Neighbor Wants to Host Neighborhood Party, but....

[Anonymous]

My neighbor has offered to host an annual neighborhood party we have but her house is disgusting. Every room is piled with teetering piles of boxes and junk. You can't see the kitchen table or counters because of the piles. Hallways and steps are the same way. The worst thing is that the entire house reeks of cat pee. She does have kids that are well taken care of but their rooms are trashed, too. They have to climb over piles and boxes to get into bed and they're way too young to clean it up themselves. How would you gently decline the offer? Need for host was posted on neighborhood group and she responded.

[Anonymous]

Make other plans out of the area.

[Anonymous]

That's worse than our neighborhood party. Sorry. I stopped going to our annual party after I overheard the person who always volunteers to bring the disposable silverware quietly ask someone to collect everyone's used plastic silverware because "she brings it back every year." I don't eat at her house anymore, either, because her cat walks the counters while she cooks.

[Anonymous]

Why don't you post back and suggest you do a block party outside withher driveway as the center point? Or the culdesac if you live on one.

If her house is as gross as you say it is I bet others will quickly pipe in to "thank" her for offering her driveway as base.

[Anonymous]

You post you want to do it, and ask other neighbors to say yeah Larla, we think you should do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's worse than our neighborhood party. Sorry. I stopped going to our annual party after I overheard the person who always volunteers to bring the disposable silverware quietly ask someone to collect everyone's used plastic silverware because "she brings it back every year." I don't eat at her house anymore, either, because her cat walks the counters while she cooks.

I would think she's running the plastic utensils through the dishwasher. A long as they've been washed in the dishwasher, what's the matter with reusing them?

[Anonymous]

Do a neighborhood crawl instead.

[Anonymous]

Sorry but if I knew of kids living in that condition I'd contact CPS.

[Anonymous]

I was thinking the same thing. Why haven't you said anything? Aren't we as adults responsible for protecting kids?

[Anonymous]

Calling CPS on a neighbor of a messy house would totally damage the friendly neighborhood dynamic you currently share.

I could understand if the kids were being deprived of food, water, baths or adequate clothing or shelter, but you say the children are well cared for.

Who knows??
Maybe hosting a neighborhood party will give her full incentive to clean up her house really good since most people would rather die than have their whole neighborhood see their home in such disarray.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Calling CPS on a neighbor of a messy house would totally damage the friendly neighborhood dynamic you currently share.

I could understand if the kids were being deprived of food, water, baths or adequate clothing or shelter, but you say the children are well cared for.

Who knows??
Maybe hosting a neighborhood party will give her full incentive to clean up her house really good since most people would rather die than have their whole neighborhood see their home in such disarray.

This sounds like a little more than a messy house. This sounds like a hoarding situation and sounds like sanitation is an issue and CPS should be called