This One Is for the Non-neat Freaks (Please Let Me Know That Some of You Exist!)

haha, my husband is so OCD he keeps his clothes and all his stuff in his "area" in the basement so he can organize it and it can't get messed up! I am certainly not like that, I would be lucky if my clean clothes made it out of the hamper! But, you know what, things are washed, kids are clean, like MomCeo said, there is a difference between messy and dirty! It's ok to be a little messy, so what, as long as you don't have dog poop tracked through the house!!

There was a time that I would clean before the cleaners came....Then my kids started to walk and those days with the cleaners and a clean house are long gone!
I have days that if someone came unexpectedly to my door for a visit I would pretend to not be home. :)

lol, I am the same as you. I "wish" i was cleaner. My house is not a pig sty but if I miss a day of dishes I am ok with that. Basic things I keep up with (regular sweeping since I have tile, 2 dogs and a cat) and dishes. Other than that, I can let things go for a bit. I'd like to hire a maid. LOL

"Cleaning envy" Bahaha! I laughed out loud at that!

Yes, I'm comfortable being comfortable. Some of my rooms are just so, the living room and the dining room, but my kitchen, family room and bedroom are always in the state of flux because people are in and out of them. No big deal. I could see at some point when I'm an empty nester and I give half my stuff away to help my kids start their new life, that my house will be more "just so" than it is now. Once a week dusting, cleaning and vacuuming is enough, and getting the kitchen cleaned once a day is enough too.

Now, we won't talk about the stupid paperwork... that will never be just so!

Dawn

LOL, my husband calls my parents house the castle. It's honestly not that bad my mom isn't a freak about dust or floors, she used to mop like once a month when we were kids. She does not tolerate clutter on counters or dishes sitting in the sink though. But compared to their house ours is regularly a wreck! I can live with dust etc and I've always hated clutter but somehow it's ignored now because I can't keep up and things don't get put in their place either by the hubby or the kids. It's annoying yes, but it's a lived in house. Whenever somebody comes to visit we have a mass scramble of clean up and I'm a stay at home mom. :-).
I will say the house especially down stairs does get vacuumed at least twice a week because the kids track dirt and sand in and the dog tracks grass in. But other than that, I never knew people mopped their floors once a week until I was on here.

Um...I have to explain to people who come over...I clean daily. You would never guess by the amount of Toys, Clothes and misc. Junk.

I can spend hours cleaning and have it only look like I roughly came through with a broom:)...one time in the last month.

My best friend has a house cleaner that comes once a week.....And her house is the same way...Except on the day the Cleaner comes!

Yes. I actually was at a baby shower this weekend at someone's home, and the entire home had the feeling that it had been "staged". I mean, yes, it was beautiful and yes she was hosting an event, so I'm sure it wasn't like that every single day, ya know? But maybe it is. There were no personal pictures on the walls. No personal ANYTHING anywhere, except one small side table that was literally so covered with photos that you couldn't use it to set your drink on.

The furnishings were all some shade of white or off-white, including the carpets and rugs, and I was so worried that my drink (red wine) would get spilled or knocked over somehow. I wouldn't want to live like that.
I could stand my home to be a little neater/cleaner than it is, but I prefer my "mess" over the "neat freak" "unlived in" approach any day.

My husband's aunt...oh my... Her carpets are white. I don't mean they were installed white and have settled on a gently used beige. The carpets are white. Wall to wall, room after room across the entire two story house. With four kids. Every single thing in her house is spotless - I would eat off that woman's floor or bathroom counter. Honestly I have never been in such an immaculate house. She claims since she stays home her job is to keep the house that way. It makes me a bit twitchy but she seems normal enough. I did ask her once how she keeps her white carpet white and she said she vacuums twice a day and steam cleans once a week with a monthly deep cleaning. I am not envious but I am in awe. I'll take my house where for the most part life is tidy and clean enough for our family.

You're not alone!

