My place can be ready for company in 15 minutes.
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I feel like over the years, my place has become increasingly less “company-ready.” So if you are in my home, you know you’re being treated as family!
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Same. I have a hard time relaxing in a cluttered environment. I have a cleaning group that comes once a month for a deep clean but in between, I keep it up.
My husband builds new homes for a living (priced at $900k and up). He tells me all the time how shocked he is when he sees the interior condition of some of them at the one year mark (he has warranty meetings at the one year mark and often enters the homes).
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I am very insecure about the state of my house. I have perennial “house shame.” I do not have a cleaning service or a housekeeper even though we do have a lawn service for our 3/4 acre property. I did hire a cleaning service once and I did not think they did a good job (we had a dog at the time and they did not work well around him; he was a large and very sweet lab but I found myself cleaning after the cleaning, so it was a waste). We don’t have a dog anymore and the house is a lot cleaner. But I still don’t like people coming over. I am probably oversensitive and my house is not as bad as I think. I do enjoy cleaning to a degree and I enjoy a sweet-smelling and orderly home. But I notice every flaw and problem, and I find entertaining to be very stressful. I always feel that I fail.
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@NJSue , I can relate. Substitute “sweet lab” with "oblivious husband " (who we still have) and our stories are remarkably the same.
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My house is never cluttered mainly because I do not allow paper past my entry way closet. In the closet I have a garbage bin, a recycling bin and a bin for shredding. Also a file cabinet and a bulletin board on the door. Bills are paid all online. Even a bill from someone who “ doesn’t take online payments”. I just immediately have the bank send a check via an online request. . The bill never crosses my entry way. Ever. So no piles. I’m not sure what else can cause clutter but we don’t have it.
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Let me count the ways!
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Good question/comment. What are the things that cause clutter? “Paper” is definitely a bit culprit. Mail. Books, magazines (but I’m not living without them).
What else are categories of clutter for people??
Clothes might be one. H and I actually don’t leave clothing out. Whew.
Plants and flowers are part of decor.
I mean, you can always find half a dozen dog toys strewn on the floor…
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Stuff that you use all the time, so it’s easier to leave it sitting on a counter/flat surface vs putting it away. H is far worse than me, but I’m guilty of some stuff.
His bathroom counter is a nightmare to clean. He has the normal toothbrush/toothpaste/soap, contact case/saline… but also various tubes of stuff, eye drop bottles, mouthwash, and a hand held Yahtzee game (don’t ask, lol). I’ve gotten to where I just push all the stuff (minus the toothbrush) into a trash can to clean it and then make him put it back.
The kitchen where he has a tree full of mugs, but then also 3-4 that don’t fit (not to mention the dozen in the cabinet), plus the protein powder, creatine, etc that should go underneath the sink… A couple of sleeves of English muffins, rolls that SHOULD go in the bread box, but don’t seem to make it back in there…
But I also have tubes of Blistex and ChapStick laying around everywhere (and in every jacket and purse pocket), and my foam roller stays on the floor in the den, also with my book by my recliner.
H is also a collector (and I’m the minimalist), so he’s constantly buying “stuff” that doesn’t get put away like it should for weeks/months…
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My home is my haven. I keep it clean and tidy for ME.
Since we are empty nesters (with a cat) there is less to keep up with. My house doesn’t look like it did when I had two little kids/middleschoolers/teens at home. I have redecorated a little bit as I have inspiration, so that has also evolved over time.
I noticed my young adults don’t want “stuff” as gifts. I don’t blame them. I am actively trying to get rid of my own sh-t, and have been using the Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning as a guide. It’s part getting rid of things no one wants to deal with when you go, part understanding what makes you happy, and part keeping what you want for the person you are now. There is a great FB group that focuses on it.
Anyway, aside from random events such as cookie decorating, my house is good to go for drop ins. But I don’t want them lol.
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I do all my reading on a kindle or iPad. Like to read curled up which means one handed and I find that hard to do with a physical book. Very easy with an e reader. So that’s a reason. But also I believe keeping paper out of my home has been the primary reason it’s easy to keep an uncluttered home. Nothing would be worth it in exchange.
