House Cleanliness

[giftedmadness@hotmail.com]

my kitchen has dishes pilled up, my room is a mess, tons of paper work everywhere, yet i refuse to clean it, even when i know i will feel better if its clean.

can anyone relate?

[Jezebel]

I can be messy sometimes but try not to let it get too bad, and definetely feel better when the house is clean. I don't mind piles of papers and books and things like that, but I can't stand "nasty messes". Stuff like old food lying around, things that smell bad, wet messes, and so on. It's funny, when living with certain anal people they will come home and say "What a mess!" when there are just a couple of things lying out, which I often don't even take notice of.

[Crazy]

my kitchen has dishes pilled up, my room is a mess, tons of paper work everywhere, yet i refuse to clean it, even when i know i will feel better if its clean.

can anyone relate?

You just described my house. Except you forgot the dirty laundry all over the bedroom floor.

[giftedmadness@hotmail.com]

I can't stand "nasty messes". Stuff like old food lying around, things that smell bad, wet messes, and so on.

Oh, I am totally with you there. 100% . I clean up stuff you described there that my roomie leaves behind. Usually food of some sort.

[Vagabond]

I keep things clean but messy. I never lose things in the mess though; on the contrary, if someone (eg mothers, sisters etc) try to "tidy up" my desk or room, I can't find anything. Frustrating. :angry:

[MasterMerk]

I'm very messy. It only takes 5 minutes to clean a room up, but I just dont care enough to do it. :)

I don't let it go over the top, mind you.

[sme_bro]

i once read an article in New Scientist about how people who have messy houses ect are physicly manifesting the mess from their head into real life and keeping thoughts orgonized, while people who are compulsivly tidy have less order in their minds.
I like to think my mind is clear while my room is a mess

[Google Monster]

My room is a mess. And I don't do laundry until I am wearing my last pair of clean clothes.

[Jkrs]

my kitchen has dishes pilled up, my room is a mess, tons of paper work everywhere, yet i refuse to clean it, even when i know i will feel better if its clean.

can anyone relate?


I don't have enough stuff here to be messy yet, but if I did you probably wouldn't be able to see the floor. The thing is though.. When I clean, I lose stuff. Invariably. I suspect my body goes on autopilot, and I don't pay attention to where I'm putting items that counts as 'away'.

[Melody]

From http://www.intp.org/intprofile.html :


When an INTP lives alone, his home is usually spartan and utility-oriented. There will be little or no decorative objects, electronic equipement will be in abundance and the importance of any object will depend only on its usefulness. The general style of the home is largely irrelevant. When an object is put aside, not to be returned to for a while, it will lie fully ignored until used again. Objects which lie unmoved for more than about 48 hours usually become invisible to the INTP, until such time as he has a use for them again. For other temperaments whose need for tidiness and order in a house is strong, this lack of concern in this area may seem despairing. For the INTP, however, no problem exists. Corners of rooms, table tops and cupboards may become cluttered with objects, but while they don't move they remain effectively invisible and are unimportant. Indeed, less mature INTPs have a reluctance to move objects at all, for the desire to remain detached and not physically interact with the world can be strong. The one thing that will force an INTP to tidy his home radically, even when alone, is when the clutter eventually gets in his way and hinders some activity. Often, however, the offending objects will merely be moved into another corner where they can spend some more weeks being invisible. When an INTP lives with a partner and perhaps has a family, he learns the necessity of focussing on the details of tidiness. This is not usually difficult, since tidying a house is an activity which can be clearly defined and, hence, the INTP can focus on it by treating it as systematic work.

[jittus rye]

Ahh. My room can get to the point where I need a shovel for it, I don't do anything in my room other than get dressed. I just sit in the dining room on my computer and sleep on the couch.

School papers, and other belongings, such as soda bottles are what my room is for..

