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“The Things I’ve Seen, I Can’t Unsee”: 30 Times People Were Shocked By How Others Live
Interview With Expert
No matter what your home is like, that environment becomes your normal. You might be used to sharing a cramped bedroom with your siblings, or you may have a private wing in the house all to yourself. We know that everyone’s home is unique, but it can still be shocking to realize that even your friends might be living in drastically different conditions from you.
Redditors have recently been sharing stories of visiting another person’s house and being stunned by the way they live, so we’ve gathered some of their replies below. From being surprised that two parents can actually love each other to being disgusted by a clear lack of cleanliness, enjoy scrolling through these stories, and keep reading to find conversations with Michael Shaw, Founder and Managing Director at We Clean Homes, and the team at Maids in Brown! Image credits: TheKhannunisT
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Went to a new friends house for the first time when I was in the 6th(?) grade. We walked through the front door.
Friend: Mom! We're home!
Mom comes around a corner: Oh my god! It's so great to finally meet you! Friend talks about you a lot! (Gives me a hug) How are you!?
Me: ^I'm ^fine.
Mom: Are you hungry? I was about to make us a snack. Dad! Come meet Friend's friend!
Dad comes around another corner: Hey kiddo! It's good to meet you. (Shakes my hand) If you guys are good, I'll take you guys to Fun Place later and we'll get some pizza. (Kisses Mom) I'll be in the garage. (Smacks Mom's butt)
Mom: (giggles) You guys go play in your room. I'll bring you something to eat.
I was stunned. They were nice to me AND each other! I mentioned it to my friend later, and he apologized because they "were so embarrassing". My parents weren't in a room together without at least insulting each other.
I really hope Friend's parents are still married and insanely happy.
Edit: Since this kinda blew up. They were really the nicest couple. They really loved each other and my friend, from what I saw. I hung out there for a bit, but I ended up moving (again) about a year later.
We indeed went for pizza that night, and his mom made a really big breakfast the next morning. The blueberry cake thing she made still lingers in my dreams.
They are the couple that I've most tried to emulate in my marriage of nearly 30 years. It really does help to have the right partner, but it is definitely worth the effort.
Snazzy Smurf 1 year ago
Thirty years and still remembers the positive experience, that is amazing. He remembers it for all of the right reasons.
HighNMightyBigshotBossOfWorld 1 year ago
And their kid gets it all day everyday, so lucky!
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Kathleen McGann 1 year ago
I had a similar experience when away from home for a choral festival in high school. I told my mum about it and she tried to model a loving family for me, but my father was still an a*****e to us both. Normalize not everyone marrying and having kids. My father never wanted kids but society forced him into marriage ( no, mum was not pregnant when they married). Many people are not cut out to be parents or even lifetime partners. Normalize not getting married and not having kids. It might just make therapy obsolete!
Evan 1 year ago (edited)
Yeah, my parents should have never gotten married, and I don't know why they decided to adopt me. Never wanted anyting to do anything involving responsibility. Or anything to do do with socialization ( outside, or family). I was seven by the time they adopted again and by that time I had learned to care for myself and had to care for my brother, as I did not want him to feel unwanted. But I don't blame them, they probably had it worse, and didn't know any better. And I feel proud of myself, because that was a learning experience, I have cut the chain of neglect and abuse, it stops with me. BTW its continuing with my kids, my parents don't want anything to do with taking any interest, they go out of their way to not be part of anything, I make up for them by, making sure they feel important and needed.
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Floeckchen 1 year ago
Way to start the post of with a positive spin on the topic (it is currently #1)
Angela Darling 1 year ago
I'm so glad you had this couple as a 'role model' and you emulate that in your life!! Too many perpetuate their childhood traumas into their current, adult life. Having a loving couple to SEE and experience that kind of home life is a gift!
RabidChild 1 year ago
My best friend's parents were like this. Married for about 60 years, died within 2 months of each other. They were rare and beautiful people and a shining example of a great and enduring relationship.
Animal lover 1 year ago
We always had kids at our house. I am not bragging but our daughter called us Ward and June Cleaver. My husband and I had erratic childhoods so we made sure to make it happy for our daughter. Lasted 47 years until he died
RELATED:
#2
I did homecare for a woman. She wasn't disabled, just really fat and lazy. She peed in a bed pan so she wouldn't have to get up, was just the epitome of disgusting. She has a cat, very sweet, no name. I saw cockroaches in it's food dish. It was wet food, and crusted over, it was old and disgusting. I took the cat the next time i was there. When I went back, she asked if I'd let the cat out, as he went outside occasionally. I said nope must have been someone else. She wasn't concerned at all. She just wanted her damn fried chicken. I'll never forget that cat, seemed so grateful for his escape.
Jill Rhodry 1 year ago
If she was living like that she probs did have some mental health issues and if they affect your functioning in life that is a disability - you don't know what people are dealing with or what they've been through.
The Queen 1 year ago
I hope this person is not a home care person anymore. Her attitude sucks.
Traveling Lady Railfan 1 year ago
I understand your sentiment, I have a lot of tolerance for humans and unseen mental health or physical health problems so nobody should judge, but when it comes to the abuse or neglect of animals, my opinion sours pretty quickly. The best part of this post was hearing the cat was saved
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Sandy D 1 year ago
Glad you rescued the cat, but it sounds like she at least has some big mental / psych problems. And if she 8s truly really fat, she might have mobility issue from arthritis. If a body has to haul around that much tonnage, joints get a lot of wear. I could be wrong, but it sounded like the person was judging her as lazy and disgusting might have something to do with OP having disdain for fat people. It sounds like social service should come pay a visit / do a wellness & safety check. She probably needs serious counseling and a specialty cleaning service, at minimim
Danish Susanne 1 year ago
The fact that she didn't bother about what became of her cat tells med that OP has evaluated correctly.
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Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 1 year ago
I'm morbidly obese, with serious health issues that are strengthened by, but not caused by, the obesity. My breathing issues are the worst hindrance to my doing things for myself. I struggled for over a year, unable to find the reliable help I need. I was very close to trying to re-home the cats. The place was horrible. It was bad enough for me, but the cats didn't sign up for that. A month ago, I finally found someone reliable. He comes twice a week to take care of the cats, the trash, and the kitchen, and then a couple times a month for cleaning. Now that the cats are being taken care of properly, and we aren't living in a pig sty, all three of us are much happier. This has not been good news for Yellow Mousie, though. Audi's more playful than ever.
laura lee 1 year ago
I'm so glad you found helpers! I also have debilitating conditions, mostly unseen ones and the amount of judgement coming from people is horrendous even family and I get real tired of explaining my health issues over and over. I feel like I should have a stack of business cards that lists all my issues that I can just hand out to avoid repeating myself ad nauseum. I mean I understand not being very health literate but when it involves a "loved one" wouldn't you at least look it up? I digress. I am happy you were able to find a decent reliable person for you and your kitties ❤️
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LakotaWolf (she/her) 1 year ago
There's a lot to unpack here, but I cannot understand how someone can have a pet and not give it a name, even if the name is Kitty or Dog.
Sue User 1 year ago
Sadly, my cat's name is cat. She started hsnging around the barn but i vould tell she wasnt feral. Took weeks to get her to trust me. I didnt want to name her because i didnt want to get attached . I was sure someone would claim her. Shes beautiful and trained ( does not jump on counters). I finally realised she was staying but by then , she only answered to "cat".
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Kira 1 year ago
It's really awful for a caregiver to have such contempt for the person they're supposed to take care of.
Jackie Lulu 1 year ago
I think it's OK to have empathy for a person with mental issues and at the same time, think that their lifestyle is disgusting. As long as you accept the fact that nobody desires to live that way.
laura lee 1 year ago
And maybe instead of stealing their pets, you find extra help for them.
Load More Replies... Suck it Trebek 1 year ago
God job human being! Helping a helpless being have a better life. I stole a cat once due to neglect and I never regretted it. She was my world for 19 years.
#3
Mom of my sons friend would always drop him off at our house to hang out and she would always comment how lovely our house was, which was a sense of pride for me as it was my dream home that I designed and built.
Then one day he was going to their house to hang out so I drop him off. Driving down the road to their house and round the corner to what looks like a French ski chateau, just grand and enormous. Let’s just say most of my house could fit in the garage.
She opens the door and my jaw hits the ground with the immense opulence and beautiful wood working. We exchanged pleasantries and of course I comment ‘this is a really really lovely place!’ She said thank you and off I went.
Picked up the kid later in the day, says how nice the parents and siblings are. Made me realize that not all rich people are a******s, only the ones who act like they have money but really don’t. Was eye opening for me.
Brian Droste 1 year ago
I thought this was going the other way. Where your kid friends house was a dunp. Glad turned out in a good way.
Angela Cruz 1 year ago
We had a friend like this. The mom drove a beat-up old station wagon and was so humble and sweet. My mom offered for me to help train her daughter in something so we decided to go to her home. It was a mansion with maids and all. Turns out the mom had come from a family of little means, but she married into wealth. She never got comfortable with it and stayed humbled.
Hugh Cookson 1 year ago
Had sort of the same thing but with a girl I was going out with back when god was a boy. We were both working in in a hotel in the West of England - me Chef, she Receptionist and after we'd been seeing each other for a few months she suggested going to see her folks in Yorkshire, about 4 hours drive away. So, we drive there (me driving) and once we've got to the general area, she said for me to slow down on a very narrow country road and told me to look out for a pair of pillars off to the right .... So, 5 mins later, we go between the pillars, to which were attached two enormous wrought iron gates alongside a gatehouse, we then drove down a road flanked by old oaks and coming over the brow of a hill, saw the 'house' about a mile away. Yup, my lovely Val's Mum and Dad had a 15 bedroom mansion with 25 acres of gardens , parkland and almost a full retinue of staff to help run it. I have never met two nicer people, and I speak as someone who worked as a private Chef for many years !!
