Tell Cif about the most annoying mess you've ever had to clean – you could win a £250 voucher! NOW CLOSED

[MichelleMumsnet]

Cif has asked us to find out what Mumsnetters think about cleaning up their LO's mess. In particular, Cif want to find out what the hardest or least fun to clean mess your DCs create are.

Here's what Cif have to say, "We all know that children see the home as a playground, and playgrounds get dirty. But we also understand how difficult it can be to clean up after your child, so we want to help make that process as easy as possible."

So, what do you find the most painstaking cleaning task when it comes to cleaning up after your DCs? Is it the crayon drawings they leave on the table or on the wall? Or is it the jam they accidentally splatter over the kitchen counter?

Maybe you refuse to clean up after your family? Or is it your family that has to clean up after you ?

Whatever it is, we would love to hear about the worst mess you/your family have ever had to clean.

Everyone who adds their comments to this thread will be entered into a prize draw to win a £250 Love2Shop voucher.

Thanks and good luck,

MNHQ

[headlesslambrini]

DS was about 18 months old. I was totally wiped out as he had been up a few times in the night. He was playing with his toys on the floor and I sat down and before I knew it, 10 whole minutes had passed by - yep, I'd fallen fast asleep. In those 10 minutes, he had managed to get the big tub of nappy cream, opened it, undressed himself and smear it all over himself - top to toe, in his hair, belly button, round his bum, in his ears, getting the picture? if not then don't worry as I have the photos not only content with doing himself, he also managed to paint a chair, the carpet and a bit of a cabinet. gawd awful mess to clean up as the stuff is basically like grease. Never did manage to get it all out of the carpet.

[WildThongsHeartString]

The absolutely worst ever mess I cleaned up was created by my beloved pet German Shepherd. One day we were out and the car broke down so the poor animal was stuck inside the house for hours which was really unusual for her. Unfortunately she had an upset stomach and dog-diarrhoeaed all over the kitchen floor, spattered units, everywhere. And she was a big dog! (boak emoticon). However, she did try to clean it - by eating it (boak again) and was promptly sick as well. A fine mess for me to clean and I will never forget that smell. My dh had a bad job right enough because the poop had clagged up round the dogs gums and palate so he had to take her outside and brush her teeth and clean her arse and she didn't like that so nipped his hand to let him know he was a bit rough. I'm even now about the howling, whining and swearing coming from the back garden, the neighbours must have thought we were going mad.

[BooMeowson]

My baby's only young so not made much mess yet!

When I have babysat my nieces the worst mess was cleaning up after me! Looked like a bomb had gone off in the kitchen after I was making cakes etc with them

[Rollerskaterabbit]

Cat vomit. Whiskas regurgitated is the worst!

[CozyOtter]

I second the cat sick! Awful when you don't discover it straight away and it dries!

[carovioletfizz]

A box of eggs, cracked on the floor by my toddler. Total nightmare to clean up - sticky, gooey and disgusting!

[GetStuffezd]

The slug I stood on when I came down in the middle of the night, bare-footed for water. I don't know precisely what that gunk they give off is, but it was not coming off - I had to resort to surface cleaner and a sponge.

[LindySfarne]

Two drinks spills on a cream carpet by dd, one a red fruit smoothie, the other hot choc. Neither came out despite trying several carpet cleaners.

I bought a rug to cover the smoothie and artfully placed a large pot plant over the hot choc. I felt really embarrassed explaining to the people buying our house, but I think they were going to gut the place anyway.

[Nicola27]

Funnily enough I have returned home about 30 mins ago to find some absolutely disgusting mess on my bed. It is something that the cat has left but it's so bad I can't decide whether it's poo, vomit or hair ball, yuk!!. Both the kids were intrigued enough to go and have a look but they both vanished very quickly saying "urrgh gross" and they left me to clean up.

[JakeBullet]

Children? Pah....piece of cake, it's ME who creates the worst offending stuff.

Some years ago I drove round in my pristine car which had lots of things in the boot. Over several weeks I began to detect an odour which I could not identify, I even took the car into a garage and they couldn't identify it. I added tons of car air freshener things all to no avail.

Then one day I got a puncture, I opened the boot and began moving stuff to get at the spare and there down at the bottom of the boot was a pot of cottage cheese, by now several weeks out of date which had obviously fallen out of a shopping bag at some point several weeks back. Oh the stench....and yes...the same stench I had been puzzling about for weeks. Took loads of cleaning to get the stain and the smell out of the fabric in the boot.

[KenDoddsDadsDog]

When DD decided to help wash the floor by dipping her dressing gown in a bucket of water. A mini flood and a soaking child !

[nextphase]

Dried wetabix or poridge are the worst repeat offenders.

