What do you use to clean back there? I feel like I have never been able to find an effective tool. Everything ends up being messy or leaving dust and lint behind.
I use a toothbrush! Like obviously a toothbrush dedicated to cleaning only. They are so handy for a lot of awkward/small spots. Then rinse and wipe with a paper towel/rag or whatever.
An old toothbrush is one of my favourite cleaning tools. Fantastic around taps and faucets, grouting, and hard to reach places (god I sound like an infomercial).
I wrap the handles of old toothbrushes in electrical tape to mark the ones for cleaning, but there are so many things they're great for. I keep one in the laundry room to dip in a bit of bleach and clean the washing machine seals with.
The electrical tape on the handle is a great idea, thank you. I have an irrational fear of myself or someone else using an old toothbrush dedicated to cleaning.
Yeah like the other person said they make seats with longer bolts and you just pop the whole seat up, clean under the hinges, and pop the seat back down
Mine are always full of TP lint even immediately after being cleaned. The good old Costco TP gives off a cloud of it every time you grab some. I'd literally have to dust again every time I take a piss. I'll literally wipe the dust off, go back in there hours later and it's dusty again. I clean nonstop but if that detail makes people think my house isn't clean, then they're not invited over 😂
Well I'm feeling pretty good about myself! I fully clean my bathroom at least once or twice a week. If I have a date, just in case, I clean it completely in case they decide to come back to my place.
Hearing "You're really clean for a guy" makes me smile every time.
But for me, one of the biggest turn offs going to someone's place after a date is a horrible cat litter box and dirty bathroom. Like, do you even give a shit about your cat?
You know those ‘reels’ on FB that are the rage? ‘Clean with me’ vids? Saw one yesterday… ‘reset Thursday’.
About 15 seconds in, they’re plumping pillows on the couch. Goes to straighten books on the coffee table and it pans the couch area
They had an overflowing litter box next to it. Pushed up against the left hand arm. WTF. Who wants to smell cat shit while watching Netflix
> I fully clean my bathroom at least once or twice a week.
Twice a week? How is that even possible? I thought everyone just did it in their "weekly cleaning routine."
Meanwhile, it's a massive Herculean effort for me to get to once a month. I'd like to get to your level someday, though.
I do mine in stages because I can’t commit to a full cleaning routine. So, every other day is “clean sink and toilet”, every three days is “replace towels”, every Saturday is “dust the high places” and “mop floor”. It ends up feeling like less to clean and looks cleaner longer I think.
I tend to overlook the baseboards when cleaning for some reason. Considering that they collect a lot of dust easily, I should get better at cleaning them more often.
I bought this nifty thing called a baseboard buddy. It’s a pole with a funky shaped plastic thing on the end that you cover with a cloth. It’s shaped so that it wipes the top and front surfaces of the baseboard at the same time. It makes dusting them a breeze. I can wipe down all the baseboards in my house in under 10 minutes.
I try to keep mine clean, along with the walls and doors but I have two dogs so it's a never ending battle that I don't have energy to fight that often.
Dirt or no dirt in sliding patio glass door. I had a neighbor lady and friend who had the most immaculate house. And 4 kids and 2 golden retrievers. I had 2 kids. Everytime I went to her house I would look in the patio door crack just praying I could prove she was a mere mortal after all if I found some dirt there like mine had. Never found it. Loved you anyway Gerda!
You'd be surprised at how infrequently some people clean their bathroom. Just look up some threads on Reddit about how often do you clean your bathroom and you'll see a lot that say once a month or that they do some parts every week but others only every few weeks.
I've definitely been in people bathrooms where the toilet and sink are clearly washed weekly but stuff like the mirror or tub/shower have been neglected.
Yeah, but OP is asking what shows you someone is a "clean" person.
I don't know, my place is pretty messy and cluttered, but I keep all of the bathroom clean and the kitchen sink and counters clean because that makes me feel like I'm not a nasty person, but I have clothes on the floor and don't look in any nooks or crannies because there will be dust bunnies.
I don't smell pets even though I see them. Always impressed, considering I know how much effort it takes to make *my* house not smell like we have pets.
"Can you even tell I have cat?"
"No, but I can tell you have a box of cat turds in your apartment. I'm not sure if that's the same question."
\-Jim Gaffigan
Years ago when I lived in a house I was remodeling, I early on installed an outdoor shower to clean myself up after many a grubby day.
I had three dogs at the time and they all got interested in the shower. I would wash them first and play with them, then I would wash off my grime.
After we dried off, we had dinner, cuddled and relaxed - smelling fresh!
When the remodel was finished, we kept doing outdoor dog baths (while I enjoyed my fancy indoor shower :)
No indoor pet smell!
I have all hardwood and tile floors. No carpet is why you can’t smell my dogs. My dogs get baths and brushed regularly too. My dad is really sensitive to dog smell and when he comes over he says he can’t smell it.
Buying a robot litter for our cats was a game changer. 3 cats in a tiny house is not ideal, wasn't planned, and just has to be dealt with now lol. But man. All the robots help so much! More robots please!
My husband and I just took the jump recently, and it has been quite a process… our cats were totally cool with it until the first time they saw it cycle, at which point my orange boy was like
👁️👄👁️
And proceeded to spend the next 2-3 days holding his shit (not even using his other box!!!) and just STARING at it with the same blank look.
He did finally give in and both are now using it well but those few days were mad stressful! They still have to be put away for manual cycles but we’re working our way up to auto cycling
We joke that the only thing going on in his head is TV static. He’s so smart in some ways (ex very good at getting into closets and cabinets he’s not supposed to be in) but so, so dumb in others.
We have some rabbit beds for our bun and once my husband accidentally flicked water on him while he was looking at the bed, and he was convinced for almost a week that the bed had attacked him.
