There's no greater disappointment than walking into your date's home, only to discover that they're basically living in their own filth.
I speak from experience. I still recall the first (and last) time I visited an old love interest's apartment. He'd warned me that it was likely to be messy, but nothing could have prepared me for what I saw after i stepped inside. Even with very little furniture or possessions, the area was filthy. In the kitchen, there were crusty dishes piled-up in the sink and garbage bags piled on the floor. Within the bedroom, more dirty dishes and pizza boxes surrounded your bed (which was incidentally covered in crumbs.) On the other hand from the room was a four foot high pile of laundry. But it was the restroom which was truly terrifying: the sink was covered in beard trimmings, the ground was covered in additional hair and discarded backings from a lint remover and also the toilet tissue had somehow gone moldy and was now speckled with blue and green spots.
My date would be a well-paid professional with an upwardly mobile career. For that life of me, I could not figure out why he was residing in squalor. This was date # 2. Needless to say, there wasn't to start dating ? number three. Unsurprisingly, I've heard through mutual friends this guy is still single.
If you're going to invite your date to your abode, there are specific things you need to do to make a good impression. Here are some things that you need to remove out of your home before you invite your date over.
1. Dirty Dishes
Life is busy and it is normal to have a few errant dishes lying around in the sink. However, in case your sink looks a lot more like it's housing the leaning tower of Pisa (crusty-dish edition) than the remnants of last night's dinner, you've got a problem. Do a quick sweep of the kitchen to ensure things are reasonably in order. Including doing the bathroom, wiping up any spills, emptying the garbage and taking out the bags to ensure there aren't any unpleasant smells to deal with.
2. Laundry
One of the very most shocking aspect of my former date's laundry pile was that it was adjacent to a wide open, empty closet that looked like it's entire contents have been ripped from the hangers and dumped on the ground. Dirty laundry is a component of life, but if it's available outside for everybody to see and (ugh) smell, you're going to wish to fix that. If you cannot do your laundry before your date comes over, stash it. That is what closets are for.
3. Hair
Ladies and gents, cleanup hair. Ladies, ensure that you posess zero couple of long strands stuck to the sink. Fellas, please, please, please cleanup your beard trimmings. No matter gender, your bathroom shouldn't look like the current site of a Yeti shearing.
4. Photos of Exes
While I am not suggesting you discard every photo or memento of each and every ex ever, if you have anything prominently displayed – you are going to wish to remove that. Nothing says, “I'm not over them” like entering someone's home only to find out they have a giant nude watercolour of their ex hanging above the bed (#truestory).
5. Moldy Toilet Paper or any other Unmentionables
For the love of jeebus, if you've were able to learn how to make toilet paper go moldy and have it in your house, get rid of it ASAP. Same applies to every other potentially gross or embarrassing items. Give your home and toilet a fast once over. Make sure you have clean towels AND toilet tissue stocked.
6. Pet Debris
If you've got critters in your own home, you need to include them inside your cleaning plan. What this means is doing all of your better to remove pet hair from your furniture, cleaning your cat's litter box and ensuring there aren't any funky smells in the mix before your date comes over. While animals definitely add joy to our lives, there is nothing romantic about feeling much like your date resides in a real pigsty.