S/O - How dirty is this house to you?

[Meriwether]

I know next to nothing about meth production. Would it require a clean sink?

[Pawz4me]

I wouldn't allow my pets to step foot in that house, let alone allow children to live there.

 

Totally, absolutely disgusting. And I didn't even look at the bathroom. Not gonna go there . . .

[clarkacademy]

I didn't see any bathroom pictures. After seeing the pics I did see I couldn't read that article. My house has gotten trashed in my opinion. I worked and went to school when they were little and yeah things got really cluttered and messy. This is something else. No child deserves to live that way at all.

[chepyl]

There are several rooms with no safe pathway. Even when our house has been at its worst, we can walk through the house, and the mess has been toys and baskets of clean laundry. Food trash and diapers are different. I think the parents need some counseling and help cleaning while the kids are at a family member's house for the week. It looks like a boarder type situation.

[FeFe]

No matter what the brown stuff was, the house is inexcusable.

[gardenmom5]

My thought was to wonder why the house was condemned? It was hard to tell through the clutter but the house itself looked fairly sound. But if there had been meth cooking in there then the house would be condemned.

 

open sewage can also cause it to be condemned.

[Trish]

I'm waging a never-ending battle against clutter, but nothing like this. And filth brings it to a whole new level! I consider myself pretty tolerant when looking at other people's housekeeping. I think kids would be unsafe there. I didn't read the article (although I'm going to go back and do that), just looked at the pics.

[Laurie4b]

I'm working on a deadline right now so I have my dinner plate sitting down here at my desk. (Why am I on WTM instead of working on my project? I take the fifth!) I keep having these morbid fears that CPS is going to show up and take me to the bad mom jail for having dirty dishes scattered around my house. I think this thread has traumatized me.

 

I think you're mostly kidding, but to put your mind at ease: WTMers attitudes do not reflect CPS's attitudes. CPS will only intervene if there is an actual significant health hazard. As I posted upline, it is almost always feces spread around the living environment--whether human or animal. Less commonly, a really severe infestation that nobody is doing anything about. Again, there are likely feces involved ( rodent droppings all over--not in a couple drawers as could happen before a homeowner notices it--and not the droppings of one night).

 

CPS doesn't really care if your house is a mess or if with an hour of work, your dishes could all be cleaned up. If it would take days of work because your kitchen has piles of undone dishes, moldy, rotting food, etc. all over the place, that's a different matter. It's a matter of severe degree with CPS. The level of mess in that house may have rated a notation in a CPS report for another matter, but the mess wasn't enough for CPS to intervene. It was the feces.

[6packofun]

OK, now I wonder about the sanity of you people I'm hanging out with.

You know the bathroom pictures contain....A toilet AND bath containing weeks of toileting,....yet many chose to click on view?!?!?!?!?!!

 

Just the warning was enough to turn my stomach. And it's fairly robust.

 

Well, I'm a mom and I've had my kids actually poop and vomit on me when they were little or on the floor (and then run through it!) during potty training. That's not nearly as bad, I realize, but I guess I have a strong stomach.

 

If a hoarder came to me and asked for help, I'd do it in a heartbeat--and not just the cleaning part, btw. LOL

[beaners]

I have hotlined people for less filthy houses than that.

 

I'm working on a deadline right now so I have my dinner plate sitting down here at my desk. (Why am I on WTM instead of working on my project? I take the fifth!) I keep having these morbid fears that CPS is going to show up and take me to the bad mom jail for having dirty dishes scattered around my house. I think this thread has traumatized me.

 

Same here. Especially after reading that other post. How much less filthy? Because it would take an embarrassing amount of time to clean my bedroom, and each of his days off (like today) that my husband and I have planned on working on it, he has had to work the whole day at the last minute. I can't get it done by myself because I need him to watch the children while I'm working on it. I was freaking out last night, and I'm still freaking out today.

[I.Dup.]

That is horrifying. Truly. There is no excuse for feces smeared on the floor. And that's not even mentioning the bathroom. :ack2: :ack2: :ack2: :ack2:

[MiniBlondes]

I was nauseous after seeing the very first photograph of the living room. I can't even imagine. Although, I'm more like one of the previous posters who said that she feels her house is a mess when there are 5 things on the coffee table.

