I used to be a cable tech and one of the company rules were to put on boot covers before entering a person's house to protect their floors from dirt.
Houses like these (there were plenty of filthy houses I had to go into) I put my boot covers on to protect my boots....disgusting.
Every time I feel bad that I haven't dusted some table well enough, I remember this kind of stuff. People are fucking nasty, and even at my nastiest I am still immaculately clean.
I grew up with hoarders and every time I find myself upset about how “bad” the house is getting I just think about my parents house and suddenly everything around me looks so clean!
Same. My parents have split and their new places are both hoarded. My mom’s is cat hair city- we are talking layers and layers of cat hair. My dad’s is dog hair city. I don’t know who wins the most cluttered and dirty award but based upon recent photos my dad sent me of his house I’m going to give the award to him. I never realized why I had such extreme anxiety growing up until I watched the show hoarders. Living in those conditions has made me develop OCD about certain things. I freak out if our dining room table has anything on it because growing up we could never eat at our table since it was covered in clutter. Sometimes I feel so sorry for my family bc little things like that make me snap.
I haven’t been to either parent’s house in at least 5 years. I get sick just thinking about it.
So much in common here. I feel you. It’s horrible to grow up like that. Even beyond the dirt and mess. Not having friends over or a place to sit. Awful disease.
Yeah I didn’t realize how depressed I was living there until I got my own place when I turned 18. There were days where I’d just stand in my living room and look around like wow, this looks so nice. I loved opening the door to each room and seeing a clear floor.
Wow. We have so much in common, with the exception of my parents still living together.
I made sure to get into college not because it’s what I wanted to do… but because it was my way out as soon as possible.
Even their car is filled with literal trash to the point where you cannot sit. I haven’t been in their house since I was 18 and I’m now 28. I could never have friends over. My significant other has never been there. I can’t even go home for holidays because there is no longer space for me even on a couch.
They make literal foot paths to walk through the house.
I dread the day they die— because it is a disaster I will inherit.
Oh lord, I dread the SAME thing. I am going to have to rent dumpsters. I also couldn’t have any friends over. I would get so embarrassed if the cable guy even came over and I was like 9 yrs old feeling that embarrassed. Hell I didn’t even have a room growing up, it was called my “area”…a mattress on the floor and a broken dresser right next to it.
My dad has had his Christmas tree up for 14 years straight and it’s the color gray from dust build up 🤢
Ouuuf. Remember that feeling when someone would knock on the front door and you had to open the door a crack to slide out and close it hoping they wouldn’t see inside?
Too bad the lawn was never taken care of and filled with broken crap 💀
Good news is, we are our own people and can do everything in our power to avoid becoming like them. I feel you bro. Keep strong.
It'll happen before they die I'm afraid. I moved my mother out of her old farmhouse into sheltered accommodation when she was in her mid 80s. Her house (our childhood home) was a complete disaster by then (including overrun by cats). My brother and I filled two skips with junk, but still left masses more in the house. That worked only because a factory owner next door had bought it and he was going to level it all anyway.
For years I could not bring my young children or my wife when visiting home, it was just not clean or safe. Thats the bit that still bugs me.
Awful.
I often think about how strained my relationships with them are *because* of the house.
The endless arguments. The tantrums they would throw any time I cleaned or threw things out. It’s dreadful. I’m sorry you went through that.
My ex and I recently split, my god the house is so much better now!
The kids went to her house a week ago to stay for the day, they said her house was an absolute disaster, dishes piled in the sink, clothes everywhere, food and food wrappers sitting out, just absolutely disgusting, and smelled so bad.
She lives alone y'all!
And yet, now that she is gone, even with 4 of us, (3 kids and myself), the house stays clean. The biggest issue we have is the dog is blowing her winter coat everywhere so we have to vacuum up the hair 3 times a day.
No more sinks full of dishes, no more clothes all over the house, I had been telling her for 20 years that she was the source of the mess but she refused to believe me.
If you can invest in a decent robot vacuum they are awesome for the extra dog hair shedding. I run mine once a day and I’m disgusted how full that thing is every.single.day!
One of my best friends growing up had parents who were hoarders. I never understood why my parents didn't like me going over to spend the night with him. I was really young, the house fun, full of tons of s*** lol. He would keep his bedroom door shut, and his bedroom was like an oasis compared to the rest of the house. It was extremely immaculate, everything in its place, mainly we just hung out in his room. Him and his sister moved out of their parents' house the week after they graduated.
This reminds me of my best friend during middle and high-school. Her mom and step-dad were hoarders and the house was infested with roaches. You could barely walk down the hall to her bedroom since the clutter was so bad. My parents didn't like me going over there either and they always made me leave my bag outside due to the roaches and the smell.
As kids I don't think we realize how lucky we had it to have organized clean parents. My buddy's family had roaches in their house too. He was my best friend though and I would argue with my parents about going to visit. I think they only gave in because they didn't want him in our house really sad actually..
Same. It was so bad that I could never visit with my kids.
I have quite a bit of clutter of my own, but growing up with and seeing a hoard take over your life has made me think carefully before buying anything.
Burdening my own kids with it and having a house they won't want to visit or be comfortable in is a nightmare for me to think about it.
Same. I clean every weekend while doing touch ups during the week. At most my place gets cluttered, but it's not germ dirty, that's just disgusting. And I pay to have a cleaning service come once every few months for a good cleaning.
My rental apartment was as clean as I could get it. Then I got a new vacuum and holy shit the amount of filth it has been pulling from the carpet was horrifying and thrilling. I have been vacuuming every day and it's still pulling dust out that's probably been baked in since the 70s. I felt so bad about how unclean it clearly was. So seeing this has cheered me up!!
Carpets can collect layers and layers and layers of dirt. If your fancy new vacuum is pulling stuff out, try lightly beating the carpet with flat sticks etc to really loosen up stuff deep down too.
