'How Clean is Your House?'

**madkat2618** · 01-31-2006, 08:06 AM

This is the name of a TV show I've started watching. It's on 'W' network here in Canada, not sure where it would be in the States. It's a British show, but they do episodes over here, too. Basically, these 2 absolutely hilarious British ladies go to people's filthy houses, and help them clean them up, and show them how to keep them clean.
It's very informative--they show you how to clean with household stuff, and they make you laugh while they're doing it.
Check it out!

http://www.lifetimetv.com/shows/clean/index.html

**FrugalMomof3** · 01-31-2006, 08:27 AM

Wow thanks! Gonna see if they have that show over here.

**FreesiaE** · 01-31-2006, 08:47 AM

I've seen it here; I think it comes on at like 11 and 11:30 PM on Monday nights. (DISH Netword recently stopped carrying Lifetime over a contract dispute, so I'm not 100%). Anyhow, the houses are gross, and I feel sorry for many of those people. I think a house that gets that bad (cat feces everywhere, human feces incrusted toliet bowl and rims, bug infestations on the bed, moldy dishes on the sink counter) is a sign of mental illness on the part of the person who lives there. There is a huge difference between messy/disorganized and dirty.

**mizniteowl** · 01-31-2006, 10:02 AM

Yes, I watch that show all the time. It comes on here on weekdays at 11am. I just sit there simply amazed at the filth people live in. This one guy had ants crawling all over his bed and pillow and didn't seem to care. EWWWWWWWWW!!

And those ladies are such a riot! I love how when they're inspecting the dirty place and get right in there touching everything and when they smell the carpets,bedsheets etc, they just about keel over! lol Yet they still do it everytime.

**canadian gardener** · 01-31-2006, 10:33 AM

I've watched it, and never fail to have a personal cleaning binge of my own in sheer reaction.

That said, this show tends to focus on people with a particular disorder who deal with pain thru building up a wall of garbage and filth. It's a type of panic disorder and it is treatable although the process is slow with lots of relapses.

http://www.squalorsurvivors.com/index.shtml

and the disposaphobia link that Amy shared in a thread this morning are both about this problem.

Oprah did a show, with a followup, where the British ladies "cleaned up" someone with this disorder. Fortunately O had a clue by the end of the show and got the woman some help.

In the followup everyone gasped to see how she had relapsed, but also saw how much work she and the therapist actually did get done.

She is on the road to recovery but these people get worse not better after being shoveled out by someone else.

They need to want to be helped, and either they get to the links above and join the groups and get help a lot like AA helps alcoholics, or they get to a competent therapist who treats this disorder or they don't get better.

Although watching this show sends most people into a satisfying cleaning fit, where they reassure themselves "I'm no where NEAR that bad!"

I see them profiting on someone else's pain. In their defence the ladies just see the mess and want to help. But the people they "help" are sick, and need different methods.

Much like more money won't help an overspender, it makes them worse.

**Pepper** · 01-31-2006, 02:16 PM

I have seen the show too. I really cannot get into it and find nothing funny about how these people are living!!

**staceyy** · 01-31-2006, 02:28 PM

I've seen it. I don't think its funny but I also clean more thoroughly after watching it even though my house is fairly clean to begin with.

**Shell** · 01-31-2006, 03:40 PM

I watch the show and get a few good cleaning tips like just using comman cleaning things around the house instead of spending a ton of money on new products.

It is quite a shock what kind of bacteria they do find and what it causes!

I do agree with Canadian Gardener that a lot of these people must have a mental illness and need more help then just cleaning their home.

**midwestgal** · 01-31-2006, 03:53 PM

I watched it at my daughter's home once. (She has cable.) I will not watch that show again! Call me squeamish, but the squalor those people live in is just too much for me!

**madkat2618** · 01-31-2006, 05:18 PM

Don't get me wrong--I'm not laughing at the way these people are living, I totally agree that there is something much deeper than just laziness on their part. The women that host the show and the comments they make, and the way they act is what I find funny.

Margery, I saw that Oprah show--the way that woman was living was so sad! I'm glad that she was getting the help she needed!

**canadian gardener** · 01-31-2006, 06:20 PM

no, you didn't come across like you were laughing at all. I think puzzlement and shock and a genuine desire to help is what most feel when they see this kind of thing.

It's so out of the norm that it shocks, and draws a lot of interest.