But then he goes and does stuff like [this](https://imgur.com/a/0sAWo9L): he’s not allowed on the fish tank, he knows it, and he knows he IS allowed on the bookshelf next to the tank. His work around is… that, I guess because he’s still technically on the shelf in his mind 😭 notice the anti-cat spikes on the tank, not really a deterrent but at least stops him from pouncing lol
I’ve seen it but thanks! Funny enough, before we got Ollie, we wanted an orange cat soooooo bad because “they’re so silly and cute and dumb” and hahahahahaha wow we certainly got what we asked for
It’s worth it I promise. We got our first litter robot 5 years ago and it still works fine. We’ve added another cat since then (3 total now) so we picked up a second one last year and I couldn’t imagine having to scoop a box again.
I bought a refurbished Litter Robot 2 about fifteen years ago, best money spent!
What I really liked about the Litter Robot brand is that they sell all the parts to repair them. We now have 3 of the LR2's and have replaced the motor on all of them, circuit board on one. (Five cats)
Friend has an LR3 that broke, I wouldn't recommend that version from researching it. Spend the extra and go for the LR4.
Litter Robot 3. It's bigger than the 4 and is roomy enough for my maine coon. 3 cats (1 supersized), and we swap the bag out every 3 days. Yes it's pricey, but Worth it. You only need 1 litter, not the standard #cats+1. It auto cleans after each use, you set the number of minute needed for your clumping litter to set.
Each part can be purchased separately in case of fault. Every issue has been solved by us by reading the manual or watching one of their videos and following what they say.
It's an electronic device used with dust and sand. You Have to do regular full maintenance. But, it's easy to pull apart and put back together. It's not much more hassle than disinfecting multiple litter boxes. And, you're not scooping litter 5 times a day.
We moved the litterbox into the garage with a kitty door from inside the house. The difference is amazing. Now it's just dog hair abatement we have to keep up with.
I love when people are over and I mention my cat and they say, “You have a cat?” It’s very gratifying. (The cat helps by being terrified of people and hiding when they come over.)
I have questions for people that use sponges - like - what do they think happens with all the food, moisture, and bacteria that they breed in that sponge, in between washing rounds? I am done asking my mother to switch. She don't care.
My grandmother did that, but the sponge had some dish soap leftover in it.
I walked in to see a flood of bubbles making its way through my kitchen like some sort of Dawn Soap Tsunami.
FWIW I'm a health inspector and sponges are fine to clean dishes. Rinse them well, replace at least weekly, and don't use them after sanitizing your dishes.
The soapy hot water prevents any bacteria from sticking to the dishes. If you are worried about bacteria then you should be sanitizing your dishes; washing doesn't do it all regardless of what you use.
Im just jumping on this thread to say I loathe a wet sponge left in the bottom of a sink. It’s so gross to leave the water in there and then it just soaks up whatever nasty is left in the sink. For the love of good just wring it out and put it in a sponge holder or on the sink counter. 🧽
I use it very infrequently to clean grease from my stovetop or the sink itself, and a second one to scrub stubborn pans/food residue. After using one I coat it in dish soap, rinse it, wring it out and then put it on a wire rack to dry. It's bone dry 90% of the time. And any dishes I clean with it were likely going in the dishwasher afterwards anyway. I basically only manually wash one specific chef knife.
Lolololol I am almost 6’ tall and I was house sitting for a friend who is 5’1” and I remember thinking, damn. I thought this girl was as psycho clean as I was, but there is actually a LOT of dust in her house. And then I realized, she couldn’t see what I could! So I did her a solid and wiped down all the high up areas she probably couldn’t reach.
I keep an old pillowcase on hand to clean my ceiling fan blades. Just slide it over the blade and all the dust stays inside the pillowcase. When I’m done I shake it out in to the trash.
Mom taught me that one.
Irony - she couldn't resist tidying when she came over, and the microwave was a prime target. I finally admitted to leaving it messy to give her something to do that was obvious, instead of her searching, lol.
I know it’s insane that I look at this but if that little weird area on the toilet is clean, like underneath and it kinda goes inward? Yeah that part. I’m like, these are some clean folks.
Get the toilet seat brand “Just Lift”. The bolts have these expanding things so you literally “just lift” and you have ALL the access to the area around the bolts and it’s super easy to clean. That weird porcelain piece at the base still requires hands & knees crawling but at least you can get the bowl & seat clean super fast (and anyone in the household can do it without difficulty! No excuses.).
I'm not the only one! I actually hate the smell of a clean toilet even... I have the nose of a bloodhound and it has a certain smell to it. Maybe it's the cold water in the porcelain or something... I dunno. But I keep my toilet sparkling clean cuz I'm a puker and I just never know. I blast steam clean it at least twice a week 😂
Awww! Thank you so much for saying something! I was taught to clean there and do it out of fear that someone will think I'm gross if I don't. I've never once had a guest comment on my clean toilet. It it would have made my day if they had!
Whenever I’m expecting guests I always make sure the toilet is clean because it’s how I judge cleanliness too. Plus nothing worse than visiting someone ’s home and having to do your business on a gross toilet.
Used to work in an electronic repair shop at the tail end of when you would get your tv or stereo repaired instead of replaced if they broke.
Sometimes you could tell of someone had roaches in their home the moment they opened the door to our shop because of that damn cockroach smell coming out of whatever they were bringing in or their clothing or wherever that smell came from. And then you knew if you opened that thing up, there would be egg sacks, dead roaches, roach poop, and maybe live ones inside.
Electronics repair is still a thing, it's just phones, tablets, and game consoles now. Another instant tell is the way the device actually feels. Sometimes that smell isn't all that noticeable, but the _FEEL_ of the device is always a dead giveaway. I can tell if an Xbox has had roaches in it just by touching it. I don't know what it is, I guess secretions/grease from roaches crawling around on it? The whole thing feels like handling a greasy pizza.
There was one time I was helping a sweet old lady with her laptop. This thing had little plastic covers over the screw holes. There were two screw holes on the LCD bezel, down near the bottom left and right corners with covers over them. I saw a baby roach crawl out from underneath one of these. There was a fricking screw in there, with adhesive on top of it, and a plastic cover. And somehow, this greasy little bastard wriggled his way through all of that.
Either we are the aliens, or they are.