 

I think CPS should absolutely have been involved. Especially with a 2 year old in the home. It just looked really dangerous for a toddler to be trying to live in. They are so curious about everything and get into everything. The chemicals under the bathroom sink were bad enough.

 

I voted, then read the article and clicked the bathroom pics. I wish I hadn't. Curiosity and the cat and all of that.

[lea_lpz]

There must have been something else going on, at least in my county, my husband used to work for JFS, they would have gotten the family on a "plan" with deadlines to have such and such done, then a new deadline with a new goal. They would have probably relocated the whole family temporarily (for the night) to get the plumbing fixed. But seeing as how the police came on a domestic call and found the mother drunk and the dad got arrested, they would have pretty much had to take them temporarily.

 

If someone in my family had a home that looked like that and resisted help, I would call cps. Mostly because I know their knee jerk isn't to take kids away, it is to get you to a point that you can take care of your kids. If you refuse to/ are unable to get to that point, then the kids get taken. But that is not the goal of cps, as far as my experience has been.

 

 

I think a house like that is red flag the parents are either substance abusers or suffer from severe depression, which would obviously impact their ability to parent well.

 

I have 2 young children, 3 with my step son. My home was much cleaner b.c. (Before Children ;)), and if the basics get done, I am satisfied. I have some cluttered drawers, and closets (mostly dh's fault actually). My washer and dryer often becomes a catch all for things I don't have time to put away. I have let a lot if things just sort of go and made lower expectations about what clean enough is when I have 3 kids 8 and under, but I have a breaking point that would prompt action much before it got bad as that. Period. Even dh, who is more ok with more of messy place has a point where he'll say it's too messy and take it upon himself to tidy up.

 

I truly feel you would have to be on something or very mentally ill for a house to get that bad.

 

We deep clean probably once a week, but on a day to day, the dishes all get done by the end of the day, beds are made, toys are up off the floor, the floor is swept, the kitchen is cleaned (stove top, counters, table, dishes done), cat litters are scooped, pets feed, and the common areas tidied (no toys, crumbs, stuff on floors/couches). I probably mop and vacuum every other day, and sweep at least once a day.

 

This is another topic, but a lot of what I see from very messy homes with small children, and by that I mean toys all over the house, lots of snacks all over the carpets and kids cups everywhere, not op house, is that the parents don't seem to expect the children to pick up after themselves or have rules regarding meal and snack time, so the mother is constantly picking up after them and the mother becomes overwhelmed. I think, wow, wouldn't be easier to not allow them to make those type of messes in the first place?

[Miss Mousie]

I looked at the photos yesterday - still haven't read the article or scoped out the bathroom (I follow directions!).

 

This morning I was thinking about those photos, and comparing my own clutter. Really, the home in question would look a whole lot better after about an hour: 20 minutes of patrol with a laundry basket, 10 minutes with a broom, 20 minutes with a vacuum, 10 minutes with a sponge. I'm not saying that solves all the problems, mind you, only that it would make an amazing difference in just a little time.

 

My own home is different. My clutter is mostly books and papers. Oh, the papers, the confounded papers! And I have "lost corners," as a PP called it. I even have some messy closets (but not in the same way as the subject home's closets). And two cats. I have lots of dust, I am ashamed to admit how long it has been since I "deep cleaned" anything, I do not make my kitchen and bathroom sparkle every day.

 

I guess what I'm getting at is that I feel like my own mess can't be fixed with one hour's worth of "lick and a promise," and that's sort of overwhelming and depressing. I'm not sure I could tackle the papers even with a full week to myself. But I do have a tolerance threshold that I am pretty good at maintaining. I guess the answer for me is to convince myself I need a tighter threshold, LOL.

[I.Dup.]

Please tell me I'm not the only one who has read this entire thread. I feel like I need to bleach my brain now.

 

I have to share these pictures. This first picture is from several years ago when we only had 2 children (and way too many toys in one room). It was Christmas/birthday season (they both have birthdays within 2 weeks of Christmas) so that also added to the mess. This was after a day of the kids playing in the room. I took the picture because I was so horrified at the mess.

 

 

This was after about 20 minutes of me cleaning it:

 

 

My house never gets that messy anymore because I have decluttered and have children that can do chores. But these are my version of "filthy."

[lea_lpz]

Please tell me I'm not the only one who has read this entire thread. I feel like I need to bleach my brain now.