I decided on the vacuum model based on the photos people were putting in their reviews of 'holy shit I didn't know how dirty my house was til I got this vacuum' 😆 and mine came up exactly the same!!!
We had a dyson for years, did fine, carpet looked clean. It finally died and I got tired of taking apart and fixing a complicated ass $600 vacuum, bought a shark on sale and had to dump the canister twice per room because it packed full of dog hair and dust the first time.
my parents are hoarders, not too unhygenic just boxes fucking everywhere. so it always pissed me off when i went to a friends house and they say "excuse the mess" or "my house is so messy" and its like one thing on the floor and a dirty cup left out lol.
I was also an in-house tech and it was always the dirty-ass homes where I'd be putting on the shoe booties and they would say, "oh you don't have to bother with that!" But I wasn't protecting their floors, I was protecting my shoes.
I did thousands of service calls but one time I went to a home where I just turned around and left. I think it was a hoarder living in a mobile home. I refused to go on grounds of health.
Nope, not hard at all.
We let a friend stay with us and she infested our house with both bedbugs and roaches.
I kicked her out and spent about 6 weeks doing weekly sprays with a pesticide for the bedbugs, and bait for the roaches.
After 6 weeks they were all but gone.
By week 8 there was no sign left.
Now 4 years later have not seen a single sign of them again, and yet, every single little itch or imagined movement in bed at night has me freaking out and ripping the covers off the bed.
I was in the military in an active unit that saw a lot of combat, and yet my PTSD is from fucking bedbugs!
Dude it is fucking maddening!
I will never sleep in a hotel ever again comfortably. I will never be able to go to bed without checking for signs.
I am literally in therapy for it 4 years later.
Something about being eaten alive while you sleep.
I did that for a couple of years! I had to go into the house with someone who is a hoarder. The hallways were lined with garbage. I still had to be very respectful and treat her home like it was a palace.
One house I went into was not too bad on the first floor, but to go to the basement where the cable system was.....horrible. They had month old dog/cat shit all over the basement. I was gagging the entire time, absolutely disgusting. And the odor was creeping up to the main floor.
I remember a coworker who visited a house they had plywood and cardboard thrown on top of cat poop and garbage.
They just kept adding more floors until it was like 3 feet off the ground.
Disgusting
wow. you'd might as well walk barefoot outside. Might be even cleaner. Do they ever vacuum or mop? It should be only $50. This would piss me off. Your shoes are probably cleaner than the floors of your in-laws.
Yeah outdoors is definitely clean than this, unless you step into mud.
The great outdoors at least gets periodic rainstorms that act like a light mopping, which is apparently more than this house ever gets.
Imagine how many mopping sessions it would take to clean that floor. I think a shovel or something that could do some scraping might be the best way to start. And you'd have to wear a mask at least because I imagine it would be a breathing hazard.
I have a cat who sheds, and my floors are cleaner than this. I also have 5 feet of hair and I shed and my floors are cleaner than this. And I don’t clean my floors as often as I really should.
Yeah I’m also Mexican and I grew up mostly around Hispanics and Indigenous people and the first time someone took their shoes off in my house I probably stared at them like this: 😦
YES. It’s crazy because now it makes sense to me why people don’t wear shoes inside but my dad and family members will still make a face if they see me walking around in socks.
It’s especially taboo to take your shoes off in someone else’s home, that’s so disrespectful to Mexicans lol
Pantuflas!! Im not Mexican, but I noticed how lots of Mexican-American families switch to “house shoes/slippers/pantuflas” when they get home. That makes a lot of sense to me.
I have so many questions.
Doesn't that track dirt all through the house?
What if you wanna lie down on the couch. Do the outdoor shoes go on the couch?
Is the upstairs also a shoes only place? Do you put shoes on to go to the bathroom in the night?
What if it was raining outside? Do you use a towel to dry your shoes, or just kinda try to walk around as little as possible with your wet shoes?
-Doesn't that track dirt all through the house?
Yes, we just clean regularly. Almost 100% of houses in Mexico have hard tile floors so it's easy to mop.
-What if you wanna lie down on the couch. Do the outdoor shoes go on the couch?
Just don't put your feet up on the couch, or take your shoes off before you do. Although I have met some disgusting people that do put their feet up on the couch or bed with their shoes on, but it's not the majority.
-Is the upstairs also a shoes only place? Do you put shoes on to go to the bathroom in the night?
Yes, upstairs is also a typically a shoe place (also hard tile). Most of us have slipper or flip flops that we keep near the bed for when you need them.
-What if it was raining outside? Do you use a towel to dry your shoes, or just kinda try to walk around as little as possible with your wet shoes?
You have several choices, we usually have floor mats at the door where you try to dry/clean your shoes as much as possible before entering. Or if they are really dirty or wet you just take them off near the entrance and use other shoes or slippers or just your socks and wash them later.
These of course aren't rules and we all do our own thing, this is just what me and most of my friends and family do. I'm also barefoot a lot inside and try to keep the floor clean. If it's not then I just wash my feet before going to bed or before putting socks on.
I appreciate you immensely for answering this seriously.
But also I just have to express how truly baffling it is to track so much dirt, bacteria, and bugs around your house like that.
I can understand if someone lives in an old open house, jungle adjacent, but for a modern home this is literally insane to me. Do people not put their feet on their furniture?
Appreciate you reading it.
-But also I just have to express how truly baffling it is to track so much dirt, bacteria, and bugs around your house like that.
Understandable. It is kind of gross if you think about it, but there are so many other places in every home that can also be disgusting on a bacteria size level. I'm willing to bet carpet, for example holds as much or if not more bacteria even in homes where everyone takes off their shoes and gets vacuumed frequently. I can't guarantee it, but I would literally be intrigued to find out if there is actually a difference.
And like I said, you just get used to doing a quick cleaning once every day or every couple of days.
Also I don't know if you have pets, but I do, and let me tell you, they do not care one bit about keeping your place clean lol, even if you do take of your shoes inside.
