Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with messy

Sadie the tidying lady?

mjao — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 01:08:07 -0800

I know how to--and rather enjoy--housecleaning. But I suck at tidying. my brain just doesn't work that way. As a consequence, I'm clean but quite messy. How do I look at a room & figure out the most efficient way to make it look neat? Share with me all your approaches and strategies.

Tips on dealing with dirty and careless people at the office ?

KogeLiz — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 10:13:01 -0800

How do I get my 'professional' co-workers to stop leaving food in the refrigerator for months? And how, in general, prevent them from being so careless? I am the office coordinator/receptionist... which translates into 'receiving complaints about the office'.

Our office has about 35-40 people in the office. Mostly male engineers.

We have one fridge in the kitchen (which I don't use and now cannot see how other people can use it) and currently I am receiving a lot of complaints about how the fridge smells horrible and there's food in there from several months ago.
A former employee got sick of it and cleaned it out but within a month there was already expired food.

Other issues people complain about are people leaving dirty dishes in the sink, spilling/dropping stuff and not picking it up, rifiling through the supply cabinets and dropping bins of supplies and leaving them on the floor, etc.

Anyone have any tips on controlling filthy people who think their wives are magically going to clean up after them here at work?

I mean, I know it can't be totally controlled... but just wondering if anyone had any tips or ideas.

Two Cats are Better than One?

By The Grace of God — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 10:17:55 -0800

I want two kittens. My husband wants one. Help me win this argument. I think:

The cost of having two kittens/cats isn't much more than one (barring vet bills - is this the case? We're in the UK.)
Mess from shedding, hairballs, stray vomit and poop, etc. isn't much more from two than one.
They will be indoor kitties and will be fitter and healthier with playmates.

Husband thinks:

It will be spendier, messier, etc. by a factor of two if we get two kittens.

How can my current hair become David Tennant's hair?

John Kenneth Fisher — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 08:05:52 -0800

So I always have boring haircuts. Standard businessman cut type. Cause I'm lazy and hate having to do anything with it in the morning. And this morning I realized it is now at the point where it needs to be cut as it's looking, well, like it needs to be cut. (How it looks right now: me1, me2, me3, though for some reason in the pics it looks a lot less in need of cleanup than it does in real life.) So I'd like to do something a bit more interesting, a bit more daring. Not much, but a little. I'm kind of in a turning myself around mentally state, and it's passing over into things like this. And you know what style (roughly) I like? David Tennant-ish messy. Seen here and here.... But here's my question: My hair probably CAN'T do that now. The length isn't nearly enough, the current cut can't be reshaped into that, etc. etc. So what do I tell my hairstylist to get a hair cut that looks decent now, maybe even with that same messy feel, but lets it evolve into either that or something that can be cut to that down the line?

(Also note that I'm in suburbia, so my choice of places is somewhat limited to barber shop and low-rent salons)

Big dust bunnies in Toronto

typewriter — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 21:15:44 -0800

Can anyone recommend a a good non-agency house cleaner in Toronto? (Also bonus points: out of curiousity, does anyone know the maid service that Globe and Mail reporter Jan Wong worked for in her series, "Maid for a Month"? Okay, I'm mostly over my lefty guilt over needing/wanting someone to clean my house. But it's time. And guess what? I don't have time. Deadlines left and right, dusty house and Japanese students on their way to stay with me. Don't want to cause an international incident with my dirty house. I've read the other threads about maids etc. but would like a good recommendation preferably with references in Toronto. I'm not rich, but know I probably need to pay for a decent job. Thanks.

How can I get my roommates to clean up after themselves?

k8t — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 08:28:17 -0800

How can I get my roommates to clean up after themselves? I am living in a new house situation with people in the 20s, all graduate students, all female -- 2 of us have lived on our own for many years, 2 are right out of undergrad. The 2 out of undergrad are the subject of this post. We have a shared kitchen. We aren't sharing food - using the sticker method instead. We have plenty of plates and flatware but lack in pots and pans. We generally don't cook together. Two of the 4 roommates NEVER clean their dishes or pots. They also tend to leave stuff around the living room area for days on end. I wouldn't care, except when I want to cook, I have to deal with washing out pots myself and cleaning off the counters for there to be space to prepare. And occasionally if I left the plates/flatware stack up, there aren't any of those either. I've been VERY direct (while being polite at the beginning) about asking them to please wash their dishes and cookware after they are done eating. I've done this on a number of occasions. I've also tried being indirect and sending e-mails. I've said it to them to their faces, while friends are over, etc. I also called a house meeting and addressed this (there is one other roommate who is also annoyed but is being passive-aggressive about it.) They only response is that they feel that putting dishes in the dishwasher is ENERGY WASTING. (and this was their one complaint about myself and the other roommate - that we tend to use the dishwasher and the dryer more than they do.) My next idea is to tell them to suck it up and put the dishes in the washer or ELSE. But what can my else be? Thanks! PS, I'm only living here (and in this country) until June, so I don't want to have to buy more pots and pans.

Looking for links to the story/photos of the incredibly messy, disgusting house.

daver — Wed, 20 Oct 2004 09:36:39 -0800

LostLink: Looking for links to the story/photos of the incredibly messy, disgusting house. I believe it was a metafilter link, but I've had zero luck finding it here or googling it... Here's what I remember: The link was to a bulletin-board style forum where somebody had posted 8-9 photos of the house he and his mother lived it. It was totally, completley trashed, with things piled high in every avaliable space. It's not this link or this one . THe mother may have been an ebay addict. Anybody recall where this would have been?