 

I have to share these pictures. This first picture is from several years ago when we only had 2 children (and way too many toys in one room). This was after a day of the kids playing in the room. I took the picture because I was so horrified at the mess.

 

 

This was after about 20 minutes of me cleaning it:

 

 

My house never gets that messy anymore because I have decluttered and have children that can do chores. But these are my version of "filthy."

 

 

This is sort of what I meant by allowing kids to take over, and I don't mean this by any means as a criticism of you, especially since you mention now having streamlined toys and trained your children to tidy up after themselves. I just mean to say I see this a lot, but some mothers don't decide, like you did, enough is enough, and lay down some rules for the children.

[I.Dup.]

This is sort of what I meant by allowing kids to take over, and I don't mean this by any means Asa criticism of you, especially since you mention now having streamlined toys and trained your children to tidy up after themselves. I just mean to see I see this a lot, but some mothers don't decide, like you did, enough is enough, and lay down some rules for the children.

 

 

Oh yes, I have learned a lot over the years. Never did I allow my house to get unsanitary though. Just cluttered with way too many toys. I handled all of the chores and cleaning until about 9 months ago when I couldn't do it all by myself anymore, so I absolutely agree it was my fault for allowing them to make messes with their toys. I would always clean it throughout the day and at the end of the day, but it got WAY too messy. We no longer have nearly as many toys and my children are required to do chores. It helps a lot.

[CupOCoffee]

Please tell me I'm not the only one who has read this entire thread. I feel like I need to bleach my brain now.

 

I have to share these pictures. This first picture is from several years ago when we only had 2 children (and way too many toys in one room). It was Christmas/birthday season (they both have birthdays within 2 weeks of Christmas) so that also added to the mess. This was after a day of the kids playing in the room. I took the picture because I was so horrified at the mess.

 

 

This was after about 20 minutes of me cleaning it:

 

 

My house never gets that messy anymore because I have decluttered and have children that can do chores. But these are my version of "filthy."

 

 

There is a HUGE difference in your picture after a days' worth of playing, and the pictures at that link. Really, I don't see anything wrong with your first picture, except maybe that your DH (?) is just calmly sitting in the middle of it all, watching TV. That just kind of struck my funny bone. Seriously, you've got kids, rooms like this are expected!! Not that they should stay that way forever mind you, but after a day of playing, I would be shocked if a room looked anything less than this!

 

~coffee~

[aggieamy]

Please tell me I'm not the only one who has read this entire thread. I feel like I need to bleach my brain now.

 

I have to share these pictures. This first picture is from several years ago when we only had 2 children (and way too many toys in one room). It was Christmas/birthday season (they both have birthdays within 2 weeks of Christmas) so that also added to the mess. This was after a day of the kids playing in the room. I took the picture because I was so horrified at the mess.

 

 

This was after about 20 minutes of me cleaning it:

 

 

My house never gets that messy anymore because I have decluttered and have children that can do chores. But these are my version of "filthy."

 

 

I look at the first picture and remember those days. Why do little kids have such big toys?

 

My most hated mess is when DD has friends over and they disappear down to the art room for hours. It's great because it's peace and quiet in the rest of the house but I know that's it's a disaster down there. Sculpey all over the place! Markers without caps! Remnants of paper doll cuttings on the floor! I have to take a deep breath and remind myself that they're having fun but boy I hate cleaning up that mess.

[I.Dup.]

Really, I don't see anything wrong with your first picture, except maybe that your DH (?) is just calmly sitting in the middle of it all, watching TV. That just kind of struck my funny bone.

 

LOL, I know, right!?! When I said all the cleaning fell to me, I meant it! LOL

 

Also, I'm so glad I kept those pictures because it shows what a difference a tidy can make. I've even included them in a scrapbook page. :p Imagine my horror if someone were to show up with the house in the state of the first picture versus 20 minutes later. All rooms in my house are still completely cleanable within 20 minutes, and I do think that's totally different than allowing the house to get filthy with waste and unsanitary conditions.

