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Telly addicts

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Original poster

How Clean Is Your House - Why do people volunteer for this?

29 replies

gscrym · 08/04/2009 16:40

I do like watching this because it makes me feel better about my own little tip. Do people sign up for it thinking my house isn't that bad or is it to get a professional cleaning crew in for a few days. I would be mortified if I had a house that dirty and my friends or workmates saw it on telly.

OP posts:

GypsyMoth · 08/04/2009 16:41

We wonder the same, the state of them is shamefull!! Also wonder wether their is a pay incentive too?!

moondog · 08/04/2009 16:42

Some of them are verging on mentally ill, surely?

EasterEggsintheSky · 08/04/2009 16:43

I'd sign up for it to get them to come and sort out my shite belongings. My house would look lovely after they'd been there

Kathyis6incheshigh · 08/04/2009 16:43

I think a lot of them know their house is awful but don't know where to start in dealing with it. Probably if you offered the same service for free without having to go on tv it would be snapped up.

Original poster

gscrym · 08/04/2009 16:45

There was an old woman on it who lived in the living room with clutter everywhere. She had to crawl over everything. She had been depressed and had said she just stopped seeing the mess.

The one I've just watched was the family with 7 kids and a massive house. The husband said 'well I go out to work and don't want to start cleaning at 9 at night, surely my wife has time to clean during the day'.

OP posts:

MitchyInge · 08/04/2009 16:48

I think most of them really want to change but don't know how, or are just nagged into it by despairing loved ones? You can't really hire a commercial service that comes close to Kim and Aggie can you?

WhoTookMyMemoryStick · 08/04/2009 16:50

I saw that one too, the wife was called Catherine and I have come across her on another board. She felt very 'set-up' by the tv company from memory but, at the end of the day, they didn't put inch think gunge on her kitchen floor. It was utterly, utterly grim.

They were hardcore christians so dad was never going to do womens work and the wife wanted Kim and Aggie to make him do it. I bet they still live in a shitheap now.

Original poster

gscrym · 08/04/2009 16:52

When they went back to them, the kids had kept the rooms tidy and the mum had obviously been left to do what she could. I juat thought the dad was a smug git who liked the idea of him doing nothing to help.

OP posts:

ilovesprouts · 08/04/2009 17:00

prob coz they lazy gits and want some one tio clean it for em some of em are shite holes and my dogs beds much cleaner

misdee · 08/04/2009 17:04

i saw one on ondemand the other day, and the lady admitted she was a hoarder and it had gotton out of hand. its quite sad viewing sometimes.

TrinityWino · 08/04/2009 17:12

I think it shows they have deeper issues than not cleaning

I do think they have some mental issues
I would go on it to give me a fresh start from the crap that my house and has become

VernalEquinoxMitchyInge · 08/04/2009 17:13

As someone who lives in unspeakable squalor I think we should all be given lots of sympathy, or at least a bit less condemnation. Who says tidy people are morally superior to those of us who prefer to be surprised by where our car keys/pants/youngest child are?

ManicMother7777 · 08/04/2009 17:19

ROFL Vernal

solidgoldshaggingbunnies · 08/04/2009 17:21

The whole fuss about needing houses to be tidy and there being some moral dimension to it is all about keeping women in their place, really. Housework is tedious shitwork and the less you do of it, the better - it's basically a matter of finding a balance between how much mess you can live with and how much shitwork you can be bothered to do. And if there is more than one adult in the house, then every adult has to do a share of the shitwork, end of.

Frillysocks · 08/04/2009 17:24

Theres a difference between untidy/messy/could do with a lick of polish, and FILTH though

I saw one where the cats were allowed to pooh all over the house, they had a cat tray but unsurprisingly had never changed the litter from day 1 so the cat wouldn't go in it. It was a house cat too, poor poor thing.

Then there's the ones with infestations - there was a girl of around 12 who lived on a farm with her mum, they kept horses. Her bedroom had millions of dead flies and huge spiders all over it. The whole house was infested with spiders and flies - flies attracted to the filth and the spiders to deal with them. Eww.

It's the kids I feel most sorry for a) living in a minging mess and b) because they must get the p*ss taken out of them at school afterwards.

I think candidates are sorted randomly to appear on either How Clean Is your house, or A Life Of Grime. There's no difference in the level of squalour.

mrsmaidamess · 08/04/2009 17:27

I agree most of the folk on HCIYH have mental issues, depression. Some others are bone idle and just want their 15 minutes of fame and their house cleaned for nothing.

mrsmaidamess · 08/04/2009 17:28

Has anyone else seen that ad for a cd 'Music to do Housework to'? I was when I saw it.

Frillysocks · 08/04/2009 17:29

solidgold where does the emancipation of women come into it?

"How Clean..." features a mix of people. There are quite a few episodes of all men (dad and lad, flatmates) or all women (mum and daughter), families, single people.

They are all as filthy as each other regardless of gender or stereotype.

Some people are just not able to keep a track of cleaning and tidying to an acceptable level, by which I mean relatively hygienic.

TheCrackFox · 08/04/2009 17:32

Solid, I agree with you that housework is tedious and to some extent of making sure women know there place. However, the families featured on HCIYH tend to live in filthy shit holes. There has to be some kind of basic cleanliness, surely?

moondog · 08/04/2009 19:26

There was a thread about that recently Missus.

I actually like housework, or rather the 'feel' of aclean and ordered house.It means we can focus on the important stuff and not get bogged down by trying to find stuff that has gone awol.

I really don't buy the notion that housework these days is used to keep women down. If only! Most people I know are pretty slatternly.

ilovemydogandMrObama · 08/04/2009 19:32

I like a clean house; just don't like cleaning it myself!

Helps though that downstairs has tiles/floorboards... Ideally would like a house where I could just hose everything down!

BedofRosesItAintII · 08/04/2009 19:36

Agree with Solidgoldshaggingbunnies.

Many of my friends are now keeping their homes at showhome levels, which is fine as long as they don't judge the those who want to enjoy life by doing as little housework as possible.

DuffyFluckling · 08/04/2009 19:40

I bought that housework cd. My house is still a tip.

TheHedgeWitch · 09/04/2009 11:02

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Saltire · 09/04/2009 11:17

My MIL got me the How Clean is your House book for Christmas and had actually got a form to fill in to nominate me for the programme. Step FIl told her he would leave her if she sent it off. I know this because Step FIl told DH, who in turn told me about it. he thought it was funny!

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