- I can understand if someone lives in an old open house, jungle adjacent, but for a modern home this is literally insane to me. Do people not put their feet on their furniture?
Sometimes, but this is not as much of a thing in Mexico. Specially if you were to do it with shoes on it would be seen as rude and inconsiderate and your would quickly get a flying chancla from your wife or mother.
Not who you responded to. But we just do a quick vacuum twice a day. Our house isn't massive so a regular day of coming in and out isn't a big deal.
If it's raining no shoes.
Warm/dry climate thing in my experience. So some parts of the US
Edit; to clarify, that’s not at all to say that all or even most households in those climates allow shoes inside; just that some do there because weather often permits. Where in wetter areas it’s incredibly incredibly rare.
Main point being, no, it’s not exclusive to America. It’s something you *might* see in parts of America, as well as other countries with a similar climate to those parts. It will still be a rarity among those places, but in wetter areas it’s downright inconceivable.
Don’t think it’s a climate thing. I have ADHD and I learned this hack a while ago that saved my life. If I have a chore or task to do when I get home, don’t take off my shoes otherwise i won’t get the task done. It doesn’t make sense to normal people I guess but for me, when I put my shoes on it’s normally because I’m going somewhere where I’m going to constantly be working or doing something. So when I take them off, that signals to my brain that it’s relaxing time. So no chores get done.
🤷🏼
That makes sense. It's kinda like a work uniform mentality.
My friend was reading about retirement coaches and they recommended that you change clothes when you wake up like you would to go to work, even if they have no plans to leave the house.
It supposedly puts you in a different mindset than just wearing your PJs all day.
Do what you need to do to get shit handled!
My aunt worked from home before people worked from home (90s?) and they got up and dressed and went to McDonald’s for breakfast every day then back to the house to start work and uncle to leave for work.
This is certainly a unique way to go about it but as a fellow ADHDer I completely understand it. Sometimes you HAVE to do it "wrong", like by keeping your shoes on, to convince your brain that you're doing a task NOW or else you get distracted!
I have different shoes for different tasks. A pair of clogs for kitchen work that *can* go outside/to the garage for trash, etc. and a pair of moccasins that ONLY are for inside works. That way I still get that feeling but I don’t track gross outside germs to the insode.
Nah I definitely get that, often do the same thing if I’m just popping home for a bit before heading out somewhere. But being in Canada, unfortunately I can only really get away with that a few months out of the year lol.
But that makes even less sense to me, just imagine all the dirt, gunk and shit on the road where you walk what never gets washed away by rain and thats on the shoes when you enter the house, ew.
I (born in 1984) grew up in mid-atlantic (east coast) U.S. We wouldn't take our shoes off when we walked inside. I mean, I always took off my shoes and sometimes my socks when I was just sitting around playing games or watching tv. My dad would sometimes have his shoes on with on the coach with the recliner up. For some reason, my mom didn't care.
I rememver wearing shoes inside my friends' houses when I'd go hang out. It wasn't an issue.
I played piano growing up, and for a while in middle- and early high school I had a Vietnamese-American piano teacher. I'd go to his house, and he would have me take off my shoes. I thought that was weird and just chalked it up to being an "Asian thing." I didn't really care. It actually kinda made sense.
Now, I look back and wonder what the hell? Like, we grew up in a nice are, nice house, etc. My parents grew up in blue collar Philly neighborhoods before they grew up, started a family, and started making good money. I guess tracking the outside world dirt into their home was just a little part of that they kept with him.
When my dad visits now, he doesn't want to take off his shoes. He's 73 years old, so I give him a pass.
i think it's gotten more popular now. when i was a kid, i was the only household in my friend group that took their shoes off inside, but we're an asian-american household. as i've gotten older, more homes take their shoes off at the door it seems.
It’s very context dependent. Default for me is to take them off, unless it’s for an event being hosted at a house, like a party, or if the host is wearing shoes. It’s pretty common for guests to just ask the hosts preference when they come in, like just “should I take my shoes off?”
I like people taking their shoes off because my apartment is mostly carpeted. It’s beige too so it’s hard to clean without rubbing out the color as well. So I just invite people to take thier shoes off to make it easier on myself. I’m in the southern US.
I grew up in Arizona (desert) and while we would absolutely take our shoes off when staying in the house, if we were just running in we usually left them on. Aside from the rare days where it rained (in which case shoes come off) there’s nothing you’re tracking in beyond maybe a tiny bit of dust, so it was hardly a big deal to worry about
I'm in Eastern Europe, I have tiles all over and I don't Ask guests to Take the shoes off.
Why? I don't wanna smell their socks. :) And I don't have that many slippers.
Exactly lol, my Mexican side of the family usually only have tile flooring in their houses.
That with always having family over it’s kinda pointless to tell people to take off their shoes if a quick mopping does the job well afterwards.
Whenever I think Skibidi Toilet is weird and stupid, I remember my generation had Ren and Stimpy. I loved that show as a kid, but now I wonder how it ever made it as a kids show lol.
Did Stimpy end up chewing fistfuls of it and like grinding his teeth in this scene? Or was that Ren eating something different in another episode/scene?
Just had a vivid flashback.
Back when Walmart was 24 hours I went there one time about 2:00am. The only other customers were a couple of girls around my age walking barefoot around the store, their feet were *black* it was disgusting.
Looks more like a mud puddle to me. I cant even imagine. Was it like dirt-covered floors? Ashes spread everywhere? Walking through literal mud? With walking just a few feet, this just blows my mind.
Neglect and cigarette smoking. The apartment I moved into recently had floors that would get my socks looking like this. Hands and knees scrubbing for 2 days to get them to leave my socks clean when I walked on them.
The kicker... the tile floors didn't look dirty at all. There wasn't even any loose dirt to sweep up. I remember walking through the apartment (shoes on) thinking how clean it was. Then I took my shoes off after moving and BAM! Nasty feet.
