I have to rant about family here for a bit. I hate feeling like this, but I can’t help it.
We had relatives come over from overseas for a couple of weeks.
From what I can gather, my relatives are fairly wealthy, and have considerably more disposable income than I do, and they are not afraid to spend it. They are very lavish and generous in spending. They would buy all the groceries, and pick up the check whenever we go out to eat, because the exchange rate is kind of in their favor, and things in the Midwest are cheap anyway. So shopping trips, and eating out at fancy restaurants (at least I consider them fancy) was a daily routine.
They were also extremely kind and understanding when it comes to buying groceries. They would buy their own groceries (more on this later), and did not allow us to pay for anything.
All this is well and good. The problem is, they are EXTREMELY messy people.
I am a firm believer in “A place for everything and everything in its place”, philosophy. I like to keep things clean and tidy. I don’t believe in accumulating stuff, and before I buy things, I like to think of a place for them. I might come across as a little OCD, and while that may be true to some extent, I like to keep things simple. With a system like mine, my life is simple, so I don’t spend a lot of time tidying around the house, because everything has a place.
The concept of putting things back in place does not exist in their mind. They use something, and then just leave it on the counter. This includes plates, beer bottles, electronics, you name it. Everything is everywhere. It drove me nuts. I went through 2 weeks of pain because nothing is where it should be, and when I wanted to find something, I would start with the kitchen counter, because more than likely, it would be left there after it was used.
For two evenings, I cleaned up after them, and they were sipping beer at the kitchen counter, while I was cleaning up their mess, and yet it did not occur to them to not make a mess. The idea that some people like to keep their house clean did not cross their mind at all.
We gave up our own bedroom (the master), and we slept in the office on a futon. We put on clean sheets, vacuumed the carpet, and made sure the room smelled nice. I was horrified when I walked into my room the day after they arrived.
http://imgur.com/a/bn9r3That was the state of our house while they were here. It was like this for two weeks.
The fridge was stuffed with food and considering they ate out every evening, the food that they purchased was wasted. I ended up throwing away a lot of it including a cooked steak that was left in the fridge (not the freezer) for about a week. It started growing mold...it was awful.
In addition to this, they soak in the sun all day sipping orange juice...nothing wrong with it, but they don’t take care to ensure that as they are going in and out of the house, flies don’t enter inside.
Again, not a big deal by itself, but when you consider the fact that they literally leave trash on the kitchen counter, and by the bed...you now have a bunch of flies hovering around...it was disgusting.
I did not look forward to coming home because of all the things I had to witness. I felt like my space was invaded.
I was in a position to say anything because this would upset the wife. With them being here, she also took some time off from work, and she too started getting careless and added to this mess in more ways than one. She is not the tidiest person herself, but when we are by ourselves, I make sure that she cleans up after herself by reminding her - very nicely of course, but with relatives at our place, I am outnumbered and outspoken.
It took me about 6 hours to get everything cleaned (not just tidy).
http://imgur.com/a/HlBpdI now look forward to enjoying what is left of 4th of July in my clean home, and I will get to sleep in my own bed after 2 long weeks. Freedom!
Thanks for reading this. I needed to vent.