Kelly H. Wilder 1 year ago
Back when God was a boy! 😆 Thanks for the hearty laugh!
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Lee Banks 1 year ago
Had the same experience. We were getting back on our feet after homelessness. Not a great place, but it was ours, and my buddy was always dropped off to play. One day I went to her house, and it was a Mansion. Sweetest, most courteous parents I've ever encountered. My mom was slightly embarrassed, but they were just happy their daughter had a friend.
Musky82 1 year ago
The grass isn’t always greener. My sister is tremendously successful, but works 12+ hr a day and travels 80% of the time. Once she made money, her lifelong friends tried to use her so she lost them. She had health issues due to stress. I know, this sounds terrible to you and me, but she loves to work. But, like OPs example…she, her husband, and kids are all the sweetest people on the world!
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Seadog 1 year ago
Growing up I went to school with all the doctors, lawyers, C level etc peoples kids. Now we weren't hurting but mom and dad both worked and we live in the country. So I was always an outcast in those kids eyes. It brings such gratification to see those kids working for a living. Mommy and daddy's money didn't support them the way it had growing up. They got slapped in the face with reality. I've worked since I was 7 so going full time after graduation was just a day in the life for me.
Rayne OfSalt 1 year ago
Eh, no, some rich people absolutely are a-holes. take my BIL's parents, for example. Insanely wealthy and insanely awful people. How my BIL turned out to be such a good bloke is a mystery.
Joe Bloe 1 year ago
Some, like any other groups, but not all. It would be ridiculous to defend that.
Load More Replies... rainbowbrite141 1 year ago
I have a friend like this. Has staff and everything. Had no idea until I went to her birthday party. That was 20 years ago, she and her family are still awesome!
While some of the replies to this post were uplifting, wholesome stories about encountering happy families, unfortunately, the vast majority of them weren't. So to learn more about the importance of taking care of our homes, we reached out to Michael Shaw, Founder and Managing Director at We Clean Homes in the UK.
Michael was kind enough to have a chat with Bored Panda, noting that "maintaining a clean and organized living space is crucial for both physical and mental well-being."
"A tidy home promotes a sense of calmness and order, reduces stress levels, and fosters a healthier environment for oneself and others," he explained. "Additionally, cleanliness helps prevent the spread of germs and diseases, contributing to overall health and safety."
#4
Visiting my best friend on the other side of the country in his modest apartment where he has his cat and all of his instruments. He made me a very dude worthy meal instantly upon arrival without hesitation, I could tell it was something he didn't make very often as it came out questionable but I appreciated the thought and effort. I'll never forget the internal battle I fought for the first day to not judge his lifestyle... he did everything he could to make sure I was comfortable and worry free... and as the week progressed and the good times stacked I realized that I'd been overcomplicating my life which was leading to massive mental health battles.
He's still my brother to this day and I have largely simplified my life since that trip and I'm much happier for it.
Newuser87631 1 year ago
I too learned the hard way that a simple life is much better than a life with a lot of things.
#5
Going to a friend's house and realizing they have a fully stocked fridge and pantry with actual food, not just ramen and frozen pizza.
TheGoodBoi 1 year ago
You shall find actual food as well as ramen and frozen pizza in my fridge. I like them :P
Ormond Otvos 1 year ago
Bacon, steak, pork, celery, carrots, romaine, dressings, mushrooms, tomatoes, milk, V8, soda, crancherry, cheese, yogurt, Cure 81...just the fridge. 2 Freezers.
CrunChewy McSandybutt 1 year ago
My family was PWT living in a PWT neighborhood. I didn't know anybody who had food at the end of the month.
Michelle C 1 year ago
I wonder if the person who stocked his or her fridge with only pizza and Ramen is simply a picky eater, impoverished and that’s all said person can afford, or has sensory concerns… If none of these apply, then I hope that person got an education about what eating healthfully really is!
Kobe (she) 1 year ago
Well, for not being able or wanting to go to do groceries every day. It can be a very adult thing to have a meal plan and go make a list for the next three or four days. You really think the grocery store gets fresh cabbage / carrots/apples / milk / oil every day ? No - they don't. And when they do, they will sell you the older ones first. All that stuff lasts longer than one day...
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#6
Delivered pizzas in my very early twenties in rural NH and around the Massachusetts border in an area that tended to be economically depressed. I saw it all. Houses where I would gag the minute the door opened from the melange of cigarettes, cat p**s, dirty dog, old grease, mold, and other less identifiable odors. Garbage EVERYWHERE, often bulging garbage bags sitting out in the open that were clearly not new, often with visible holes from rodents. Seas of empties, with every surface covered in cigarette ash and unidentifiable stains and crusts. Yards with knee-high grass filled with trash, broken cars and appliances, dog s**t, and sun-bleached toys. Floors that felt disturbingly spongy when I had to step inside and walls that were sweating from the humidity.
This isn't even half of it, by the way. Rural poverty and the diseases of despair that accompany it is a fast path to the nadirs of the human condition.
Sue User 1 year ago
"diseases of despair". It should be classified as a disease. So many people confuse despair with depression. No amount of Prozac is going to cure despair.
Kelly H. Wilder 1 year ago
I can only upvote this once, but it should be said over and over again. Despair can be co-existent with depression and one can fuel the other, but it also can be a stand-alone issue.
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Bexxxx 1 year ago
But having severe mental health issues that you can’t afford to access help for due to being poor (and being in poverty can often be caused my mental health issues) is a real and prevalent issue :( terribly sad cycle
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Mark Fuller 1 year ago
I've never understood why the poorest often struggle to maintain a clean and tidy environment. I've been as poor as a church mouse at times and still strive to make my space comfortable, hygienic and homely - which requires very little money.
Becky Samuel 1 year ago
Despair. Lack of finances for cleaning materials. Depression. Physical illness. Exhaustion. Crowded living space. The sheer futility of cleaning a house that is damp, termite-riddled, or full of mold.
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greenideas 1 year ago
It's not about money. My neighbors are like this - the house hasn't been cleaned in a decade and if I vist them, all my clothes go straight in the washer (the smell of cat pee and cigarettes even gets in my hair). It doesn't take money to wipe a surface with a damp cloth or vacuum the floor. I think it's more of a mental thing.
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Deirdre McNeil 1 year ago
I never understood why being poor could lead to being so filthy. My family was poor growing up and our house was spotless.
Meagan Glaser 1 year ago
Did you ever get the water shut off because you couldn't pay the bill? That's how it starts for some people. Poor =/= filthy, but people forget that it's MUCH harder to keep clean when you have no money at all
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ॐBoyGanesh 1 year ago
The only thing we all can’t afford is time. In my rural community, many people, as the weird quote says, “we stay broke.” We can get all kinds of food delivered out here in 45 minutes to an hour. And while chain pizza is a few dollars more, it’s nothing compared to the cost of groceries, given we’re on an island & nearly everything (including produce; especially proteins) gets shipped in. $60 for a fryer chicken, rice, asparagus & a couple ingredients for cooking. Also, it’s 45 minutes each way from our area to the market. A neighbor gets home at 7:00PM & has to clean house, do homework with kids, check work emails, get clothes & such ready for 4 people for the next day & hopefully is in bed by 11:00PM before her early morning commute. It’s cheaper to order a pizza than to drive to town & back with food. Milk is sitting at $8.50 for half gallon right now & that’s not the organic stuff. Then there the gas for the drive. So, $30 on pizza for 4 is doable. But it’s mostly it’s about time.
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Mare Freed 1 year ago
OP, you have an excellent writing style. I could feel and smell all of that. If you see this, I hope you're either a writer now or striving to become one. I want to read more from you!
Michael and his team have also encountered their fair share of homes that could warrant a spot on this list. "Over the years, we've come across various living conditions that have been truly shocking," he shared.
"From extreme clutter and hoarding to unsanitary environments, it's often distressing to witness individuals living in such challenging conditions. Each case serves as a reminder of the complex factors that can contribute to housing instability and the importance of compassionate intervention and support," the expert noted.
#7
When I was 17 I went to a girl's house... She and her mum were smoking in the room we're in... They proceed to ash on the carpart... I must've looked surprised .. as the mum said "oh.. don't worry . It's a rental..".
WindySwede 1 year ago (edited)
You can take the deposit from the tenant, but not the tenant out of being uncaring.. edit:spelling
Load More Replies... Floeckchen 1 year ago
The rental part makes it even worse "it's not ours so we can just destroy it"...
Daniela Lavanza 1 year ago
Indeed, evil mentally of showing no respect to what isn't theirs. And being stupid enough to do it in front of a newcomer. BTW I never get the concept of not keeping in good shape the place YOU LIVE IN, for God's sake! Some people are hopeless.
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Kirk Littlefield 1 year ago
I rent and smoke. Smoking is only outside for me. I live here and want it to be a nice place to live. I rent because I like to move around and experience new places a lot. But I still want a good home to come back to at the end of the day.
Load More Replies... ZGutr 1 year ago
When I led an IT team we had a user coming in and threw his cellphone on a desk and said "supposed to get a new SIM?". The technician replied "careful with that, it can break you know?" to which the user made the huge mistake of responding "so? it ain't mine now is it?" The technician in turn blew up in the user's face "EXACTLY it's not yours, you have the privileged to use it, so you should be extra careful". The rant went on and I let him blow it all out. User was never again spotted being careless neither could we tell from his equipment he had been..........
Jackie Lulu 1 year ago
No respect for the landlord (yes most of them are ok). So, don't complain when you get hit with a huge bill for damages when you move out.
Narcissistic_Alcoholic 1 year ago
Had a rental once, and the renter ground out his butts don't he carpet in every room. Simply amazed he didn't burn the place down, so many of the ground-out butts had burn and scorch marks around them.
Craig Reynolds 1 year ago
And renters wonder why so many mom-and-pop landlords got out of the rental business or tightened their qualifications.
Lena Flising 1 year ago
Strange! I always thought being rental means that it's not yours, and you have to treat it extra nicely.
