Caught out by a dirty room or appliance? Tell Kärcher for the chance to win a £250 John Lewis voucher NOW CLOSED

[AngelieMumsnet]

Kärcher would like to find out about moments where you've been caught out by a dirty appliance or room.

Here’s what Kärcher say, “We’ve all been caught out when visitors drop by unannounced and cringed when they pop in to find the house in disarray, what we would like to know is what has been you most embarrassing moment?”

So, have you ever been caught out with a dirty room? Maybe you noticed a hideous cobweb just as you had visitors over? Or maybe someone caught sight of your dirty oven? Perhaps you noticed something floating in your kettle, just as you were making a cup of tea for a guest?

Whatever way you've been caught out, Kärcher would love to hear about it!

Everyone who adds their thoughts to the thread will be entered into a prize draw to win a £250 John Lewis voucher.

Please note that any comments posted on this thread may be used by Kärcher in further marketing material (anonymously, of course).

Thanks and good luck,

MNHQ

my cleaner should jump and answer this one - every time I actually check after she cleans she is being caught. She is awful - every single week she forgets to clean half of the items I ask her to...

I've been caught out by my very clean obsessed mum many a time! She doesnt knock and I think she likes to try and catch me out lol. x

My inlaws walking in through the kitchen instead of the front door... It wasn't dirty as such but I had all my dirty laundry (including underwear) sorted into piles on the floor as I was on a washing mission. That was very embarrassing, to this day I'm still not sure how much they saw!

On a rare visit my mother-in-law once started dusting my wooden blinds!

Every weekend my house ends up a mess because OH is off work and I can'tget anything done. I forgot the health visitor was coming on a Monday morning and got a telling off about the mess.

I was caught out, as my washing machine really stank bad! and I was having guests over for dinner, and I didnt have anything to clean the stench away, I tried an empty hot wash and that didnt work, so I had a brainwave, a hot empty wash and a dash of fairy liquid, sadly it didnt go to well.

I was very embarrassed when we were moving house. The removal men lifted the bed and found a great deal of dust and several socks and a couple of chocolate wrappers behind it (yes, I do like a secret bar of chocolate in bed!). Even worse when they removed the chest of drawers and found a pair of my pink lacy pants underneath!

My nan came round unexpectedly one day and the house was a mess.

an pile of unwashed dishes is never a good way to be caught out.... as I often am

Many moons ago when i was at university, we had a huge house party to celebrate the end of exams. Suffering from the worst hangover the next day, i ignored my mobile ringing and the doorbell. Ten minutes later my landlord had let himself in to show a group of prospective tenants around the house! There were beer cans and takeaway food everywhere. Random bodies were sleeping on the floor, in the bath, and on the sofa! I didn't think it could get any worse, but then someone ran past them and threw up in the kitchen sink! Needless to say they didnt take the house!

we'd both been at work all week, and running son to all the different clubs, therefore kitchen was horrendous as we hadn't stopped. I left hubby in charge to sort it while I went to do extra shift. Come back to find a friend had popped in and thought it that bad that she had to clean it herself before she could have a drink! Poor hubby standing helplessly on and not knowing what to do! Not only a surprise visitor to see the horrendous mess and the embarrassment of that but the guilt that she actually cleaned it as well.

When my children were both toddlers they had several friends with their mums around, so I did the mad rush and picked up all the junk that doesn't really have a good home and piled it on my bed and shut the door. 10 minutes after they had all arrived one of the little girls came down and said in her really loud voice "How do you ever go to bed with all that stuff on there?" Aarrgghh. I didn't expect them to open my bedroom door (and I had warned my own kids not to!). It was then that I realised that most of the other mums had already been upstairs at my youngests request to have a look at his room so they had all seen the junk mountain on my bed. Cleanliness and tidiness illusions over!

DH once hoovered up sick with the Dyson. I had no idea and kept wondering what the awful smell in the utility room was. I kept cleaning out the washing machine and tumble dryer, bleaching the sink and Hoovering the back door mat only to make the bloody awful smell worse.

The amount of times I would quickly run the Hoover round before we had guests wondering why the fucking awful smell had followed me from the utility room. It just did not dawn on my post baby brain that it was the bloody Hoover.

It took a good few months for me to figure it it and threaten DH with All sorts unless he cleaned out the hoover and failing that bought a new one.

Bloody DH is a terror for changing nappies and forgetting to put them in the bin...cue one or two times when a guest has walked into a stinking room to find a (thankfully wrapped up) nappy in the middle of the floor, despite my best efforts to round them all up!

Showing a friend around the house on her first visit and motion to the closed door of the study
"That's the study"
DD1 "No its not its where we put all of the mess"

DD1 was right

My friend offered to dry the dishes while I washed (no bloody dishwasher). Thought it was really kind but was mortified when I handed her a Pyrex jug I'd just washed and she started crying it, stopped to inspect and said, 'hmm, you might want to actually wash this one first!'. She gave it back and it was still really grotty.

The time the electric meter man came and the boiler had broke meaning the dishes had not been washed in a week. My house was like something out of life a grime.

Knowing the inlaws were on their way around I performed my trademark clean-up i.e. shoving everything in the cupboard under the stairs and struggling to close the door. This backfired when they went straight to said cupboard to hang their coats up. Cue an avalanche of toys, clothes, shoes and a hoover!

We was holding a little play date and as we expected them we did tidy away and vacuum the lounge. However the mother's phone fell out her pocket and went down the side of the sofa. We was certainly caught out by the amount of left over food that my daughter has shoved down there! Was gross.

My husband's ex is a real nosey parker, and often when she calls round she seems to have been called short and desperately needs the loo (and to have a snoop). I've been caught out a few times, the worst being when my bathroom was in a complete state thanks to little one's accident and having weed on the carpet. I'd had to pull up the carpet in part of the room so the cabinets had to moved, products were all over the place and it looked like a bomb had hit. Bad enough to have been caught out this way, but she is the most house proud person I have ever met, and I feel pretty lacking in this area at the best of times.

Been caught out by skid marks on toilet pan. Hubby mad them so i refused to clean them. Next minute HV turned up and wanted to use bathroom so made excuse , 2 secs let me grab clean hand towel

I hid the washing up in the microwave but it was out of sight out of mind because I opened the door right in front of our guests! I think I forgot because I usually hid it in the oven haha!

Not so much a dirty appliance but newborn arrived and was getting into the hang of sterilising bottles etc... when I opened the microwave and the steriliser had melted into a big old mess. I never understood why it happened as it had water in it and had been fine before, urgent dash to the shops ensued.

I once hid some washing behind a closed door, which my guest then opened to my embarrassment

My brother popped round one evening to watch a video, back when my children were little. To my horror, we discovered the kids had posted everything from sausage rolls to chocolate biscuits into the slot of the video player!