my2cats
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Joined: July 2008
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Post by my2cats on Jul 2, 2008 18:46:31 GMT -5
Wow, I can't believe this board exists. The internet is amazing!
I grew up in level 2 squalor which devolved into level 3 squalor about the time I hit high school. Now, I'm living on my own and I'm still at lv 3 squalor.
And.. the landlord is coming tomorrow! Well, not the building owner (I live in an apartment), but maintenance men are coming to install some new wiring. And one of the maintenance guys is my neighbor (lives a few doors down across the hall), so it's really embarassing!
So, tonight is cleaning night. I live in a pretty small apartment, so hopefully it won't be too bad, but the problem is - I have 2 cats, and a large-ish walk-in closet that I dedicated to their litter box. Because they have a "history", when I first moved in about 6 months ago I put down a 2nd layer of cheap carpet on top of the existing carpet in that closet, so no matter what they did I could clean it up and when I moved I could just chuck the carpet (this worked amazingly well at my last apartment).
Problem! Without me realizing it, apparently the cats have been peeing a fair bit around the litterbox on this carpet. I keep a pretty clean box (I have an automatic one because I know I'm ***), so I'm not sure why they do this, but I admit I expected it - just not to this extent! And because of the automatic box, I never noticed if there were fewer "pee clumps" than usual. So today I pulled up some of the carpet to move around, and the bottom side of it is stained yellow with pee.. the side that's touching the under carpet. I can almost guarantee the real carpet must have pee in it too. (The "truth" test of sniffing it is just not going to happen.... and I don't have a black light.)
So I went and bought a new cheap carpet rug (with a RUBBER BACKING so pee can't soak through), pulled up all the old carpet and threw it away, but I'm not sure what to do. To be honest, it doesn't smell much to me, but I know I am pretty desensitized to the smell of cat urine unless I'm directly sniffing it (case in point - last year a friend of mine visited me, for whom I cleaned up to ~level 1 standards, and upon entering my apartment she said (knowing my squalorous habits) "Hey it looks pretty good, and it only smells a little bit like cat pee!" (smack forehead).)
I'm just not sure of the level of damage to the carpet below. There are no VISIBLE stains. After vacuuming up some scattered litter it looks good as new. And I went to the store and got about 2 gallons of enzyme remover and just soaked the carpet with it, so I figure I'll give it a few days to dry before putting the new carpet down on top (and litterbox is moved for the moment and the door shut so the cats don't bless it again).
But is there anything else I can do? I'm not too worried about the maintenance guys going in the closet and SNIFFING the floor (it LOOKS good, and really they shouldn't be in the closet anyway unless they're nosy.. which they may be, especially if it smells weird and I can't tell).
Also, the problem is there's no ventilation - the windows don't open and I can't open the sliding glass door because the cats will get out (yes, they can shred screens.. sigh).
I'm so tired of being embarassed.. and every morning when I leave my apartment I think "god I hope no one has to go in there for a maintenance emergency while I'm gone". I have always been messy - I've lived in 4 different apartments and all have been so bad I would never have anyone over. However, I've NEVER lost a security deposit, and all my landlord references are good because whenever I know they're coming I freak out and overcompensate. And when I move, I think I clean better than most people as a sort of guilt-trip. But it's such a pain in the butt to have cleaning fests, and I'd be so much less stressed out if I just KEPT IT CLEAN! How hard could it be?!
I've also known the maintenance guys were coming "sometime" for the past few weeks... so I've been cleaning a bit here and there. Somehow that turned into literally ~40 kitchen bags of garbage piled up in my living room. (oh my god). Which I then had to sneak to the garbage in the middle of the night so my neighbors wouldn't be wondering how in the heck my apartment turned into a clown car of Hefty Cinchsaks.
Wow.. such a long post. Sorry to ramble guys, but this is literally something I NEVER talk about (even to my parents I pretend like I live in level 1ish squalor, because if I say anything worse they feel bad for "raising me like that".) Oy. I'm glad I'm not the only one!