NetworkMan 1 year ago
I think we dated the same girl. Ex girlfriend of mine lived with her Nana, and the carpets in the house were more dirt, dog poo and cigaretee ash, than they were carpet. It's weird what we just kind of ignore and get on with when we're 16 and ''''visiting our girlfriends''''.
#8
Walking into my friend's dorm after they said it was super messy and realizing that it was nothing compared to the mess that was in mine. It was honestly a wake-up call.
WindySwede 1 year ago
I once walked into one (the kitchen) and thought they were moving, it was so tidy.. 🙀
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Little Wonder 1 year ago
Me with my car. Someone apologised for their car being "an absolute mess" and I realised... oh... oh I am a car slob.
Raphosaurus 1 year ago
This doesn't count. I always tidy up and clean days before I get guests only to say "I'm sorry for this mess. I didn't have the time for chores." And nearly every friend of mine dies the same.
cerinamroth 1 year ago
Mess tolerance varies from person to person. I am quite a chaotic person but every now and then feel like I'm drowning in stuff and have a big clear out. It's really difficult with kids. I tend to say now "Sorry about the mess. We're in the middle of not caring any more." Most people I know (and most people we know have kids these days) laugh because they appreciate the honesty!
Lena Flising 1 year ago
Some people say it's "super messy", just to lower the other person's expectations.
Michaelann Dahlman 1 year ago
I had several friends who would go "Oh, don't mind the mess" & their place looked like an issue of Home & Garden.
MalibuClassicMan 1 year ago
you do not have to have a lot of money to keep a place clean, nastiness is a personal way of life.
Aboredpanda 1 year ago
Some people are completely hysterical about tidyness though. A magazine on an empty table is mess to someone like that. And not a speck of dust. I enter houses like that and I think "dear god when do you rest?" And also am concerned about all the judgy thought they must have because I don'tgive a s**t my home doesn'tlook like a sales-brochure.
#9
When I went to a new friends house to teach him one of my recipes and found out the fridge contained nothing but butter and the carrots I’d asked him to buy. He was living on exclusively toast.
Several years later and I’m proud to report he actually knows how to cook now thanks to me 😆.
Me Oh My 1 year ago (edited)
How??? ETA: Some of you guys need to calm down. I'm not judging him for only being able to make toast, I'm simply baffled as to how someone can survive on toast alone, apparently without anything else (including vitamin supplements.)
Ken Beattie 1 year ago
Assuming they left the house probably ate at restaurants at lunch time, and dinner. When I was younger I basically didn't cook anything because I was always out at meal times. It's tough on the wallet though.
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The Original Bruno 1 year ago (edited)
I know I always agree with the posts about how you shouldn't go after a guy if you have to fix them. Some guys CAN be uh, improved. But that's a matter of learning or growing up, not being changed. People grow when they love. Every decent parent knows this. If you have to "fix them," neither of your eally loves the other.
_physically_insane_(he/him) 1 year ago
But maybe it means you eat more than toast
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Michael also shared some advice for those who might be struggling to maintain a clean home. "It's essential to start small and focus on manageable tasks," he noted. "Breaking cleaning duties into smaller, more achievable goals can help prevent overwhelm and increase motivation."
"Establishing a regular cleaning routine, delegating tasks among household members, and investing in practical storage solutions can also streamline the process," Michael says. "Additionally, seeking support from friends, family, or professional organizers can provide valuable assistance and encouragement along the way."
#10
My GF/now Wife visiting me unannounced one day when I was living in my Grandmothers basement. It was embarrassing, as it was almost at a hoarder level of mess.
I was so ashamed at my situation that I changed. (Mostly) Hitting 30 years together this year, so I did something right.
robin aldrich 1 year ago
My mother was a borderline hoarder.( I say borderline because she didn't save garbage.) I learned from actually watching a couple episodes of the show that a lot of it comes from some sort of emotional trauma. So taking that approach made me at least more compassionate and able to help her...Although I still don't understand anyone who can't let go of garbage that's rotting in the home.
Bobert Robertson 1 year ago
My ex gf showed up unannounced at my house where, as a student at the time, I was hanging out, stoned out of my mind with bongs and joints all over the place. And I hadn't showered that day lol. My idiot roommate knew she was coming to surprise me and didn't even bother telling me to clean up or stop getting so stoned. Haha needless to say I was baked and surprised. Like an easy bake oven.
Joanne Earle 1 year ago
Comedian Rita Rudner once said that 'men are like bears with furniture'. lol
Brian Droste 1 year ago
I am glad you realized the situation you were in and did something about it.
#11
Buddy just had a baby with some girl just as lazy as him....diaper mountains in every corner of their apartment. Smelled like one too. He also uses Dip tobacco so there were wads of dip on the carpet and in his bed.....I don't talk to him much anymore.
Bexxxx 1 year ago
Feces and fecal material should never be saved and stuffed into a corner :( if the parents have mental issues I understand but the baby is definitely still at risk then too
Load More Replies... Snazzy Smurf 1 year ago
That just described 365° of nasty, disgusting, and filth. Someone should get a biohazard team in there to clean before it begins to affect that little pumpkin.
#12
I’m an HVAC service technician, so I’m in people’s houses all the time, every day. All walks of life, from extremely rich on down. I’ve seen the hoarders and the slobs, but the worst was a house that looked like 6 cats got together to buy a home, then decided to let an old man live with them if he stayed in the corner and put food out. Absolutely disgusting, with cat litter and s**t dusted literally through the entire house. I almost left and would have if it wasn’t just a case of his coil freezing because the filter was clogged with fur. Felt bad for him, obviously a mental health issue.
firecrackershrimp 1 year ago
Six cats got together to buy a home ... The secret cabal ... Now I know
RabidChild 1 year ago
They just keep the man around cuz they have no thumbs and therefore cannot open cans on their own.
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GrowingThruConcrete 1 year ago
Are service workers like this mandated to report conditions to adult protective?
Stephanie Did It 1 year ago
There was a lady in my congregation, a retired teacher and widow. She always had such a strong odor that all the seats near her were empty. She developed a bad skin condition on her lower legs, and was hospitalized. They ended up amputating one leg but saved the other. We (congregation) went to clean up her house before she came home, and found it full of animals and their filth layered on the floors, plus no running water and only a chair she apparently slept in while her feet rested on that floor. By the time she came home her home was repaired and furnished and the animals were gone. Many people don't know that such conditions can and will be fatal to someone living in them! Her later years were so much better for her.
While it can be shocking to encounter a home that's very different from your own, Michael wanted to emphasize the importance of empathy and understanding when addressing issues related to living conditions.
"Behind every cluttered space or unkempt home, there may be underlying challenges such as mental health struggles, financial difficulties, or physical limitations," he told Bored Panda. "By approaching these situations with compassion and offering support rather than judgment, we can create a more inclusive and supportive community for all."
#13
Realtor here. One time, I went to an older couple's home to answer some listing questions. Place looked immaculate on the inside: it stank beyond belief though. And not any normal smell; imagine mixing gasoline with just a hint of flower scented air freshener.
And it was overpowering. Not a single room in the house was the smell not vomit inducingly strong. 7 years in real estate, and it is the only listing I have EVER had no choice but to make an excuse to leave early.
After the retired couple moved out (but before we put the home on the MLS) we hired a home inspector to find the smell. Turns out these people were keeping toxic mole killer in their laundry room. Instructions even specified to keep it outside, that it was too toxic to be kept inside.
It may be a miracle those two are even alive.
Sue User 1 year ago
My mother in law used naptholene (moth balls) all over the house to combat bugs. She was proud of the fact that they left no mess, "they just vanish".
Pamela Christie 1 year ago
For years, my parents' garage stank, and eventually the smell was detectable in the kitchen. . After my mother died, Dad gradually lost the ability to care for himself, so I moved in and cleaned up the house. Then I tackled the garage and sniffed my way around it, searching for the source of the stink, Bottle after open bottle of Roundup surfaced in the cupboards, beneath the potting table, behind the trash cans and under the workbench. That stuff is highly poisonous, and comes with urgent warnings. Dad would buy a bottle, lose the lid, and then buy another one when he forgot where he left the container. He'd been doing this for years before he started experiencing Dementia symptoms. Maybe that's what caused it. We eventually cleared out 3 carloads of the stuff, driving to the toxic waste disposal facility, with all the windows down. The odd thing was, Dad, who was always sensitive to smells, said he never smelled that.
KittyMommy 1 year ago
Nose blind, it happens when you're exposed to a smell all the time. Or, it could just be something that his nose couldn't register for other reasons
Load More Replies... Forrest McCanless 1 year ago
Family beside the family we were staying with in Egypt proudly showed us their new paint before we had dinner - painters had done the downstairs rooms. Oil-based paint thinned with gasoline - no joke. Couldn't taste the food; got headaches; afraid of bursting into flame at any moment.
Mare Freed 1 year ago
My grandma used mothballs in the attic. As a kid I would scoop up a double handful and huff them. They smelled so good.
Patricia McCoy Buehrig 1 year ago
My grandmother's sister's house reeks of mothballs; she used them everywhere: closets, drawers, under furniture. It was hard to breathe!
Panda Kicki 1 year ago
We recently had a very tragic case where a immigrant family had brought a very toxic bug killer, illegal here, and in good faith used it at home. In a more isolated house and a moist climate it went really dangerous and the baby dies, the rest got really sick and was on brink of death for weeks.
#14
I was really into this girl, she invited me over to her house and it was almost traumatizing.
They had like a dozen pets with various smells and ailments, they were basically unattended and made the house stink
her 4 older brothers had been in jail, she had to keep her bedroom padlocked otherwise they would steal from her
Her little brother (maybe 12 at the time) was yelled at for smoking … in the house. If you were under 15 you had to smoke outside.
Finally her mother showed up and started telling us all about her health problems and I had to leave once the pro-lapsed a**s convo started.