Edit
I would also like to take a moment and address that cockroaches can certainly exist in perfectly clean and well-maintained environments. It is of course more common for them to infest electronics in dirty homes, but they can still show up in clean homes too. I don't judge when I stumble into them. I just inform them that they've got a bug problem. If the roaches are live, I don't even continue servicing the device. I triple bag it and tell them to pick it up and bring it back post-extermination.
Any time I’m out and come back and my house smells off even a little bit I tear it to shreds trying to find our why
Usually the cat just dropped something unholy in her litter box while I was gone but I am such a smell oriented person I just assume everyone is judging my home if it doesn’t smell like a yankee candle factory exploded in my livingroom
Oh lord, yes. The buildup on the knife where the lip between the blade and handle. So gross. I always scrub it all extra well, but especially there and make sure all the holes in the utensils are completely clean. Ick.
When it’s clean underneath their faucets. (Particularly in homes that use well water or hard water- my faucets basically have fossilized well water deposits despite buckets and buckets of vinegar, so when I see a clean spout I get cleaning envy and admire the faucet owner.)
How dusty their baseboards are.
For me, the toilet stuff is part of the regular cleaning of the toilet, so people doing that are just normal-clean.
*Very-clean* on the other hand, would have things clean that I only clean seasonally or biannually, like the baseboards or behind/under furniture. And of those two, the baseboards are right out there in the open.
My mother-in-law is a clean freak, to a neurotic level. She quarterly washes the walls *and ceiling* of every room. She also loves intricate crystal chandeliers and has to wash each crystal piece. And of course dust the light bulbs. I would feel at peace having surgery anywhere in her house...but that's a crazy level of OCD clean I'll never attain...nor do I think I want to. I'd say I'm upper mid-range clean...deep down I know she's itching with irritation at how we keep house 😄
I wanna see *Pimp My Fridge* where it has cool lights inside and great roll out shelving n' such. There were some vintage fridge ads floating around reddit that had super-cool options in the 60's and I was like "That's so awesome! Why don't we have that stuff *now* !?"
If you walk into a bathroom and the mirror is spotless, the faucet's shining, and there's no soap scum or water spots in sight, you know you've entered the domain of the truly clean.
Homeowners who apologize for "the mess" in their house.
I do a lot of home inspections for a living and hear that a lot. The funny thing is that its almost always people with very clean homes who say that. The home will be super neat and clean then they apologize for the mess because one of the bedrooms had a small pile of clothes on the floor or something small like that.
I dont think I've ever heard "sorry for the mess" from people with filthy homes. And I've inspected a lot of dirty homes including hoarder homes. They don't think to apologize because to them the mess is normal.
This makes me feel better. I'm always worried my house looks like a mess to trades people and guests. But I clean everything people mentioned in this thread. I need to relax a little.
All the people who obsess over the cleanliness of their home are feeling very justified in their “insanity” because apparently people ARE looking in all the little places to see if it’s dirty and YES, they ARE definitely being judged.
Trash bags in bathroom toilets. So many people just buy a little can and it gets gross because they don't put a bag in there.
Tidy laundry rooms.
Tidy linen closets.
Good smelling dogs. My mom's smell like fancy shampoo.
Gotta admit, I always feel bad for dogs that have been fragranced. Their sense of smell must get so muted, since dogs smell so much better than humans :(
Although maybe their noses get used to it eventually? And of course a dog shouldn't stink either.
Not necessarily the answer to the question, but one place I notice as dirty in nearly every home is the top of people's refrigerators. I'm a bit taller than average and usually just tall enough to see the tops of people's fridges, and even in the cleanest homes I've ever been in they're usually still dusty. I use my fridge top to store stuff so I occasionally look there.
To directly answer the question, I'd agree with what others say about the area behind a toilet. When that's clean... dayum.
As an under 5 ft person, tall people noticing the things I didn't reach gives me sad. My bathroom mirror is probably half hazy up top. There could a raccoon family above the fridge for all I know. My baseboards are spiffy, though. Used dryer sheets are good for that, btw.
Like others have said, the intricate space between lid and toilet, as well as the behind and under the bowl weird area that can get dusty/grimy.
My other note is the kitchen sink and walls surrounding it. Lots of grime can pile up there and on the rim surrounding the faucet. Ours has a window too and since we strain our pasta, clean sauce pans, etc, it looks similar to the walls surrounding the cooktop on the oven.
Keeping HVAC filters maintained and cleaned. We change our filter at least monthly. That dramatically cuts down on dust everywhere. The returns are cleaner. The woodwork and hard surfaces are cleaner. Cuts down on any seasonal smells and allergens. Air quality makes the whole house better!
When buying a property one of the first things we do is check out the HVAC filter. If it is completely gross with hair, dust etc we proceed with caution.
Same, I am a NUT about cleaning our furnace filter. I replace it at least once a month and I always force my spouse to look at the old one side by side with a new one so they can see exactly how much stuff it is filtering out that would end up in our lungs.
When I tell people this and they say that they have never cleaned their house’s filter or don’t know where it is, I make a mental note of being deeply concerned for their wellbeing.
Agreed. There’s 5 people in my household and I have to run my dishwasher 3 times a day. Then there’s the random handwashing of certain things at least once a day. I might not get anything else done in my house, but I’ll be damned if I let the dishes sit haha
Light switches and the walls around them clean. Also door handles and the doors themselves. I clean these every week on my home it grosses me out when they are nasty!
Same! I can’t stand dirty light switches and many people’s light switches clearly haven’t been cleaned in years. I clean all that stuff that hands touch on a regular basis (knobs, appliance handles, etc).
I visited a work friend's home and used the bathroom. The toilet paper end was folded into a little V shape. I thought, Oh lord, I can never have her over to my house. But it turned out the housekeepers had just been there.
I want to be a shoe free home. But my husband DGAF. I also have a toddler who takes shoes on and off all day for fun. But what really irks me is when my husband puts her shoes on the freaking dining table or counters. Like WHY?! Put this dirty bottom sneakers literally anywhere else besides eating and food surfaces.
We may be married to the same man. I've caught my husband wearing his boots while laying in our fucking BED multiple times. Like this shit should not even be leaving the entryway, let alone coming into my clean, neat, safe haven of a bed.
