How messy is your house?

M, so so. If you gave me 5 minutes warning I’d say it’s pretty good.

My father always said it wasn’t messy, it was lived in.

It’s passable. Just give me five minutes.

Right now there are no dishes in the sink. The bed is rarely made and I have a child and cats but I guess it depends on what you compare it to. Compare it to a model home and it’s messy. Compare it to a messy person and it’s neat.

Right now I have functional chaos, there are heaps of messes, but i know what is in those mess, so there is some organization. If I want my hammer, i know it is that mess over there, if I want hand sanitizer I know to look in that mess right here, etc.

If someone was coming and gave me 5 minutes notice, I’d probably wipe down the bathroom (toilet, sink, floor).

My parents were messy, especially my dad. He is a low level hoarder I would say. It’s become worse as he gets older. I never really learned the rules of organizing and putting things away when I was younger, although somehow when I hit my mid teens I neatened up significantly. I never had been extremely messy, but I started to get more of my own style with new furniture and linens and wanted my room to look nice. I was very envious of people who had neat houses, and fairly embarrassed to bring friends over, especially as I grew older, because my parents’ home was getting worse and worse.

My house is about an 8 on a scale of 1 to 10. 10 being extremely neat. Mostly, it’s near because I have quite a bit of space, which makes putting things away easier.

I usually don’t have dirty dishes left out, but that was not the case always. I go through jags where I really focus on keeping the kitchen cleared, and other times I’m not as focused on it. In my new house I have two dishwashers so I almost always have a place to put (hide) a dirty dish. I love it.

I almost always have some paper mess in the kitchen in one pile, and my office always has some paper piles. Also, a pile of papers on the desk (not really a desk, more like a countertop) when you first come in from my garage. I wish I was better about it.

My bed is only made about 25% of the time. My master bathroom is pretty neat. There is usually one or two of something on the counter. It used to be much much worse, but in this house I have countertop cabinets and it’s awesome! I don’t feel like I need to put hair products and deodorant away, I just open the door, use it, and put it back, right there at arm height. Zero effort.

I have shoes not put away on the bottom of my closet and by the garage door.

The dining room and great room are neat, and so when you walk into my house I think the first impression is that it is neat.

If you wanted to crash for the night there are two tidy guest rooms waiting for you with clean sheets, clean towels, a terry robe, and shampoos and soaps. The secondary bathrooms are neat and clean.

My laundry room has the door hanging open on the washing machine, because it’s one if those front loads that will mold up in a day if you don’t. There is always some folded clothes on a counter in the laundry, I rarely have all the clothes put away.

If I had a few minutes notice right now I’d straighten my bed, put away the two clean pans on my stove, and wipe down my countertops so it smelled clean. I’d also arrange the throw pillows on the sofas in the great room. I would also straighten papers my husband has in the kitchen table right now. It would take me 10 minutes.

Not too messy, not too clean. Well lived in! My life is like my house: A little pile of shit here, a little pile of shit there. OH! A BIG pile of shit over there…

Common areas are very clean. My bedroom is a fucking mess. I was a janitor for a few years and am really good at cleaning. I actually enjoy it since it is a job that ends unlike being a cashier.

And my mom was a slob.. When I was little and the sink was full she would just throw the dishes in the garbage and go buy more. But she barely ever cooked.

Since I live in such a small place I can usually clean it in about 20 minutes (excluding dishes). You just have to rotate a bit. Kitchen everyday (5 minutes), floors every three days, bathroom every three days, dusting and tiding every three days.

Not very today. We just had company Saturday night so we did some spiffing up.

I’m pretty tidy most of the time, I hate clutter so do not have clutter everywhere, dishes and kitchen clean as I go, I’m good about keeping bathrooms clean but I hate dusting and vacuuming! When I was living alone for years I only vacuumed every 2 weeks but now that I am sharing a large home with 2 others with my 2 cats and their medium/large dog we do it weekly. The damn dog sheds like crazy for such a short haired dog ( pit/sharpei mix ) and we have a lot of open tile floors so swiffering and vacuuming are the major chores here.

Pachy’s house tonight is neat and clean. Pachy himself is somewhat less so.

It’s a little messy but not too bad. I have the luxury of saying we just moved so a little mess is expected for now.

Yeah, I would need 15 minutes tops.
My sofa pillows need a little fluffing.
I like to give a quick check in the bathroom Make sure it smells fresh in case my husband used it last. LOL.. I clean the toilet and sink regularly.
And I have to clear my computer desk. It’s usually a nightmare. Everything lands there.
Otherwise, my floors and carpets are clean. Clothing is all put away. But I hate dealing with paper. That is why my computer desk is a nightmare. Mail piles up and junk mail. It would take me more than 15 minutes to go through the pile but I would need time to shove it all in a bag or two and hide it somewhere I won’t forget.

We have staff for that.

I have a 1 year old, a 3 year old, a teenager, and a husband who doesn’t like doing dishes (that’s his one job around the house). Hubby and I both work at least 40 hours a week and I am taking a class two evenings a week.

