To wan ttk know how clean and tidy your home is, and do you believe your home is a reflection of your mind ?

[Lardlizard]

Mind tends to be very clean and tidy downstairs
So always guest ready
ESp with a five min warning

The upstairs can have pies of washing etc that are clean and dry n waiting to go away
So the upstairs tends to be less tidy but people other than us don’t go up there

But when it’s tidy upstairs I feel my head is more in order

No mine is a state. I'd be embarrassed to have people round.

It's a bit chicken and egg. House is a tip, which gets me down. then I feel a bit overwhelmed and don't know where to start.

I live in a bungalow so it's hard to keep every single room tidy with back garden and front garden included.
Plus when you walk in my front door you can literally see every room

When I was younger I spent more time cleaning & tidying

Several people have sadly passed away

I now don't iron anything, I hang up or buy non wrinkle clothes

I do the basics to keep on top of things in the house & garden

However, I'd rather spend my time out of the house with family or friends enjoying my life

Life is too short !

I'm an organized person

Ours is always tidy. There's odd bits and bobs around and the DC make mess/get stuff out. But generally it's very clean.

If I let it get messy I find my mood can become anxious; the house being lovely definitely impacts on me emotionally.

DH cares less and has an office indoors that he just chucks shite about in and rebels against my order. I close the door and pretend it doesn't exist and we manage to survive despite being very different.

Example
I'm going away for 3 days soon
So I've cut the grass & hoovered, laundry up to date
No need to spend hours cleaning obsessively !

Mine is an absolute riot. We spend a full weekend tidying it up every few weeks then within days it’s the exact same as it was before. Hate it.

Lardlizard my house is just the same as yours and I also feel better when the washing is not hanging around in baskets waiting to be put away, also when the beds are made.

Mine is always a bit messy. Mostly because I much prefer a proper clean up rather than the routine of cleaning and tidying a little bit every day.
I have a similar approach to life.

You can always tell how far into term it is. Not too bad after the holidays...pigsty after 6 weeks.

I only clean first thing in the morning during the week, tidy as I go along, and do a quick check before going to bed.

We are all out at school and work during the week. Chores are banned at the weekend - it's a great motivation to rush through in the morning!

As long as you have a space for everything, there's no reason to have an untidy house if you don't want one. If you are lacking storage, you have no hope!

Generally a bit of a mess since I’ve been working full time. I have a messy teen and tween that just come home and dump their stuff everywhere. I’ve given up. Life to short to stress over a bit of mess.

Pretty spotless at all times downstairs. Upstairs is clean but a bit messy.

People who work with me have openly accused DH of lying when he says I’m untidy and slightly chaotic at home. I’m blooming fantastic at life admin but we are all messy. I have a cleaner so we are clean but messy and I am utterly relaxed about it. I wouldn’t tidy up for people and they come round more than once.

Those asking how it can be clean but messy...we throw everything into the storage the evening before the cleaner arrives...maybe 20 minutes with everyone helping (DS2 is 3 so he’s a bit of a mixed blessing).

@WhenOneFacePalmDoesntCutIt I’ve started getting up to do couch25k in the mornings and it’s giving me more time before work so I might spend half an hour on some cleaning then. Do you find you get lots done in the mornings?

House is ok, neither filthy nor immaculate.
Work desk is neither tidy nor clean.

I'm hyper organised at work & private life. If I wasted a lot of time cleaning & tidying my home I wouldn't have energy to also be organised in finances / work / exercise / parenting/ anything else.

My car is A LOT cleaner than most people's. I feel quite disgusted at most people's cars.

Proverbial shit tip. Not even clean. Always think about clearing things out and getting organised, but housework puts me into a bad mood, so I do other things instead. And other things can include just sitting on my backside, watching tv 😊

My house is utter chaos. I've always been very messy and routines make me feel trapped. I have recently been diagnosed with ASD and dyspraxia, which explains a lot of the difficulties I've faced in life. Not least is having been judged by other women (mostly) for not having a tidy mind.

However my son's therapist (who came to the house once) said I was disorganized but not dysfunctional. Very cheering.

I have a home that is the base for the family income , it is a home and not a show house. Books and reading material in every room , because we all read . Not as clean amd and tidy as i would like but i am unable to manage due to health .
Mental state , variable . But it is where we live and its ours,
Yes there is room for improvement but no one should judge .
Does a perfect house with all the trimmings make you superior?

BarmyBitchNeighbour
I get everything done in the morning. I am up at 6, and I leave around 7:30. I try to work from home, so some days I have until 8:00 ish but I can take a few minutes to put a load of washing away then, which makes a big difference too. That's still more than 6 hours a week! It takes me 5 minutes to jump in the shower and put some clothes on, everything is ready the night before, including my handbag.

I am following roughly the Organised mum method, which I have always done, but the advice that what is not done doesn't matter as you go back next week has helped.

Evenings I tidy up the kitchen after diner, do the admin, and put laundry away when I feel like watching tv. I find it easier to go to the gym or go for a job in the evening, when there's nothing to be done, than leaving the house in a mess.

I still need to scream at remind the kids to put their things away all the time but when they'll get bored to move all their stuff several times, they'll learn to do it properly in the first place.

Does a perfect house with all the trimmings make you superior?

My house is perfect for me, I live there, I don't give a monkey what other people think - at least until I try to sell it.

A messy house makes me edgy, and I can't bare the idea of having to frantically clean for visitors. If it's good enough for us, it's good enough for them.

There was a thread about posters having 2 dishwashers! That is genius! Haven't gone round to do it yet, but I am so tempted to find some space for a second one

Hahahahahaha great question

My mind (home) is a rich and fertile memory palace/smorgasbord/Aladdins shed cave of unrestricted potential with perhaps just one or two items which don't so much spark joy as create a fire hazard...

for the entertainment of any psychoanalysts on MN my basement is very clean, tidy and organised but my attic is an enormous heap of unsorted boxes and every type of clutter imaginable

I am grateful to be alive and to have the privilege of being my messy and imperfect self, great admiration to all those who are good at tidiness though. You definitely rock.

@WhenOneFacePalmDoesntCutIt I’m definitely going to give this a shot. I’ve tried TOMM in the past so could try and do that in the mornings then there’s no excuses come night time.

How smug would I feel going to work knowing I’d done some housework too!!

Thanks for your reply :)

I have no idea what a tidy mind is. SOunds awful - like someone compartmentalises people, things and activities. I have a messy house but am organised, my children are clean , healthy and happy and the house is generally clean but often a bit dusty which doesn't hurt anyone (it can't be that bad as my husband is asthmatic and he is okay).
I feel that phrases like this are very judgemental and pointless and a way of tidying people into different groups and statuses. With tidy people at the top!

I don’t think it reflects the state of mind.
House is always immaculate including garden and cupboards and all our cars are the same. But we are all reasonably tidy and work in a tidy fashion (DH works from home, I work from home most of the time but if I use an office space it has always been tidy).
I simply don’t like having a lot of stuff and edit down all the time, I’m also very choosy with furniture, accessories etc so everything is super ‘curated’. Less stuff, less to clean, more efficient. colour harmony is important to me (professional habit). I’m also always mentally judging volumes of spaces and how everything flows and lines up etc so I got it down to an art. But I never think like that when I visit other people’s houses.
I think maybe it makes me feel more free not to have stuff lying around, like I can escape at a moments notice if I need to without looking back.

My house is immaculate, I have good routines and am very organised. I do have OCD but it is well controlled. I’m a perfectionist, so is DH.