[Kathryn]

I voted based on only the pictures, before even reading the thread. I voted: "That house is awful, and CPS should maybe be involved when a house looks like that." I voted that way not just because of clutter, but the obvious lack of vacuuming or floor cleaning for a VERY long time, the state of the kitchen, beer cans littering the house, rotting food, fecal matter on the floor, and the volume of clutter. Then I read the article and saw the bathroom pictures. Obviously, it was unsanitary with no working plumbing in the bathroom and all that human waste. I can just imagine the stench. Then, with it saying that the mom was drunk and fighting, the dad called police and then HE was arrested, and neighbors saying lots of nighttime visitors, I'm guessing that there are quite a few dimensions to this story.

[Soror]

LOL, I know, right!?! When I said all the cleaning fell to me, I meant it! LOL

 

Also, I'm so glad I kept those pictures because it shows what a difference a tidy can make. I've even included them in a scrapbook page. :p Imagine my horror if someone were to show up with the house in the state of the first picture versus 20 minutes later. All rooms in my house are still completely cleanable within 20 minutes, and I do think that's totally different than allowing the house to get filthy with waste and unsanitary conditions.

 

I was expecting something like your pictures when I opened the thread. You can tell it is clean under the clutter in your pics. In the condemned house you can see that there has been filth for a long time, this is not a momentary lapse. My kids can destroy quickly as well. It is why I don't have toys in the living room anymore and minimal in the bedrooms, that way we are never too far away from it being cleaned. That house is so far beyond that though. It isn't just cluttered, it's nasty.

[SKL]

This is sort of what I meant by allowing kids to take over, and I don't mean this by any means as a criticism of you, especially since you mention now having streamlined toys and trained your children to tidy up after themselves. I just mean to say I see this a lot, but some mothers don't decide, like you did, enough is enough, and lay down some rules for the children.

 

 

I think that given the fact that it only takes 10-20 minutes to clean up even a "disaster area" like that, it's not worth being militant about it when you have young kids. It takes my kids a very short time period to make a room look like the above poster's first photo. But, that means they are playing with their toys, being creative and so on, which is a good thing. Especially since we don't spend a lot of time just "veg'ing" at home. I encourage them to pick up one thing (if they are done with it) before starting on another, but I also encourage them to find new ways to use their different toys together. I don't mind a little temporary "clean clutter." (They are supposed to keep it all in their play area, though.) If I know someone is going to come over or time is tight, I will tell them not to take anything new out (or better yet, put them to work).

 

If someone comes over at a time when my kids have been playing happily and the house shows it, I really don't care. I'm much more concerned that there is no rotten stinky stuff anywhere and the kitchen and bathroom are not gross.

[nono]

I Dup, when I viewed the first set of pictures (sans bathroom, which I have opted not to see), I thought, "This must be the pictorial definition of squalor." In your before picture, I thought, "This is the pictorial definition of male obliviousness." ;) The two are worlds apart. :D

[Sun]

 

I think you're mostly kidding, but to put your mind at ease: WTMers attitudes do not reflect CPS's attitudes. CPS will only intervene if there is an actual significant health hazard. As I posted upline, it is almost always feces spread around the living environment--whether human or animal. Less commonly, a really severe infestation that nobody is doing anything about. Again, there are likely feces involved ( rodent droppings all over--not in a couple drawers as could happen before a homeowner notices it--and not the droppings of one night).

 

CPS doesn't really care if your house is a mess or if with an hour of work, your dishes could all be cleaned up. If it would take days of work because your kitchen has piles of undone dishes, moldy, rotting food, etc. all over the place, that's a different matter. It's a matter of severe degree with CPS. The level of mess in that house may have rated a notation in a CPS report for another matter, but the mess wasn't enough for CPS to intervene. It was the feces.

 

 

That's what I was really wondering about. I totally agree that house is beyond gross, but I was surprised that CPS workers would describe it as the worst they've seen. The bathroom was horrific, but considering some of the stories I've heard about what CPS and emergency workers see, I'm surprised it's the worst. I've also recently seen pictures of a trashed meth house, and that was far, far worse, at least in the pictures.

 

I also agree that the stench is probably a big part that isn't visible, but it's not something I'd thought about.

 

That makes sense that it was the feces that got CPS to intervene.

[SKL]

I think you guys would think my floors are gross, because they have stains due to wear and water damage. They look grimy even immediately after they have been scrubbed. The only thing I can do is replace the floors (after correcting the source of the slow water damage), and I don't know when I'll get around to it. It's not unsafe, just un-pretty. Plus, if my daughter has been eating at the table, there will be crumbs on the floor, and we don't have time to sweep after every meal. Anyhoo, so if I see a floor that looks un-pretty and seems to have crumb-type dirt on it, it isn't a red flag for me. That's why I said I'd have to take a whiff to know how bad it was. (Not that I really want to!)