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Post by messymimi on Jul 2, 2008 20:38:35 GMT -5
Hello and Welcome, my2cats!  Don't worry about being long winded. I tend to write dissertations if I'm not careful to self edit. My motto in college was "If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with verbosity and bull manure!"  It sounds like you did a great job on the carpet. Yes, those of us who own cats (my family has 5) do get so used to the smell we don't notice it. Still, since the landlord allows pets, the maintenance guys should be used to the fact that the apartments with cats are going to have a bit of "that" smell. Putting the second carpet on top is brilliant, I wish I had thought to do such a thing. If you really feel you must do something else with it, why not try a box fan or two to circulate air and help it dry? Probably not needed from what you describe, but it might make you feel better. You have the sympathy of everyone here on the "tired of being embarrassed" and "they didn't raise me this way" issues. I think we almost all come here in the pits, wanting encouragement to get out. Climbing up and falling down the squalor scale also seems to be common -- sort of like losing and regaining weight. I'm beginning to wonder if there's a similar mental mechanism involved there. As for how hard maintenance can be, well you've found out for yourself that it can be the toughest part of the battle. Fear, demand resistance, too much thinking about it and not enough doing all play a part in getting us and keeping us in squalor, or returning us there. Not to mention physical illnesses and limitations, and the role of depression and other psychological conditions. This paragraph is itself a demonstration of how we could be all day discussing just this issue. Then at the end of the day, we still have a mess to clean. Good luck with the rest of the cleaning, and we are glad you are here. messymimi |
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my2cats
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Joined: July 2008
Posts: 63
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Post by my2cats on Jul 2, 2008 21:03:17 GMT -5
Thanks for the reply! Yep, I was just sitting here thinking "Hm, I've been reading posts about cleaning for the last hour instead of cleaning." But this site really did make me feel tons better.  It's the little things I hate - like absolutely CRINGING if there's a knock on the door because I "know" it must be maintenance and they probably want in. I have already developed in my head elaborate stories for why they can't come in right now. (I'm either "just getting in the shower, can you come back later today?", or if the place is a DISASTER, I'm "working from home and am on the phone with clients all day, can you come back tomorrow"?) I've never had to use these, but I'm ready. I think I may lose some credibility on the 2nd one if the place is too dirty to even open the door though. "I'm ON THE PHONE WITH CLIENTS" just sounds fishy through a cracked doorway.  Also, the "emergency maintenance" issue happened one time for me. (gulp). My previous apartment was having plumbing issues due to city construction and the toilets wouldn't flush for two days. So one day I come home and the toilet is not only flushing but it's been overflowing.. for about 6 hours. The apartments for 3 floors below me had their ceilings falling in, a ton of electrical equipment ruined, etc. And my apartment was a MESS. So I called the emergency guy (freaking out) and he talked me through on the phone how to stop the water flow (this isn't a standard toilet with the knob at the bottom near the base, you had to have a wrench for this thing). Then the dreaded words "I'm coming over". This is at 11pm at night. I'm in a studio apartment with half the floor completely flooded. What to do.. Yep, that's right, throw everything that was wet in plastic bags and chuck it on top of the other stuff that's dry. So when he got there it looked like I'd actually been cleaning. (smack forehead). But it's amazing how much bagging you can do in half an hour. A nightmare afterwards though - bags full of soggy clothes and papers, that were soaked in toilet water. Not a fun thing to clean, and if I hadn't been moving a week later anyway I hate to think how long I might have left things like that! As is, I had to either chuck it or box it so it all got cleaned anyway. Hm, I like the fan idea, I might try that. I do think they'll get upset if they walk into the closet and it squelches wetly.  