There’s a bin of dirty cloth diapers in the living room (and another small one in a bedroom), a hamper of random dirty clothes in front of the fireplace, there are books, toys and random things from the diaper bag around the living room. The dining room table hasn’t been cleared off since it was cleaned last Friday by our every-other-week cleaner. The kitchen is in transition now as we are experimenting with the fridge on an opposite wall. We only have one short wall of built-in cupboards… so the kitchen is cluttered with impossibly little counter space on a good day… and it’s not a good day. The bathroom is pretty good as I cleaned the inside of the toilet this past weekend. Our bedroom is fairly “clean”, but the drawers are pretty empty and clothes are mostly folded in piles on top of things. Our laundry baskets are in the living room, so dirty clothes are sorted into piles on the bedroom floor. The kids bedroom is the cleanest, as I pick it up each night and have the toddler make his bed each morning.

The unfinished basement (not that you would go in there) is pretty organized and “clean”, although a huge rain storm last weekend brought in some water that has still not dried. There are a couple of piles of laundry to do on the floor next to the washer. I haven’t been in the bathroom in a month or two, but the teenager cleaned it right after I was in there last. We all cleaned the basement a month or so ago… so it’s one of the clearest spots in the house.

The teenager’s room is out of the way, so you probably wouldn’t see it, but it’s very organized and clean… although he sometimes has some clothes laying around the floor.

If you stopped over, I would probably pick up a bit in the living room as we chatted. I wouldn’t feel too embarrassed… because I can’t do much more than I’m doing already. Life happens. We’re happy and healthy… which I’ll take over an immaculate house any day. And Merry Maids sure help out every other Friday. Whew.

Does your husband do anything to clean? Your schedule is obviously tighter than his….

At the moment, my biggest problem is a dog shedding tons of white hair,every single day. Plus it rained, again, last night, so when the dogs go out, then come back in, they track mud all over the carpet. I don’t bother vacuuming until it’s dried up outside, and the muddy tracks have dried on the carpet. If I vacuum while the tracks are wet, it just smears (or so I tell myself!)

@Dutchess_III Well, he’s taking care of the kids while I’m in school, so it’s not like he’s sitting around playing video games. He does the lawn, cars, bills, grocery shopping (I make the list), washes the dirty cloth diapers, etc. I do laundry, most of the cooking and most of the cleaning. I don’t think it’s a disproportionate burden. He certainly picks up… just doesn’t clean much. And he washes the dishes… just not right away. He also never complains. :)

Sounds good to me then! I do all of the cleaning, but I’m also jobless, so I think that’s only fair. Although he does wash his own clothes.

Ours is very frikkin’ neat. We have it on the market and have to be ready for it to show at a moments notice (actually I asked for 30 minutes and most folks are obliging). We even make the bed after we get up.

@rojo Isn’t it exhausting keeping the house neat while selling? I hate it.

Horribly so, right now. There is some laundry piled up, the carpets need vacuuming, there are books, DVDs and dog toys lying around….and yep, dishes in the sink.

I’m very busy taking care of a puppy and two injured dogs, though. Also, I’m still not completely organized after moving to my new apartment.

@Cupcake I just read your post and can’t help but wonder why your husband has a chore he hates? Maybe you should trade a chore with him? You’ve probably thought of that already.

If you can afford it I think you should consider getting a person to clean every other week so it frees up some of your time. A lot of Americans never even consider it.

@Cupcake and @JLeslie: I used to have someone come clean every other week. She became unreliable so I let her go, but I highly recommend it. If parents are busy with work or children or whatever, it’s a great thing to have, and not very expensive. I used to pay 80 bucks a pop. It’s the only way the whole house would be clean all at the same time. On my own, now, it’s never all clean at once, since I do what I can when I can. It’s so nice to come home and the whole house is clean and smelling nice – floors clean, countertops clean, sheets changed and beds made, bathroom sparkling. Really, I recommend you look into it, @Cupcake, that is, if you can afford it.
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It is a pain in the buttocks @JLeslie but maybe it will become a habit.

Nah.

Arg. Bbeen there with a house on the market…and I had a daycare at the time! Well, they turned into my little army of cleaners, so that actually turned out to be a good thing.

@JLeslie @jca We have our house cleaned every other week. It’ll be done on Friday. The house stays pretty clean… but quite messy. Every other Friday I think about taking a half vacation day to bask in the quiet cleanliness of my house.

Hubby picked the job he most wants to do (dishes). We’ve tried swapping, but I just end up doing everything. I try to do dishes once a week, but haven’t been since I started taking a summer class. And now the teenager is home for the summer and we’re both eating a lot more veggies and homemade food… so there are a LOT of dishes to do. I get his frustration, but we’re not switching because that never works out.

Depends on what you mean by messy.
Clean? Yes.
Organized? To me it is, but not conventionally, so it may give off the impression of being messy.

The common areas, however, are quite messy and smelly because I’m the only one who seems to care about cleanliness. They think the only thing that needs cleaning is the dishes (or that everything else isn’t their responsibility).

@Cupcake I empathize. Dishes and pots and pans is one of my least favorite chores. It’s why I splurged in the two dishwashers on my new kitchen. I’d rather clean my bathroom top to bottom than wash pots and unload a dishwasher.

My house is definitely organized. Need a gift bag? Here they are. Need a birthday card? Here they are. Ready to do a craft? Here’s the craft stuff and here’s more over there. Jewelry? It’s all in there. Need the tape measure? I know exactly where it is.

I can find stuff if I was the last one to use it. Unfortunately, my husband and I often use the same stuff, and he just leaves stuff where the last place he used it. There is a pry bar and a hammer on the railing of the deck that has been there for a week. He used them a week ago.

Give me 2 weeks notice 3 tops and I can have it passable.

I worked all day yesterday getting rid of stuff and the house looks worse than ever.