original poster
SunflowerSeed1234 · 17/10/2022 00:17

I know people will say "but you don't have to" and "its really helped people with aniexty". If that's you then great, I'm genuinely happy that you have found peace through cleaning. If it's made you feel more empowered I'm all for that.

But I really feel like its gone too far. Far beyond helping those few people that needed to know it wasn't only them. I feel like it's now another expectation, and its become something that if you dont do you are looked down on or judged. Women already have the expectation of what to look like, how to dress, designer clothes (not a fan), what their children look like, designer gear for the children. Now we have just added another load on to the expectation of keeping home, not just a nice clean tidy home but a home that's perfect, drowned in greys and beige.

OP posts:
AriettyHomily · 17/10/2022 00:17

Why follow / get involved with it?

BlackberryCat · 17/10/2022 00:22

I really don’t think most people feel like this. I don’t know anyone who comes to my house and examines skirting boards and looks in cupboards. I agree with the others that you need to stop looking at this kind of thing for your own mental health.

JaneJeffer · 17/10/2022 00:22

Well all that cleaning doesn't seem to have zapped your energy.

Spudina · 17/10/2022 00:23

It’s all terrible for the planet and terrible for health....future cancer in the waiting. I don’t clean enough frankly. But I cannot be arsed with all of that and think it’s healthier for my kids not to be exposed to all those chemicals and to be exposed to some bacteria.

CheesyBeans1 · 17/10/2022 00:27

Anyone who comes in my house and starts inspecting the skirting boards is going to make a quick exit. Which is fine, because it saves me pouring them a drink. Everyone else is welcome and good times happen here.

Original poster
SunflowerSeed1234 · 17/10/2022 00:32

Hey 😊

Just to make it clear I don't follow or get involved with it. I find myself constantly surrounded in conversations about it. I went on a hen do with about 10 other girls. They spent over an hour discussing cleaning products.

It's the little comments people make. I kind of think... of you have put that much stock into it and spend so much time on doing it are you looking at all those little places in my house when you come over.

It's that kind of thing. I have never bought a book or followed her personally. I've seen posts and things through social media but not for going out of my way to look, just what comes up on my feed.

I'm not into it all. I feel like I'm the only one 🤣🤣. Stuck in conversations just nodding along.

OP posts:
Roomytrouser · 17/10/2022 00:37

My house is really dirty. Surfaces involved with food preparation are always clean but everything else is really quite spectacularly manky. I bet my immune system is excellent 👍

BlackberryCat · 17/10/2022 00:39

It’s just something they are interested in. Like a hobby for them. If you’re not interested then I doubt they care. Some of my friends are interested in crochet, some are running. Different people like different things.

petpig · 17/10/2022 00:40

I like it when my home's clean and tidy but it happens about 5 times a year. I also feel a great sense of relief when I go into someone else's messy home and remind myself that is how others probably feel when they see the mess we live in. It's normal.

Kanaloa · 17/10/2022 00:43

Maybe it’s the people you know. If people around me talked at length about cleaning and social media influencers I’d either look for a change of topic or decline invites in future because I’d feel we had little in common, which makes for poor conversation. Same as if they talked about football the whole evening - I wouldn’t moan and complain that football needs to be stopped, I’d just say ‘ah, they’re big football people, and I’m not. We probably won’t have much to say to each other. Never mind.’

‘Hinchers’ aren’t ‘taking over.’ The grand majority of people clean their homes normally then go about their regular lives.

Original poster
SunflowerSeed1234 · 17/10/2022 00:45

petpig · 17/10/2022 00:40

I like it when my home's clean and tidy but it happens about 5 times a year. I also feel a great sense of relief when I go into someone else's messy home and remind myself that is how others probably feel when they see the mess we live in. It's normal.

Thank you so much. Its a relief to hear this. I would feel exactly the same!

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Original poster
SunflowerSeed1234 · 17/10/2022 00:56

Kanaloa · 17/10/2022 00:43

Maybe it’s the people you know. If people around me talked at length about cleaning and social media influencers I’d either look for a change of topic or decline invites in future because I’d feel we had little in common, which makes for poor conversation. Same as if they talked about football the whole evening - I wouldn’t moan and complain that football needs to be stopped, I’d just say ‘ah, they’re big football people, and I’m not. We probably won’t have much to say to each other. Never mind.’

‘Hinchers’ aren’t ‘taking over.’ The grand majority of people clean their homes normally then go about their regular lives.

That would be lovely but it's not only new people. Seems to be a particular trend here.

It would be a bit extreme and very close minded to completely remove someone from my life if I didn't match one of their interests or to monopolise a conversation that 10 other people seem to be enjoying and change the subject.

I don't mind sitting and listening to someone talk about football or an interest. The difference is I wouldn't be thinking oh I better go and buy some boots and learn to score a goal! Your home is different it's something everyone has. It's relatable to everyone

It just seems to be a huge thing for it to be perfect. Perhaps that's just my experience.

I'm just asking if other people feel the same as i feel like the only one feeling like it. If you like it but don't judge other people to those standards then that's great - that's kind of what I'm trying to find out.

I also didn't say hinchers were taking over. I said its extremely popular and I seem to be the only one who isn't enthralled with it. I also said I don't agree with the cost it had on the planet. Which I do think is very sad.

Thanks for your comment all the same 😊

OP posts:
Kanaloa · 17/10/2022 01:00

It would be a bit extreme and very close minded to completely remove someone from my life if I didn't match one of their interests or to monopolise a conversation that 10 other people seem to be enjoying and change the subject.

If it’s making you feel ‘very anxious’ and regularly go into ‘mad panic’ then I don’t think it would be extreme to find friends who have more common interests with you. And if it’s (as you say) literally constant then it seems like you don’t have any friends at all that share your interests, mostly just friends obsessed with Mrs Hinch. Which would suggest it would be a reasonable step for you to widen your social group.

