Slovenly housekeeping - check in here

[wintermom]

Hey fellow Sloves / Sloths / Sloveners?? 

After my recent cataract surgery I noticed this discolouration on my stove (above the instrumentation panel). 

Should I:

a) Ignore this as my eyes may be simply adjusting to the new lenses

b) Realize that this could be dirt or grime and therefore ignore as I embrace "the slove"

c) Other; don't bother specifying as I don't care

d) All of the above

Edited September 4 by wintermom

[prairiewindmomma]

1 hour ago, popmom said:

I have strongly considered it, but I’m concerned that we’d have the same issue. It would go up just like the cultured marble with silicone caulk. At least I think that’s how it’s done. It would definitely be an upgrade over our cultured marble though. 

It’s joint adhesive at the walls, but there is one line of silicon caulk where the walls meet the floor panel. 
 

This house has acrylic walls, but I still fight mold in the caulk where the metal frame of the glass door meets the acrylic. 

[Clarita]

1 hour ago, popmom said:

have strongly considered it, but I’m concerned that we’d have the same issue. It would go up just like the cultured marble with silicone caulk. At least I think that’s how it’s done. It would definitely be an upgrade over our cultured marble though. 

I don't know how much this may be, but I know they can custom mold Corian to at least the shower basin. I don't know if that's extendable to the walls or what's the least amount of seams you could have. I briefly looked into it years ago when I was doing my bathroom remodel and it was going to be more expensive than putting up porcelain slabs so I opted for porcelain slabs.

BTW I like the porcelain slabs. Porcelain slab feels a little easier to clean than stone and doesn't stain, but you do have caulking/grout on the corners. 

[kbutton]

I don’t know how people co-exist with mice—I can smell them before evidence appears, and I am quite allergic. Swollen lymph nodes, breathing issues, the whole bit. Not fun.

We had an infestation one wet spring that just about did me in, but at least my nose guided us to successful places to set traps.

[dsmith]

17 hours ago, Ottakee said:

About 16 years ago my house was bought out for a highway project.   I had to CLEAN the house and have it empty….like not even a shelf left on the wall before they would give me a check for the house…..which they promptly demolished.

WHY or WHY did someone decide the house had to be CLEAN to be demolished????

That was the same with our elderly neighbor next door. They wanted EVERYTHING out and the house cleaned, or the contract was void. He couldn't physically handle that, so we had to take care of it with my bil, who owned half of the house. They took it down to studs a few days later. It was annoying and stupid. We were also worried about what kind of neighbors they would be, but thankfully they have been very nice.

[SKL]

1 hour ago, kbutton said:

I don’t know how people co-exist with mice—I can smell them before evidence appears, and I am quite allergic. Swollen lymph nodes, breathing issues, the whole bit. Not fun.

We had an infestation one wet spring that just about did me in, but at least my nose guided us to successful places to set traps.

I can pretend I don't know about the mice, up to a point.

Ants though ... nope.  Terro.

[kbutton]

7 minutes ago, dsmith said:

That was the same with our elderly neighbor next door. They wanted EVERYTHING out and the house cleaned, or the contract was void. He couldn't physically handle that, so we had to take care of it with my bil, who owned half of the house. They took it down to studs a few days later. It was annoying and stupid. We were also worried about what kind of neighbors they would be, but thankfully they have been very nice.

If they are stripping stuff out of the interior before demolishing with heavy equipment, it might be for worker safety. If it’s demolishing with heavy equipment, I wonder if it’s for possible toxic materials or other stuff people might leave behind—batteries, solvents, etc. or things that might catch fire.

Some people leave tons of trash and debris behind in foreclosures or elderly situations. Just piles and piles inside of houses.

[prairiewindmomma]

Construction debris is a separate landfill than household trash in some areas also.

[Ottakee]

26 minutes ago, kbutton said:

If they are stripping stuff out of the interior before demolishing with heavy equipment, it might be for worker safety. If it’s demolishing with heavy equipment, I wonder if it’s for possible toxic materials or other stuff people might leave behind—batteries, solvents, etc. or things that might catch fire.

Some people leave tons of trash and debris behind in foreclosures or elderly situations. Just piles and piles inside of houses.

Debris is one thing.  I have to CLEAN the house too before they bull dozed it

[Laura Corin]

26 minutes ago, kbutton said:

If they are stripping stuff out of the interior before demolishing with heavy equipment, it might be for worker safety. If it’s demolishing with heavy equipment, I wonder if it’s for possible toxic materials or other stuff people might leave behind—batteries, solvents, etc. or things that might catch fire.