Jiji The Cat 1 year ago
i feel bad for her above everything else - hope she had a good life after that :(
Donald 1 year ago
I was dating someone like this once, things were going well for a few months. We usually hung out at my place until the night we went to her apt. Rabbits, cats, tortoises, rats, fish, lizards and a dog, all in a relatively small apt. I love animals, I worked in the pet industry for a decade. I've smelled all the worst smells that animals in captivity can make. I couldn't last more than an hour in there. She was a lovely person, but I can't be with someone who is OK with living in that level of filth.
KatSaidWhat 1 year ago
I chaperones twice at work; you never recover from vaginal prolapse. I now state I can't because I would be seeing as unbiased.
#15
Had a girlfriend for a long time who would always come to my place, no problem, not a big deal. She was great and had a really good job in the same area as me, pretty high up in the chain in dc. Anyways, we were always going to my place. No exception. So one night we were out at the bar and I asked her if we could go back to her place so I can get to know her better and see how she does things. Get a better sense for her. Well, that was the last night we hung out. She was a hoarder. Like DSM-5 compulsive hoarder. And she had cats. Like an unknown number of cats. So many that I asked her how many she had and she said it's kind of a rotating number and every now and then one of them dies so she hates to give a number and to be wrong. I tried to point out that giving the wrong number was the least of her problems. She wanted to insist that everything was fine and we could just enjoy relaxing after she cleared the bed. I told her I had to go home and she could call me again when she cleaned up. She never called, and I never missed her. In this literally at one point as we were walking through the house to let me out, I asked her how long it's been like this and how she could survive that way. She literally did not understand the question. It was extremely upsetting.
KnightOwl 1 year ago
Hoarders never see the problem, it's not just being in denial it's much deeper and they genuinely don't see it. My parents are hoarders and in complete denial, it's awful. They complain that none of their kids visit and they never get to have their grandkids to stay overnight (they have 8 kids and 16 grandkids) but if we try to explain why they go mad. They get very defensive, angry and insist that we're being dramatic and it's not that bad. We try to explain that it's dangerous for young kids to be in a house that has floor to ceiling piles of stuff everywhere (literally lining the walls, piled on top of chests of drawers, wardrobes, shelving units etc.) Not to mention my dad leaves his very extensive tool collection openly lying around the house, (including dangerous power tools) as well as boxes of computer parts. Hoarding is a disease that destroys lives but nothing is ever done to help these people, I literally have nightmares about loved ones being buried alive under their stuff.
Becky Samuel 1 year ago
Unfortunately hoarding as a disorder is notoriously resistant to treatment and there is a huge shortfall in the number of therapists that would be required to scratch even the surface. The cost woulad also be prohibitive. Finally, as with all mental illnesses and conditions, you just cannot help someone who doesn't want to be helped.
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Rebelliousslug 1 year ago
She had to have some idea that it was wrong. She happily only hung out at his place until he asked to go to hers. I think she just didn’t know how to answer the question.
ƒιѕн 1 year ago
So instead of helping his longtime girlfriend, he gave her an ultimatum. Very apparent there was no love there.
Tamra 1 year ago
I think a lot of people don't understand that hoarding is a serious mental illness, and often just view it as someone being lazy or filthy.
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detective miller's hat 1 year ago
I never knew hoarding was even a thing until I was 14 and went to a friend's house. There were narrow walkways through each room between MOUNTAINS of stuff. It wasn't terribly dirty (except for the kitchen by the sink--each person in the family had one plate and one set of utensils and washed them only when they needed to eat; the rest of the dishes were all dirty and piled in the sink and on the counters). But there was just so. much. stuff. We went up to my friend's room, and you couldn't actually stand anywhere, we just had to climb onto the bed where she had a square of clear space to sit. Freakin wild.
Lena Flising 1 year ago
Rich people with stress diseases - must get medical help. Poor people with hoarder syndrom - have themselves to blame. (Yeah, I know rich people can hoard too, but I'd guess that poor people are in a majority.)
Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 1 year ago
My aunt was like this. There was literally a path through the house wide enough to walk. Everything else was ceiling high trash. I don't know what her sons did when she died. If they were smart, they burned the house down.
J 1 year ago
Had a GF name Carol Ann like this. See would call the house (before cell ph) and usually my Roommate would answer and he would relay what she wanted to do to me that night. Just a total freak! We always came back to my place until one night there was an unexpected snow storm. We could only make it back to her place. WHAT A DUMP! Garbage everywhere . Roaches, nasty but at least the bedroom was clear. Lucky for me the next day it wasn't as bad as it was suppose to be and I could make a break for it. Pretty much the end of that story
Joanne Earle 1 year ago
Reminds me of that episode of Friends when Ross was dating the really beautiful slob.
We were also lucky enough to get in touch with the team at Maids in Brown to hear their thoughts on this topic. "Taking care of your home and maintaining its cleanliness is paramount for several reasons, impacting both physical and psychological well-being," they shared.
"Firstly, a clean home is fundamental to health. Dust, mold, and other allergens can accumulate in a cluttered and dirty environment, leading to respiratory problems, allergies, and other health issues," the experts explained. "Regular cleaning eliminates these harmful substances, ensuring the air quality in your home is safe and conducive to good health."
#16
I didn't even make it to his house. He was supposed to pick me up for a date, and when I opened the front passenger side door of his car, the floor was literally covered in trash. You could not see the floor matts, and the trash was at least three-four inches deep. I could not believe this dude didn't even respect me enough to clean out his passenger seat before picking me up. Just expected me to sit in his trash on the way to our date. Can only imagine what his place looked like.
Seadog 1 year ago
Reminds me of the show "Trick My Truck". Most of those people have just neglected their rigs all along. Why does anyone think letting someone fix it up for free is going to change that habit? My son (truck driver) has met a few of those truckers and said they're the most arrogant people he's ever met. They actually expect you to pay them if you want a picture of their truck.
MalibuClassicMan 1 year ago
if the car is nasty then everything they own is just as bad I'd guess.
Celtic Pirate Queen 1 year ago
I was taking training classes for our new accounting software & our CPA lived nearby, so we decided to carpool. I drove to her house, which was pretty nice. Then we get out to her car and HOLY S**T. I could not believe the amount of garbage in that thing! She said I could just move it to the backseat and I was thinking WHERE? I would never had said anything about it, we had to work together after all. But, for the rest of the week I made the excuse I had to pick up my granddaughters after school and would need to take my own car. Pretty sure she knew, but it was never mentioned.
RiceRiceBaby 929 1 year ago
Sounds like you were planning on skipping the date and going straight to his place.
#17
One of my tenants' shower was entirely black from mould, except 2 footprints where she would stand.
Tillia 1 year ago
To those with question marks above their heads: there used to be a different photo which indeed resembled a forest
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Missy VanWinkle 1 year ago
I had the same. LOVELY tenants who shared a 2-bedroom and were neat as a pin *everywhere* else. They'd shower, close the door, and leave. Grew a destructive amount of mold everywhere in the bathroom that had to be gutted after they left. ... Baffled me completely!
sbj 1 year ago
I'm guessing this is not the actual photo and I'm surprised she never slipped over
boredkitten 1 year ago
It is written under the photo that it is not an actual photo
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lisa m 1 year ago
I once cleaned a student 4 bedroom 2 bath housing unit and the smell was horrendous, the floor in the bathrooms were thick black dirt, we had to use masks and extremely toxic cleaners to get the shower stall and floor clean , I'm talking filtered masks that have two sides and basically a hazmat mask I'm trying to say...4 students didn't clean for a full year
#18
Client home visit. Opened the can of coffee and a mouse jumped out. And they made me a coffee without batting an eyelid.
We both saw it.
I then told them I only drink tea.
867-5309 1 year ago
Hoping that a coffee drinker didn't have tea on hand? I believe having both is blasphemous but I don't drink either so I'm just an ignorant heathen, pardon me.
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Seadog 1 year ago
Mid 80's, went to look at a home for sale. Walk in and the woman if cooking dinner. The roaches were sitting on the countertop and stove top watching her cook, as if they were waiting for her to serve them. My new bride and I walked out fast, went home and washed our clothes and showered.
Panda Kicki 1 year ago
I was at a friends house for the first time and mouses ran over the kitchen table, mouse poo everywhere and they continued to serve food on that table. The parents didnt seem to think something was wrong. The house was as cold as a normal fridge as they refused to get proper heating. I starved ans never returned.
Stephanie Did It 1 year ago
I briefly stayed in the home of a co-worker between moves, and she had several cats. Where were the litter pans? All FOUR were in her kitchen, on top of the cabinets around the room. So all the lovely dust and siftings rained gently down upon every surface. No, I didn't eat anything that came from that kitchen.
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While the Maids in Brown team says they've encountered a wide variety of homes, they're never startled by what they see. "We once had to take 15 bags of trash out from an apartment. You can barely find a spot to get in the apartment," they told Bored Panda.
"But for us it is not a shock. When we walk into such homes; we sympathize with the client," the team noted. "This is because most of the time clients that live in such homes have serious health issues. We understand that everyone has difficult situations, and different stories. We have no idea what challenges they have been through, and they need a support system that enables them to overcome their battles in life. Maids In Brown is passionate in promoting a state of well-being that everyone deserves."
#19
I went to a friends house that only had one downstairs bathroom. They had ‘p**s bottles’ in their room for when they were too lazy to go for a p**s in the middle of the night. 2 litre bottles of p**s just laying around their room.
Bisha Moten 1 year ago
I know someone who regularly urinates in 20 ounce coke bottles, and saves it. Though he has a curious reason for it. Specifically, he does a lot of traditional style wood working, and one of the earliest stains used by man to darken wood... was concentrated human urine. So the urine is kept, poured into this large drum outside, and wood that he wants to darken is soaked in it for several weeks to allow the compounds in the urine to react with the wood and darken it. Before you ask, yes, he sands and sterilizes it after it's been soaked.