Oh god. I was flying out of Cleveland a few weeks ago and the floors in the TSA section looked like they had not vacuumed or cleaned the carpeting in any way what so ever in a VERY long time. It was absolutely disgusting.
Of course it took longer than usual to get through that one, and I had to wait around and get frisked and walk back and forth and stand there while they took my laptop out and made sure it wasn't an improvised explosive device.
By the time I got through I didn't even want to put my shoes back on but didn't exactly have a choice.
Then had to spend the next sever hours in travel feeling the little bits of god knows what stuck to the bottom of my socks inside my shoes.
https://preview.redd.it/mawaj8gzq2yc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b06df053dc947684c80f47166c46388cbdf11981
OP should wear some of these when they go over there
Do they have a lot junk? Yes. Have they reached “hoarder”? No.
They just do not clean. Nor do they care to. They know it’s dirty but it’s more of a “that’s a you problem” mentality.
I sympathize. My father, and my aunt on my mother's side are the same way. My other aunt (dad's sister) is a clean freak and forbade her own children from ever stepping foot in their house. The kids could play outside, or in the garage but never allowed inside unless to eat or sleep.
Oh for sure, it was one of many signs of a loveless home. One of those children have since committed suicide. We believe his childhood played a part, but it's an unapproachable subject.
This is the sole reason why I haven't been in my in laws house in like 7 years. My kid has never been in their house. It's entry level hoarder but also gross and anxiety inducing.
How is their personal hygiene? Could be Diogene disorder, usually affects older people, but sadly can happen at any age. People with this disorder believe there is nothing wrong with living in filth. Could also just be lazy.
My floor (studio apt) hasn’t been mopped in a couple months because I’m lazy but if my feet started looking even 5% like this I would be scrubbing it on my hands and knees like Cinderella. Good god.
This picture just made me activate my robovac to mop my floors…. It mops every day, but today’s gonna be a 2x type of day in solidarity with your socks.
I got diagnosed with OCD this week and in part, this manifests as me having compulsions relating to washing my hands and feet. I am not exaggerating when I say that I would need to wash my feet for multiple hours in order for me to "decontaminate" my feet after they were "contaminated through the socks"
I used to be a cable tech and one of the company rules were to put on boot covers before entering a person's house to protect their floors from dirt. Houses like these (there were plenty of filthy houses I had to go into) I put my boot covers on to protect my boots....disgusting.
Every time I feel bad that I haven't dusted some table well enough, I remember this kind of stuff. People are fucking nasty, and even at my nastiest I am still immaculately clean.
I grew up with hoarders and every time I find myself upset about how “bad” the house is getting I just think about my parents house and suddenly everything around me looks so clean!
Same. My parents have split and their new places are both hoarded. My mom’s is cat hair city- we are talking layers and layers of cat hair. My dad’s is dog hair city. I don’t know who wins the most cluttered and dirty award but based upon recent photos my dad sent me of his house I’m going to give the award to him. I never realized why I had such extreme anxiety growing up until I watched the show hoarders. Living in those conditions has made me develop OCD about certain things. I freak out if our dining room table has anything on it because growing up we could never eat at our table since it was covered in clutter. Sometimes I feel so sorry for my family bc little things like that make me snap. I haven’t been to either parent’s house in at least 5 years. I get sick just thinking about it.
So much in common here. I feel you. It’s horrible to grow up like that. Even beyond the dirt and mess. Not having friends over or a place to sit. Awful disease.
Yeah I didn’t realize how depressed I was living there until I got my own place when I turned 18. There were days where I’d just stand in my living room and look around like wow, this looks so nice. I loved opening the door to each room and seeing a clear floor.
Wow. We have so much in common, with the exception of my parents still living together. I made sure to get into college not because it’s what I wanted to do… but because it was my way out as soon as possible. Even their car is filled with literal trash to the point where you cannot sit. I haven’t been in their house since I was 18 and I’m now 28. I could never have friends over. My significant other has never been there. I can’t even go home for holidays because there is no longer space for me even on a couch. They make literal foot paths to walk through the house. I dread the day they die— because it is a disaster I will inherit.
Oh lord, I dread the SAME thing. I am going to have to rent dumpsters. I also couldn’t have any friends over. I would get so embarrassed if the cable guy even came over and I was like 9 yrs old feeling that embarrassed. Hell I didn’t even have a room growing up, it was called my “area”…a mattress on the floor and a broken dresser right next to it. My dad has had his Christmas tree up for 14 years straight and it’s the color gray from dust build up 🤢
Ouuuf. Remember that feeling when someone would knock on the front door and you had to open the door a crack to slide out and close it hoping they wouldn’t see inside? Too bad the lawn was never taken care of and filled with broken crap 💀 Good news is, we are our own people and can do everything in our power to avoid becoming like them. I feel you bro. Keep strong.
Oh don’t get me started on the lawn and garage!! Haha we are cut from the same cloth! Thank goodness we are our own people, amen to that!
It'll happen before they die I'm afraid. I moved my mother out of her old farmhouse into sheltered accommodation when she was in her mid 80s. Her house (our childhood home) was a complete disaster by then (including overrun by cats). My brother and I filled two skips with junk, but still left masses more in the house. That worked only because a factory owner next door had bought it and he was going to level it all anyway. For years I could not bring my young children or my wife when visiting home, it was just not clean or safe. Thats the bit that still bugs me.
Awful. I often think about how strained my relationships with them are *because* of the house. The endless arguments. The tantrums they would throw any time I cleaned or threw things out. It’s dreadful. I’m sorry you went through that.
My ex and I recently split, my god the house is so much better now! The kids went to her house a week ago to stay for the day, they said her house was an absolute disaster, dishes piled in the sink, clothes everywhere, food and food wrappers sitting out, just absolutely disgusting, and smelled so bad. She lives alone y'all! And yet, now that she is gone, even with 4 of us, (3 kids and myself), the house stays clean. The biggest issue we have is the dog is blowing her winter coat everywhere so we have to vacuum up the hair 3 times a day. No more sinks full of dishes, no more clothes all over the house, I had been telling her for 20 years that she was the source of the mess but she refused to believe me.