 

I am curious as to why the toilet was not working if these folks were renting. Maybe they were not supposed to be there and the plumbing was turned off?

[TravelingChris]

I didn't read the story or see the bathroom pictures. I was totally horrified and I am not a neat freak, at all. In fact, my dh is always getting at me because I have piles of books or piles of papers in too many places. But never, in even the worse times, like when all of us were sick with pneumonia,. did it ever look like this. Yes, the kitchen gets bad after some people (like my dd) cook and bake and don't clean along the way. But that type of mess takes ten minutes to resolve after I just did it yesterday morning. This house was appalling and while I have to say that over the years I have been in many homeschooling houses and even though I am not neat at all, it still turns out that my home is probably neater than 75%. So I don't really know what to think. I think my dh compares our house to hotel rooms (he travels a lot for the AF and has for almost his entire career), and yes, we come up totally short on that end. But except for a few homes, which looked like they were being filmed for Better Homes and Garden that day, most people don't have really tidy houses. BUt there is comfortable untidiness, and this. I would feel horrible coming into a home like this- and actually it is worse than the appalling home I went into while working with the police.

 

I stated the I may or may not call CPS depending on other factors, like if there was anyone else who could help and what the actual situation with the family was. BUt this level of mess usually accompanies mental illness or drug abuse, IMO.

[mommaduck]

There is a HUGE difference in your picture after a days' worth of playing, and the pictures at that link. Really, I don't see anything wrong with your first picture, except maybe that your DH (?) is just calmly sitting in the middle of it all, watching TV. That just kind of struck my funny bone. Seriously, you've got kids, rooms like this are expected!! Not that they should stay that way forever mind you, but after a day of playing, I would be shocked if a room looked anything less than this!

 

~coffee~

I agree...other than I could understand your hubby watching tv for a bit and then cleaning in a bit ;) There is a huge difference between your picture and the link. Your floor is not dirty...just cluttered with play. There is not feces, mom is not drunk, there are not molding food and diapers everywhere, you don't have a build up of feces in the bathtub, etc. You had regular play clutter and it only needed to be put away.

[aggieamy]

I think that given the fact that it only takes 10-20 minutes to clean up even a "disaster area" like that, it's not worth being militant about it when you have young kids. It takes my kids a very short time period to make a room look like the above poster's first photo. But, that means they are playing with their toys, being creative and so on, which is a good thing. Especially since we don't spend a lot of time just "veg'ing" at home. I encourage them to pick up one thing (if they are done with it) before starting on another, but I also encourage them to find new ways to use their different toys together. I don't mind a little temporary "clean clutter." (They are supposed to keep it all in their play area, though.) If I know someone is going to come over or time is tight, I will tell them not to take anything new out (or better yet, put them to work).

 

If someone comes over at a time when my kids have been playing happily and the house shows it, I really don't care. I'm much more concerned that there is no rotten stinky stuff anywhere and the kitchen and bathroom are not gross.

 

I totally agree. There's a huge difference between messy or dirty or filth.

 

Messy is DD's room when she's been doing a combo of LEGO building, paperdoll cutting, and listening to her audiobook. It looks like a disaster but five minutes of throwing paperdolls in a basket, paper scraps in the trashcan, and putting the LEGO creations on her dresser and you can see the floor again. She still has a bed with a blanket, a pillow, and clean sheets.

 

Dirty is after dinner when you've got plates in the sink, pans on the stove, and crumbs on the floor. Probably the kitchen table needs to be wiped down. And it woudn't hurt if I dusted the livingroom. I hope CPS could tell the difference between we haven't gotten around to cleaning up after lunch and we haven't gotten around to cleaning up after lunch last week.

 

Filth - see pictures. Totally different level and I know nobody on this board could be living like that.