Snazzy Smurf 1 year ago
There are gas station bathrooms and porta-potties that are less disgusting. At least toss the things out on a daily. Nothing screams sexy and mature like a bottle of old pee laying or sitting next to the bed.
Loren Pechtel 1 year ago
Plenty of legitimate reasons for pee bottles--just empty them frequently!
Hugh Cookson 1 year ago
My Nana and Grandad (who was a coal miner in the North of England), lived in a terraced house with 2 bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs and a lounge (always kept for 'special occasions ), parlour, pantry and Kitchen downstairs. The toilet was accessed by going out of the back door, turn left and you were in the coldest, dampest toilet you've ever had to go in, usually with Izal toilet paper (aka, toilet sandpaper) as the only method to wipe your bum. If you wanted to go to the toilet in the night we had a ceramic potty, kept under the bed into which anyone who needed to go had to pee or poo. Oh, and in the winter the windows regularly froze on the inside, as did the toilet .... Good old days my a**e !!
Jenny Mason 1 year ago
My eldest brother was an alcoholic and he had peed in bottles that he then kept in his room for many years. He died a few years ago and I have no idea who had the task of sorting that mess out.
SkippityBoppityBoo 1 year ago
Oh gosh... These posts keep reminding me of people that I've met over the years. One guy used to keep his urine in 2ltr bottles in a small attic type cupboard next to his bed. The reason why? For the 'physical energy that came from them' and to ward off evil spirits. He did have some form of Mental Health Illness but I can't remember what he said he had now. He was such a lovely guy though, gentle, kind, but just had some form of MHI that made him do that
Shelli Aderman 1 year ago
I guess being someone who physically cannot aim their urine like those with a penis can, the whole bottle thing is so 😳🤢 to me. It does make sense, however. But even if one CAN use such a device, there are ways to be tidy about it, and sadly, this ain’t it… 😉
Lorraine R 1 year ago
A fellow I used to work with told a story about the time he and his then-girlfriend made a bet about who could fill a Coke bottle on the floor the quickest. He tried aiming and made quite a mess. She won, by placing her big toe on the lip of the bottle and letting the pee run down her leg. They were both very drunk at the time.
Load More Replies... #20
A friends brother appartment.
Example.
When he was done with a pizza, he would throw the box (and possible leftovers) behind the couch.
There was 3 feet of trash behind his couch.
So imagine his appartment now, but ad more trash.
Celtic Pirate Queen 1 year ago (edited)
My great Aunt passed away in 1989. Since I was living in Seattle, my Dad asked if we could go "sound the house". OMG. She was the lady whose floors you could eat off of. She had been a recluse, but not a full on hoarder (we tried to involve her in family get togethers, but she always had other plans). We found what was once a pile of newspapers that dated back to 1975. Even though she'd quit smoking years before, the house absolutely REEKED of nicotine and the curtains all but disintegrated when we opened them, but the pizza boxes were the saddest. It was my son's job to stack them in the garage. 764 pizza boxes. When her obituary was placed we got a calll from the Manager at the local Pizza Hut. He said they knew something was wrong when her Monday order had not come in. She ordered pizza & Pepsi every Monday, Wednesday & Friday. Due to the # of boxes, we figured she'd been living on pizza and Pepsi for the last 2-3 years of her life. So incredibly sad.
Joanne Earle 1 year ago
My estranged stepson and his g/f are utter and complete slobs. Their apartment is digusting. Our grandsons are being raised in that squalor. I miss the kids but not their parents.
Angela Darling 1 year ago
I know someone that would stuff cheese wrappers in between the cushions of the couch....but he was like...7
#21
Cleaning my hording grandmother's house. It had always been bad but it used to just be piles of stuff hundreds of blankets and bed sheets, cupboards over flowing with dishware and cookware, mountains of clothing, and piles of books and games. We would visit and argue about how unsafe it was and beg her to let us help her make space for herself and it would turn into a horrendous fight every time but as she got older she became less mobile and more senile.
We were cleaning out her space while she was in a nursing home for a broken leg and dementia and there was a bowl so full of maggots I thought it was rice we found cat and dog s**t petrified in the bedding piles (at this point it had been years since shed had any pets), they had a brown countertop and it took me a long time to comprehend what I was looking it. It was like looking at brown static eventually I realized I was looking at ants crawling around a slow cooker.
Oskar vanZandt 1 year ago
Gut the whole place (wearing hazmat suits) and call in the exterminators...
Black Garbage 1 year ago (edited)
Screw the exterminators, burn the whole thing to the ground.
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Katzandra 1 year ago
Eww, reminds me of the horrible flat my brother used to live in with two equally sloppy roommates. I was visiting and my brother pried the lid off a pot that was cemented to the stove top with grime and exclaimed "who the f**k cooked rice in this?" before he realised what it really was. His solution was to throw a cup of water in it and to put the lid back on 🤮
Azure Adams 1 year ago
that's what my grandmother's house was like too. I wanted to just burn it down after she passed because it was so bad but was vetoed
Ovata Acronicta 1 year ago
The bowl in this picture appears to be full of waxworms. They are the larval (oft, maggot) stage of the wax moth (so yes, they are caterpillars). Many reptiles will thoroughly enjoy these bugs to snack on, but they are truly just snacks - their fat content is incredibly high. I've been meaning to get some but was left with just picking up more mealworms last time I was out.
And if you need some tips for keeping your home clean, Maids in Brown recommends considering the power of delegation and teamwork. "If you live with family or roommates, involve them in maintaining the home," they shared. "Assign responsibilities based on everyone's schedules and abilities, turning cleaning into a shared responsibility rather than a solitary burden. For those who can afford it, hiring a professional cleaner for a deep clean even just twice a month can massively reduce the load, allowing you to maintain a cleaner home with less effort."
#22
Entering the room of the guy who rented the space in my house (a separate apartment attached to the main house)—he had tons of trash, food containers, half-empty cups of soda, hadn’t swept or mopped in the two years he’d been there, etc.
Absolute filth. Hoarder-level s**t. I was appalled, disgusted, and furious. Needless to say, his a*s is OUT. 56 year-old Man-child. Made my ovaries shrivel. Just…what the cockroaching f**k.
Ken Beattie 1 year ago
If he's paying rent on time, seems nice enough, never complains or asks for anything, I can imagine them not doing inspections. Especially if they're a first time landlord.
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MalibuClassicMan 1 year ago
I have always told my kids keeping something clean is way easier than cleaning something up!!
JNDauterive 1 year ago
I had renters like this. A seemingly nice young couple. When they moved out they left these throw rugs laying around. It turned out their pets had been pissing on them and they would just pour deodorizer on top. They left black grids on my fine oak floors. I had t throw away the tub and toilet. It took me a week to get all the grease off the fine old stove. Lesson learned.
MacintoshID 1 year ago
Sounds like my ex. After I moved into my own house, had to stop by the house we had together about 4 months after I left, only to find that he was living in just two rooms and both were piled up with trash and he started to smoke in the house. I stayed less than a minute and remembered gagging when I got back in my car. And he wonders why I left him...
#23
Knowing that where I live a lot of guys work 12 hours, scroll YouTube for some time and sleep, repeat this 7 days a week(yes, 7 days) and 12 months a year. This is hell. I'm somewhere close to that situation too and it's scary.
Daniela Lavanza 1 year ago
I thought slavery had been abolished. Seems like we merely changed the name to "poor workers".
ConstantlyJon 1 year ago
That my Thursday, Friday, Saturdays right now. Work 8-4:30 at my day job, get to my night job around 5 or 5:30ish and work until midnight+, get home around 1-2am. Go back in at 8 for the same shifts Friday. Then work my night job 12-12 Saturday. Hoping I can change it soon, have a probable promotion coming. We'll see. It certainly can't last like this when my 8-4:30 is M-F.
My O My 1 year ago
Good luck to you! It makes me really sad to hear about your work load and you are propably one of many. And it makes me very humble and grateful for my and my husbands working hours
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#24
I was in the Boy Scouts when I was about 10 and had this friend who obsessively collected every single badge available. I went to his house on the outskirts of town one time to pick him up. I was confused as the house had scaffolding outside and looked like it was still in the process of being built, so I asked him about it. He said, “Oh, we’re doing some renovations, so we’re sleeping out there for now”, as he points out a tent next to the house. I thought, “Wow, no wonder he has so many survival badges, he literally lives out in the woods.”.
Ken Beattie 1 year ago
I mean this one isn't so terrible. It's for a temporary period, it's not how they normally live.
Sunny Day 1 year ago
You don't know how long they were "working on the house". Could have been years.
Load More Replies..."The goal is to make cleaning less of a chore and more of a manageable part of your routine," the Maids in Brown team says. "By decluttering, establishing daily habits, and sharing the load, keeping your home clean can become a much simpler task."
#25
I once visited a dude I knew somewhat from middle school, I was with a friend who was friends with him. We were 19/20. He had only recently moved in, but there was already a small mountain of smelly dishes and a smell of sweat cause he was playing that VR rhythm game Beat Saber, which requires a lot of movement.
When we were leaving, I had to take a quick leak in the toilet and just said "I'll just borrow your toilet for a minute" His reaction was "ermm..." as I was entering the toilet. What that "ermm" had in store for me was to this day traumatic for me...
Pee stains on the floor, pubic hair ON THE SINK and a smell of moldy clothes from the washing machine. HE HAD LIVED THERE FOR LESS THAN A MONTH.
He has never worked a day in his life and was playing online slots. He often posted about winning something like 2000€, and less than a week later asking 20€ for food in snapchat mystory. A couple years passed and he sent me a message, just asking for 10€ loan for a pack of cigarettes, he said he'd pay back in five days when he gets his social assistance payment. Five days later I ask about the money, he reads the message but ignores me completely. Doesn't delete me or anything, just ignores.
I tell about it to another friend who knows him and some other common friends of theirs, and he says that I'm not going to see that 10€ ever again. He's apparently loaned from plenty of people and is in debt over 500€ to one friend. I almost feel sorry for him, but a lot of those mistakes he made without the use of common sense.