Kitchen - I'm lucky if the dishes are washed after dinner. I leave home 7:15 am and return anywhere from 6-7:30 pm depending on who and what actvity is going on. No one but me will do the hand washing only dishes...so I try to get those rinsed at least...but I found one Saturday that well...let's just say I contemplated throwing it away! Then I thought...too wasteful of money to just toss the dish. The I looked at the floor, I swear no one sweeps or mops but me, so it had been a while...

Living room - You so know immediately that we are "living" in that room. Clothes hampers along the wall cause the laundry is clean but not put away. Movies never seem to make to the stand, bookshelves are not dusted (I hate dusting)...

Bathroom...well that is the one room I am OCD about! But I have a 3yr old son and 4 yr old nephew who just can't seem to get their aim down...

My bedroom...hahaha broken dresser so I'm living out of clothes baskets...

Hope that makes you feel better...oh and I have a hoarder for a husband...thankfully he keeps his stuff in the basement in his office...but I can't walk in that room.
Added: I have organizational envy...I cannot stay organzied for the life of me.

My house is usually always straightened up, or at least I try. Always moped, dusted, vacuumed? Nope. I only do that stuff once a week. I dont think you can compare someones house who doesnt have children.

But usually, when people are going to have an event at their house, Im sure they cleaned their butt off for it. Walk in there unexpected, Im sure it would be a different story.

As a person who can't be tidy to save my life, I highly admire people who have homes like designer hotel rooms IF THEY are laid back fun hosts. But that is RARE! I have family and friends on the OCD side, and they are uptight and persnickety EVEN with guests! Like, "Oh, those coasters go on that table, and we don't leave dishes in the sink and don't touch this and that" type comments.

Like, my house isn't spotless, but I'll encourage you not to lift a finger in my home, and your kids can trash the place, and I'm more than happy to clean up later (or not :).

When I feel like I'm so polite visiting others by having my kids put all their dishes in the sink, and pick up their toys, and stay quiet inside, but the hosts are STILL wanting the dishes rinsed and put in the dishwasher in a certain ORDER RIGHT AWAY and certain toys from certain areas can't be moved to other areas, and they're nervously following the kids and putting everything away and re folding matching throws on all the furniture IMMEDIATELY when people stand up.... PHOOEY! Who needs the stress!? You can take your squeaky clean house and shove it! (yes, I have cleaning envy and am procrastinating doing a huge stack of dishes right now)
Now, I do have some rich friends with clean homes who are totally fun. They're not even neat freaks, they just have maids keeping everything clean for them. That I could do. And some of my neat friends are not uptight. BUT, most of the super neat ones...ARE UPTIGHT.

I don't think I could live in anything but controlled chaos! Trash goes out, clothes gets washed, dishes get cleaned so there is nothing gross. I run the vacuum were it needs it, I run a duster over things when need be, I get cleaner to the toilets and spills get cleaned up when they happen. But I'm far from compulsive and I never do the whole house at once. Just what I get to when I get to it on a semi rotating basis so nothing gets nasty. House is too big and there's too much to do to get it all done at once!
We live in our house and it shows. We love our books and they're everywhere. We love our CDs, movies, toys, whatever. There are places to put things and they get put there now and again, but they get taken out just as fast as they are put away LOL I have so many other enjoyable things to do than to compulsively clean all the time.
I always feel uncomfortable in those houses that look like a showroom that no one ever lives in. Always afraid I'll destroy it somehow and the person will never speak to me again.

Like my in-laws house...man I am terrified to touch anything cause heaven forbit I smudge the counter! lol

I love a little lived in look!

I'm more comfortable decorating in early childhood than my DH is. We do a good clean 2x a month (and hire someone to help) and before any major events. I have been to places that are so pristine you wonder if you can breathe. My MIL's house is neat (no little kids or pets) but it's not sterile. My mom used to work for someone who had a formal livingroom, in a not very formal house. Always struck me as odd.

I would like my house to look like the magazines sometimes, but other times, meh. I'd rather live in it.

Yes Im very out of my comfort zone in houses like that!

Our house is clean.... for us. lol

My kitchen counters are washed after every meal. The floor is swept once a day unless its really bad. Dishes never get put away, we take from the dish drainer for our next meal. Dishes are only washed once a day.. so with 7 of us there is always dirty dishes in the sink.