I'm not sure the "Oh don't worry, that's just the enzyme cleaner to get up the cat urine" argument would be effective either. Edited to add - one more embarassing fact, and the reason I'm so worried about odor. About 2 months ago, one of the guys who lives in the same hall said he smelled a weird odor "like garbage" in the hall. Now I honestly am not sure if it's my apartment - the cat litter boxes are far back in a closet off a bedroom nowhere near the door, and I DO have a LOT of paper trash and messiness, but I'm pretty good about getting rid of the stinky stuff, because it bugs me too. But I started cleaning and bought tons of Febreze and absolutely SOAKED the carpet inside the door and just outside it. I also cleaned up any remaining food trash and chucked it all (mostly empty food containers that did not APPEAR to be causing odor.. but who knows). Two weeks later I hear from another neighbor that the guy is still complaining about the smell, but she doesn't smell it (and never has). (She lives across the hall from me). So then I got even more worried that they would start checking apartments so I started leaving my cats in the backroom while I was at work and opening the sliding glass door all the way to let air out. 1 week later an air freshener plug-in appeared in the hall. Ahhh! Then about a week later, I caught the guy OPENING THE DOOR TO MY APARTMENT. This was around noon and he knows I work, so I can only assume he was attempting to see if the odor was coming from inside my apartment (he works for the apartment building so he has keys to all the apartments). I was completely shocked - no knock, just keys rattling in the lock and then it opens about half a foot. I'm sitting on the sofa (surrounded my junk), and the door is only open enough for him to see the closet door since it's a pretty narrow hall. I said "EXCUSE ME?!" pretty loud and he goes "Oh, um" and shuts the door. I'm left sitting there completely stunned, with tons of adrenaline. It's pretty much my worst nightmare and I can just keep thinking "What if I hadn't been working from home today?!" I never heard anything further about the odor from him directly. I don't know if he "smelled it" or not when he stuck his nose in my apartment - this was during the reign of the Febreze so he probably got a big whiff of lavender and apple spice. I think I scared him off from doing that again (after all, pretty sure he could lose his job for walking in random apartments when he feels like it), so I'm hoping we're at a detente - but a SECOND air freshener appeared last week. Seriously, at this point.. I am not sure what more to do. I've been cleaning like crazy, I've been letting air circulate through the whole place 12 hours out of 24, I've gone nuts with air fresheners and Febreze. And apparently he is the only neighbor who smells it (the one across from me doesn't). Gah! So this is why I am particularly worried about smells when the maintenance people come tomorrow - there is a clause in my lease that if cats start to bother any other renters in any way, they have to be removed in 10 days. This would not be a -complete- disaster (my parents love my cats and would take them), but I don't want to give up my cats. And I would have to wait another 6 months to move or pay a $1500 fee for breaking the lease. I can easily see them saying the "odor" is from my cats, making me get rid of them, and thus ensuring I move as soon as my lease is up (if not sooner, at my expense). Ok.. and another huge post. But it does feel good to get this off my chest. And now.. no really.. I'm going to go clean! |
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Post by eaglesflight on Jul 2, 2008 23:34:14 GMT -5
I can't believe the nerve of that fellow! Honestly, I'm a little too libertarian to live in a close apartment situation like that. If I want to live in a garbage-filled apartment that's none of my neighbor's business (not that I do, mind you). In this case it really concerns me that this guy is so nosy that he would just plan on sneaking into your place like that. Did you report his action to the landlord? Also, the line "clown car of Heft Cinchsaks" made my day.  ! I think that if you can't at least laugh about getting into a squalorous situation then you are going to have a much harder time leaving it. I was vey deoressed when I first found SS and I don't think hat it helped me one bit. |
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Post by neveropentheclosets on Jul 2, 2008 23:48:06 GMT -5
Hi my2cats,
So glad you found the board! And if you've been reading recent posts, you may have read my landlord visiting saga - so I can definitely identify!
I've spent a lot of my life living in fear of some horrible maintenance emergency occurring when I'm at work or gone. Your toilet overflowing story was my worst nightmare! I think you've done all the right things with the closet. I've never had cats, but we had a dog that used to pee every time we left. Wish I'd thought of the extra carpet with rubber backing thing!
BTW - you are totally right about the guy losing his job if he's entering apartments without permission. Perhaps you could use that if he ever complained about the cats. Also, I wouldn't worry about his "smell" problem. If nobody else smells anything, it's probably just him.
Also - I love your creative excuses for not opening the door. And you made me laugh about the "I'm on the phone with clients" but you can't open the door more than a crack! We used to have two Boxers and they were my excuse to squeeze through the door and talk to people on the porch with the door closed because "the dogs will run in the street if I give them half a chance."
Good luck with everything and I'm looking forward to getting to know you better.