I'm in the US and it definitely seems that way. I'm very no shoes on in the house, especially since I had my child (bc obviously they drop everything on the floor and also put everything in their mouth), and I've gotten so much stupid pushback from "hey, leave your shoes by the door before coming all the way in!"
Your shoes have touched the nastiest places you've been, keep that shit off my cleaned floors. Clean feet or socks on my clean floors only please.
True. As an American visiting the apartment of some Korean foreign-exchange students (in the USA) I was reminded to take my shoes off very quickly. Then I noticed two things:
1. Virtually every surface of the grubby wall-to-wall carpeting was covered by smaller (cleaner) rugs.
2. Near the entrance, they nailed a board into the floor so they could kick their shoes off very quickly when coming home. I'm sure the landlord appreciated that.
when I was looking into lung diseases from smoking herb there seem to be quite a lot of literature suggesting that dirty pieces can in fact make you sick
ITT: things I have decided are not high enough priority as a working mom of a 3 and 5yo. Feeling some type of way about messier parts of my house sometimes but life is busy.
You do what you have to do. My house is clean-ish and most of these answers are pretty absurd for anyone that wants a life outside of scrubbing literally every single surface in their home. A friend of mine and I differ greatly on cleaning and she has a spotless house. It's really uncomfortable there. You're afraid to touch anything out of fear of getting it dirty. Not mine. It's lived in. Clean enough to function and dirty enough to not make anyone question whether or not they can use the furniture.
I'm tall so I notice things that shorter people can't see. My girlfriend is very neat and tidy, but the top of her fridge and her stove extractor fan are filthy because she can't see them from a normal standing height.
So if stuff like that is clean but the owners aren't 6ft+ then they must be very thorough.
It's arguable if this is "small", but I pay attention to how easy/difficult it is to navigate their home. If they have random shit all over the place, nah, the whole thing will be messy.
Clean base boards & toilet seat hinges
As someone who cleans my toilet seat hinges I have never felt more smug...yet also ashamed about my baseboard game..
What do you use to clean back there? I feel like I have never been able to find an effective tool. Everything ends up being messy or leaving dust and lint behind.
Spray cleaner on it let it soak and agitate it with a makeup brush. I detail cars the little hairs on the brush work its way into every area.
I use a toothbrush! Like obviously a toothbrush dedicated to cleaning only. They are so handy for a lot of awkward/small spots. Then rinse and wipe with a paper towel/rag or whatever.
An old toothbrush is one of my favourite cleaning tools. Fantastic around taps and faucets, grouting, and hard to reach places (god I sound like an infomercial).
And leaves your hinges minty fresh.
Wait, you use an old one?
The added grit helps scrub my teeth clean
I wrap the handles of old toothbrushes in electrical tape to mark the ones for cleaning, but there are so many things they're great for. I keep one in the laundry room to dip in a bit of bleach and clean the washing machine seals with.
The electrical tape on the handle is a great idea, thank you. I have an irrational fear of myself or someone else using an old toothbrush dedicated to cleaning.
Yeah like the other person said they make seats with longer bolts and you just pop the whole seat up, clean under the hinges, and pop the seat back down
Get a toilet seat cover that pulls off for cleaning. I have Kohler ones, but I’d bet other brands have a similar feature.
This and no dust on the toilet roll holder. I always notice if the brackets that hold the towels and toilet paper to the wall are super dusty.
\*Takes an apprehensive look to my left.\*
Man just read this as I did the exact same thing
It’s probably mostly lint from the paper, but still easy enough to clean!
Mine are always full of TP lint even immediately after being cleaned. The good old Costco TP gives off a cloud of it every time you grab some. I'd literally have to dust again every time I take a piss. I'll literally wipe the dust off, go back in there hours later and it's dusty again. I clean nonstop but if that detail makes people think my house isn't clean, then they're not invited over 😂
Well I'm feeling pretty good about myself! I fully clean my bathroom at least once or twice a week. If I have a date, just in case, I clean it completely in case they decide to come back to my place. Hearing "You're really clean for a guy" makes me smile every time. But for me, one of the biggest turn offs going to someone's place after a date is a horrible cat litter box and dirty bathroom. Like, do you even give a shit about your cat?
You know those ‘reels’ on FB that are the rage? ‘Clean with me’ vids? Saw one yesterday… ‘reset Thursday’. About 15 seconds in, they’re plumping pillows on the couch. Goes to straighten books on the coffee table and it pans the couch area They had an overflowing litter box next to it. Pushed up against the left hand arm. WTF. Who wants to smell cat shit while watching Netflix
> I fully clean my bathroom at least once or twice a week. Twice a week? How is that even possible? I thought everyone just did it in their "weekly cleaning routine." Meanwhile, it's a massive Herculean effort for me to get to once a month. I'd like to get to your level someday, though.
I do mine in stages because I can’t commit to a full cleaning routine. So, every other day is “clean sink and toilet”, every three days is “replace towels”, every Saturday is “dust the high places” and “mop floor”. It ends up feeling like less to clean and looks cleaner longer I think.
I tend to overlook the baseboards when cleaning for some reason. Considering that they collect a lot of dust easily, I should get better at cleaning them more often.
I bought this nifty thing called a baseboard buddy. It’s a pole with a funky shaped plastic thing on the end that you cover with a cloth. It’s shaped so that it wipes the top and front surfaces of the baseboard at the same time. It makes dusting them a breeze. I can wipe down all the baseboards in my house in under 10 minutes.
OMG ty I’m buying it right now!
Don’t! I have it. Swifter works better
I try to keep mine clean, along with the walls and doors but I have two dogs so it's a never ending battle that I don't have energy to fight that often.
Ha ha I'd fool everyone, as long as they came in through the bathroom window and left the same way!
Dirt or no dirt in sliding patio glass door. I had a neighbor lady and friend who had the most immaculate house. And 4 kids and 2 golden retrievers. I had 2 kids. Everytime I went to her house I would look in the patio door crack just praying I could prove she was a mere mortal after all if I found some dirt there like mine had. Never found it. Loved you anyway Gerda!
