Social Question

jca2's avatar

Is your house messy?

Asked by jca2 (16826points) October 20th, 2019

If someone were to drop by your house unannounced, would they find it to be messy?

Do you have a lot of stuff? Do you try to put things away and be organized or do you tend to leave things out? Dishes in the sink, piles of mail, clothes that have to be put away, stuff like that? Or do you tend to put things away and discard what you don’t need and not purchase a lot of stuff?

Do you spend a lot of time cleaning up, wiping the counters, mopping the floor, cleaning the bathroom, doing household chores?

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27 Answers

seawulf575's avatar

Some areas are lived in and cluttered, others are not. The bedroom is clean, the kitchen typically has one or two things in the sink, but not piled high, the garage is a mess. But then we have 2 adult children living with us and basically 3 households worth of goods being stored. It kinda makes organization a moot point.

johnpowell's avatar

My sister rents a stall in this hipster antique mall. She pays $400 a month for a 8’X10’ space and all she has to do is put stuff in there and put a price on it. They have a attendant there that does the cashiering and makes sure people don’t steal. They are open 12 hours a day and my sister has to only go in a few hours a week to put stuff on the shelves.

My sister gets the stuff at goodwill at the pay per pound bins. She has a good eye for what the hipsters will pay a bunch for. If you price a shitty picture of a tiger climbing a tree that looks like it is from Japan for 80$ bucks a hipster will buy it. Payed 3 bucks at the bins for it. The hipsters also like the clothes date-raping frat boys wore in the 90’s. Best-sellers. Tommy-Hilfiger shit goes out as fast as she can put it in.

Every morning she goes to the bins as soon as they open and digs around for a few hours. I think it is horrible. But she loves it. She essentially gets paid to shop.

Last month she made 1,400 bucks after rent and the cost of goods. A pretty solid income for a few hours a day.

But this also means our living room has a ton of shit go in and out of it. She ends up getting a lot that upon further inspection doesn’t make the cut for her space and it goes right back to goodwill. Tax write-off LOL.

Or kitchen is spotless, could eat off the bathroom floors, but the rest of the house looks like someone has hoarding tendencies. But things get turned-over pretty fast.

canidmajor's avatar

My house is always messy. If people drop by unannounced (which I hate, BTW) they will find a messy house. If the sink is full of dishes, I just haven’t washed them yet that day. Clutter and such abound. If anyone comments, or even makes the face, they are not welcome again. It’s my home, my mess doesn’t bother me.

My town has hard water, so there is mineral build up in the toilets that takes an enormous effort and a lot of vinegar to remove. It looks icky, but is not unclean, but it is amazing to me how many people think it is preferable to shit in a sparkly toilet.

It doesn’t seem to matter that it’s not unhygienic, there is some kind of social mandate out there that our houses should look like show places for the edification of others.

I am delighted if someone invites me into their home, I don’t mind if it’s messy, that’s their business. I think I am alone in this.

KNOWITALL's avatar

No. I grew up with clutter and can’t stand it.
I dont spend a lot of time cleaning, maybe an hour a day, a couple on weekends.

janbb's avatar

I don’t function well in a messy place so my house is usually very neat. I do a lot of straightening up and don’t leave dishes in the sink. The house is cleaned every two weeks and doesn’t need much cleaning in between.

canidmajor's avatar

@KNOWITALL, I hear that from people a lot “My parents were messy so I’m not”, but I seem to be the outlier there. My parents were messy, so I am not uncomfortable with it.

johnpowell's avatar

@canidmajor ::

My aunt and uncle are both retired from the Air Force and I absolutely hate going to their house. They have leather couches so I have to check my pockets before sitting down. I spend more time cleaning the shower after I have taken one than I do cleaning myself. It is like living in a museum. Fuck that.

We just had about 10 people crash here for the twins b-day. My sisters oldest kid came up from Arizona and spent 5 minutes bitching about rain while digging a coat out of his suitcases. He just tossed shit all over the living room. Nobody cares.