notc
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my2cats
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Joined: July 2008
Posts: 63
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Post by my2cats on Jul 3, 2008 0:32:56 GMT -5
I'm glad the stories are amusing - I try to keep a little bit of a sense of humor about it. But I never feel like laughing when maintenance is actually here! I always try to make sure I am gone when I know they're coming... I think they might be less nosy if I'm here, but I don't have to answer pointed questions that I am afraid might come up, like "Do you smell that?" So as for the cleaning tonight - I've gone through the living room/kitchen area picking up anything major that remains. I've also created a big stack of all my still-packed boxes/bags (if I had a digital camera I'd pop a picture up here). It looks somewhat disreputable (I have the classy habit of packing my clothes in giant trashbags when I move...), but I've crafted a small fort of boxes with all the bags in the center, and a couple rugs laid on top.. so the bags are less visible. They may wonder why I'm building a fort with my move-in boxes, but I can handle questions like that. And if they investigate, I don't really care - there's nothing "dirty" in there. Maybe dusty. I also found another cat "pee spot". Behind my TV. Lovely. More enzyme cleaner into the carpet. Fortunately it seems to be pretty small, but I have no idea how frequently they went there. So now I need to clean up the bathroom, clean up the bedroom, and then vacuum. I don't think the wiring guys should be in the bathroom but again I don't trust the nosiness factor. Also - another story of maintenance terror - the maintenance people here have to come in twice a year to manually switch on and switch off each air conditioner. I knew about this about a week in advance and I'd only been here a couple months so the mess wasn't terrible, but I put it off till the night before and then accidentally fell asleep instead of finishing up the job. I woke up about 7am - the living room was clean, but my bedroom was still a mess. My cats have this lovely habit of seeking out any paper product and tearing it into teensy little pieces. Shortly before this, an entire roll of paper towels had met it's untimely end in my bedroom, so there were little bits of paper everywhere, along with assorted other junk, and all the socks/underwear/etc that the cats had pulled out of my drawers. The maintenance people were going to be there anytime between 8-5; I had to be at work by 9! But I knew they had no reason to go in my bedroom... So I took a chance, stuck my cats in the bedroom, and left a note on the door - taped firmly to both the door and the frame - saying my cats were in there and to please not let them out. And if they needed to go in the room to call me first so I could come home to take care of the cats (talk about an adrenaline rush every time the phone rang that day!) I also put a very thin strip of tape at the very foot of the door that would have ripped and then gotten folded over into the door if the door were opened and shut (so I would know if they went in even if they replaced the note). Got lucky on that one.. they didn't go in the room. But this time I'm not sure where all the wiring will be installed (it's something to do with the heater which is in both rooms), so the entire place needs to look good... And on that note.. back to cleaning! At least I found a good audio book to listen to while I clean - George R. R. Martin's "A Clash of Kings". Edit - Oh and to actually answer your questions! I didn't report him to the landlord - I considered it but decided it was probably more useful to me to have something to hold over his head if it came down to it then to start stirring something up. So far, so good. The next time I saw him in the hall I just smiled and greeted him. But I know I sounded pretty angry/shocked when I said "EXCUSE ME?!" as he was opening the door (because, well, I was). So hopefully that'll keep him guessing and he can stop worrying about being the odor police. I'm pretty sure he suspected it was my apartment because I was the person to move in most recently on the hall. And this whole incident has definitely reminded me why I originally wanted to live in a duplex or a house. I like not having to upkeep a yard and so on, but I think trying to get rid of odors that I can't smell and that may or may not exist is worse.  |
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Post by neveropentheclosets on Jul 3, 2008 0:42:19 GMT -5
I LOVE George RR Martin!!!!! Here's my funny story - he came to speak and do a book signing at a local bookstore. I had it on my calendar for months, but we were in the middle of launching a new product and I literally could not leave work when he was here. So DH, who hates fantasy/science fiction went all by himself to get me a signed book as a surprise. I was thrilled and made him tell me all the details of the event - his impression? "The dorkboy dorkfest." Guess there's some things we'll never share no matter how long we're married...
Gotta tell ya, I've never thought of cleaning to audio books - now I can't imagine why not? I think I'll borrow that strategy!
Good luck with the cleaning - sounds good so far! Having just completed my own all nighter two nights ago I'm definitely feeling you...
notc
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my2cats
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Posts: 63
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Post by my2cats on Jul 3, 2008 0:52:34 GMT -5
That's awesome you got a signed book! As for "dorkboy dorkfest"... I really have no room to talk - I was at Barnes & Noble at midnight when the 5th (6th?) Harry Potter came out. Sure, I wasn't in costume, but that's about like saying "Well, I never inhaled."  And yep, audiobooks are GREAT - I used to get so bored cleaning, I really couldn't stand it. There is just not much mentally engaging about picking up small, dirty things, over and over. But listening to a good audio book makes the time fly. (I just have to be careful not to sit down on the sofa to take a break and end up staring at the wall for an hour listening to book ). And I am partial to the voice of the guy who reads The Song of Ice & Fire books - I've actually read the first 2 in the series already, but it's been awhile so I'm using the audiobooks to refresh my memory before I start on the third book. |