Our living room usually has a few toys on the floor but its never messy. Thats because our bedroom in the "living room". Not sure how over the years we have all moved from the living room to our bedroom as the gathering place in the house. I keep the computer in our room, we have a tv in here and my hubby sits in his chair, I sit in the computer chair to watch tv and all 5 kids pile on the bed to watch tv. If I try to join them on MY bed they politely let me know there is no room, lol. But I don't complain because if someone comes over all I have to do is shut the door and my house looks clean, lol.

None of the bedrooms are clean. I guess Im happy when the clothes make it to the top of the dressers when clean instead of on the floor. I figure its thier room, they have to deal with it. Once a month we do make everyone clean thier rooms so it doesn't get too out of hand.

We have 1 closet in the whole house and that is upstairs, filled will sheets, extra blankets and odd and ends.no room to "hide" things... so all the "extra odd and ends" end up on our dressers, since its pretty much the living room.

Thankfully our laundry room ( off of the kitchen ) also has a door to be shut when someone comes over... again with 7 of us laundry is never 100% done!

The bathroom gets cleaned daily ( sometimes many times a day).. with 5 boys in the house that's a necessity!

I like to enjoy our time together, if I was to have a house out of a magizine I would go nuts! I prefer to live in mine and well it looks lived in lol

I feel the same, I feel more comfortable in a home that looks a little lived in.

No you are not alone. I had a neighbor once that was this way. In fact none of the neighbors would visit because you felt uncomfortable in her home. Nothing was ever out of place and they had a dog that was inside and a swimming pool in the back yard.

I had my home this way once and my husband informed me that I needed to get a job because it was too clean for him. Now it is the opposite upside down. But then when you have a house load of furniture stored for eight years and allowed to bring back another house load of furuniture from Europe and combine them into a reasonable sized home you have a full house. Add to that all of the "stuff" hubby had on the road as a long haul trucker and now you have an almost "hoarder" house where there are walk ways.

This soon shall pass and we will be downsizing and outsizing much because of potential health issues on the horizon and I don't want to do this alone. Besides I have lived in the house 20 years and that is five moves missing to throw stuff away. If I wait long enough some of the stuff will be back in style.

I just want a place to house what I really have and use not all the extra stuff. Like George Carlin said you take have your life collecting the next half getting rid of.

Time to get the vacuum out and the carpet cleaner. Oh they are buried too under something here.

Have a great day all.

The other S.

PS I call them antiseptic houses with no personality and sterile. They look like they are out of a magazine.

I guess I'm lucky that I don't know many neat freaks. There was one woman who would close an open cupboard door in my kitchen because it made her feel uncomfortable. And one neighbor who could tolerate the kids taking out all the toys in the playroom, but got very upset when her daughter's coat sleeves turned inside out when she took it off.

Unfortunately, my house is very messy. My husband and I argue about the mess often, but it's 85% caused by our son. He starts projects and doesn't clean them up. Can't seem to follow the one bin of toys at a time rule. Thinks it's funny to put gum and food wrappers anywhere other than the trash can. Has a screaming fit when we want to throw away pencil shavings, broken rubber bands, torn artwork, and stained pillows.

I enjoy it when my house is clean, but I rarely have the energy to get it that way. I'd like to have a comfortable, lived-in house. Not hotel-room neat but somewhere in between. I wouldn't want to have anything out that's too valuable or breakable to use. No chairs that people aren't allowed to sit in, etc. If I can get all the floors cleared(and have them stay that way for more than 1 day before my son dumps toys on them again), then I will be able to finally use the gift certificate for maid service that my husband bought me last christmas.

I have been to some houses that were even worse. My grandmother's house and my mom's house both usually had piles of fabric covering up the guest beds, and boxes of papers making it hard to turn around without knocking something over. When I was in high school, I went to a teacher's house. She had kids and dogs running everywhere and poop on the carpet. I know she was busy, but that was way over the line.