Cleaning up after a mid-potty trained toddler is my worst job tho. I can cope with sick, but poo [shudder]

[poopoopoo]

My little boy decided to open my little girls box of chocolates she got for her birthday. He must have tried each one and then decided he did not like them because he shoved them behind the sofa next to the radiator where they melted down into a thick mess that spread down the radiator and sunk into the carpet where I found them when hovering up a couple of days later. It took me ages to get the chocolate off the pipes of the radiator let alone getting it out of the carpet and the back of the sofa! What a horrible mess!

[EastFife5Forfar4]

My child is three and bizarrely unmessy. Cooking/baking, he has always been so meticulous when pouring out the flour and stuff! Same for when he is painting, he holds the paint brush so delicately, like he doesn't want to get dirty. Maybe I have it all yet to come!

[EastFife5Forfar4]

He did once turn the fridge off (he was 20 months at the time) when we went away for the weekend. Came back and the stench was horrendous, had to chuck everything in the fridge and freezer out, then disinfect the fridge/freezer.

[Karencurly]

I had spent days decorating my sons new bedroom and personalised and repainted and varnished his toy box wardrobe with his favourite hand drawn characters and his name so after much pain staking work and attention to detail it was finally ready and though I say so myself looked amazing my son was over the moon and couldn't wait to spend his first night in his big boy room! He especially liked his toy box which had a treasure map drawn on it along with pirates and pirate ship. The next morning I went in to wake him and found him on his bed looking pleased with himself and then realised why he had drawn his own treasure map right across 3 walls and the door in crayon I looked at my son and he said "mummy I'm clever like mummy do u like it" how could i shout I explained that it was lovely but we needed to keep his drawings for his paper or easel board but I took pictures of his creations before talking the task of scrubbing it off which took 2 days to remove totally and his artwork takes pride of place in his room on his wall on a poster I got printed for him from the pics I took. Xx that my cherubs worst ever cleaning story!!!!

[MakeTeaNotWar]

When DD was just 2 and starting to potty train, she once disappeared then returned 10 minutes later to proudly announce that she had done a poo in the toilet. I was amazed and went to check. Sure enough she had done a poo in the toilet....on the floor of the toilet and not in the loo itself. Our loo is tiny so as she shut the door after herself, it smeared all along the bottom of the door. Then I opened the door and smeared it even more. I had to use baby wipes to try get it from the bottom of the door, trying not to gag at the stench, grim.

[JacqueslePeacock]

I was for some unfathomable reason cooking beetroot in an old-style pressure cooker. Obviously I did something rather wrong, as when I went to adjust the pressure slightly by opening the top part, a boiling jet of the most vivid purple liquid shot out, covering the white kitchen ceiling and dripping down the cream walls. The beetrooty gunge continued to spray out for several minutes while I struggled to get the valve shut and everything in the entire kitchen was contaminated. Cif sorted out the cooker and the tiles, but the walls and ceiling had to be repainted. It was hideous and I've never liked beetroot since.

[Theincidental]

There are two in our house...

Milk in the carpet, especially it's only discovered when it smells. I hate scrubbing and scrubbing to get it out.

And the other which I never succeed in totally removing is oily tomato sauce splattered on the wall during a messy dinner. There is always the oil stain around a pinkish centre. Paint may be the only way forward!

[Glitterfairys]

My 9 year old son is very keen to cook . He is always trying to invent new recipes but they don't really turn out like he hopes and he always makes such a big mess .Jars of honey or golden syrup tin lids not put on properly and then he puts them back in the cupboard so they stick to the surface - now that is horrible to clean up !!

[VivaLeThrustBadger]

My cat once threw up on my laptop keyboard. I'm sure it was a protest at the amount of time I spend on MN. That took some time scrubbing between all the keys and having to take some of the keys off to clean under.

Possibly surpassed by the time the dog pooed everywhere up his wire crate. And managed to spray poo through the crate and up the walls 3ft away. I had to scrub every inch and corner of all the wire in the crate. The smell was terrible.

[Nerfmother]

Worst mess ever?
Picture me, finally standing up from the window ledge I've been glossing (white) for the past hour. Ds then carries a full bowl of coco pops into the room (and not the table as he is meant to) , trips and the while lot cascades over the sticky white windows.

[ILoveMyCaravan]

Leaving my eighteen month old alone in the living room whilst I went to make a drink. I hadn't realised I'd left out the paint pots and brushes. When I came back in he'd painted the whole television, the fireplace and most of the wall bright red!

[IncaAztec]

Worst mess is a whole tub of salsa smashed by my very pregnant bump. Went absolutely everywhere. And I mean everywhere. Kitchen worktops, cooker top, floor, highchair. Seemed to stick like glue and smelt for weeks...

[Whojamaflip]

mil came to stay. she was what you might call volatile and had a serious temper tantrum.

she threw the tea pot at dh who promptly ducked. I watched in horror as it exploded against the wall and tea leaves flew everywhere.

it took months to get rid of the feckers and the tea stain is still there despite the wall being painted twice.

worst dc one was dd2 repainting the living room with sudo creme, including dropping dollops into the fish tank