If you don’t like Mrs Hinch to the point it’s making you this stressed out then I don’t see the point of surrounding yourself with people who are huge fans of hers.

Pantspiewithvodka · 17/10/2022 01:06

Lord, I thought this stuff had died a death (along with the grey diamante-studded headboard I saw dumped the other day). When they talk about it, use it as an opportunity for some kind of active mindfulness. Better for your health, probs.

Original poster
SunflowerSeed1234 · 17/10/2022 01:13

I didn't say any of that 😵‍💫🙈 sometimes the Internet is a lovely place and sometimes it isn't.

I said I feel like I have to have a perfect home to have people round. Because this is the trend. I said I feel anxious having people in my home because I know most people follow these trends and I don't really. I'm worried they notice all those small imperfections but are too polite to say.

I didn't say that's the only thing they talk about. They talk about lots of different things and are genuinely lovely people with lots of different and interests. One of those being "hinching". For example one of my friends who follows her is also into hockey, however its not a huge trend so I've never felt like I've had to grab a stick and join in.

In conversations they tell me they spent hours upon end cleaning and this is what miss hinch recommends etc.

It's not making me stressed out. It's making me stressed out about my home because my home isn't perfect and I don't live in a show home. It's only making me feel that way only before people come over. In general I don't think about it but before or after someone has come round it comes to the forefront of my mind.

Before Mrs hinch I never felt like that. I felt comfortable in my space. I never looked at other people's skirting boards and never in a million years would think someone would look at mine lol.

I expect you are a fan and this is kind of the problem. If anyone has an opposing view people feel like it's an attack and it's really not 😭.

It's frustrating to not be able to share a view or friendly discussion.

Still no one has commented on the cost to environment. This is always missed. I'm interested in the view points of this

OP posts:
Original poster
SunflowerSeed1234 · 17/10/2022 01:20

Pantspiewithvodka · 17/10/2022 01:06

Lord, I thought this stuff had died a death (along with the grey diamante-studded headboard I saw dumped the other day). When they talk about it, use it as an opportunity for some kind of active mindfulness. Better for your health, probs.

Hahaha the diamanté headboards! This comment make me chuckle! Maybe it will die down in time and the social pressure will reduce. I like the mindfulness tip

OP posts:
Smallonesaremorejuicy · 17/10/2022 01:21

I thought all that Hinch stuff was over!

mathanxiety · 17/10/2022 02:59

...I know most people follow these trends...

But do they?
Really?

Foolsandtheirmoney · 17/10/2022 03:13

mathanxiety · 17/10/2022 02:59

...I know most people follow these trends...

But do they?
Really?

Yeah this is what I was thinking. I don't know a single person that is into cleaning and Mrs Hinch as a hobby. Genuinely. It seems that your friends/circle are but I don't think it's as much of a thing as you think it is. So I suppose to answer your question no I don't feel any pressure because I don't know anyone that is cleaning mad.

Doggydarling · 17/10/2022 03:16

I agree with you. I don't want my sil to visit because she'd be giving me her opinion on cleaning products and the latest tip from some cleaning website. She an absolute fan of hinch and her house is a shrine to grey, the furniture, floor, walls etc all grey except the 'inspiring quotes' stuck on the wall in the kitchen. I dread to think of the money she's spent over the past 5 years turning her house in to a lookalike of hinchs

Speedweed · 17/10/2022 03:40

Look her up on tattle life - plenty of people feel the same as you.

Kanaloa · 17/10/2022 09:06

SunflowerSeed1234 · 17/10/2022 01:13

I didn't say any of that 😵‍💫🙈 sometimes the Internet is a lovely place and sometimes it isn't.

I said I feel like I have to have a perfect home to have people round. Because this is the trend. I said I feel anxious having people in my home because I know most people follow these trends and I don't really. I'm worried they notice all those small imperfections but are too polite to say.

I didn't say that's the only thing they talk about. They talk about lots of different things and are genuinely lovely people with lots of different and interests. One of those being "hinching". For example one of my friends who follows her is also into hockey, however its not a huge trend so I've never felt like I've had to grab a stick and join in.

In conversations they tell me they spent hours upon end cleaning and this is what miss hinch recommends etc.

It's not making me stressed out. It's making me stressed out about my home because my home isn't perfect and I don't live in a show home. It's only making me feel that way only before people come over. In general I don't think about it but before or after someone has come round it comes to the forefront of my mind.

Before Mrs hinch I never felt like that. I felt comfortable in my space. I never looked at other people's skirting boards and never in a million years would think someone would look at mine lol.

I expect you are a fan and this is kind of the problem. If anyone has an opposing view people feel like it's an attack and it's really not 😭.

It's frustrating to not be able to share a view or friendly discussion.

Still no one has commented on the cost to environment. This is always missed. I'm interested in the view points of this

I’m not a fan at all. I’ve never seen the woman’s social media, never bought any of her products etc. The closest I’ve come to knowing about her is a picture I saw in the paper where she’d piled a bunch of pumpkins up outside her home. So we don’t have opposing views at all - I have absolutely no interest in this woman or any similar influencers.

But I also think they’re quite easy to avoid. If you don’t follow them then they don’t tend to intrude on your life. And while you say apparently it doesn’t stress you out, your op implies that it does. If you dislike Mrs Hinch, just avoid her.

Kanaloa · 17/10/2022 09:08

And I know you’re trying to cast me as a ‘hincher’ because it fits with your idea that ‘most people follow these trends’ except you but they genuinely don’t. You’re having your view fogged by the fact that you already have some sort of anxiety around your home or you have a social circle that is unusually obsessed with cleaning influencers.