Oh God Help Me Please TT_TT
So I am anticipating that this post will be long-winded and a little bit rambling, but I have a lot to explain. So here goes.
Ok, so my husband and I had to move in with some friends of his back in June, originally on the understanding that they would be moving out in July. The house was old but cheap, and much better for our budget than our inner city apartment. Then their moving date changed to August… Then October… Then November… Finally they seem to have settled on December 16. So what began as a temporary share house solution has become a severe headache for me, and a trial in cleanliness and unfuckery.
(Might actually break this down before I launch into the full explanation)
The Husband And I
We are not the tidiest of people, but we’re not filthy. We clean the dishes semi-regularly, we hoard junk but periodically clear it out, we had a system of organised chaos. I have severe anxiety and depression, which has been, in the past, mostly manageable. Since moving into this place, it has gotten worse, largely in part due to the lack of personal space (we are 5 people living in a two bedroom house…), and even more so due to the absolute filth in which these people live. I started following UFYH because I needed the help to tackle the house and its layers of horror. Every time the housemates push back their date to move out, I become a little less well adjusted. I cry most days when I get home and see that no one has done anything in terms of cleaning or helping to tidy up around the place. But I try to keep on top of the things that are my direct responsibility (my and my husband’s junk, our kitten, our dishes, our bedroom, our corner of the loungeroom). It’s not perfect, but by God it’s better than when we first moved in, and it’s better than my housemates’ filth.
The Housemates
We live with 3 people, all 3 of whom have their own issues. They are however fully capable of physical activity, and shouldn’t have any difficulty doing a load of dishes, or changing their cat’s litter, or sweeping the kitchen once in a while, or taking the garbage out. These are all things that we have not only discussed explicitly with them, but have constantly reminded them to do since having those conversations. And still, nothing gets done. I clean the kitchen, and within hours, it looks like shit again. But I’m getting sidetracked. This is not the issue. I have pretty much come to accept that they are not going to change their behaviours or their attitudes. What I am concerned about is, how am I going to tackle the house once they move out? (And I have been assured that the December deadline is absolutely when they are leaving this time, as they are moving to the US and that is the latest they can leave.) I am dreading cleaning out their room; they eat, sleep, and spend almost every waking moment in that room, and they are not diligent in bringing out their dishes or taking out their garbage. AND their room is the bigger, so when they’re gone, I’d really like to be able to claim that for my husband and me. They deep fry every other meal, and the house reeks of fryer oil. Even typing all this out makes me feel beaten down, because I have no idea a) how to deal with all this shit for the next two months, and b) how to make this place not just habitable, but beautiful and homely for my little family.
The Issue At Hand
Let me paint you a picture - it isn’t a pretty one. Our bathroom window, when we moved in, was filled with garbage and dirt and dust between the glass and the flyscreen. The housemates do not take any pride in their home. The driveway (which I have already mostly unfucked) was covered in 8 years (I shit you not) worth of dead leaves and ivy choking the house and fence and driveway, to the point where literally a third of it could not be used until we cleared it away. The windows have probably not been cleaned in at least 18months, and only then because they had a house sitter while they were away in the US a while back. The carpet on the stairs is TWO DISTINCT DIFFERENT COLOURS. The inner third, where all the foot traffic is, is beige, which I’m assuming is the original colour of the carpet. The outer two thirds is dark grey, purely from the collection of dust and cat hair. I have tried vaccuuming a dozen times, and it has done nothing. I’ve resigned myself to the knowledge that I’m going to have to rip up that carpet (but with nice wooden floorboards underneath, it is going to be a big improvement).
I could go on, trust me. But what I’m really concerned about is, how am I going to tackle this place once they leave? There is SO MUCH dust, I can’t keep on top of it even now. I almost feel like we’d be better off emptying the house out onto the lawn and cleaning it that way, but that is not really a feasible solution. So my specific questions are this:
- How do I, on a budget of virtually nothing, clean this house from hell from top to bottom?
- What is causing this place to generate so much dust, and how can I stop it?
- Am I ever going to get my sanity back?