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my2cats
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Posts: 63
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Post by my2cats on Jul 3, 2008 3:47:28 GMT -5
Update! I've cleaned all the rooms - YAY! It wouldn't win any prizes, but it's a level 1, so I'm happy. I haven't vacuumed yet though.. and the place really needs it because of the aforementioned paper destroying that my cats love so much. But it seems a little early to do that, so I'll probably wait to 7am (or 6 if I think I'm going to fall asleep). I bet my neighbors will love it. Also I need to take out the ~25 bags of trash that magically appeared out of all that. I swear it never seems like there's THAT much on the floor. I'll probably do that shortly since it's doubtful anyone will be awake to watch me make repeated pilgrimages to the garbage chute. But I'm almost there! Yeah! Final step is leaving notes on different doors for the maintenance folk Front door - "Please don't let out my 2 cats!" (with a picture of a cat in case they don't speak English) Bathroom door - "Please don't let cats in! They like to eat toilet paper!" Closet door - "Please don't accidentally lock cats inside!" Balcony door - "DON'T OPEN! Cats will escape and fall!" By the time the maintenance guys leave they're going to be sick of hearing about my cats. |
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Post by heylady1 on Jul 3, 2008 10:06:15 GMT -5
I thought this picture might be appropriate!  (NOTE: this is not my picture and was taken off the Icanhazcheezeburger.com website. Thanks for playing.) I hope the re-wiring goes smoothly and without any issues for you! Let's hope that the nosey maintance guy keeps his nose to himself and leaves you alone after this! BTW, if he does complain about the cat smell go into the office about it and maybe say something like "So you think since you can walk into my apartment any old time you like and I don't say anything, you can now bully me with this?" I think you've done a wonderful job getting ready for this!! |
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Post by messymimi on Jul 3, 2008 10:47:10 GMT -5
You people who can still pull all nighters are my heroes!  It's awesome that you are down to level one. My you be blessed with a short, non-nosy visit by men who are in a hurry (and, like my husband, not too observant anyway, ha, ha). Let us know how it goes. messymimi |
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Post by dragonchilde on Jul 3, 2008 13:30:21 GMT -5
Congrats on the cleaning! I've gotten to where I like having people come over... it gets me motivated to pick stuff up.
I have some advice for you: I'd be willing to bed the pee problem is because you only have one litter box. Cats like their own space... you should have at least one box per cat. I had the same problem for the longest time, and I solved it by buying another litter box, and the cats started using it. Also, you may want to have them check for UTIs... cats are prone to them, and they can cause litter problems.
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Post by crazycatlady on Jul 5, 2008 12:46:33 GMT -5
Great job cleaning, My2Cats! One of the secrets to keeping it clean is to take a few minutes each day to do something. I had heard of this tip before, but never tried it until I really got serious about getting my home clean.
Start with ETE...eliminate the evidence. So if you have a bowl of cereal for breakfast, put away the milk and cereal. Wash the dish, or put it in the dishwasher before you go to work!
Just begin to do this in little ways, and you will be shocked at how much cleaner your place will stay!
Another idea is to hire a housekeeper to come every 2 to 4 weeks. I honestly think that more people (like me) who don't really like to clean, and aren't that good at it anyways...should have someone who comes to help out regularly. My housekeeper is due this coming Tuesday, and it will be LOVELY to have the bathroom cleaned, all the floors swept/mopped/vacuumed, and various areas dusted! I still have plenty to do with keeping up with laundry and dishes, and the other stuff. But having someone else on "my team" to help is such a blessing!
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Post by houndsnroses on Jul 6, 2008 10:40:57 GMT -5
I used to live in an apartment where the maintenance guys were totally clueless about cats, and let mine out twice (the second time he was lost for 3 days and I totally freaked out!!!). However, I always knew at least 2-3 days in advance when maintenance was coming (which was great because I could de-squalor in time).
What I ended up doing was buying a giant pet crate (4 feet by 4 feet by 6 feet high, plenty of room for 2 adult cats) and on days when maintenance was coming I would crate Max. He didn't LOVE it but he was OK with it, and I knew for sure he would be safe. I fancied the crate up for him--I put soft towels on the bottom which I could then throw in the wash (or just throw away) since I knew he was going to pee on them; I put trash bags underneath so the pee wouldn't soak into the carpet; I put carpet remnants on the top shelf for him to hang out on--it was a miracle. I also put a bedsheet over the top so it was covered on 3 sides to give him privacy, which he loved. Frankly it was much larger and nicer than the cages at the boarding kennel he stayed at when I went out of town. He only stayed in it when I knew someone was coming who might accidentally let him out, but I tied the door open and sometimes when he was scared or mad he would go in it by himself. It was his "safe place."
It was about $200 for everything and money very well spent because I knew he would stay safe when the maintenance guys came.
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Post by houndsnroses on Jul 6, 2008 10:43:04 GMT -5
Forgot to add - of course he had his litterbox, food and water, and catnip toys, and scratching post in there too! He could even see the TV (left it on Animal Planet of course) from his crate! We called it the Kitty Hilton Towers. |
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