Question re strange neighbor behavior

[PeterB]

... stupid neighbors (don't ask, they're awful) ... they seem to vacuum VERY frequently, we're talking like, on average, once every two days or so. Why in the world would someone need to vacuum so frequently??? (They're doing it as I type this-- I think they were doing it yesterday too...)

[wurm]

OCD?

[space-time]

better than the opposite! believe me!

[ho'ard]

Sounds normal to me. Guess you're home a lot more that usual, at the moment?

[PeterB]

wurm, yeah, that's what I'm beginning to think. Sure, it's good to keep a place clean, but if you need to vacuum that frequently, it suggests that either you're especially messy, or you have some sort of mental illness. (Or possibly you have pets-- but we're not supposed to have pets here without permission of the landlord, so that's useful to know if they are keeping something without having cleared it with the landlord.) Yes, I've noticed it more because I've been home on break.

[dmann]

I was going to mention the pet possibility. I have a dog and a cat and am allergic to both so I vacuum every couple days. The only place I have carpet is in the bedrooms so it is a quick task, but frequent.

Even if they don't have pets they could have allergies and need to keep up with dusting and vacuuming so the problem doesn't get too bad. The problem with letting it sit for a week or two between cleanings is that the cleaning itself can trigger an attack.

My last guesses are that maybe they are entertaining and want to keep the place looking nice or they are moving and are keeping the place clean while the landlord is showing it?

DM

[modelamac]

Maybe they just do part of the place each time, say 1/3? Maybe they spill a lot of stuff?

[PeterB]

dmann and modelamac, yeah, those are both reasonable explanations. I do know that they have a young child, so that might also factor into it, though I can't imagine a child making that much of a mess that the place needs to be vacuumed once a day. I do hope the other possibility you mentioned, that they might be moving, is true... doubt it though...

dmann, you are also on point about the issue of vacuuming possibly INCREASING problems with allergies-- that's why I've not vacuumed as frequently as I probably should myself. It does put up a fair amount of dust. On the flip side, I just got a nice bagless vac which has a HEPA filter, so that might help quite a lot.

[ho'ard]

[quote PeterB] that the place needs to be vacuumed once a day. I do hope the other possibility you mentioned, that they might be moving, is true... doubt it though...
Once a day now . . . at this rate they'll have increased to every 8 hours by your next post . . .

[PeterB]

h', I did say once every two days ON AVERAGE. That means sometimes they've vacuumed once every three or four days, sometimes every day... I don't recall if they've vacuumed twice a day, but they may very well have... it is pretty frequent, what they're doing...