WindySwede 1 year ago
Never lend money in that case? It's like buying alcohol for an alcoholic? Sort not of, but..
Oskar vanZandt 1 year ago
Never lend money that you can't afford to lose... My policy and it's worked well.
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Charles McChristy 1 year ago
Rule #1 of friendship and family: Never lend money you can't afford to lose.
Cerridwn d'Wyse 1 year ago
In general, never lend money that you cannot afford to never see again. I always think that if I get it back cool if I don't well that's okay too.
Stephanie Did It 1 year ago
When you are asking for it, you're borrowing. When they're temporarily giving it to you they're loaning (or lending). You can't loan from someone.
robin aldrich 1 year ago
This may not be his problem, but this is why we need to teach life skills. At least in junior high to the boys and girls....because maybe they don't learn any from their parents.
#26
Worked on a 50 meter superyacht, It had the most hideous chairs in the dining room, each one cost $55k , I wouldn't have paid $5 for one, but it really opened my eyes to how the other half live!
Kathleen McGann 1 year ago
True. My best friend once told me I love ugly houses and furniture. I would have never called her taste ugly. Just different from mine. We're not friends anymore.
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Snazzy Smurf 1 year ago
Money doesn't always equal good taste. Some of the most gaudy and hideous stuff can have the largest price tags.
#27
A girl I was dating wanted me to come over to her parent's place. When I walked in, there were boxes of stuff everywhere. I said, "Oh, I didn't know you all just moved in?" They had not just moved in.
ROSESARERED 1 year ago
I have boxes everywhere...books mainly...waiting to paint the walls, before bringing in the bookcases, but had to get the leak fixed in the ceiling before I painted...ceiling/roof is fixed, now I can't afford the paint for a while tilll I save some money again...sigh...and on it goes
JLo 1 year ago
Had a college roommate who was messy, so messy that I'd clean her half of the room when she was traveling with the choir. Went to visit her after she got married and had a baby. Every square inch of counter space in the kitchen and the dining table was covered with stuff. She cleared off a corner so we could eat lunch. There was stuff everywhere! Only a small space in the living room was clear. Even the baby's room was filled with their book.
Nikki Angulo 1 year ago
I have boxes everywhere too. Hard to get the motivation to do anything with them when I may be moving sometime soon, once my employer gets their butt in gear and builds the new place where I work, and then builds new housing in the place of the building I work at now. . . .
We know these stories might not be the most enjoyable to read, but we hope they're providing you with some new perspective, pandas. Keep upvoting the tales that you find most surprising, and feel free to share any similar experiences of your own in the comments. Then, if you're interested in reading another Bored Panda article discussing strange things people have encountered in others' homes, look no further than right here!
#28
I went to this chicks house and opened her fridge and it was just full of rotting food. She said it was Thanksgiving food she never got rid of and doesn’t use the fridge that much.
#29
I once had an Arab foreign exchange student friend. She once was complaining that her dad didn’t send her tuition fee on time…she was already getting 10k/month allowance (from her dad), 2k for the apartment she was renting, rest was for food and whatever else she was using it for. He was paying her tuition on top of that. This was around 2014/2015.
LakotaWolf (she/her) 1 year ago
I had a friend in my 20s whose dad bought her an entire house in Southern California, all to herself. Well, herself and her 10+ cats. Her dad paid for everything. She wanted to be a cat breeder, and she had bought some VERY expensive purebred cats. The house itself was disgusting. The cats had ONE litterbox and they often peed in the bathtub / on the couch / on the carpet / wherever they could. My friend had NO idea how to take care of herself or do any housework or anything. She used to call me to come over (a 45 min drive) to help her change a LIGHTBULB that had burned out. I once had to help her haul her pee-soaked couch to the curb for garbage pickup. She had almost no furniture. The house smelled awful. Those poor frigging cats.
Oskar vanZandt 1 year ago
I think the OP is suggesting the woman was living off oil money?
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Abe 11 1 year ago
I advertised my services as a tutor and a Chinese student answered my ad. She was 16 and I used to go to her house to teach her. It turned out that her parents had bought this two storey house (a few mill - I asked her what her father did and she said he owned a factory) for her and her 18 year old sister and they lived there and went to school (which itself was not close by) while their parents were back in China. Can you imagine leaving your 16 year old in another country to look after herself with only her slightly older sister with her?
boredkitten 1 year ago
Some people are mature quicker. I would be able to take care of myself if having money, like household chores, studying etc. but I could get into some trouble with boys if living on my own in that age on the other hand
Load More Replies... lisa m 1 year ago
I worked at a university housing apartment and yep, all foreign students, parents pay for everything plus 3x the tuition of a student from our country..one student left his Mercedes when he went back to his oil country, we called many times and he said just take it, the fancy cars these kids drive is unbelievable plus don't forget 1700.00 month rent 3x tuition, food and the most expensive warm coats, perfume u name it
Learner Panda 1 year ago
Any breeding animal of the cat/dog sort should be in purpose built accommodation. So many specific needs for proper animal care.
#30
I've been a paramedic for 25 years. The things I've seen, I can't unsee.
That has nothing to do with any medical emergency, either.
MaxMi 1 year ago
Volunteering in ambulance crew saw one myself too. Got called for a man claiming low pressure and we went expecting an hospital ride. The man was in his 70s laying in his bed of all colours but white, months unchanged linens to say the least. Trash everywhere, his livein mate probably around her 30s or 20 but with some bad habits about iv d***s by the way she talked. Blaming she cleans, cleans… as if it was not enough, one of the man leg was almost in gangrene by apparently a fell trauma which blocked him in the bed. The blood pressure originated of him trying to take his blood pressure which apparently wasn’t working. Fortunately he said he didn’t want an ambulance but the medic on site, we reported and leave, very poorly trying to explain the dispatcher what the situation was.
Donna Sempek 1 year ago
I was a home health nurse and I saw some unbelievable ways people lived.
It's always interesting to see how others manage their living environments. The surprises we find in other people's homes often say a lot about their day-to-day lives.
Reflecting on the adorable tale of a dog diligently cleaning up his own mess, we can see the lengths some go to for maintaining tidiness, albeit differently than we expect.
#31
Friend of mine who just... doesn't clean up. There was not even one moment. More lots and lots of them. The amount of plates with half-eaten meals in his appartment was baffling. (The fact that it was plural already means "a lot" in my mind.) I once saw him put one away in a drawer, just to make some space - WHY!? Apart from that: he clearly never cleans the toilet, so I don't dare to sit down on it anymore. Also, the seat is broken and repaired with duct-tape. No hand-soap, no hooks for his towels (they just lie on the edge of the sink) or a holder for the toilet-paper. No paper towels, no dishcloths... And with all this stuff missing I keep thinking: 'Why don't you just buy that stuff??? Don't you miss it?' Kitchen is full of dirty dishes; he only washes stuff up when he needs it. And even then he does a poor job: his glasses are just... I don't know how to describe them, but they just aren't clean. His stovetop is always dirty and so is his fridge. And once, I found some thick splat of sauce or whatever in front of it. Weeks later, when I came by again, it was still there. I just can't get why you wouldn't try to clean that up immediately.
I love that dude and we trust each other with a lot, you know. But last time I visited there, after a few years of lockdown, I was so disappointed that he still hadn't gotten better, while on many other levels, he has matured so much. Needless to say I prefer him to come over to our place.
Gwyn 1 year ago
I don't understand why people who don't want to wash dishes don't at the least get paper plates and at the bare minimum take out the garbage. I mean, you can be extremely lazy and not live in total filth if you just get disposable things and take out the garbage which takes only a few minutes. The level of whatever you have to have to not even do that is mind blowing.
#32
Went to a party at a friend's girlfriend's house. My friends family was well off, his girlfriends though was next level. Huge beachfront house, worth 20m plus. My friend took me to the garage to see her dad's cars, it was under the house had about 10 cars, could have held about 20. Ferrari Benz, maseratti, rolls. F*****g unbelievable. .
Seonag Udell 1 year ago
They don't need it. They want it. Otherwise the world would be a much more equal place
Load More Replies... #33
Back when Foxton's let homeowners do for-sale-by-owner with the Foxton's system doing advertising and setting up appointments, I looked at one old Victorian house in a nice suburb that was surprisingly inexpensive. Once inside, it was clear why. It had stacks of newspapers/magazines, etc, everywhere, leaving just a few paths through the house. Leaks were apparent, etc. The woman owner who was showing us the house apologized for the mess "as they were preparing to move out" (but it was obvious this was a hoarding problem, and not moving piles). Then we got to a room that was locked, and she told us it was her husband's lock, and she didn't have the key. (So we couldn't see the room). As she continued showing us around, she mentioned that she homeschooled her kids. That was the moment I realized the kids lived like this, and both parents were likely a bit mentally unstable. I still wonder if I should have called CPS to do a check.
featherytoad 1 year ago
I wonder if that locked room was her husband's safe haven. Locked up so the hoard doesn't spread in there.
#34
Sisters room as an adult mortified me. She lives at home until she was 27, got pregnant, and of course she was told she has to find a place to live with the boyfriend. We have even younger sisters at were 20 at the time that ended up cleaning out her room since she out it off until she went into labor and they could barely open the bedroom door. The entirety of the floor was so full of clothes and trash it was at the same level of her high top mattress on its bed frame. It was like an episode of hoarders. Sometimes I would think I’m messy as a single guy (even though my mess was the odd work piece of clothing on a chair here or there in my apartment), then I saw that room and immediately felt better about my own hygiene.
#35
Went to a visit friend who just moved into a house with their partner, and how every room of their place is filled with trash, old pizza boxes and amazon boxes. Now, Ive never been one to keep my room or living spaces in order. Things get disorganized very easily, but at least try to contain it to my room where guests and my roommates dont normally venture into. But there, I was in shock it looked like they had never once taken out the trash, but just compiled it all together and threw it in a different room. It was like if my freshman dorm had invaded and concured a small house. I haven't said anything to them, and I haven't been back to their place since, even though they keep inviting me. I had a come to jesus moment staying there, and realized that I should get better at cleanliness.