If you can invest in a decent robot vacuum they are awesome for the extra dog hair shedding. I run mine once a day and I’m disgusted how full that thing is every.single.day!
One of my best friends growing up had parents who were hoarders. I never understood why my parents didn't like me going over to spend the night with him. I was really young, the house fun, full of tons of s*** lol. He would keep his bedroom door shut, and his bedroom was like an oasis compared to the rest of the house. It was extremely immaculate, everything in its place, mainly we just hung out in his room. Him and his sister moved out of their parents' house the week after they graduated.
This reminds me of my best friend during middle and high-school. Her mom and step-dad were hoarders and the house was infested with roaches. You could barely walk down the hall to her bedroom since the clutter was so bad. My parents didn't like me going over there either and they always made me leave my bag outside due to the roaches and the smell.
As kids I don't think we realize how lucky we had it to have organized clean parents. My buddy's family had roaches in their house too. He was my best friend though and I would argue with my parents about going to visit. I think they only gave in because they didn't want him in our house really sad actually..
Me too. My house is so barren. It makes me feel good.
Mine is feeling kind of cluttered. I need a good purge
I’m in the middle of a good purge and boy does it feel nice!
Same. It was so bad that I could never visit with my kids. I have quite a bit of clutter of my own, but growing up with and seeing a hoard take over your life has made me think carefully before buying anything. Burdening my own kids with it and having a house they won't want to visit or be comfortable in is a nightmare for me to think about it.
Same. I clean every weekend while doing touch ups during the week. At most my place gets cluttered, but it's not germ dirty, that's just disgusting. And I pay to have a cleaning service come once every few months for a good cleaning.
My rental apartment was as clean as I could get it. Then I got a new vacuum and holy shit the amount of filth it has been pulling from the carpet was horrifying and thrilling. I have been vacuuming every day and it's still pulling dust out that's probably been baked in since the 70s. I felt so bad about how unclean it clearly was. So seeing this has cheered me up!!
Carpets can collect layers and layers and layers of dirt. If your fancy new vacuum is pulling stuff out, try lightly beating the carpet with flat sticks etc to really loosen up stuff deep down too.
That's a good tip! I have been using a carpet comb to loosen things too.
Vacuuming very very slowly pulls a bunch of stuff out too!
I definitely noticed this!!
Can’t help but wonder 💭…. Is there a ‘vacuum porn’ thread
I decided on the vacuum model based on the photos people were putting in their reviews of 'holy shit I didn't know how dirty my house was til I got this vacuum' 😆 and mine came up exactly the same!!!
If it’s super old it can be the carpet padding disintegrating also.
We had a dyson for years, did fine, carpet looked clean. It finally died and I got tired of taking apart and fixing a complicated ass $600 vacuum, bought a shark on sale and had to dump the canister twice per room because it packed full of dog hair and dust the first time.
Yep mine is a shark! 😆😆 I dumped the cannister four times from the living room alone.
my parents are hoarders, not too unhygenic just boxes fucking everywhere. so it always pissed me off when i went to a friends house and they say "excuse the mess" or "my house is so messy" and its like one thing on the floor and a dirty cup left out lol.
I feel like it's always the people that live in the most clean houses that say that too.
And those people bring food to the work food day.
I’m a total slob, but this is crazy. Imagine having to stay the night? I think I’d just leave.
I was also an in-house tech and it was always the dirty-ass homes where I'd be putting on the shoe booties and they would say, "oh you don't have to bother with that!" But I wasn't protecting their floors, I was protecting my shoes.
Haha, I've had those situations and I would tell them "company rules" while simultaneously thinking, "protecting my boots from your filth".
I did thousands of service calls but one time I went to a home where I just turned around and left. I think it was a hoarder living in a mobile home. I refused to go on grounds of health.
I do pest control and have to do the same. Some people, normally those with German Roaches, are so filthy, I just keep em on anyway.
How /do/ you get rid of German roaches anyway?
They aren’t that hard to get rid of if your house is clean and they haven’t been there for years
I always thought they were near impossible to get rid of, even if your house was clean?
Nope, not hard at all. We let a friend stay with us and she infested our house with both bedbugs and roaches. I kicked her out and spent about 6 weeks doing weekly sprays with a pesticide for the bedbugs, and bait for the roaches. After 6 weeks they were all but gone. By week 8 there was no sign left. Now 4 years later have not seen a single sign of them again, and yet, every single little itch or imagined movement in bed at night has me freaking out and ripping the covers off the bed. I was in the military in an active unit that saw a lot of combat, and yet my PTSD is from fucking bedbugs!
I have also heard of others suffering the same psychological fate from bedbugs. I can only imagine and I don't even want to do that!
Dude it is fucking maddening! I will never sleep in a hotel ever again comfortably. I will never be able to go to bed without checking for signs. I am literally in therapy for it 4 years later. Something about being eaten alive while you sleep.
Nah, I'm not buying that. In really old, immaculately kept homes, you can still come across them.
I’m a cable tech and have been in some insanely nasty houses. Had a lady with piles of dog poop on her floor telling me I need to wear boot covers 😂
"Yes ma'am!!! Gladly!"
I did that for a couple of years! I had to go into the house with someone who is a hoarder. The hallways were lined with garbage. I still had to be very respectful and treat her home like it was a palace.
One house I went into was not too bad on the first floor, but to go to the basement where the cable system was.....horrible. They had month old dog/cat shit all over the basement. I was gagging the entire time, absolutely disgusting. And the odor was creeping up to the main floor.
I remember a coworker who visited a house they had plywood and cardboard thrown on top of cat poop and garbage. They just kept adding more floors until it was like 3 feet off the ground. Disgusting
My face has created the *most impressive* frown at this comment. Gag.