Some people leave tons of trash and debris behind in foreclosures or elderly situations. Just piles and piles inside of houses.

I wondered whether it was fear that the previous owners would say that the demolition had destroyed property not included in the sale,  such as lights or curtains. 

[kbutton]

13 minutes ago, Ottakee said:

Debris is one thing.  I have to CLEAN the house too before they bull dozed it

I know, I just thought maybe they were lumping it all together like one big zero tolerance policy. Every entity has those these days—draconian rule that is either/both-and 1. Meant to bending and flexible but says otherwise or 2. Cover a lot of scenarios not specific as a CYA that makes no sense.

I was just trying to think what the CYAs might be.

[dsmith]

53 minutes ago, kbutton said:

If they are stripping stuff out of the interior before demolishing with heavy equipment, it might be for worker safety. If it’s demolishing with heavy equipment, I wonder if it’s for possible toxic materials or other stuff people might leave behind—batteries, solvents, etc. or things that might catch fire.

Some people leave tons of trash and debris behind in foreclosures or elderly situations. Just piles and piles inside of houses.

They were making it sound like if one calendar was left on the wall, the deal was off. The realtor was constantly checking the progress of getting stuff out. He had been getting rid of stuff for years, so there wasn't much, just whatever furniture he had left, clothes, some dishes, etc. BIL had a good amount of stuff in the garage, but he handled that. And then it had to be cleaned, for no reason at all. It was ridiculous. And I doubt they cared about worker safety at all. Our contractors were cringing at the stuff they were doing over there, lol. 

[Katy]

23 hours ago, Ottakee said:

About 16 years ago my house was bought out for a highway project.   I had to CLEAN the house and have it empty….like not even a shelf left on the wall before they would give me a check for the house…..which they promptly demolished.

WHY or WHY did someone decide the house had to be CLEAN to be demolished????

I can answer this because of one of the financial companies I worked for... Contractors get paid and have to pay different rates for different kinds of debris. So dust wouldn't be a problem, but anything considered household trash would.  So for example, if a house got repossessed, and needed to be demolished, the contractor would first clear personal "debris" and get paid like 47 cents per pound plus the landfill fees, and then demolish the house and get paid 27 cents per pound plus landfill fees. Note my numbers here are more than a decade old and probably totally out of date.

[popmom]

On 9/2/2024 at 5:33 AM, DawnM said:

We downsized and lost a lot of square footage.  This house has very little storage/closets/etc...so I feel like there is always a mess.   But I also know I need to get rid of tons of stuff and go through more.  It is never ending.   Never.

And our living room carpet is horrible and needs replacing.   We bought the house and it didn't look that good, we have steam cleaned it 3 times since moving in and always, within a few days, it looks gross again, off white carpet with stains that pop back up after a few days.   

I would like to replace it with hardwood, but we have two kinds of hardwood in the downstairs already, I can't really tell it is two kinds, but DH can and it makes him crazy and he doesn't want yet another hardwood that is trying to match the rest.   What do you all think?   The truth is, the kitchen hardwood has some warping near the fridge from moisture and I would prefer to replace the hardwood in the kitchen with tile and then replace the living room floor with hardwood, but I know the kitchen won't be done for a while.

Just rereading through this wonderfully encouraging thread and thought of something you might want to consider...

I have tile downstairs in my basement "kitchen". It has at least 2 places that have chipped badly. I don't know how it could ever be repaired. That is not something I would have ever expected. Maybe someone dropped a can of something? idk. So my idea for your consideration...have the hardwood in your kitchen refinished (which should take care of the warping) and add the hardwoods to your living room at the time so it all matches. I have hardwood in my kitchen, and I love it. We also have a little bit of warping where the dogs' water bowl is, but it's not that noticeable. If you do decide to go with tile, get porcelain--not ceramic. I think that may be the issue with my basement tile. Ceramic isn't as durable. 

[popmom]

Y'all. 

I took my car to the carwash. The one that has free unlimited vacuuming. lol

I threw away probably 100 receipts. 30ish straw wrappers. 40ish empty little vials of lubricating eye drops. Several Chick Fil A bags and sandwich wrappers. The sandwich wrappers had been shredded by my dog because that is what she loves to do on our car rides when she is not barking at deer. There was a packet of Polynesian sauce that was smashed into the floormat on the passenger side. Probably also my dog's doing. I found a dollar and a dime (woohoo! I can get a diet coke at Circle K!)

I vacuumed everything. Well not everything. My trunk doubles as a pantry and is half full of new toilet paper, paper towels, and 12 packs of Dr Pepper, so I couldn't vacuum it all. When I got home, I wiped down everything inside. I hosed down the floormats and they are drying. 