#36
I agreed to help a neighbor by babysitting her kids. She kind of gave me the tour of the place--and oh my God it was disgusting! She literally had her child's poop smeared on the stairs. And she just said to walk around it. Like, actually acknowledge that it was there, and said to walk around it. I really should have turned around and left, but at that time of my life I wasn't really good about standing up for myself.. Worst four hours of my decade.
Wielder of Yielder 1 year ago
If four hours spent in a disgusting home were the worst four hours of your decade just because of the filth, you're a very fortunate person.
Sandella 1 year ago
Or potentially it's that toddler is perhaps being potty trained and there are constant accidents so some you don't get to right away anymore..I hope
Load More Replies... #37
Horror stories from my social work days. I had a client whose fiance died, leaving her and their 5 kids alone. She only got a beneficiary payout for the kids that were his (two), and she didn't qualify for other assistance. So she had to start working for the first time in years. The apartment they were in was an utter shitshow. Mind you, the kids ranged from ages 1-8, so maybe only one or two *could* actually help with housekeeping, even though... well... they didn't. And she was so exhausted after every shift, she had no spoons left for housework. Needless to say, the couches (er... frames with cloth on them) were a technicolor body-horror. The floors that *weren't* fossilized carpet were practically wooden flypaper, which... appropriate comparison, because ROACHES, MY GOD! If they weren't stuck to the aforementioned floor, there wasn't a single nook or cranny without a roach or a carcass in it. The dish pile was a nest, the inflatable kiddie pool on the kitchen table was a nest, I refused to TOUCH the garbage bags full of clothes and assorted other items shoved unceremoniously in assorted corners because... you guessed it, NEST. Now... here was just the cherry on top. The water heater in this place blew on day, so ALL of that s**t got flooded out. Two inches of standing water, just rife with all those little buggy bodies and a soup of human neglect. I had to get full body PPE to help clean it out, because the slumlord property owner wouldn't do s**t to fix it (she was understandably behind on rent, so I almost suspected he himself sabotaged the tank to drive her out and bypass an eviction). I felt so horrible for this poor woman, because she was doing everything she could to just keep a roof over their heads, and the s**t just kept piling on. I came back a week or so later to check in, and the f*****g place *STILL* had little puddles and swarmed with carcasses (oh, and the water heater *still* wasn't fixed... so f**k that landlord). I did everything I could to help out, but man... I could only do so much before having to change my job title to maid/handyman. I left that office a few weeks ago, and the other case workers were *still* working on trying to get her every subsidy they could to keep her lights on.
Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 1 year ago
This couple had a baby every year. After quite a few children, the doctor asked if the couple knew how to not have more children. He gave the husband some condoms, and said to put one on his organ before they had sex. Mom delivered, and a few months later, she was pregnant again. The doctor said, "I gave you some condoms. What happened?" The woman replied, "We don't have an organ, so we put them on the piano instead."
Learner Panda 1 year ago
I noticed the use of the spoons method. This is something I have recently understood in relation to mental health. I wish I could help by giving some of my spare spoons.
Wielder of Yielder 1 year ago
I applaud your empathy. Lots of people would just be disgusted and judge the person harshly, period.
#38
Had a friend who went through about a rough patch for several months on booze and substance abuse and ended up getting his power shut off and then evicted a few weeks later. When we went through to clean his apartment out I found boxes with neatly organized 1/2 gallon iced tea containers all filled half way with chew spit. Thats when It really hit me how substance abuse can bring about mental illness that compounds the whole issue. He’s straight and sober now since that whole ordeal about 10 years ago now.
Lee Henderson 1 year ago
Nicotine has a LD50 of 6.5–13 mg/kg for humans. It is quite toxic.
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Carla Phillips 1 year ago
I'm no expert, but I'm guessing the mental illness was the cause, not the effect. I'm sure it's different in every situation, but generally speaking, I think the substance is the self-medication for the mental illness. Maybe the drinking exacerbated his mental health issues? Either way, I'm glad to hear he's better. Addiction to anything sucks
Charles McChristy 1 year ago
More often than not, it is mental illness that brings about substance abuse. People self-medicate to try and feel some sort of normal. Once they get the mental illness threated the substance abuse fades.
#39
One of my fwb took me to a michelin star restaurant. The bill was something else. And he has a family who he treats same way. People spend more on one meal than my monthly grocery shopping.
MushroomHead22 1 year ago
you have a FWB who has a family? so you are knowingly letting a man cheat?
Hugh Cookson 1 year ago
As an ex Michelin Chef I understand your incredulity, however, the ingredients are always of the highest quality with menus that are inventive and beautifully presented, the Staff are absolutely top notch (so cost more to employ) and the preparation of the food and surroundings is always geared to making the dining experience unforgettable.. Sadly life is like that otherwise we'd all be driving Bentleys and living in Mansions.
detective miller's hat 1 year ago
This is why I love my sister's job lol. She took me to the Saddle River Inn once (one of the best restaurants in New Jersey) and holy hand grenades that meal was delicious. Cost her $500+ for the two of us, just for the food (it's BYOB).
#40
My ex literally lives in his room. He's got a minifridge, a TV on the wall above a desktop setup, a closet full of nothing but snacks, *and* a bathroom with a tub, wall-length mirror, and two sinks. He also hade game consoles, a fish tank, a plant he took care of, and a queen sized bed. Bro literally lives like a king.
I've vowed to live like that, one day. I'm in my own place now, so I just need...uhh...everything listed above! I'm getting close to living like a queen!
Glasofruix 1 year ago
I have 10 rooms in my house and i use 2 (not counting the kitchen and the bathrooms)
#41
My husband's parents are hoarders. I noticed the first few months we were dating, when he still lived at home, he did NOT want me coming over. We always went out or he came to my house. We had been dating about a year the first time I went into the house. This was more than 15 years ago and I still have only been in the house twice, about 2 months apart. I was standing next to a table for about 5 minutes before I realized it was a table, I could just barely see the table leg. It was just a mountain of stuff surrounding and on top of it. What I could see of the kitchen were counters piled high, table completely covered. There was seating for 5-6 people but room only for one person to sit down. Rest of the sofa was piled up. Living room was piled to the ceiling with boxes of VHS..could barely navigate the hallways. Bathroom was filthy and also piled up. I have heard from others it's even worse now. My husband hasn't been in the house in more than 10 years. My children have never been there and have no idea where their grandparents live. They're absent grandparents anyway, so...
#42
Cleaning out my dad’s house. He never was a neat person, but he had been sick for a while and things were worse than usual. I can’t unsmell it.
He religiously changed the filter on the AC, though.
Likewise, his car was a junkyard on wheels with meticulous maintenance records. Go figure.
#43
Hs buddies got an apartment together. On the walk to the bedroom one wall was piled tits high with fast food bags. The paper bags when filled became a sort of brick in this ever growing monster. The bathroom filled with so many three in one bottles you couldn't see the floor. Closing the bathroom door pushed them into the house so they often didn't. If I pissed in the middle of their living room it would have been an improvement.
#44
Walking into the house of the guy I was dating. He had told me it was messy, but I assumed it was the usual bachelor level messy. No. No it was not. There was a layer of dirt on the floor, you couldn't see the pattern of the rug due to cat hair, the kitchen counter was covered in literal trash because he couldn't figure out how to take the garbage to the bin. You couldn't see the floor in his bedroom because it was covered in clothing. The bathroom floor was covered in cat litter. There was c**p all over the couch. It was literally unlivable. I tried to be nice and stay for a bit, but I made up a reason to leave after an hour. Disgusting.
Upstaged75 1 year ago
If people want to be disgusting in their own home that's their right. But once you bring a helpless animal in to the situation you have the responsibility to take care of them. Kids too. That makes me incredibly mad.
Bantam_Wyvern (she/her) 1 year ago
Yes! If you want to not clean or something, I suppose that’s your choice, but you can’t just drag someone else in, two legs or four!
Load More Replies... #45
My sisters house, I love her dearly but the place smells of dirty dogs, rotton food, let their dogs s**t on the deck and never clean it, and there are so many projects her and my brother in law started years ago that never finished. I'm not saying I am the cleanest person ever but when we visit my bothers kids always have an allergy attack within 30 min of staying there.
#46
Dated someone whose studio apartment was infested with cockroaches. They were everywhere. When I went into the bathroom at night and turned the lights on they scattered. He also had a dog so there was dog hair everywhere on top of that… to be fair he tried really hard to get rid of the roaches with stuff from Home Depot and I think it was the building’s fault? So I tried to cut him some slack but it was… a lot.
M O'Connell 1 year ago
Mice and ants are generally pretty easy to get rid of because they won't stick around if there is nothing for them to eat. The problem with roaches is that they can eat most things, including hair, fabric, glue, etc. The building should definitely be involved, since his apartment is doubtfully the only one.
Paul Brown 1 year ago
I've also heard that for every roach you see there are 10 more that you don't see.
Load More Replies... Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 1 year ago
If there are roaches in one apartment/condo, there are roaches in all. All of the tenants need to work together with management to get rid of the buggers.
Seadog 1 year ago
New wife and I looked at a home in '85. Walked in and th roaches were not only sitting on the countertop but also on the stovetop watching the woman cook dinner. It was as if they were expecting her to serve them a dish. So accustomed to the humans they didn't even flinch if a move was made. The home was 6 months old. We fled and went straight home and showered and washed our clothes.
