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View Full Version : How messy can a person be in a week?



kijip
04-15-2008, 03:06 AM
We started paying someone to come and clean my mother's apartment every other week. I do the alternating week's cleaning since it would be a stretch to pay for it weekly (after all we pay two tuitions + preschool for us and Toby out of my income each month). It is easier on me and cleaner overall for my mother.

Granted, my mother has cancer and I don't expect her to scrub her bathroom down in her current condition. But is it really too much to ask her to not leave her empty milk cartons to sour in the sink? Or throw her garbage in the garbage can instead of on the floor? We pay $$, work ourselves and unless we are there right after a cleaning, it is a total mess. I should not be surprised, given how little cleaning she did even in her best health, but it gets frustrating. Especially since she has energy to do lots of other things, just not not destroy her apartment. It is a health risk for her too, as we need to avoid infection.

elephantmeg
04-15-2008, 08:07 AM
yuck, and kudos to you for helping!

SnuggleBuggles
04-15-2008, 09:24 AM
I can ask my sister and her husband, if you would like? :) They have a cleaner come every other week and I swear they don't do *anything* between those visits. I know their 4 cats drag things out of the trash and stuff but it is so, so messy on top of what cats can do. They just don't seem to bother doing anything. I'm not even sure she knows where her vacuum is (or if they own one!). If the cleaner has to call off and skip a week that house is a total bio-hazard. They never had a cleaner in their old house and it was like 6 years of clutter, dust, cat fur built up around a timy patch of partial cleanliness in the kitchen and bathroom. It was so, so gross. Anytime I even begin to think my house is messy I just think of her house. It's a whole other level.

Of course, if you re-asked your question to be "how messy can a person be in 2 days?" here I would say "way too messy." We have fallen into a clean one day/ take one day off system here and I am baffled and amazed by how messy the house gets! I really need to do something about this.

I am so sorry for the hi-jack! It just struck such a chord!

You are doing a great thing for your mom. :) I am sure she appreciates it!

Beth

ritacheetah
04-15-2008, 10:47 AM
I'll let you know, the IL's are visiting next week.

At least I'll get to go for a bike ride.:yay:

KBecks
04-15-2008, 01:31 PM
I can tell you in great and gory detail how messy a family of 4 + cat can be in a week. But it wouldn't help.

I'm sorry you are dealing with the yuck.

LBW
04-15-2008, 02:53 PM
I can't even imagine doing that. I mean, we can be pretty messy. But, if I know someone is coming over, I try to at least tidy up. I've had cleaning people on and off over the last few years, and I even cleaned up before *they* came!

Until you said this was how she was pre-cancer I was thinking that maybe she was depressed or just feeling lousy and unable to take care of her place.

Good for you for paying for her cleaning person and cleaning her place yourself, too. How on earth do you find time while working, caring for a little guy, and taking care of your own place, too? I'm impressed!

tiapam
04-17-2008, 12:27 AM
Pretty much the same story here (incl. cancer) except my mom would rather we (meaning her daughters, of course) clean her house than hire someone. It's a small place so we have not hired anyone. The clutter is the biggest problem (makes it so much harder to clean), but I often find random bits of things that really do belong in the garbage. After she came home from the hospital, she pointed out all the "dirt"! She could not "see" where we *had* cleaned, you know, important things like the toilet!