Now it's ready to be trashed again with bugs and more fast food crap on our road trip.

[Laura Corin]

3 hours ago, popmom said:

Y'all. 

I took my car to the carwash. The one that has free unlimited vacuuming. lol

I threw away probably 100 receipts. 30ish straw wrappers. 40ish empty little vials of lubricating eye drops. Several Chick Fil A bags and sandwich wrappers. The sandwich wrappers had been shredded by my dog because that is what she loves to do on our car rides when she is not barking at deer. There was a packet of Polynesian sauce that was smashed into the floormat on the passenger side. Probably also my dog's doing. I found a dollar and a dime (woohoo! I can get a diet coke at Circle K!)

I vacuumed everything. Well not everything. My trunk doubles as a pantry and is half full of new toilet paper, paper towels, and 12 packs of Dr Pepper, so I couldn't vacuum it all. When I got home, I wiped down everything inside. I hosed down the floormats and they are drying. 

Now it's ready to be trashed again with bugs and more fast food crap on our road trip.

When I was a child, my father worked as a documentary film maker for the BBC and mostly wrote the scripts.  Early drafts and previous projects seemed to get chucked onto the floor in front of my feet, in the back of the cool Citroën DS that he drove. I remember being quite small and comfortably resting my feet on this raised 'floor'.

I came by my slummocky habits honestly.

[DawnM]

8 hours ago, popmom said:

Just rereading through this wonderfully encouraging thread and thought of something you might want to consider...

I have tile downstairs in my basement "kitchen". It has at least 2 places that have chipped badly. I don't know how it could ever be repaired. That is not something I would have ever expected. Maybe someone dropped a can of something? idk. So my idea for your consideration...have the hardwood in your kitchen refinished (which should take care of the warping) and add the hardwoods to your living room at the time so it all matches. I have hardwood in my kitchen, and I love it. We also have a little bit of warping where the dogs' water bowl is, but it's not that noticeable. If you do decide to go with tile, get porcelain--not ceramic. I think that may be the issue with my basement tile. Ceramic isn't as durable. 

the area with warping is fairly significant, but I assume it is repairable.    Definitely an option.   

I had been considering that tile that is a bit grippy on top.    Our previous house had tile that was so slippery when wet, and it seemed a bit dangerous.   

[Miss Tick]

10 hours ago, popmom said:

Y'all. 

I took my car to the carwash. The one that has free unlimited vacuuming. lol

I threw away probably 100 receipts. 30ish straw wrappers. 40ish empty little vials of lubricating eye drops. Several Chick Fil A bags and sandwich wrappers. The sandwich wrappers had been shredded by my dog because that is what she loves to do on our car rides when she is not barking at deer. There was a packet of Polynesian sauce that was smashed into the floormat on the passenger side. Probably also my dog's doing. I found a dollar and a dime (woohoo! I can get a diet coke at Circle K!)

I vacuumed everything. Well not everything. My trunk doubles as a pantry and is half full of new toilet paper, paper towels, and 12 packs of Dr Pepper, so I couldn't vacuum it all. When I got home, I wiped down everything inside. I hosed down the floormats and they are drying. 

Now it's ready to be trashed again with bugs and more fast food crap on our road trip.

Sorry to inform you that we will have to put your membership in The Slovenly Housekeepers Club on probation until your dog rectifies the newly developed "situation" with your car. Enjoy your soda pop!

[fairfarmhand]

16 hours ago, popmom said:

Y'all. 

I took my car to the carwash. The one that has free unlimited vacuuming. lol

I threw away probably 100 receipts. 30ish straw wrappers. 40ish empty little vials of lubricating eye drops. Several Chick Fil A bags and sandwich wrappers. The sandwich wrappers had been shredded by my dog because that is what she loves to do on our car rides when she is not barking at deer. There was a packet of Polynesian sauce that was smashed into the floormat on the passenger side. Probably also my dog's doing. I found a dollar and a dime (woohoo! I can get a diet coke at Circle K!)

I vacuumed everything. Well not everything. My trunk doubles as a pantry and is half full of new toilet paper, paper towels, and 12 packs of Dr Pepper, so I couldn't vacuum it all. When I got home, I wiped down everything inside. I hosed down the floormats and they are drying. 

Now it's ready to be trashed again with bugs and more fast food crap on our road trip.

You can't be a part of the club with that kind of doin's

Although I guess if you junk it up pretty quickly we'll let you stay.

[popmom]

3 minutes ago, fairfarmhand said:

You can't be a part of the club with that kind of doin's

Although I guess if you junk it up pretty quickly we'll let you stay.