[BritainOphira]

My room is horrible right now. I even managed to come home early so I could clean it, but I will probably never get around to it. Usually I'm pretty good at keeping my clothes somewhere near my closet, but right now my pants are spread all over my floor, I'm not sure where any of my jackets are, you can't enter the door for the shoes (unless, of course, you know where to step), and I can barely get to my dvd player (which I am currently using strictly for my c.d.'s as I can't get to my actual c.d. player without some major furniture hopping). Everything is clean, but nothing is where it actually should be as I've been raiding the storage closets, drawers, and basement for my school stuff.
Of course, there is also the stack of framed pictures sitting in one of the corners awaiting the day that I finally get around to hanging them...

[Avengardh]

The silly attempts at cleaning it have been..well, futile.

However, when I attempt to clean it I start off with a lot of energy...then I just get bored. There isn't any food, mind you, or dishes, just mainly clothes and books.
If it hadn't been for my dad my art would still be all over as well, he got me a 15" x 20" box where I could store it.
Since I still live with my parents (cultural thing, also, I think my parents are the coolest roomies) and we live in an apartment, my room is tiny.

I find myself wanting to live like the Japanese (small room, not a lot of possessions), I cleaned out my closet and gave away so many clothes to charity, if it was up to me I would give out a lot more. But the parents objected...

When I get around to moving back to my country (Mexico) I want to finally get the room clean...it always makes me feel peaceful.

~*Aven*~

[Vagabond]

However, when I attempt to clean it I start off with a lot of energy...then I just get bored.
I am the opposite. I procrastinate, avoid getting into it, but when I get started, time flies and I don't even feel it. If nobody disturbs me, I will not even notice I am tired; I will go on to the details as well (well not always, but usually). I am like this in whatever "job" I have to do. If, by any chance, someone makes me take a break, chances are I won't pick up from where I left until I get in the right mood again.

[Birdsnest]

Yes, I am messy, but I also like it clean, depends on whether its the weekend or weekday for how it looks.

[Google Monster]

When ever i get to cleaning my room i end up taking everything out of my room even the dressers, beds and electronics and just clean it good then rearrange if needed. But i only do that once or twice a year. Other then that I just pick up the garbage and that even stays outside my room in the basement awhile before i take it out. hehe.

[HairlessBluetick]

I've always thought that my stuff had a certain order to it... my mother seems to think it is horrifically messy (her word is always "slovenly" -- don't you hate people who use the same word over and over again? grr) Anyway, it doesn't approach slovenly, and I know where everything is, but I imagine to an observer it would seem pretty bad.

[Melody]

*looks up 'sloven'*

Amazing! I have found a word that expresses my fashion.

[INTrPosr]

I posted a response earlier, however, I don't see it. I am glad that I read through the threads, because I was thinking specifically of what Melody posted from INTP.ORG. Living spartan with clutter is me, unless I need a clear area to work. However, when company comes over, I will need to clean up. Same goes for my "hoopty".

[int]

We had to hire a friend to come clean it today, as we had guests coming over and neither of us would get to it all. Luckily she's a student and worked for cheap.

Since I'm the cook, I'll clean the dishes every few days...to a satisfactory extent. Otherwise, I can tell the passage of time by the piles of "stuff" in my life.

[paladinoflunaria]

I usually don't worry about stuff unless it gets in the way. As far as actually doing things, I'm similar to Vagabond- getting started is the hardest part, and I dread getting started. If eventually (I suspect relatively quickly) I run out of energy or if I am delayed in my work by some obstacle, then I revert to non-work mode.

[Miss Padfoot]

I don't own my own house, and if I did it would probably be damn messy. My mom makes me keep my room relatively neat, which irritates me.

[SensEye]

I am textbook INTP when it comes to cleanliness. Quite cluttered but like some other's here mention, I don't like nasty messes.

I always rinse dishes and get rid of any leftover food but then I just leave them like that. Back in my university days the natural state of my modest dish collection was unwashed. I would only clean what I needed for my next meal. After rinsing and leaving them to dry, I would just put them back in the cupboard that way. Eventually, in an attempt at self improvement, I boxed up and stored away all but one place setting and a few pots and pans. Kept the mess down to a minimum.

I have a house with a dishwasher now, so life is better. I have a full cupboard/dishwasher of generally clean dishes now.