I’m mostly the kitchen Nazi. But that is my irrational fear of old dairy.

jca2's avatar

I’ve often wondered if there’s a collecting gene, or a hoarding gene. My grandmother had a house full of stuff, decades of stuff (which, now I wish I had a lot of because it’s nostalgic). She had three daughters, one, my mom, seemed to have a lot of stuff. Not as much as my grandmother, but still, held on to stuff. Her sister, my aunt, has a house that is pristine. My sister has a neat house. I tend to collect and accumulate. I’m just speculating about the genetic aspect but since some really obscure things tend to be genetic, this is a possibility. My aunt used to say that since their house was always messy and she’d be embarrassed to have people over, she didn’t want to have that kind of house as an adult.

My house tends to be messy. I have a small house and a 12 year old and three cats. We both do craft projects and baking projects and stuff like that. I have a lot of clothes which I’m trying to pare down but it’s time consuming. My bathroom is not pristine. If someone came over unannounced I’d be annoyed and embarrassed.

canidmajor's avatar

Well, @johnpowell, I wish you the best in your ultimate recovery, but it won’t be happening here. My house is not filthy, it is messy. Too bad if you don’t like it, and how silly to clean someone else’s shower after getting out of it.
I don’t understand the leather couch reference.

You’re a grown up now. Don’t go there if you don’t want to.

canidmajor's avatar

@jca2, there are so many weird genetic connections that that may indeed be a thing. I am prone to aggravated hiccuping, my dad was too, a couple have doctors have posited a genetic connection. Wish I’d gotten his height instead.

jca2's avatar

@canidmajor: I heard that the ability to roll your tongue is genetic. Also, I saw on one of the DNA sites that whether or not you like the licorice flavor is genetic. Who’d a thought? I love black licorice but I can’t roll my tongue. My mom could and my daughter can.

KNOWITALL's avatar

@canidmajor Yes, I definately am the opposite of most of my family, on clutter. I had to clean at moms and grandmothers, nightmare. Laundry for eight or more was traumatic lol

jca2's avatar

When my grandmother got sick, my aunt came and did a major cleaning of her house with me. It took about a week and it looked beautiful when it was done. I wish I had some of the collectibles and clothes from the 50’s and 60’s that we got rid of. Maybe that’s partly why I tend to collect stuff. Not old clothes, but I have collections of tableware and figurines (otherwise known as knick knacks). I also tend to buy a lot of jewelry but I’m trying not to now.

ARE_you_kidding_me's avatar

Our house is much cleaner than average. We have guests quite often now that my wife has essentially become the matriarch of the family. We take a little extra time to clean up now. I’m somewhat of a collector (not hoarder) and I have one room that is mine and I can clutter it with impunity. It’s full of books, guitars, computers and antiques and stuff.

ucme's avatar

We have staff for that, fired staff if it were even close to being messy.

jca2's avatar

@ucme: I was expecting that answer from you!

jca2's avatar

@ARE_you_kidding_me: I wish I had a spare room for stuff like projects, books being read, gifts that are yet to be given, and other stuff!

lucillelucillelucille's avatar

No. My studio area however is.

raum's avatar

Messy would be an understatement.

My house is an utter catastrophe. Looks like a laundry truck drove into an art store. And a toy bomb went off.

lucillelucillelucille's avatar

@raum- I will not complain of my work area again. XD

canidmajor's avatar

@raum, or, as I saw somewhere, “There appears to have been a struggle”. :-D

raum's avatar

@canidmajor LOL I love it!

@lucillelucillelucille I actually find portraiture photography of artists in their work space completely fascinating. Have you seen photos of Francis Bacon in his work space? Makes me feel like a minimalist.

lucillelucillelucille's avatar

@raum -No, I haven’t.
The space where I paint is neat & clean. I can’t work if messy.
The space where I throw clay is not organized and it’s the bane of my existence.

ucme's avatar

@jca2…& your point is XD

Sagacious's avatar

No. I like things straight and hate clutter. It’s just my way.

Dutchess_lll's avatar

So so. The puppy chews shit up and scatters the bits every where. Other than that I could tidy up in 5 minutes.

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