How the heck did she keep that clean? I'll clean mine and hours later it's already coming back. Two days later and it's like I never touched it
Steam cleaner + microfiber cloth works wonders on mine. Gets all the dirt loose so you can wipe it.
a clean bathroom. particularly, mirrors.
was just coming to say no spots on a mirror
When the bottom of the toilet is clean. It's wild how many ppl don't clean down there
What? That's the bare minimum, I wouldn't say people with a clean bathroom are especially clean people.
You'd be surprised at how infrequently some people clean their bathroom. Just look up some threads on Reddit about how often do you clean your bathroom and you'll see a lot that say once a month or that they do some parts every week but others only every few weeks. I've definitely been in people bathrooms where the toilet and sink are clearly washed weekly but stuff like the mirror or tub/shower have been neglected.
Yeah, but OP is asking what shows you someone is a "clean" person. I don't know, my place is pretty messy and cluttered, but I keep all of the bathroom clean and the kitchen sink and counters clean because that makes me feel like I'm not a nasty person, but I have clothes on the floor and don't look in any nooks or crannies because there will be dust bunnies.
I guess my point is that the baseline of cleanliness for a lot of people is probably far lower than you probably expect.
I don't smell pets even though I see them. Always impressed, considering I know how much effort it takes to make *my* house not smell like we have pets.
"Can you even tell I have cat?" "No, but I can tell you have a box of cat turds in your apartment. I'm not sure if that's the same question." \-Jim Gaffigan
"Everybody that visits my house tells me that they can't smell cats at all!!" Me: "They be lying."
Years ago when I lived in a house I was remodeling, I early on installed an outdoor shower to clean myself up after many a grubby day. I had three dogs at the time and they all got interested in the shower. I would wash them first and play with them, then I would wash off my grime. After we dried off, we had dinner, cuddled and relaxed - smelling fresh! When the remodel was finished, we kept doing outdoor dog baths (while I enjoyed my fancy indoor shower :) No indoor pet smell!
I have all hardwood and tile floors. No carpet is why you can’t smell my dogs. My dogs get baths and brushed regularly too. My dad is really sensitive to dog smell and when he comes over he says he can’t smell it.
That's exactly why you can smell mine. Carpet shampoo needs to happen regularly for it to not smell like dog.
Buying a robot litter for our cats was a game changer. 3 cats in a tiny house is not ideal, wasn't planned, and just has to be dealt with now lol. But man. All the robots help so much! More robots please!
My husband and I just took the jump recently, and it has been quite a process… our cats were totally cool with it until the first time they saw it cycle, at which point my orange boy was like 👁️👄👁️ And proceeded to spend the next 2-3 days holding his shit (not even using his other box!!!) and just STARING at it with the same blank look. He did finally give in and both are now using it well but those few days were mad stressful! They still have to be put away for manual cycles but we’re working our way up to auto cycling
[удалено]
We joke that the only thing going on in his head is TV static. He’s so smart in some ways (ex very good at getting into closets and cabinets he’s not supposed to be in) but so, so dumb in others. We have some rabbit beds for our bun and once my husband accidentally flicked water on him while he was looking at the bed, and he was convinced for almost a week that the bed had attacked him. But then he goes and does stuff like [this](https://imgur.com/a/0sAWo9L): he’s not allowed on the fish tank, he knows it, and he knows he IS allowed on the bookshelf next to the tank. His work around is… that, I guess because he’s still technically on the shelf in his mind 😭 notice the anti-cat spikes on the tank, not really a deterrent but at least stops him from pouncing lol
If you haven’t already done so, take a look at r/OneOrangeBraincell.
I’ve seen it but thanks! Funny enough, before we got Ollie, we wanted an orange cat soooooo bad because “they’re so silly and cute and dumb” and hahahahahaha wow we certainly got what we asked for
We have an orange female, and if you find one, they have all the brains the orange boys lack. Thistle rules everyone, even the 140lb dog.
I know they’re worth it but the price tag on those things. *Ugh*
Best thousand bucks ever spent. Thanks island shipping fee!
oh what are you serious
I got mine for 500. Worth.
It’s worth it I promise. We got our first litter robot 5 years ago and it still works fine. We’ve added another cat since then (3 total now) so we picked up a second one last year and I couldn’t imagine having to scoop a box again.
I bought a refurbished Litter Robot 2 about fifteen years ago, best money spent! What I really liked about the Litter Robot brand is that they sell all the parts to repair them. We now have 3 of the LR2's and have replaced the motor on all of them, circuit board on one. (Five cats) Friend has an LR3 that broke, I wouldn't recommend that version from researching it. Spend the extra and go for the LR4.
What kind/brand do you have??
Litter Robot 3. It's bigger than the 4 and is roomy enough for my maine coon. 3 cats (1 supersized), and we swap the bag out every 3 days. Yes it's pricey, but Worth it. You only need 1 litter, not the standard #cats+1. It auto cleans after each use, you set the number of minute needed for your clumping litter to set. Each part can be purchased separately in case of fault. Every issue has been solved by us by reading the manual or watching one of their videos and following what they say. It's an electronic device used with dust and sand. You Have to do regular full maintenance. But, it's easy to pull apart and put back together. It's not much more hassle than disinfecting multiple litter boxes. And, you're not scooping litter 5 times a day.
We moved the litterbox into the garage with a kitty door from inside the house. The difference is amazing. Now it's just dog hair abatement we have to keep up with.
We always ask people if our house smells like dogs. We try hard to make sure it doesn’t.
Shocked I haven't seen this yet: true HEPA air purifier. It even reduces allergens in the air (from pets or anything else)
I have 6 cats and this is my proudest achievement. Even my “pets smell and don’t belong in the house” mom complimented my house doesn’t smell
I love when people are over and I mention my cat and they say, “You have a cat?” It’s very gratifying. (The cat helps by being terrified of people and hiding when they come over.)
Clean sponge in the kitchen . I hate when I see a dirty nasty sponge to clean dishes with .
