I love house quests too, to a point.  If they appreciate, and offer to chip in helping with cleaning dishes and so on. I am ok. Yeah, one week is the absolute upper limit.  I need my privacy once a while.  :)

*sleep all day and never go out*
are u talking about me :(

*smells fish*

Seems to me you'll make a good house guest! Hmm...free dinner and cook for me...you're always welcome to stay at my place! LOL

I once had a house guest who pee all over my toilet and never cleaned up....that grossed me out!! *eek*

@jarude - 

Ha, you don't count..you go out..to da coffeshops!..talkin about someone else who never left the house for a week! Only saw them when they got hungry...

Half a month?! Then he owes you half the rent

"Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days." - Benjamin Franklin
wait, how long did you stay last time? LOL

i agree with keeping the space neat and taking the host out, i think asking to stay for a month is too much.

I'm an aggressive host.

if something bothers me, i tell it like it is.

LOL.

but luckily, i haven't had a house guest like yours... i could help you with that..."house guest etiquette enforcer."

I'm pretty good at that too. like i'd come over your place, and we'd be eating dinner with your house guest and go, "so how long are you gonna freeload for man? or are you actually helping out and paying?"

hahahahaha

I think there is actually some pretty stringent houseguest etiquette around, probably Miss Manners or Emily Post or something.
I have hosted a few people from CouchSurfing (www.couchsurfing.com) and hope to be hosted soon too. They were all great, though it's not easy to do in my tiny house. Before I got into that though, I did once "take in" a woman who travelled here from Norway with no reservations of any kind, only to find this isn't the sort of place you can do that. She was a nightmare: demanding meals, not paying for anything, trying to get out of paying the tour guide I set her up with for a tour, and then making lewd physical passes at me (and she was 10 years older than my mom). That was a nightmare. If you compile the houseguest etiquette into a book, please forward a copy to Maybrit in Norway.

Don't host for free from now on! Tough economy needs to take tough actions! Oink! Oink!

Don't plan parties when the hostess/host say's no! Even if she/he is your brother-in-law/sister-in-law!

I had a guest who has come to stay 3 times now, each time only for a few days but she drives me crazy- essentially needs to be babysat- I have to spend every minute with her, plan out every activity, and she never chips in for groceries or offers to take me out for even coffee (let alone dinner). I'm on a really tight budget and live in a tiny place so you'd think she'd help out a bit, at the very least go for a WALK on her own and give me some space. She will travel across the continent making stops at different friends houses along the way so I"m just one stop in her extensive travel plans. I assume she's freeloading at every stop- paying only for her plane/train fares. The way I see it, if she can afford to make such a journey she should help her hosts pay for food etc. One of her little tricks is to not carry her wallet on an outing, so I end up paying for all the little things too- bus fare, snacks, admissions etc... The last time, unbelievably, she wanted to buy an article of clothing, tried it on, made her choice, got in the line up and when we were almost at the cashier, only THEN she mentioned she didn't bring her wallet and was assuming I'd foot the bill!!!!! She did pay me back at the end, reluctantly, but seemed really annoyed about it... as if it should be my responsibility to pay for anything and everything she needed while staying with me! That was really the last straw- I won't be hosting her again.....and she used to be a good friend so it makes me sad. Am I being cheap?