Oh no, you aren't the only one and sometimes it is super, duper bad. I just am not organized. It isn't dirty, it's just cluttered. Add to that the fact that I am outnumbered 6 to 1, then it's nearly a lost caused because I am fighting myself and all of them in order to keep on top of things.

Don't feel down on yourself. It's OK. It takes all kinds to make a world and if this is the worst thing he has to complain about, then your husband got himself quite a catch.

I'm with you ... it's uncomfortable to be in a place like that. That said, my husband is also the neat freak. We have a cleaning lady every other week or the house would likely be a wreck! When we met, we worked together and I was VERY organized and neat at work, because I HAD to be in order to be effective. At home is a different story though ... it's not that my house is filthy, just lived in and comfortable. Love it when the cleaning lady comes though ... feels great to see the house in such good shape and it forces me to put things in their proper place the night before she comes. I think there are more people like us than some would like to admit.

But what you don't understand is, that those of us that are neat freaks are not comfortable if things are not put away. For me, it's even worse when I run errands and come home. When I walk in with fresh eyes I am horrified at all the little places things get put/stacked instead of being put away. Let's not even talk about how old so much of my stuff is. It's even harder being a neat freaked with furniture that's dinged and chipped.

I've always been a clean person - I love, love, love to clean and organize. Before our daughters were born our house was perfect in my eyes but my husband would joke that our house was like a model home and nobody lived here. Well fast forward six years and my house is now lived in and a total mess most days. It's clean but toys are everywhere and I wouldn't change it for anything! My mom stopped by one time with her friend and I didn't have time to clean up the toys that were everywhere - when I apologized for the 'mess' my mom's friend told me that if she had walked into my house and didn't see toys all over she would have felt sorry for my girls :) I will always remember that because it is so true!

You should see my house right now. It's messy AND dirty.
Oh well!

My maternity leave has been to de clutter my house.. and next project is to get a new kitchen.. can not wait as I will actually have a dishwasher. So yes, I am one of those people picking up the day before the cleaning lady comes.. but it keeps the house from getting too out of control.. with a 3 year old, husband and 4 month old ..it takes seconds for the house to be nuts..

There is a difference between messy and dirty :) at homes when you have live in housekeeper or staff, maintaining the house super clean and organized it's their job. Also if the house is very big, most likely the main rooms are easier to maintained neat, because you don't use your formal dining room and living room daily basis, but kitchen table and family room.
I know if I didn't have any help with my housework, most likely I would rather spend my free time with my kids instead of worry about the mess.

Clutter makes me crazy! Yes, I guess I'm a neatnik. I was raised by neatniks so it has worn off on me. But I'm not super obsessive about it; I just like things in their place because we do have a small house and if things are out of place, it drives me crazy. I like to keep things "picked up" -- but I clean the house once a week on Saturdays (vacuum, dust, bathrooms, kitchen, laundry). But we also have a dog and cat so nothing is ever completely spin n span, if you know what I mean. There always seems to be some odd hairball or two floating around :)

before we had kids, I kept the house clean every day, not like super immaculate you can eat of the bathroom floor. But dishes were kept up all day, vacuum a few times a week, dusting a few times a week, laundry always done and folded or hung up etc. now.....well, I have 3 boys under the age of 3...our oldest is 2 1/2 and the twins are 11 months old. So, even though I am a sahm now, my house is almost always a mess. not dirty, but it is always messy. it is too hard to keep it all the way clean and take care of the kids and cook etc.

I'm an only child and was raised by a single mom that only cleaned when she had a party! LOL! My hubby was raised opposite, everything had to be put away and spotless every second of the day. So we actually have learned to meet in the middle. We let a LOT of things go, it just isn't important to sweep and mop every single day, it isn't that dirty yet! =) However, that being said, we are not embarrassed if someone pops over. Everything is *usually* put away and my kids are older so their toys are in their rooms. I feel EXTREMELY uncomfortable in those spotless homes that you feel like you can't even touch anything. I know people like our home and that it feels "lived in". I like that too. I am working at downsizing everything, including the garage, simply because we are renting and I don't want to have so much to move when the time comes. But know that you are not alone! I am VERY "comfortable" and would not have it any other way! =)