I’m a big believer in the philosophy of “ the container is the limit” ( from the blog “ A slob comes clean”) So if the cabinet can’t fit more mugs , no more mugs unless I get rid of one. I need these hard and fast rules. . I also have a lot of drawers not cabinets for anything other than dishes and glassware and I find it’s actually easier to put stuff in drawers than leave it out ( cabinets seem more of a pain). Our bathroom vanity also has a ton of drawers.
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I am enlightened and love that so many have expressed not being a fan of “drop in” visits! I thought it was just me! 
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And for me/us, those bathroom drawers have dividers that I purchase from Home Goods/TJMaxx so that H and I have our own space and all “the things” - combs, toothpaste, make up, nail clippers…have spots that the owner has designated best for them - so they are not on the counter! I have one pretty oblong tray between our sinks that has a jar of q-tips, a jar of tooth flossers and a bottle of mouthwash in the back - if it doesn’t fit on the oblong tray (or any other countertop storage) it should go in the drawer! H was fine with this as long as I did the work of buying the drawer storage containers and gave him his own space.
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I really shouldn’t be reading this thread. The very talk of clutter makes me nervous. You all know how anal I am about housekeeping and how much I love company. Drop-in-ready for me means not only a perfectly clean well-curated house, but a freezer full of homemade appetizers ready for a quick pop in the oven and a beverage bar always ready for m/cocktails.
I am so averse to clutter that once the visible house is clean, I become haunted by the insides of things and start opening drawers, cabinets, and closets to see if anything needs to be rectified there.
It’s a sickness. Really. Don’t be me.
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We are family that puts things in the spots they go. Papers and dishes are never out for more than a couple of hours. Kitchen countertops are not a place for dishes or garbage.
I wasn’t like this as a kid, but 29 years of marriage and now I have to live in a tidy home.
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Except that I don’t live alone. I may want to live like a minimalist, but he doesn’t. I can tell him that it makes my anxiety skyrocket when his stuff is everywhere, he counters with it gets his anxiety up to get rid of stuff.
So you compromise. Our house isn’t that messy. Some rooms are great, some spaces in some rooms are great… others, notsomuch.
I could get my house company ready in about 20 minutes, 30 minutes at its worst. And I don’t do the stuff things into a random drawer. It needs to go in its place! Our drawers, cabinets, and closets are pretty organized and empty, since I go through them regularly. I do general cleaning every week. Never a housekeeper… couldn’t afford it for most of my life despite both of us always working full-time. And now, any extra money I want to do fun things with it.
But neither of us want company, so it doesn’t matter anyway! I’m not a social person, and H hates having people in his house around his stuff. We are well matched that way
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One of my kids is married to someone who insists on a very tidy, extremely clean home. The spouse is also adverse to having a cleaning service because they don’t want someone in their home while they aren’t there. Both work full time. So when can the cleaning service come?
A cleaning service came once and my kid cried because it was so nice.
It’s is incredibly stressful for my child. It’s incredibly stressful for the spouse because it’s of their exacting standards.
I’ll take my spouse who doesn’t see the mess, doesn’t expect perfection. He looks over the clutter and usually the clutter that’s out is his. Because after 40 years, I’m ok with it. It’s better than the alternative for me.
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Any clutter and disorganization in our home is typically easily explainable at any given time. In general our house never reaches “gross” status as I do tidy up from time to time in small bursts. The only embarrassing spots would be our 2 main bathrooms but those are behind closed doors. Our dog doesn’t shed. I could wipe down our guest bathroom to acceptable status in less than 2 minutes if guests popped in.
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While I truly enjoy the tidiness (for me it’s not a huge chore or inconvenience - I get satisfaction from tidy that is not perfect) I think it’s fair to say that for many - not all - clean vs. clutter is a topic that could be discussed in THERAPY, rooted from our past in one way or another. How our parents lived (that we liked or didn’t or were expected to comply to), past roommates, need to control something - whatever!
I’ll take it a step further and say I’m largely the same for the outside of our house as the inside - the front of the house appearance, the yard, the flower beds, etc. They are by NO MEANS perfect and there is always more I could do but I spend a lot of time outside in the warmer seasons tending to the yard, gardens, repainting doors, etc. No hired help, all done by me and sometimes H. Heck, I was out doing “one more swipe of the leaves” yesterday blowing leftover leaves and running the lawnmower in Ohio on Dec. 8!!! (some of my neighbors were too - I see you!!)
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