[dirty ethel rackham]

Even before I noticed the brown stuff, diapers and chemicals, I felt it was an unsafe environment. There were hazards everywhere. The wire shelf precariously balanced against the wall among the garbage could seriously hurt a child. Heck, you could lose a child in that house. The outside was unremarkable - definitely did not give any indication of the horrors inside. I am not a neat freak. Although the dishwasher is run just about every day, I don't get around to the "hand wash" dishes every day. I don't sweep every day. But, my sink and my bathrooms are clean. If there is any stuff on the floor, it is usually dog toys or cardboard boxes he rips up. I am careful not to have tripping hazards anywhere. I have clutter. But, I can't watch shows like hoarders ... they make me feel ill, claustrophobic and overwhelmed.

[lea_lpz]

 

 

I think that given the fact that it only takes 10-20 minutes to clean up even a "disaster area" like that, it's not worth being militant about it when you have young kids. It takes my kids a very short time period to make a room look like the above poster's first photo. But, that means they are playing with their toys, being creative and so on, which is a good thing. Especially since we don't spend a lot of time just "veg'ing" at home. I encourage them to pick up one thing (if they are done with it) before starting on another, but I also encourage them to find new ways to use their different toys together. I don't mind a little temporary "clean clutter." (They are supposed to keep it all in their play area, though.) If I know someone is going to come over or time is tight, I will tell them not to take anything new out (or better yet, put them to work).

 

If someone comes over at a time when my kids have been playing happily and the house shows it, I really don't care. I'm much more concerned that there is no rotten stinky stuff anywhere and the kitchen and bathroom are not gross.

I'm not even remotely stating that I.Dup place is filthy or unsanitary. You can tell it looks like the kids are playing and dumped all the toys out. It doesn't take long to pick up if the only thing you're really picking up is toys.

And to each their own on what is acceptable for children. I wouldn't be horrified by that picture. And my kids rooms or our living room has looked like that before. I have the rule one toy at a time. So as in, if my kids are playing with trains and decide that they want to play Legos, trains should get picked up first before Legos come out. This doesn't always happen, but when it doesn't they, not I, pick up the toys in a reasonable amount of time, or I pick up for them, and by that I mean by taking a garbage bag and dumping them in and viola, no more mess. Bag of toys is donated to Goodwill and what is not in good shape is tossed. They come along. It's happened twice. That is absolutely enough for them to get it.

 

However I also like my kids to use their imagination, play, and limit tv to about 2 hours a day. I also want to instill in them responsibility, pride in their home and the ability to properly care for their positions and above all, respect for their mother and care givers in general. If I constantly pick up after my sons for them when they are able to do it for themselves they will expect their wife to do this. If I do this it will teach my daughter it is acceptable for a homemaker (male or female) to be a maid.

 

Young children are capable if more than we often estimate. My 5 year old makes her bed, put her clothes in the hamper, picks up all her toys, dresses herself, feeds the cats and dogs, & scoops out the cat litter every morning. She clears her plate and wipes up any food left on the table after every meal. In fact all my kid do. My 3 year old picks up his laundry, picks up his toys and puts all his pillows and stuffed animals after I make it. He also helps his sister do the animal related chores and dresses himself as much as he can.

 

My goal in discipline is to make my home harmonious and being a SAHM enjoyable. If I allow my kids to be slobs, brats, or generally unpleasant to be around I won't be happy, and if Mama ain't happy ain't nobody happy :). So, I make sure they are respectfull, obedient, and pick up after themselves. It's a matter of balance in life. I feel like a lot if mothers throw themselves into being a good mother they aren't good to themselves anymore. They worry so much about making their kids happy, they forget to parent.

 

I'm not saying that about any specific poster. It's just a general observation about the predominant parenting philosophy and approach I see in my own life. I don't know how many times I have seen parents utterly flabbergasted because my children follow basic commands such as eating their happy meal before playing in the play structure, getting ready to leave the park the first time they are asked without protest, or coming when called.

[PollyOR]

First reaction - Things can get out of hand so quickly, so I try to give the benefit of a doubt. I would say that my house is on a level two when it comes to hoarding which I'm certainly not proud of (small house, too much stuff). Add my sweet little grandchildren into the mix and it is amazing how trashed my house looks after a couple of hours. I would say that help was needed but that the children should not have been removed.

 

Second reaction - However, the bathroom pictures and the article sent me over the edge :ack2: . Assuming they were renting, I think it is possible that there could be a back story with the landlord too. It looks like there are plumbing problems that could have been the tipping point in this situation.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I think you guys would think my floors are gross, because they have stains due to wear and water damage. They look grimy even immediately after they have been scrubbed. The only thing I can do is replace the floors (after correcting the source of the slow water damage), and I don't know when I'll get around to it. It's not unsafe, just un-pretty.