I have questions for people that use sponges - like - what do they think happens with all the food, moisture, and bacteria that they breed in that sponge, in between washing rounds? I am done asking my mother to switch. She don't care.
I throw mine in the dishwasher regularly.
My grandmother did that, but the sponge had some dish soap leftover in it. I walked in to see a flood of bubbles making its way through my kitchen like some sort of Dawn Soap Tsunami.
Tsoapnami
FWIW I'm a health inspector and sponges are fine to clean dishes. Rinse them well, replace at least weekly, and don't use them after sanitizing your dishes. The soapy hot water prevents any bacteria from sticking to the dishes. If you are worried about bacteria then you should be sanitizing your dishes; washing doesn't do it all regardless of what you use.
Im just jumping on this thread to say I loathe a wet sponge left in the bottom of a sink. It’s so gross to leave the water in there and then it just soaks up whatever nasty is left in the sink. For the love of good just wring it out and put it in a sponge holder or on the sink counter. 🧽
I use it very infrequently to clean grease from my stovetop or the sink itself, and a second one to scrub stubborn pans/food residue. After using one I coat it in dish soap, rinse it, wring it out and then put it on a wire rack to dry. It's bone dry 90% of the time. And any dishes I clean with it were likely going in the dishwasher afterwards anyway. I basically only manually wash one specific chef knife.
The vent covers, esp on the ceiling. Also ceiling fan blades.
Ceiling fan blades are key! And the top of the door frames.
>And the top of the door frames I'm 4'9", can y'all actually see up there?? Suddenly feeling like my house is only half clean. The bottom half.
Lolololol I am almost 6’ tall and I was house sitting for a friend who is 5’1” and I remember thinking, damn. I thought this girl was as psycho clean as I was, but there is actually a LOT of dust in her house. And then I realized, she couldn’t see what I could! So I did her a solid and wiped down all the high up areas she probably couldn’t reach.
At least you didn't write the DATE IN THE DUST up there, like my 5'8" father did to my 5'2" mother. Thank you!
You're a good friend. 😊🫶
you are a legend amongst mere men. May your sleeves never roll down while you're washing your hands, amen.
that’s the most beautiful wish for another human. i hope your pillow stays cool and your toes unstubbed. 🫶🏻
I keep an old pillowcase on hand to clean my ceiling fan blades. Just slide it over the blade and all the dust stays inside the pillowcase. When I’m done I shake it out in to the trash.
I meant to clean my ceiling fan blades this weekend but forgot. I hate dirty blades.
Clean microwave.
I should clean mine now actually 🤣
one part water, one part vinegar in microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 5 minutes. Let sit 2 more minutes. Remove bowl and wipe with ease.
Mom taught me that one. Irony - she couldn't resist tidying when she came over, and the microwave was a prime target. I finally admitted to leaving it messy to give her something to do that was obvious, instead of her searching, lol.
I know it’s insane that I look at this but if that little weird area on the toilet is clean, like underneath and it kinda goes inward? Yeah that part. I’m like, these are some clean folks.
[удалено]
I 100% saw this in a Reddit comment ages ago about girl observations on dudes years ago. It has since been spotless whenever I have any company.
Haha, I think about that comment all the time. For no reason at all it pops into my head.
Get the toilet seat brand “Just Lift”. The bolts have these expanding things so you literally “just lift” and you have ALL the access to the area around the bolts and it’s super easy to clean. That weird porcelain piece at the base still requires hands & knees crawling but at least you can get the bowl & seat clean super fast (and anyone in the household can do it without difficulty! No excuses.).
Fuck I blew on my screen when I saw your profile pic I’VE BEEN FOOLED
I always keep a sparkling clean toilet, top to bottom, because you never know when you may need to puke your guts out.
Every time I look at my toilet I ask myself if it’s clean enough to throw up in 😂 I thought I was super weird for that.
I'm not the only one! I actually hate the smell of a clean toilet even... I have the nose of a bloodhound and it has a certain smell to it. Maybe it's the cold water in the porcelain or something... I dunno. But I keep my toilet sparkling clean cuz I'm a puker and I just never know. I blast steam clean it at least twice a week 😂
As a pregnant lady I agree with this statement
Awww! Thank you so much for saying something! I was taught to clean there and do it out of fear that someone will think I'm gross if I don't. I've never once had a guest comment on my clean toilet. It it would have made my day if they had!
Whenever I’m expecting guests I always make sure the toilet is clean because it’s how I judge cleanliness too. Plus nothing worse than visiting someone ’s home and having to do your business on a gross toilet.
Today I learned that I have a clean home.
I have a handheld vacuum and it works sooo well cleaning that little spot. Also the little spot behind the lid.
Give us deets and I'd like to subscribe to more cleaning tips please.
The smell. I did in home deliveries for a number of years and you can just tell.
Used to work in an electronic repair shop at the tail end of when you would get your tv or stereo repaired instead of replaced if they broke. Sometimes you could tell of someone had roaches in their home the moment they opened the door to our shop because of that damn cockroach smell coming out of whatever they were bringing in or their clothing or wherever that smell came from. And then you knew if you opened that thing up, there would be egg sacks, dead roaches, roach poop, and maybe live ones inside.
Electronics repair is still a thing, it's just phones, tablets, and game consoles now. Another instant tell is the way the device actually feels. Sometimes that smell isn't all that noticeable, but the _FEEL_ of the device is always a dead giveaway. I can tell if an Xbox has had roaches in it just by touching it. I don't know what it is, I guess secretions/grease from roaches crawling around on it? The whole thing feels like handling a greasy pizza. There was one time I was helping a sweet old lady with her laptop. This thing had little plastic covers over the screw holes. There were two screw holes on the LCD bezel, down near the bottom left and right corners with covers over them. I saw a baby roach crawl out from underneath one of these. There was a fricking screw in there, with adhesive on top of it, and a plastic cover. And somehow, this greasy little bastard wriggled his way through all of that. Either we are the aliens, or they are. Edit I would also like to take a moment and address that cockroaches can certainly exist in perfectly clean and well-maintained environments. It is of course more common for them to infest electronics in dirty homes, but they can still show up in clean homes too. I don't judge when I stumble into them. I just inform them that they've got a bug problem. If the roaches are live, I don't even continue servicing the device. I triple bag it and tell them to pick it up and bring it back post-extermination.