For an example of clutter, I mentioned in the driving thread, I have a 1993 vehicle. About 6 months (say spring 1994) after I bought it I got a recall letter dealing with a minor fault with the emergency brake. That letter is still sitting on my kitchen table along with a lot of other junk. How many of you can say you have mail lying around A DECADE OLD!

PS. I'm keeping the letter for the day I quit procrastinating and deal with this brake issue. Although, I'm guessing it might be a tad late. :ph34r:

Cleaning is a chore and I hate doing it. I almost never do it on a day to day basis but when things get past my own personal level of comfort I will take action. And do a suprisingly thorough job. Then ignore it until it returns to the intolerable state again.

[antireconciler]

So much crap. I would probably throw away half the crap I have stacked up in my closet and taking up space if I didn't think my family would be upset that I'd gotten rid of things people (maybe they, who knows?) have given me as gifts. I live with my parents for now, but about the only physical objects I've bought for myself (mostly all I use) are my books, my computer, my car, and a small stack of CDs. I'm really not a collector of stuff, but my room is usually stable around half-messy/half-organized, like most of you, I think.

[Jezebel]

I always rinse dishes and get rid of any leftover food but then I just leave them like that. Back in my university days the natural state of my modest dish collection was unwashed. I would only clean what I needed for my next meal. After rinsing and leaving them to dry, I would just put them back in the cupboard that way. Eventually, in an attempt at self improvement, I boxed up and stored away all but one place setting and a few pots and pans. Kept the mess down to a minimum.

In my university days, I hated doing dishes so much that I invested in all disposable dishes. I would get those thick paper bowls that could handle boiling water and do all my cooking in the microwave.

[nobarcode]

When an INTP lives alone, his home is usually spartan and utility-oriented. There will be little or no decorative objects, electronic equipement will be in abundance and the importance of any object will depend only on its usefulness. The general style of the home is largely irrelevant. When an object is put aside, not to be returned to for a while, it will lie fully ignored until used again. Objects which lie unmoved for more than about 48 hours usually become invisible to the INTP, until such time as he has a use for them again. For other temperaments whose need for tidiness and order in a house is strong, this lack of concern in this area may seem despairing. For the INTP, however, no problem exists. Corners of rooms, table tops and cupboards may become cluttered with objects, but while they don't move they remain effectively invisible and are unimportant. Indeed, less mature INTPs have a reluctance to move objects at all, for the desire to remain detached and not physically interact with the world can be strong. The one thing that will force an INTP to tidy his home radically, even when alone, is when the clutter eventually gets in his way and hinders some activity. Often, however, the offending objects will merely be moved into another corner where they can spend some more weeks being invisible. When an INTP lives with a partner and perhaps has a family, he learns the necessity of focussing on the details of tidiness. This is not usually difficult, since tidying a house is an activity which can be clearly defined and, hence, the INTP can focus on it by treating it as systematic work.


A link from the old forum: http://intp.pauljames.de/. I am like this almost exactly.

*edit- I did not see that Melody had already posted this. Guess that's what I get for paying attention. :blush: *

[MacGuffin]

i once read an article in New Scientist about how people who have messy houses ect are physicly manifesting the mess from their head into real life and keeping thoughts orgonized, while people who are compulsivly tidy have less order in their minds.
Ooooh I need that article to use as evidence on my behalf againsy my wife and parents.

My house is spartan. I don't care for a lot of decoration (except pictures). There are piles of my stuff everywhere I go tho. Drives my ISTJ wife crazy. I just don't see them like that (the INTP.org detailed description is right on in that regard).

I do tidy up occasionally. Mostly for company.

[file cabinet]

on my wall I hang two empty frames and an original comic strip I bought from a cartoonist. I'll probably be hanging a painting by that cartoonist as well but I need to get it framed.. but it's triangular and it's not an equilateral triangle.. so it'll cost more than the painting probably :(

[jittus rye]

Just put it on a nice white background in a rectangular frame, its cheeap.

[libertarianjim]

Always a wreck. Everyone else in my family is neat, in some cases to the point of compulsion. Not me.