 

This is my frustration. My living room carpet looks dirty even after I shampoo it multiple times. We can't afford to replace it.

My kitchen looks dirty even though if you looked at my "tackle day" threads, I clean it every day. I have white painted cabinets that have paint scraped off of them and the brown showing underneath looks like dirt. Half of my kitchen cabinets do not have doors on them - they came off in my hand. The vinyl floor has stains that won't come off and it just looks tacky. I have to pay off medical bills before we can start to save up for the kitchen remodel that we desperately need. I've had blunt children say some pretty rude things when visiting.

[unsinkable]

I've personally lived with the damage done to families on both ends of the spectrum...the "living in squalor" house and the "eat off the floor" house.

 

IMO, it's more socially acceptable to be an "eat off the floor" house. Women (mostly) brag about that; no one brags about the pain that level of cleaning (sometimes) causes to a family.

[happypamama]

Okay, after reading comments, I think I should change my vote. I must have been distracted when I looked at the pictures, because I missed the feces. I just saw a LOT of clutter, which suggests that the parents need some help, but not CPS. Your comments make me think that something more than "just help" is in order.

[justamouse]

I think many of you are freaking out too much. A house looking like it's a kid centered--like Idups, is NOT filthy. That is not filth. That is kids, and it's a stage we all go through.

 

I think we need smelliputer with this, I don't think you're understanding the difference between filth and little kids who are having a great day while Mom is trying her best to keep it all under control.

[AvasMom]

I'm very picky about my house but I've watched a lot of Hoarders so I think I'm desensitized. It's nothing compared to what I've seen on Hoarders, that's for sure.

[Anne in CA]

I would like to say that my step dd's mom's house was often that dirty and social workers were there for HUD all the time and she never had to deal with CPS over it. When we got custody of dd many of dh's friends were thrilled that dd would finally live in a clean house, but that wasn't our main reason for getting custody, and it never came up in all the paperwork we filed.

[butterflymommy]

My husband's office looks like that but it's all paper, cardboard, and some clothes/ blankets (so no poop or food). The rest of the house is cluttered to clean. The bathrooms and kitchen are usually quite clean. Unfortunately my husband's office is the first room when one enters the house and I've always feared being reported. We had to call an ambulance once and the EMT sure gave us a look when walking through DH's office. but the room right after his is quite clean and nice. The person who owns the home in these pictures is probably a hoarder (my DH is a hoarder).

 

I thought children were no longer removed due to dirty houses? Or does this vary area by area? I remember reading somewhere that CPS has to offer cleaning help before removing children from a dirty home, if the dirty home is the only parenting issue.

[gardenmom5]

I thought children were no longer removed due to dirty houses? Or does this vary area by area? I remember reading somewhere that CPS has to offer cleaning help before removing children from a dirty home, if the dirty home is the only parenting issue.

it was the raw sewage (the pictures of which the OP specifically asked people not to look at the bathroom) that drove cps over the top. (and the stench if you read the article) Note the condemned sign on the house - meaning not even adults are allowed to occupy it.

[mytwomonkeys]

i thought it was unfit for a child to live comfortably in. if the family was loving, i don't feel it is cause for removal, but i don't think it is a healthy environment to be raised in. it wasn't just clutter, it seemed dirty.

 

ETA - based on the article i just read, i'm glad CPS was called in. i know a family IRL that hoards, but they are really great parents that love their kids - really love them. i would never call CPS on them. and although i cannot relate to that choice to live that way (and i do believe it is an environment that causes some level of damage to their kids) i fully believe that calling CPS would do much more damage.

 

the pictures and the information in the article though, that is unacceptable. i feel bad for the children that lived there.

[2squared]

 

 

My house never gets that messy anymore because I have decluttered and have children that can do chores. But these are my version of "filthy."

 

 

This picture and the pics from a prior poster aren't even close filthy. The picture above is a picture from children playing all day, and the toys can be picked up in a few minutes. Filthy is when the carpet hasn't been vacuumed in months, old food is ground into the floor and furniture, spilled drinks have crusted into the carpet, garbage is overflowed onto the floor, soap containers at the sinks have been empty for weeks/months, mold is growing on dirty dishes, family members aren't bathing routinely, and all the clothing in the house is dirty - including the clothing on bodies.