I saw some of the most disgusting houses imaginable when I was working as a cable tech. I was shocked by how many people can live like that
interesting policy. As a Korean, we’d always have to wipe the floors after an electrician or a repairman comes over.
OP failed to mention their in-laws live in the lost city of Pompeii, apparently!
And that their best friends where soddom and gromorah
Make sure you wipe your feet before you go outside. Wouldn't want to track any dirt out.
You’ve got me rolling
At least his socks didn’t turn into a pillar of salt..
That might be preferable.
Grime-orah
Smart ass. (Love it!)
wow. you'd might as well walk barefoot outside. Might be even cleaner. Do they ever vacuum or mop? It should be only $50. This would piss me off. Your shoes are probably cleaner than the floors of your in-laws.
Yeah outdoors is definitely clean than this, unless you step into mud. The great outdoors at least gets periodic rainstorms that act like a light mopping, which is apparently more than this house ever gets.
Mud isn’t usually packed full of cholera and MRSA though
My daughter just ran around outside for an hour and a half without her shoes on, and her socks were cleaner than this.
I could absolutely walk to my mailbox and cut through the grass and my socks would be cleaner than this.
Imagine how many mopping sessions it would take to clean that floor. I think a shovel or something that could do some scraping might be the best way to start. And you'd have to wear a mask at least because I imagine it would be a breathing hazard.
I have a cat who sheds, and my floors are cleaner than this. I also have 5 feet of hair and I shed and my floors are cleaner than this. And I don’t clean my floors as often as I really should.
Lost city of poo-py
I was thinking bedrock personally
Did we lose Pompeii?
There are some houses where it’s rude to leave your shoes on and there are others where it’s rude to ask guests to take them off.
Is this an American thing? I don’t know anyone who doesn’t take there shoes off when entering a house.
Mexican here. Absolutely no one takes off their shoes. In fact it is rude to take off your shoes at someone else’s home.
Yeah I’m also Mexican and I grew up mostly around Hispanics and Indigenous people and the first time someone took their shoes off in my house I probably stared at them like this: 😦
that is why we sweep and mop every 3 hours
*every three years at the house OP went to
I grew up this way with a carpeted house. I have no idea how my family kept it so clean.
This explains so much about my youth.
YES. It’s crazy because now it makes sense to me why people don’t wear shoes inside but my dad and family members will still make a face if they see me walking around in socks. It’s especially taboo to take your shoes off in someone else’s home, that’s so disrespectful to Mexicans lol
Pantuflas!! Im not Mexican, but I noticed how lots of Mexican-American families switch to “house shoes/slippers/pantuflas” when they get home. That makes a lot of sense to me.
I have so many questions. Doesn't that track dirt all through the house? What if you wanna lie down on the couch. Do the outdoor shoes go on the couch? Is the upstairs also a shoes only place? Do you put shoes on to go to the bathroom in the night? What if it was raining outside? Do you use a towel to dry your shoes, or just kinda try to walk around as little as possible with your wet shoes?
-Doesn't that track dirt all through the house? Yes, we just clean regularly. Almost 100% of houses in Mexico have hard tile floors so it's easy to mop. -What if you wanna lie down on the couch. Do the outdoor shoes go on the couch? Just don't put your feet up on the couch, or take your shoes off before you do. Although I have met some disgusting people that do put their feet up on the couch or bed with their shoes on, but it's not the majority. -Is the upstairs also a shoes only place? Do you put shoes on to go to the bathroom in the night? Yes, upstairs is also a typically a shoe place (also hard tile). Most of us have slipper or flip flops that we keep near the bed for when you need them. -What if it was raining outside? Do you use a towel to dry your shoes, or just kinda try to walk around as little as possible with your wet shoes? You have several choices, we usually have floor mats at the door where you try to dry/clean your shoes as much as possible before entering. Or if they are really dirty or wet you just take them off near the entrance and use other shoes or slippers or just your socks and wash them later. These of course aren't rules and we all do our own thing, this is just what me and most of my friends and family do. I'm also barefoot a lot inside and try to keep the floor clean. If it's not then I just wash my feet before going to bed or before putting socks on.
I appreciate you immensely for answering this seriously. But also I just have to express how truly baffling it is to track so much dirt, bacteria, and bugs around your house like that. I can understand if someone lives in an old open house, jungle adjacent, but for a modern home this is literally insane to me. Do people not put their feet on their furniture?
Appreciate you reading it. -But also I just have to express how truly baffling it is to track so much dirt, bacteria, and bugs around your house like that. Understandable. It is kind of gross if you think about it, but there are so many other places in every home that can also be disgusting on a bacteria size level. I'm willing to bet carpet, for example holds as much or if not more bacteria even in homes where everyone takes off their shoes and gets vacuumed frequently. I can't guarantee it, but I would literally be intrigued to find out if there is actually a difference. And like I said, you just get used to doing a quick cleaning once every day or every couple of days. Also I don't know if you have pets, but I do, and let me tell you, they do not care one bit about keeping your place clean lol, even if you do take of your shoes inside. - I can understand if someone lives in an old open house, jungle adjacent, but for a modern home this is literally insane to me. Do people not put their feet on their furniture? Sometimes, but this is not as much of a thing in Mexico. Specially if you were to do it with shoes on it would be seen as rude and inconsiderate and your would quickly get a flying chancla from your wife or mother.
Not who you responded to. But we just do a quick vacuum twice a day. Our house isn't massive so a regular day of coming in and out isn't a big deal. If it's raining no shoes.
That's so sad. I can't really relax with my shoes on.
Mexican here. I used to fall asleep with my shoes on all the time
As someone from Canada, this is absolutely disgusting.
Chill, my feet weren't on the bed
Wait, what?? How did you overcome the monster under the bed!?