I think the current condition of my shower should earn me honorary lifetime membership. 😭🙃😂

[Miss Tick]

20 minutes ago, popmom said:

I think the current condition of my shower should earn me honorary lifetime membership. 😭🙃😂

Oh, sure! We're not really any better at following rules and bylaws than we are at house cleaning. I would send you your membership card, but I've misplaced my laminator here ... somewhere ...

[Laura Corin]

I need to report a failure. I failed to restrain myself from cleaning the kitchen cupboard doors, the outside of the appliances and the inside of the fridge before offspring brings the girlfriend home tomorrow.

In mitigation - I didn't touch the inside of the oven or microwave,  and did a half-arsed job on the fridge.

[Kassia]

8 minutes ago, Laura Corin said:

I need to report a failure. I failed to restrain myself from cleaning the kitchen cupboard doors, the outside of the appliances and the inside of the fridge before offspring brings the girlfriend home tomorrow.

In mitigation - I didn't touch the inside of the oven or microwave,  and did a half-arsed job on the fridge.

Those visits are the only reason my house gets pretty clean a few times a year.  I want them to feel comfortable so they won't avoid coming back, but it's so much work and stress to prepare for the visit!  

[Laura Corin]

16 minutes ago, Kassia said:

Those visits are the only reason my house gets pretty clean a few times a year.  I want them to feel comfortable so they won't avoid coming back, but it's so much work and stress to prepare for the visit!  

We've had the builders in for most of the summer and they are not finished yet. Tomorrow we need to clear a room for the guests and work on the ubiquitous construction dust in there.

[Harriet Vane]

16 hours ago, Kassia said:

Those visits are the only reason my house gets pretty clean a few times a year.  I want them to feel comfortable so they won't avoid coming back, but it's so much work and stress to prepare for the visit!  

This is one of the biggest reasons we try to host people for dinner somewhat regularly. 

[SKL]

3 minutes ago, Harriet Vane said:

This is one of the biggest reasons we try to host people for dinner somewhat regularly. 

We try to have someone clean for us at least monthly, because some things only get cleaned for the cleaners.  (Or guests, but we don't have "important guests" often.)

[Ottakee]

We are doing some renovations…..paint and new flooring the entire main floor of the house (minus 2 bathrooms of flooring).

The amount of sand and dirt in the carpet, pad and on the subfloor makes me very very very glad I decided on NO carpet but all LVP flooring.

we won’t talk about under the fridge or stove area either…….

[Kassia]

3 minutes ago, Ottakee said:

 

we won’t talk about under the fridge or stove area either…….

never ever

[Eos]

I've been MIA for a few weeks and the best thread ever pops up! First, I do love the word slovenly, kudos to @Laura Corinfor using it in casual conversation. Second, I do slovenly. My elderly mother is moving in with me in 16 days and the lifestyle inspection dread has arrived. The house is over 200 years old and generates dust all day, every day. When I need something to do which is never I gouge a butter knife between the floor boards and dig up the smooge that's in there then vacuum it up. 

I'm finishing up an article to submit tomorrow and then the cleaning will begin in earnest. I love all of these posts and just feel that we all must be doing important things with our time to avoid so much housework 🙂 

[Ottakee]

16 minutes ago, Eos said:

I've been MIA for a few weeks and the best thread ever pops up! First, I do love the word slovenly, kudos to @Laura Corinfor using it in casual conversation. Second, I do slovenly. My elderly mother is moving in with me in 16 days and the lifestyle inspection dread has arrived. The house is over 200 years old and generates dust all day, every day. When I need something to do which is never I gouge a butter knife between the floor boards and dig up the smooge that's in there then vacuum it up. 

I'm finishing up an article to submit tomorrow and then the cleaning will begin in earnest. I love all of these posts and just feel that we all must be doing important things with our time to avoid so much housework 🙂 

I can’t imagine a home over 200 years old.  Mine is only 26 years old and a mess of dust and dirt.

[SKL]

2 hours ago, Eos said:

When I need something to do which is never I gouge a butter knife between the floor boards and dig up the smooge that's in there then vacuum it up.

This reminds me of when I was a tween and I realized that the grooves on the bathroom linoleum were not supposed to be dark.  (In the old days, we'd wash & wax the floors, and then new dirt would get ground into the wax.  The dark wax in the grooves was hard to eradicate.)  I played around with it and realized there were shiny gold grooves under there.  So I decided I was going to rid the whole floor of that black stuff - using a butter knife.  But I didn't realize what a big job it was.  The floor was patchy for the rest of the time we lived there.  I should have just let it be.