 

There is a difference between poor housekeeping, lazy housekeeping, and filthy housekeeping. The pictures on this thread are no where near filthy housekeeping.

[mazakaal]

I think it's pretty bad. Plus, the pictures don't tell us about smell.

 

 

This is exactly what I thought.

 

The photos aren't really all that bad if you don't know what the bits on the floor are. If it's small toys, then it's not that bad (until you get to the kids' bedroom, which is pretty bad imo). If the stuff on the floor is food or feces, then that's certainly bad enough to get child services involved. And photos certainly don't tell us about smell, nor do they really show you close up what things look like.

[butterflymommy]

The level of mess in that house may have rated a notation in a CPS report for another matter, but the mess wasn't enough for CPS to intervene. It was the feces.

 

 

I recently watched a frontline documentary about children living in poverty and two families had homes that looked like the bedrooms in these pics (clothes and bags stacked up, no room to walk). Since they were all in constant contact with social workers (one lived in these conditions in a homeless shelter) they must not have seen the mess as reason to remove the kids?

 

So maybe it was indeed the poop and sewage that had the kids removed.

[ErinD]

I agree that the house was frightening, but am I the only one wondering why the landlord hadn't fixed the bathroom toilet and tub?

[mommaduck]

I agree that the house was frightening, but am I the only one wondering why the landlord hadn't fixed the bathroom toilet and tub?

 

Because some people are slumlords and slumlords are sometimes the only people that will rent to those already going through a hard time or are typically discriminated against.

[Guest submarines]

I didn't read the article, and I didn't loop up the bathroom photos. My first impression was that this little place could be cleaned up in 30 minutes. All the toys go into the toy closet, all the clothes go into the laundry, sweep the floor, mop the floor, wash the dishes. Well, maybe 1 hour.

 

It didn't occur to me that was feces on the floor, but who knows.

 

I assume that if the children were removed, there were other issues involved.

 

ETA: Okay, I watched the video and saw the bathroom. I think even if the entire house was spotless, the bathroom would've probably led to some serious CPS intervention. It is clearly indicative of bigger issues.

 

I still think that if the actual house didn't have feces smeared around, it is a short clean-up away from presentable. When DH and I were both sick a couple of weeks ago, our very small house started to look not better than the pictures--dirty dishes on the counter, toys and clothes everywhere. It is easy for a very small place to deteriorate quite fast. The kids took a bowl of corn chips into the living room, and crumbs were everywhere. It is also easy to clean up.

[Guest submarines]

Please tell me I'm not the only one who has read this entire thread. I feel like I need to bleach my brain now.

 

I have to share these pictures. This first picture is from several years ago when we only had 2 children (and way too many toys in one room). It was Christmas/birthday season (they both have birthdays within 2 weeks of Christmas) so that also added to the mess. This was after a day of the kids playing in the room. I took the picture because I was so horrified at the mess.

 

 

This was after about 20 minutes of me cleaning it:

 

 

My house never gets that messy anymore because I have decluttered and have children that can do chores. But these are my version of "filthy."

 

 

If toy clutter can be picked up in 20 minutes to reveal a clean carpet, it is not "filthy" by any definition. :confused1:

[Guest]

I didn't see the bathroom photos, but it concerns me that anyone would think this house is OK. It's one thing to live in it, be overwhelmed, and not be able to clean (surely a mental health reason), but to look at it from the outside and not see a serious problem? It makes me terribly sad for ALL who live there. I would be sad for a pet living there, for heaven's sake.

 

I hope those poor people get the help they need.

 

 

This is the part that is a little bit puzzling to me about this thread in the first place. Are there really people who could look at those photos and think it's somewhere in a "normal" range? That this would be okay as a status-quo living environment? I did not read the article and I did not seek the bathroom photos because, based on comments here, I really don't even want to know. I can see where two people might disagree about how badly CPS needs to intervene; I can see where some are not in a hurry to take children from their home, but I cannot imagine how anyone could think those photos are representative of normal households.

[aggieamy]

I agree that the house was frightening, but am I the only one wondering why the landlord hadn't fixed the bathroom toilet and tub?

 

Maybe the landlord didn't know it was a problem. I'm sure he would have rather fixed the toilet rather than have the house condemened.