<p>You can send me that sign, chedva. That would be great. I have an “ashes of problem students” jar in my office. No complaints yet.</p>
<p>I also subscribe tothe “if I can’t see it, I can’t remember it” philosophy. Having a roommate was difficult as my stuff couldn’t stray too far. I found that using clear plastic boxes and clear file folders helped…I can still see my stuff!</p>
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<p>It takes very little time to clean up after oneself. I spend no more than a few minutes a day picking up or cleaning around the house. Every time you make a mess, you quickly clean it up before going your way. That’s all it takes to keep things reasonably clean, because messes don’t accumulate if you deal with them immediately and efficiently. </p>
<p>Once in college we had a non-student roommate who’d watch hours of TV every day, yet didn’t have time to spend 20 seconds to wipe the counter after spilling sauce all over it. He was exceptionally disrespectful of the common areas, and after six months we asked him to shape up or find another place…</p>
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<p>They do say a lot of creative types tend to be messy. I guess it’s easier to find inspiration in a mess than it is in a spotless room. I am on the neat side but consider myself plenty smart and creative though!</p>
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Spoken like a true “neat” person. For a naturally messy person, just saying “clean up when you make a mess” is totally incomprehensible. It also assumes that everything has a place in which to put stuff back. I’m not talking about wiping up spills or things like that; I’m talking about the ever-popular “straightening up.” There’s always something that my eye just doesn’t see, or cannot deal with because there’s no “place” for it. </p>
<p>Organization may come naturally to you, and you may be able “quickly” to clean up. For me, it doesn’t; it’s a constant struggle.</p>
<p>We once had a lovely neighbor whose three children were school age. She did not work outside the home, but still employed a full time housekeeper. Every towel and item of clothing and bed sheet was washed and ironed after each use. She scrubbed her garage floor with a bleach mixture every week. The family used paper plates and disposable silverware for every meal. The house was spotless. On any given day they could have put their home on the market with 15 minutes notice. And yet, she could throw a great block party, didn’t mind having 100 people in her back yard and pool, could cook a wonderful meal for company, served on fine china, and linger afterward with her company without having to jump up and whisk away the dishes. </p>
<p>We had another neighbor ( different city) who conciously refused to live in a spotless home as a response to resentment over her own mother. I once sat at her kitchen table while her preschooler dropped a popcicle on the floor while running out the patio door. It slowly melted while we chatted. Two days later, the sticky ooze was still there, on the floor, with the stick still in the middle of the puddle. Her house was full of neighborhood kids, all the time. My own young son once said that he liked playing there, except that everything was always very sticky. This neighbor also threw great parties. Slightly sticky ones, but lots of fun.</p>
<p>I loved both of those neighbors. Their houses didn’t matter. Either one of them would have bent over backwards to help a friend, and both had loving families. Their kids all turned out just fine.</p>
<p>It takes very little time to clean up after oneself. I spend no more than a few minutes a day picking up or cleaning around the house</p>
<p>I agree…but I think the following is at play…</p>
<p>1) messies wait til the last second to get ready or eat or whatever, so they tell themselves that they don’t have time to do clean up at that point, and tell themselves that they’ll do it LATER…and then either later never comes or the mess becomes so big that they think, “I don’t want to spend my day off cleaning that up.” </p>
<p>I know that when I ask my H why he left his dishes/soda can/etc out, he’ll say things like, “I was too tired to clean it up,” “I didn’t have time to clean it up,” “I’m relaxing now,” “I’ll clean it up later,” and on and on. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>2) I think the other thing that is in play is that “messies” think cleaning up after themselves will take longer than it actually will take to do it. How many moms complain that their kids will spend 10 minutes arguing with them about making their bed or taking their dishes to the sink/DW…when making their bed or doing their dishes will take 90 seconds!!!</p>
<p>Regarding post 65…My mother used to say that if people were coming over to look at the house, they were coming for the wrong reason. Our home always reflected this attitude and I keep mine slightly neater than my mother.;)</p>
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<p>Are you a morning person too?</p>
<p>I am more of a night owl. I also sleep in until the last minute so I tend to run out the door with breakfast in my mouth. I do occasionally leave papers or clothes on the floor as I run out, but I always clean up first thing when I get home. It doesn’t really matter though because the mess is in my room, hidden from my roommates.</p>
<p>My sister (a therapist) and I were having this discussion about “morning people” vs “night people”. I am convinced that some night people are late sleepers just so that they can avoid chores or doing things that others ask or expect them to do. In the morning, they’re sleeping, by the time they get up, stuff is done…then they stay up late doing what they want. </p>
<p>I’m sure a number of teens have figured this out.</p>
<p>^^^Interesting theory, mom2collegekids. That might be why DH prefers to stay up until 1:00 AM and get up at 9:00 AM, after I’ve been up (and cleaning the kitchen) for two hours.</p>
<p>I think you are on to something, m2ck.</p>
<p>I’m a morning person and a messie. :)</p>
<p>I actually literally almost have a block about organization and cleaning. I do prefer to be in a clean and organized environment but I really struggle to do it. I always have. I am challenged to find a “place for everything” and no matter how much I intend to do it, I never put things away immediately when I’m done with them.</p>
<p>I’ve started using a cleaning service recently (rarely because of my salary) because it forces me to deal with all of my clutter and get everything away, knowing that somebody else will do the second half of the cleaning job.</p>
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<p>Yeah… that’s just not how my brain works. My “messy” brain is constantly doing other things and I tend to jump from one thing to the next very quickly without clean-up time. My brain says “the next task is far more important than completely finishing this one”.</p>
<p>And I’m a night owl and a neatie.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>My mom would stay up late to clean, so that the family wouldn’t be underfoot while she cleaned. </p>
<p>but, I have noticed that some late-to-bed/sleep-in folks seem to do it to avoid chores. They get up around noon, get something to eat, shower, dress…and now it’s 2pm. By that point, no one asks/expects them to do much. Soon it’s 5pm or later and they’ve got the next few hours knowing that everyone else is now relaxing after THEIR long day, so they “relax,” too…lol. Around 2am they finally go to bed. They manage their waking hours to be mostly when no one is really going to expect/demand that they do anything.</p>
<p>^ My mom used to leave me a list of chores to do on my bedroom door. She didn’t care when they got done, but they had to get done. I used to clean very late at night. Still in that habit.</p>
<p>Sometimes on the bottom of the note she would write “I have taken your laptop/car keys/the router/etc, call me when you’re done with the chores and I’ll tell you where it is”. She was good at that game so I just learned it was quicker to do whatever it is she wanted than to try and find it.</p>
<p>I’m messy but very clean. I go to sleep early, get up early. Adore the morning hours. My DH is neat but so clean so we are a good fit. Both of us love the morning.</p>