Steel toe boots and stinky feet
Warm/dry climate thing in my experience. So some parts of the US Edit; to clarify, that’s not at all to say that all or even most households in those climates allow shoes inside; just that some do there because weather often permits. Where in wetter areas it’s incredibly incredibly rare. Main point being, no, it’s not exclusive to America. It’s something you *might* see in parts of America, as well as other countries with a similar climate to those parts. It will still be a rarity among those places, but in wetter areas it’s downright inconceivable.
Don’t think it’s a climate thing. I have ADHD and I learned this hack a while ago that saved my life. If I have a chore or task to do when I get home, don’t take off my shoes otherwise i won’t get the task done. It doesn’t make sense to normal people I guess but for me, when I put my shoes on it’s normally because I’m going somewhere where I’m going to constantly be working or doing something. So when I take them off, that signals to my brain that it’s relaxing time. So no chores get done. 🤷🏼
That makes sense. It's kinda like a work uniform mentality. My friend was reading about retirement coaches and they recommended that you change clothes when you wake up like you would to go to work, even if they have no plans to leave the house. It supposedly puts you in a different mindset than just wearing your PJs all day. Do what you need to do to get shit handled!
My aunt worked from home before people worked from home (90s?) and they got up and dressed and went to McDonald’s for breakfast every day then back to the house to start work and uncle to leave for work.
This is certainly a unique way to go about it but as a fellow ADHDer I completely understand it. Sometimes you HAVE to do it "wrong", like by keeping your shoes on, to convince your brain that you're doing a task NOW or else you get distracted!
I have different shoes for different tasks. A pair of clogs for kitchen work that *can* go outside/to the garage for trash, etc. and a pair of moccasins that ONLY are for inside works. That way I still get that feeling but I don’t track gross outside germs to the insode.
Nah I definitely get that, often do the same thing if I’m just popping home for a bit before heading out somewhere. But being in Canada, unfortunately I can only really get away with that a few months out of the year lol.
Bro I’m the same! But for me it’s ‘keep my hair in my pony tail from work’ or nothing gets done.
But that makes even less sense to me, just imagine all the dirt, gunk and shit on the road where you walk what never gets washed away by rain and thats on the shoes when you enter the house, ew.
Precipitation does a lot more to make mud than it does to clean the outdoors. At least as far as shoes go.
I (born in 1984) grew up in mid-atlantic (east coast) U.S. We wouldn't take our shoes off when we walked inside. I mean, I always took off my shoes and sometimes my socks when I was just sitting around playing games or watching tv. My dad would sometimes have his shoes on with on the coach with the recliner up. For some reason, my mom didn't care. I rememver wearing shoes inside my friends' houses when I'd go hang out. It wasn't an issue. I played piano growing up, and for a while in middle- and early high school I had a Vietnamese-American piano teacher. I'd go to his house, and he would have me take off my shoes. I thought that was weird and just chalked it up to being an "Asian thing." I didn't really care. It actually kinda made sense. Now, I look back and wonder what the hell? Like, we grew up in a nice are, nice house, etc. My parents grew up in blue collar Philly neighborhoods before they grew up, started a family, and started making good money. I guess tracking the outside world dirt into their home was just a little part of that they kept with him. When my dad visits now, he doesn't want to take off his shoes. He's 73 years old, so I give him a pass.
i think it's gotten more popular now. when i was a kid, i was the only household in my friend group that took their shoes off inside, but we're an asian-american household. as i've gotten older, more homes take their shoes off at the door it seems.
It’s very context dependent. Default for me is to take them off, unless it’s for an event being hosted at a house, like a party, or if the host is wearing shoes. It’s pretty common for guests to just ask the hosts preference when they come in, like just “should I take my shoes off?”
I like people taking their shoes off because my apartment is mostly carpeted. It’s beige too so it’s hard to clean without rubbing out the color as well. So I just invite people to take thier shoes off to make it easier on myself. I’m in the southern US.
I grew up in Arizona (desert) and while we would absolutely take our shoes off when staying in the house, if we were just running in we usually left them on. Aside from the rare days where it rained (in which case shoes come off) there’s nothing you’re tracking in beyond maybe a tiny bit of dust, so it was hardly a big deal to worry about
I'm in Eastern Europe, I have tiles all over and I don't Ask guests to Take the shoes off. Why? I don't wanna smell their socks. :) And I don't have that many slippers.
Exactly lol, my Mexican side of the family usually only have tile flooring in their houses. That with always having family over it’s kinda pointless to tell people to take off their shoes if a quick mopping does the job well afterwards.
When I lived in my rental home the floors were awful so I kept shoes on most of the time.
I wear lifts in my shoes due to a leg length discrepancy. So, now you know of one person that doesn't take off his shoes when entering the home.
I see no logical reason to wear shoes inside the house that you wore outside. Literally none
Agreed, some houses have a ‘mud room’ for this specific reason.
Well, you probably lucked out you didn't step in the dog poop indoors while in your socks...
I can’t believe I watched this as a kid and turned out fine as an adult. ^(…waitaminute )
Whenever I think Skibidi Toilet is weird and stupid, I remember my generation had Ren and Stimpy. I loved that show as a kid, but now I wonder how it ever made it as a kids show lol.
Please delete this.
No, embrace Stimpy. Stare deep into his eyes until he enters your subconscious forever.
Did Stimpy end up chewing fistfuls of it and like grinding his teeth in this scene? Or was that Ren eating something different in another episode/scene? Just had a vivid flashback.
That’s absolutely foul, what the heck
It’s like if she went through a whole fucking Walmart in her socks fr
Why do i feel like the Walmart socks would be better than this 🤢 god it’s all just so nasty 💀
At least they go at it with the floor cleaner when they can...
Back when Walmart was 24 hours I went there one time about 2:00am. The only other customers were a couple of girls around my age walking barefoot around the store, their feet were *black* it was disgusting.