My cousin once was asked to describe my apartment (from when I lived alone) in 5 words: "A path through the garbage."

sme-bro: When I was in college, one of the my philospophy professors had this to say: "One of the priests who teaches here one told me, 'Bob, a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind.' I looked at his desk and said: "Father, what is your empty desk the sign of?"

[libertarianjim]

:D :D Once, I stepped into the broken glass lying on the path through the garbage at my INP friend's appartment. If only he had had a working lamp...

That's funny. When I was living alone, I got a severe case of the flu over Christmas break. My mom and sister came over and decided to clean (I didn't have the energy to get off the couch to stop them) and my sister stepped on a thumbtack in the path through the garbage.

[Crazy]

My cousin once was asked to describe my apartment (from when I lived alone) in 5 words: "A path through the garbage."


So, is it a good path? mine usually ends up as more like stepping stones through the garbage.

Then of course every once in a while it gets cleaned up. When it is clean, I always feel wierd. Like I'm a stranger in my own house. Every time the house gets cleaned, my wife says "isn't that better?" or "Doesn't it make you feel better now that the house is clean?" I usually come up with something clever and witty to say like "yeah, I guess."


To delve a little further, when I was a kid, we had what we called the "junk drawer." It was one of the drawers in the kitchen that was for odds and ends, anything that didn't have a place went in there. At my house, nearly every drawer, closet, and shelf is the "Junk Drawer."

[Salad]

i have a hard time cluttering.
everything i own fits in my car...




i still manage though.




*yea minimalism*

[libertarianjim]

To delve a little further, when I was a kid, we had what we called the "junk drawer." It was one of the drawers in the kitchen that was for odds and ends, anything that didn't have a place went in there. At my house, nearly every drawer, closet, and shelf is the "Junk Drawer."

I can relate to that. After I got divorced (I was married to a neat freak) I lived alone for two years while I was teaching. EVERY SURFACE was cluttered: every closet, all of my bookcases, both desks, the coffee table, the air hockey table, the liquor cabinet, the countertops and stove (I didn't cook), my bed (I slept on the couch), the other couch, even the tops of my stereo speakers. The silverware drawer was very neat, though -- I hated doing dishes so I bought plastic forks and spoons.

One time my cousin was eating a candy bar in my living room and he asked me where the trash was for the wrapper. I actually got indignant with him about it. "What the f*** do you mean garbage?! Throw it on the f*****' floor!! Is this your first f*****' time here?!"

[indczn]

Is my room a "mess" if i know where everything is? I couldnt even tell you what was on my walls, aside from my prized possession, a 2001, 13 player autographed St. Louis blues jersey. Looking around I see I have a few other jerseys, hats and hockey sticks mounted on the wall, along with a few unacknowledged notes from my mom. heh.
My room isnt that bad. Nothing Disgusting, and all the wrappers are in the garbage can. Unfortuntately, i dont notice any peculiar odors. Everything is strategically placed, however, im not quite sure what the system is oter than If something is really important, it goes in where I will trip on it so i remember it. It drives my mom crazy.

[Claverhouse]

You've got to be joking.

I've got so much stuff about I can barely squeeze around my bedroom, and everywhere where things form groups of clutter I don't notice until I have to.

However, this is partly due to living in a small place ( British houses etc. are exceptionally small, partly due to overcrowding, and partly due to the property market being so intense that developers/landlords/government make sure everything is compressed and nasty to maximise profits ); if I lived in a properly sized abode, I'm fairly sure everything would have it's own place. Still wouldn't see the dust though. Also, I don't care for minimalism: I like loads of books, loads of pictures, and loads of other ornamental stuff as much as any victorian.

Having pets doesn't help having the place ultra-tidy either.


Claverhouse :ph34r:

[Francis]

However, when I attempt to clean it I start off with a lot of energy...then I just get bored.
I am the opposite. I procrastinate, avoid getting into it, but when I get started, time flies and I don't even feel it. If nobody disturbs me, I will not even notice I am tired; I will go on to the details as well (well not always, but usually). I am like this in whatever "job" I have to do. If, by any chance, someone makes me take a break, chances are I won't pick up from where I left until I get in the right mood again.

Vagabond, you made a very detailed description of what is known as the flow state.


Greetings,
Francis