I wish I were more fastidious but well...I'm not. I try to keep up with things because doing a little every day saves me from marathon cleaning sessions but I'm totally fine living with some mess and clutter. I guess I'd rather be this way than compulsive about cleaning. It must be very stressful and time consuming to have to have everything "just so" all the time and it must be anxiety producing to go out into the world where everything is definitely not in order. While I appreciate a clean home and enjoy the few times a year when things really look great (right before a party), life is too short and too busy to forgo doing other things so that I can have a spotless home. Things will be cleaner when my kids are grown.

I'm comfortable being comfortable.............until someone comes over. Then I go into a full fledged panic!

Once, before we had kids, my neighbor locked himself out at five in the morning in December and he came over to use my phone. I didn't want him to see what a mess my house was so I got him the phone and handed it to him on the porch and closed the door while he made his call! I just left him out there freezing in the dark!!!!

Another time a friend and her boyfriend randomly stopped by just as I was pulling in the driveway. I didn't want to let them in so I told them my husband was sleeping because ge was working nights! We ended up hanging out in the driveway for an hour!

I wish I was tidier, I do have full on cleaning envy. But then when I have the time to clean, I always find something else to do instead.

My in-laws house scared me how clean it was, including the white carptet that was kept perfect. That was until my daughter got to be about 1 and would destroy the place little by little. My MIL would literally pick up after her trail of mess, which wore her out. Now that she's 2.5, they just let her mess the place up and pick it up when she leaves. LOL. It's kind of fun to see an explosion of toys laying around, a sippy on the coffee table, and a few dishes in the sink at their house. =)

I clean like crazy when someone is coming over. Other than that, I'm pretty laid back. I WILL do the dishes every day and the bathroom gets cleaned daily - especially when we have colds. But now that we're dogless, the vacuum gets hauled out about once a week. The beds aren't made unless that guest is coming over, either. And the laundry is on an as-needed basis.

I would say the biggest mess in the house is the playroom. There are always multiple scenarios for hotwheels, tinkertoys and Barbies going on at the same time. And you don't want to mess up that delicate balance. We used to have a living room, but converted it to a playroom. What's the use in having a sitting room that no one sits in? Supposedly, this solution is to keep the toys in one room. Some times it works.

Don't feel bad. There's just not enough time in the day to keep a clean house AND really get to play with your kids. I figure, as long as it's clean enough that the kids aren't embarrassed to invite friends over, we're in good shape.

I like the floors and counters clean but otherwise controlled chaos is fine with me..just not garbage or food or dirty clothes!

Yes, it makes me uncomfortable to go in their house or sit on their furniture.

We do a fast 'speed clean' & throw everything in one room when the in-laws say they're coming over but we're by no means neat & tidy either. I'd like for us to be more neat & tidy but b/c we live in a small apartment, we're not able to have things in their proper place as we just don't have the room.

My bestie is super duper clean - and what I've noticed is she spends lots of time continuously picking things up - her kitchen, the playroom, you name it - she is always tidying up.

I personally can't do that - first I am not that sort of person - disorder really doesn't bother me - but I also just am not interested in spending that much time picking up. I prefer to let the mess build up until the evening then spend 20 minutes getting it all in order before bed.

I like a house that is lived in. One that you can take your shoes off and
put feet up on the couch. I am not sure what some people do with their
"stuff." Where is the mail that comes in, etc. etc. I do not do well in
museum homes!

A dirty house is a healthy house! It really helps the immune system if you house is less than clean. For real! People in uber clean houses are less healthy and have less disease resistance than those in "normal" houses.

I am not a neat freak. But I DO clean from time to time.

My house is organized chaos. I definitely don't feel comfortable in homes that are so in order they feel more like a museum. Not because I feel like a lesser woman compared to them...I just worry about messing up the perfection. As long as my house is clean, I can handle a little mess. There are so many other things I prefer to do/have to do besides follow my kids around to make sure nothing is out of place! Thankfully my husband is on the same cleaning page as me!