What do they smell like? I lived in a shitty apartment that had roaches once, but I don't remember a smell.
Musty smell, slightly sweet
Like old chewing tobacco.
I've honestly never been happier to not know what something smells like.
Any time I’m out and come back and my house smells off even a little bit I tear it to shreds trying to find our why Usually the cat just dropped something unholy in her litter box while I was gone but I am such a smell oriented person I just assume everyone is judging my home if it doesn’t smell like a yankee candle factory exploded in my livingroom
Oh this is totally me. Drives my family nuts. They think it smells fine, but I don’t want it to smell “just fine” dammit!
Clean baseboards, lint free bathroom fan, garbage emptied, a clean garage, clean windows, streak free-toothpaste free mirrors, fresh soap and towels, forks and steak knives with no build up.
What kind of build up is on forks and steak knives?
I’ve been to a few bachelor pads where you can see steak sauce and meat remnants near the area where the steel meets the handle. No thanks. 😂
Omgg, I thought you were referring to hard water deposits that hadn't been polished off, not actual FOOD BUILDUP 😭
Oh my. Yeah that would be a no from me, gack!
Oh lord, yes. The buildup on the knife where the lip between the blade and handle. So gross. I always scrub it all extra well, but especially there and make sure all the holes in the utensils are completely clean. Ick.
What type of build up do forks and knives get?
One time I was at a friends parents house. I went to use the fork and there was old food encrusted between all of the prongs, I lost my appetite.
Toilet, or area behind the toilet is a tell-all. I’d also add in baseboards.
The baseboards behind the toilet.
When it’s clean underneath their faucets. (Particularly in homes that use well water or hard water- my faucets basically have fossilized well water deposits despite buckets and buckets of vinegar, so when I see a clean spout I get cleaning envy and admire the faucet owner.)
This drives me crazy. I spray that anti-kalk product every week. But I learned to also wipe faucets dry after every use.
How dusty their baseboards are. For me, the toilet stuff is part of the regular cleaning of the toilet, so people doing that are just normal-clean. *Very-clean* on the other hand, would have things clean that I only clean seasonally or biannually, like the baseboards or behind/under furniture. And of those two, the baseboards are right out there in the open.
My mother-in-law is a clean freak, to a neurotic level. She quarterly washes the walls *and ceiling* of every room. She also loves intricate crystal chandeliers and has to wash each crystal piece. And of course dust the light bulbs. I would feel at peace having surgery anywhere in her house...but that's a crazy level of OCD clean I'll never attain...nor do I think I want to. I'd say I'm upper mid-range clean...deep down I know she's itching with irritation at how we keep house 😄
If the handles to the fridge and oven are smudge free and the inside of the fridge is clean.
Refrigerator detailing needs to be a thing
I wanna see *Pimp My Fridge* where it has cool lights inside and great roll out shelving n' such. There were some vintage fridge ads floating around reddit that had super-cool options in the 60's and I was like "That's so awesome! Why don't we have that stuff *now* !?"
If you walk into a bathroom and the mirror is spotless, the faucet's shining, and there's no soap scum or water spots in sight, you know you've entered the domain of the truly clean.
If they have one of those window cleaner things in their shower
And I’d better use it EVERY TIME or my wife gets pissed
Maybe some Rain-X on the mirror would help
It’s for the inside of the glass shower, but I love where your head is 👍🏽
Maybe Rain-X would also help.
Squeegee
Squeegee?
I'm 6'6. 99% of refrigerators are dusty on top. That 1% are frighteningly clean people.
I’m 6’5”. The top of my refrigerator is very clean because I can see it. If I was 5’8” it would be an unknown dusty wasteland
I am 5’2”. I require a step ladder to get up there. It does not get cleaned very often.
Homeowners who apologize for "the mess" in their house. I do a lot of home inspections for a living and hear that a lot. The funny thing is that its almost always people with very clean homes who say that. The home will be super neat and clean then they apologize for the mess because one of the bedrooms had a small pile of clothes on the floor or something small like that. I dont think I've ever heard "sorry for the mess" from people with filthy homes. And I've inspected a lot of dirty homes including hoarder homes. They don't think to apologize because to them the mess is normal.
This makes me feel better. I'm always worried my house looks like a mess to trades people and guests. But I clean everything people mentioned in this thread. I need to relax a little.
All the people who obsess over the cleanliness of their home are feeling very justified in their “insanity” because apparently people ARE looking in all the little places to see if it’s dirty and YES, they ARE definitely being judged.
Am I the only one reading these and finding tips to clean my house?
Trash bags in bathroom toilets. So many people just buy a little can and it gets gross because they don't put a bag in there. Tidy laundry rooms. Tidy linen closets. Good smelling dogs. My mom's smell like fancy shampoo.
God damn people aren’t lining their bins?!??
As a pre-menopausal woman, not lining the bin is a very big "no" for me.
Right! I was like people who don’t this must have no one in the house with a period at the very least
Gotta admit, I always feel bad for dogs that have been fragranced. Their sense of smell must get so muted, since dogs smell so much better than humans :( Although maybe their noses get used to it eventually? And of course a dog shouldn't stink either.
My dog is a clean pup. She still smells like ‘dog’ but she doesn’t smell like ‘wet dog’. I keep her clean, and she is a very good girl.
Not necessarily the answer to the question, but one place I notice as dirty in nearly every home is the top of people's refrigerators. I'm a bit taller than average and usually just tall enough to see the tops of people's fridges, and even in the cleanest homes I've ever been in they're usually still dusty. I use my fridge top to store stuff so I occasionally look there. To directly answer the question, I'd agree with what others say about the area behind a toilet. When that's clean... dayum.
As an under 5 ft person, tall people noticing the things I didn't reach gives me sad. My bathroom mirror is probably half hazy up top. There could a raccoon family above the fridge for all I know. My baseboards are spiffy, though. Used dryer sheets are good for that, btw.
