The Limits of Aptwifery

Today, as I bemoaned the weird grey-ish marks on our hideous beige carpet, I wondered a little over the limits that good housekeepers set on themselves when they are renters. After all, although the marks catch my eye each time I enter the room, they are not on my carpet. It is just the carpet I am renting for now. One, two, or three years from now, I will have moved on to some other beige carpet or, if I am lucky, hardwood flooring.

So, what are the limits? I will admit, I am willing to get this carpet steam cleaned in order to get this crap off my floor.  But I wonder if to some that seems crazy. I have friends who once re-floored a rental. They had the permission of the landlord to do so. They retiled the whole kitchen. I think they lived there for about another year after that. I thought they were crazy, crazy, crazy. Do some people feel the same about my steam-cleaning? How much is too much?

As anyone who has looked for a rental, it is obvious that some people place the limit line much closer to the "leave it" side than the "go ahead and clean it even though it isn't mine" side. I have been to many, many apartment showings where the glass shower door is all but obscured by an equally thick layer of soap scum (something I cannot abide.) In searching my heart for where my personal limit was, I realized it might be farther than most. And here it is:

I don't worry about the crumbs and stuff that falls between the stove and the cabinets.

If I owned, I would need to think about how to unhook the gas stove, move it out, and clean. As it is, the benefit of renting is that I can just let that go...