Lee Henderson 1 year ago
Use Maxforce gel on roaches. It is a bait. I worked pest control when it first came our. Wipes out most infestations in 2 weeks
#47
Walking into my best friends newly done bathroom. His old bathroom was nasty, looked like it hadn't been cleaned in years. Recently he nearly completely renovated it, almost everything was brand new; including the toilet which, after just a few months, is just as dirty as the old one. As is the rest of the bathroom. I was honestly very suprised since his gf moved back in after living in a different country for a while. I figured that she did the cleaning and the old bathroom got super dirty because she was gone but that is not the case, turns out neither one of them cleans it.
#48
Girlfriends apartment was so messy....looked like a homeless horder. I decided right there that she was crazy. She had ripped the carpet out to the raw floor....
Ken Beattie 1 year ago
I could understand the carpet. My sister ripped out the carpet because it was old, worn, hard to clean and really needed replacing. And I'm currently replacing all the carpet in my house with ceramic tiles. The homeless hoarder part of the post is more concerning though.
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#49
Moved into a friend’s condo days after they got a job in a new state and moved out. It was disgusting. We even had a conversation where he asked “how do you want me to clean it” before I moved in. All I said was “how would you want a place to be when you move in. Do that.” I had to spend a week cleaning.
#50
Visiting any pet owner who doesn't vacuum at least once (!) a week.
Rachel Ratty 1 year ago
I wish I had the time - luckily my mates are not quite so judgmental (and we have hard floors so that probably helps!)
Kathleen McGann 1 year ago
Depends on the dogs. My dogs didn't shed and were very clean. We also had hardwood floors.
Daya Meyer 1 year ago
It depends on the season. Our dog has a great undercoat in winter so she doesn't need to wear any clothing. In summer it is lighter and thinner. In between when the temperature goes up or down, it is time for exorbitant shedding. This means vacuuming and combing her fur everyday.
Seonag Udell 1 year ago
I have an 18 month old baby, hoover at least once a day sometimes more
#51
My best friend all growing up had the messiest house. She had a couple of cats, so it always smelled like cat pee. That said I got used to it because I was over there so often, kind of became my second home.
Upstaged75 1 year ago
Cat pee is one of the worst substances on earth! It's so hard to get rid of the smell, even if you clean obsessively. After our old cat died we had to tear up and replace quite a bit of carpet since she had trouble making it to the box when she got senile. I do highly recommend Angry Orange though. It's the best thing I've ever used.
Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 1 year ago
I used to be owned by an angry orange named Miles.
Load More Replies... Charles McChristy 1 year ago
My best friend's house in middle school was the same. My mom hated it when I came home from there because I smelled like that house.
MushroomHead22 1 year ago
how bad was this persons home life to spend so much time in a cat p**s smelling house
#52
My brother dated a girl that put f*****g Ketchup on a $90 filet mignon at a very nice restaurant....they had to find a bottle for her since that's not normally something required.
Snazzy Smurf 1 year ago (edited)
The quickest way to ruin a great cut of meat, beyond burning it....in my opinion.
Karen Krause 1 year ago
Reminds me of my great-niece's boyfriend. He eats eggs with ketchup. My nephew says that's the only thing they can find wrong with him. So, everything is cool.
Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 1 year ago
We don't like catsup on anything! We are the only cats upping around here!
Load More Replies... #53
When I moved in with my host family to be foreign exchange student they had so much Christianity stuff around their house and my host parents always had a bible verse to share whenever me or my host siblings had a problem we couldn’t solve and it got to point I had to call them out saying, “what the hell happened to you two?! my parents said you were so much hippies in the sixties but now you’re just super religious!”.
Michael Largey 1 year ago
Like the announcer said at Woodstock, the brown acid was "specifically not too good.
#54
Walking into a friends bedroom and they have just a mattress on the floor ….
Ken Beattie 1 year ago
Depending on their age/financial situation, as long as the room was clean this isn't so bad. Just moved out, money is tight, you make do.
Bored Trash Panda 1 year ago
And? I have done that a few times. If it is comfortable for them, so what?
#55
I work for CPS. The things Ive seen cannot be described. Too many to count, but if you've never witnessed how some people live, you would lose your faith in humanity.
Michael Largey 1 year ago
And I have lost my faith in the OP's ability to be specific or meaningful.
What do you think ?
ConstantlyJon 1 year ago
God, I cringe thinking about the house I lived in when I first moved off campus my junior year of college. It was a tiny space, no bigger than a walk-in closet for my room. There were 4 other rooms rented out, and we were all in half of the house. The owner lived in the other side of the house, which was cut off from us. There was no living area, just a hallway. Our bathroom was tiny and shared by 5 guys, and the kitchen, oh man the kitchen.... It was a toxic dump. Absolutely unusable. No one cleaned, ever. I tried a few times but it just got back to a wreck again bc no one cleaned up after themselves. I finally bought my own dishes, kept them in my room, washed them immediately after use and returned them to my room. I only stayed 1 semester thankfully.
Bec 1 year ago
I think that is a pretty common rite of passage. My brother always had a messy room as a kid but after renting a house with friends in college, he became disgusted with them and learned to clean up after himself
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The Doom Song 1 year ago
I used to be friends with someone whose parents were hoarders. The first time I went over there all I got was "sorry it's a bit messy" I went home and took a shower afterwards.
Annie 1 year ago
I used to be a caregiver for elderly clients, mostly cleaning & cooking meals, sometimes helped with showers or toileting or getting dressed. The worst was an odious man who had big gulp cups all over the house that were full of urine or spit because he was too lazy to get up & use the bathroom, and I had to empty & rinse all of these cups, plus clean his carpeted bathroom (ewww) and mold-infested shower.
marianne eliza 1 year ago
Back in the days of telephone installers, I was one. Like 1990. Oh jeez, the things I've seen. Especially when a female was expecting a male installer. Yeah, that really happens.
Lara Verne 1 year ago
Back in the 1990s, my friend and her parents were cleaning their grandmother's house. I helped them. Her house was pretty clean, but she was hoarding food and refused to throw anything away. It was getting worse as grandma aged. We found several kilos of unopened flour 10 years after the 'best before' date, canned foods that probably were older than grandma, old pasta and oils, moldy fruits, and some things that we couldn't identify in the fridge. We had to throw it away, but grandma wasn't happy. I don't know how they managed to convince her, but grandma eventually agreed to get a mental help and later even got her food hoarding problem under control.
wowbagger 1 year ago
I visited a house once that had been built in the 1970s as an ultra energy efficient home. It was built into a hillside, with only its front south-facing wall receiving natural light. The rest of the house was very dark. Over the years, the earth had shifted and plant roots had grown, so the ceilings and walls were damaged and everything was damp and smelled musty. The bathroom had been decorated with some kind of wallpaper that had an abstract pattern of green lines on it. Or at least that's what I thought until I looked closer and realized those were lines of mold. I couldn't wait to get out of there!
devotedtodreams 1 year ago
I remember the apartment of friends of my ex (they used to live together in that same shared apartment). Old dishes could be found here and there, the floor was dusty as hell (like, in places it felt like fine gravel, I hate that feeling), and the stove hadn't been cleaned in AGES. Couch was filthy too. I never liked going there; I had never seen such a messy apartment before or since!
ConstantlyJon 1 year ago
God, I cringe thinking about the house I lived in when I first moved off campus my junior year of college. It was a tiny space, no bigger than a walk-in closet for my room. There were 4 other rooms rented out, and we were all in half of the house. The owner lived in the other side of the house, which was cut off from us. There was no living area, just a hallway. Our bathroom was tiny and shared by 5 guys, and the kitchen, oh man the kitchen.... It was a toxic dump. Absolutely unusable. No one cleaned, ever. I tried a few times but it just got back to a wreck again bc no one cleaned up after themselves. I finally bought my own dishes, kept them in my room, washed them immediately after use and returned them to my room. I only stayed 1 semester thankfully.
Bec 1 year ago
I think that is a pretty common rite of passage. My brother always had a messy room as a kid but after renting a house with friends in college, he became disgusted with them and learned to clean up after himself
Load More Replies... The Doom Song 1 year ago
I used to be friends with someone whose parents were hoarders. The first time I went over there all I got was "sorry it's a bit messy" I went home and took a shower afterwards.
Annie 1 year ago
I used to be a caregiver for elderly clients, mostly cleaning & cooking meals, sometimes helped with showers or toileting or getting dressed. The worst was an odious man who had big gulp cups all over the house that were full of urine or spit because he was too lazy to get up & use the bathroom, and I had to empty & rinse all of these cups, plus clean his carpeted bathroom (ewww) and mold-infested shower.
marianne eliza 1 year ago
Back in the days of telephone installers, I was one. Like 1990. Oh jeez, the things I've seen. Especially when a female was expecting a male installer. Yeah, that really happens.
Lara Verne 1 year ago
Back in the 1990s, my friend and her parents were cleaning their grandmother's house. I helped them. Her house was pretty clean, but she was hoarding food and refused to throw anything away. It was getting worse as grandma aged. We found several kilos of unopened flour 10 years after the 'best before' date, canned foods that probably were older than grandma, old pasta and oils, moldy fruits, and some things that we couldn't identify in the fridge. We had to throw it away, but grandma wasn't happy. I don't know how they managed to convince her, but grandma eventually agreed to get a mental help and later even got her food hoarding problem under control.
wowbagger 1 year ago
I visited a house once that had been built in the 1970s as an ultra energy efficient home. It was built into a hillside, with only its front south-facing wall receiving natural light. The rest of the house was very dark. Over the years, the earth had shifted and plant roots had grown, so the ceilings and walls were damaged and everything was damp and smelled musty. The bathroom had been decorated with some kind of wallpaper that had an abstract pattern of green lines on it. Or at least that's what I thought until I looked closer and realized those were lines of mold. I couldn't wait to get out of there!
devotedtodreams 1 year ago
I remember the apartment of friends of my ex (they used to live together in that same shared apartment). Old dishes could be found here and there, the floor was dusty as hell (like, in places it felt like fine gravel, I hate that feeling), and the stove hadn't been cleaned in AGES. Couch was filthy too. I never liked going there; I had never seen such a messy apartment before or since!
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