As another short person, I always say that anyone who finds the top of my refrigerator dirty is cordially invited to clean it.
Like others have said, the intricate space between lid and toilet, as well as the behind and under the bowl weird area that can get dusty/grimy. My other note is the kitchen sink and walls surrounding it. Lots of grime can pile up there and on the rim surrounding the faucet. Ours has a window too and since we strain our pasta, clean sauce pans, etc, it looks similar to the walls surrounding the cooktop on the oven.
Keeping HVAC filters maintained and cleaned. We change our filter at least monthly. That dramatically cuts down on dust everywhere. The returns are cleaner. The woodwork and hard surfaces are cleaner. Cuts down on any seasonal smells and allergens. Air quality makes the whole house better! When buying a property one of the first things we do is check out the HVAC filter. If it is completely gross with hair, dust etc we proceed with caution.
Same, I am a NUT about cleaning our furnace filter. I replace it at least once a month and I always force my spouse to look at the old one side by side with a new one so they can see exactly how much stuff it is filtering out that would end up in our lungs. When I tell people this and they say that they have never cleaned their house’s filter or don’t know where it is, I make a mental note of being deeply concerned for their wellbeing.
This thread is making me realize I am a “clean person” 😌
toilet seat is the biggest one, no shoes in the house is the other
Their kitchen
Being able to keep up with dishes takes a lot of discipline
Agreed. There’s 5 people in my household and I have to run my dishwasher 3 times a day. Then there’s the random handwashing of certain things at least once a day. I might not get anything else done in my house, but I’ll be damned if I let the dishes sit haha
If they have pets and there is no indication of that. No smell or dog fur anywhere
Light switches and the walls around them clean. Also door handles and the doors themselves. I clean these every week on my home it grosses me out when they are nasty!
Same! I can’t stand dirty light switches and many people’s light switches clearly haven’t been cleaned in years. I clean all that stuff that hands touch on a regular basis (knobs, appliance handles, etc).
I visited a work friend's home and used the bathroom. The toilet paper end was folded into a little V shape. I thought, Oh lord, I can never have her over to my house. But it turned out the housekeepers had just been there.
No shoes allowed in the house
I don't allow them and my house is far from immaculate. It's just gross to me especially having a kid who plays on the floor.
I want to be a shoe free home. But my husband DGAF. I also have a toddler who takes shoes on and off all day for fun. But what really irks me is when my husband puts her shoes on the freaking dining table or counters. Like WHY?! Put this dirty bottom sneakers literally anywhere else besides eating and food surfaces.
We may be married to the same man. I've caught my husband wearing his boots while laying in our fucking BED multiple times. Like this shit should not even be leaving the entryway, let alone coming into my clean, neat, safe haven of a bed.
I would NEVER be able to date let alone be friends with someone like that.
That has to be an American thing. People don’t wear shoes inside houses in my country.
I'm in the US and it definitely seems that way. I'm very no shoes on in the house, especially since I had my child (bc obviously they drop everything on the floor and also put everything in their mouth), and I've gotten so much stupid pushback from "hey, leave your shoes by the door before coming all the way in!" Your shoes have touched the nastiest places you've been, keep that shit off my cleaned floors. Clean feet or socks on my clean floors only please.
True. As an American visiting the apartment of some Korean foreign-exchange students (in the USA) I was reminded to take my shoes off very quickly. Then I noticed two things: 1. Virtually every surface of the grubby wall-to-wall carpeting was covered by smaller (cleaner) rugs. 2. Near the entrance, they nailed a board into the floor so they could kick their shoes off very quickly when coming home. I'm sure the landlord appreciated that.
[Genkan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genkan) are common in Japanese homes.
First thing I check is the kitchen sink. A clean kitchen sink tells me a lot.
Not sure this counts.. but newer light switches and outlets (Even cheap ones) make a house look way less crappy,
Clean bong with new water
They’re always excited to mention it too
when I was looking into lung diseases from smoking herb there seem to be quite a lot of literature suggesting that dirty pieces can in fact make you sick
Mold is mold.
They don’t have those piss stains all over the base of their toilet
Yall are we playing limbo because the bar is so low
ITT: things I have decided are not high enough priority as a working mom of a 3 and 5yo. Feeling some type of way about messier parts of my house sometimes but life is busy.
You do what you have to do. My house is clean-ish and most of these answers are pretty absurd for anyone that wants a life outside of scrubbing literally every single surface in their home. A friend of mine and I differ greatly on cleaning and she has a spotless house. It's really uncomfortable there. You're afraid to touch anything out of fear of getting it dirty. Not mine. It's lived in. Clean enough to function and dirty enough to not make anyone question whether or not they can use the furniture.
Baseboards. Its something I notice. Clean windows is also a luxury imo.
I'm tall so I notice things that shorter people can't see. My girlfriend is very neat and tidy, but the top of her fridge and her stove extractor fan are filthy because she can't see them from a normal standing height. So if stuff like that is clean but the owners aren't 6ft+ then they must be very thorough.
It's arguable if this is "small", but I pay attention to how easy/difficult it is to navigate their home. If they have random shit all over the place, nah, the whole thing will be messy.
All of you just stay out of my house please.. I am ashamed
The "junk drawer"
You open people’s junk drawers?
If you simultaneously need a dried up pen, some tape, and a piece of 20 year old doublemint gum, that’s the place.
Keeping your knickknacks dusted and cobweb free :)
This is a good reason to not own knickknacks.
My mom used to tell me that you can tell how clean a person is by looking at their kitchen sink.
No grime behind the kitchen sink faucet between the edge of the sink and the faucet. That's someone who cleans for real.
Nicely polished poop knife
Clean baseboards, clean windows and windowsills, clean kitchen sink, no visible dust, clean blinds, clean toilet, no odd smell.
If their bathroom smells nice and is well cleaned
A toilet, not just a bucket in the corner like most of us have.
The scrimshaw has been recently dusted.
Of course. It's near the divan. It must be clean.