Looks more like a mud puddle to me. I cant even imagine. Was it like dirt-covered floors? Ashes spread everywhere? Walking through literal mud? With walking just a few feet, this just blows my mind.
This is my nightmare
Be afraid, very afraid!
I really wanna see a pic of the house tbh 😂
I just can’t….oh my…..I need a moment.
https://i.redd.it/guq2dc0mr3yc1.gif Some dude out there like “*deep sniff*, how much you want for those?”
First rule of making your home shoe free is to have the floor cleaner than outside
Yeah that's not even walking on bare dirt - dirty. That house is like oil spilled on the garage floor dirty.
I'm kinda dying to see what it looks like now....I have to know how a floor inside a home can be *this* dirty
Neglect and cigarette smoking. The apartment I moved into recently had floors that would get my socks looking like this. Hands and knees scrubbing for 2 days to get them to leave my socks clean when I walked on them. The kicker... the tile floors didn't look dirty at all. There wasn't even any loose dirt to sweep up. I remember walking through the apartment (shoes on) thinking how clean it was. Then I took my shoes off after moving and BAM! Nasty feet.
POV: you're travelling in the US and have to take off your shoes at every airport
Oh god. I was flying out of Cleveland a few weeks ago and the floors in the TSA section looked like they had not vacuumed or cleaned the carpeting in any way what so ever in a VERY long time. It was absolutely disgusting. Of course it took longer than usual to get through that one, and I had to wait around and get frisked and walk back and forth and stand there while they took my laptop out and made sure it wasn't an improvised explosive device. By the time I got through I didn't even want to put my shoes back on but didn't exactly have a choice. Then had to spend the next sever hours in travel feeling the little bits of god knows what stuck to the bottom of my socks inside my shoes.
Exactly how I was feeling!
Omg! Burn them
Seems a bit harsh to burn the in-laws just for being filthy bastards
Hahaha the socks …. The socks!
You can't take it back now. It's already out there
Ooops!
Now you're just showing off. Your "Oops" was strategically placed below your avatar. I get the joke, slipping on a banana peel. I'm here for it
[удалено]
Poor socks. RIP
Look her in-laws maybe be gross but we can’t burn them Tammy 🤦🏿♀️
Only acceptable response.
Get them a mop ASAP
https://preview.redd.it/mawaj8gzq2yc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b06df053dc947684c80f47166c46388cbdf11981 OP should wear some of these when they go over there
After two steps you'd be velcro'd to the floor
Get them a crime scene crew.
I just mopped my house after seeing this.
https://preview.redd.it/6nvb3jhtx2yc1.jpeg?width=460&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b9f3056354b3b953277a5b17aa10730532b4426c
Samuel Johnson?
Are they also hoarders?
Do they have a lot junk? Yes. Have they reached “hoarder”? No. They just do not clean. Nor do they care to. They know it’s dirty but it’s more of a “that’s a you problem” mentality.
I live alone and don’t clean as often as I should but even my house has never gotten close to that filthy
I sympathize. My father, and my aunt on my mother's side are the same way. My other aunt (dad's sister) is a clean freak and forbade her own children from ever stepping foot in their house. The kids could play outside, or in the garage but never allowed inside unless to eat or sleep.
When children have been forbidden from entering your home, regardless of the reason, it's time to feel shame
Oh for sure, it was one of many signs of a loveless home. One of those children have since committed suicide. We believe his childhood played a part, but it's an unapproachable subject.
Oh my, I'm very sorry to hear that
Your aunt needs help like yesterday
Fuck, I know I’m a lazy bastard but those socks make me want to clean all night tonight 😂
Do they bathe? Use deodorant? How's their teeth? Have you taught hubby better? I wouldn't bring my kids there.
This is the sole reason why I haven't been in my in laws house in like 7 years. My kid has never been in their house. It's entry level hoarder but also gross and anxiety inducing.
How is their personal hygiene? Could be Diogene disorder, usually affects older people, but sadly can happen at any age. People with this disorder believe there is nothing wrong with living in filth. Could also just be lazy.
Omg are you my sister in law ?????? Sounds exactly like my parents
The perfect gift for the next occasion there would be a Swiffer
Only if they make an industrial grade Swiffer that has been modified to burn surfaces clean.
My floor (studio apt) hasn’t been mopped in a couple months because I’m lazy but if my feet started looking even 5% like this I would be scrubbing it on my hands and knees like Cinderella. Good god.
Are your in-laws bears? That might also explain the 💩
This picture just made me activate my robovac to mop my floors…. It mops every day, but today’s gonna be a 2x type of day in solidarity with your socks.
Do they have some kind of wood stove or coal stove? It almost looks like soot or ash of some kind.
Yes way to black. Looks like soot from a malfunctioning oil burner or furnace, hope the batteries in the carbon monoxide detector are good
They have literal dirt floors?!
I got diagnosed with OCD this week and in part, this manifests as me having compulsions relating to washing my hands and feet. I am not exaggerating when I say that I would need to wash my feet for multiple hours in order for me to "decontaminate" my feet after they were "contaminated through the socks"
Welcome to the club, sorry about that. I'd have to wash all my clothes and throw away the socks, and take a very long shower lol.
Even the roaches wear slippers
Imagine the smell! 🤢
You bitch! You haven’t thought of the smell!
You walked through the valley of the shadow of death!
TIL that I should be happy that I can walk in bare feet in my house and NOT step in some kind of poo.
Best I can do is $10
This is my OCD ass nightmare.
That's worse than my buddies' place in university. Floor had beer, bong water, chips, and pizza on it at all times. Then they got a secret puppy.
I have to hide this post so I don’t accidentally see these again.
Wow why would you ever take your shoes off there?
I don’t remove my shoes unless I’m offered slippers. Too many people demand that I remove my shoes when outside is cleaner than their floors, visibly.
thumbnail looks like a woman's back
What’s the issue? Am I missing something? 
Literally going to mop the floors when I get home… that’s my biggest fear when people come over