Are You a "Messie" Like Me?

[Dave Hutchins]

When I started my cooking career My Chef made me keep my station spotless and it carried over in my life. Now I have kitchen that is very small and difficult to keep spotless. I have way to many pots and pans about six different skillets one huge cast iron wok and 5 drawers full of kitchen tools. My phyciatrist said I have OCD I do not know what that means but every thing I have is in place or I go nuts just my 2 cents

 

[Wart]

We need a dumpster.

 

[urmaniac13]

That sounds like a very interesting book Barb, both I and my partner are quintessential messies. We are very active in the house and do all sorts of activities every day, and I tend to think when I use something, well I am using this again very soon, what's the point of putting it away in somewhere inconvenient? So I just leave them around, well, as out of the way as possible but easily visible and accessible. I need to be warned at least a few hours, ideally half a day in advance if someone is coming to our house to do the mad dash of tidying up, but some people know us and our way well enough that they may ring my partner and say "hey I am just around the corner can I stop by?" and step into the madness of our house, and not at all shocked.

I always in absolute awe, when we show up at someone's house unannounced, they would tell us "oh, come on in, excuse the mess" and I would find the whole place in total order, absolutely nothing hanging about on the counter, floor, desk or anywhere, and wonder "what do they do in this place, do they just sit still, not touching, using or moving anything at all? Do they actually LIVE here?"

To be honest I really wouldn't have any idea, if you actually "do things" and stay active in your home how you can keep the place in perfect, or even decent order... I would love to read this book and see what the author says about someone like me

 

[simplicity]

It does sound like an interesting book.

My kitchen gets messy. So does my office. The rest is decluttered.

My description of messiness is "visual noise". It stresses me.

The thing about books like this is, that I can sit and read them, discover my flaws, then never do a thing about it.

 

[jabbur]

I tend to be a messie right now just because of school work. I've always disliked housework (my dearly departed mother could attest to that fact as she was always on me as child to pick up after myself.) so that tends to get put off in favor of more interesting things. However, there comes a point about every 2-3 weeks where it gets to me and I can't stand it anymore and in a whirlwind I'll clean up. My kitchen tends to stay the neatest and I am particular about where things go there but otherwise things just go where ever. My hubby has been diagnosed as OCD but unfortunately Mr. Monk he is not. If you don't know, OCD can have a packrat side the opposite of Monk. That's my hubby. He even brings home things other people have thrown out and it ends up in my house somewhere. I think if he lived alone, it would be one of those houses with only a small path through the junk!

 

[Fisher's Mom]

We need a dumpster.

OMG, Wart! I have always wanted a dumpster! For real! I'm fairly messy and my family is very messy. The kitchen is usually neat and clean because I make that a priority and I try to keep the public rooms presentable. But the upstairs is chaos most of the time. My sons are packrats and are always dragging home broken things to take apart- especially computers and peripherals. They are loathe to hang up or put away clean clothes. And like Jabbur, I will always choose something interesting over housework. I'm secretly convinced that a dumpster would solve everything!

 

[DawnT]

Wart and Fisher's Mom, The dumpster WILL NOT solve the problem, I repeat it WILL NOT SOLVE THE PROBLEM!!! My mom and I cleaned my aunt's house for her when she had surgery 2 years ago - 2 dumpsters full! This past March same aunt was diagnosed with dementia and again we cleaned. We are on the 5th dumpster, but the end is in sight!! Talk about the ultimate MESSIE. She has everyone beat, hands tied behind her back(so to speak). I think the dumpster would just have to keep getting bigger and bigger each time in order to work. ;>)

 

[LadyCook61]

I think my deceased brother in law would qualify for that. He lived in a 23 room house with his mother who is also deceased, every single room on each floor was crammed floor to ceiling, wall to wall with stuff !! It took hubby and me months to empty out that house so hubby could sell it.

 

[Zereh]

I'm definitely not a messie, but I can't stand to reach for something only to find that someone hasn't put it back in its proper spot! My house is clean but it looks lived in and real. A pair of shoes near the front door and a book left on the table doesn't send me over the edge. But for the most part everything has a place to go and it gets put there. I would go insane if there were piles of crap on every surface. Or even if I opened a door to a room that was that way. *shivers* My life (and mind haha) is chaotic enough ~ I like serenity in my surroundings.


Z

 

[babetoo]

I'm definitely not a messie, but I can't stand to reach for something only to find that someone hasn't put it back in its proper spot! My house is clean but it looks lived in and real. A pair of shoes near the front door and a book left on the table doesn't send me over the edge. But for the most part everything has a place to go and it gets put there. I would go insane if there were piles of crap on every surface. Or even if I opened a door to a room that was that way. *shivers* My life (and mind haha) is chaotic enough ~ I like serenity in my surroundings




Z

i am with you, don't like to hunt for stuff, it wastes time. many things i have duplicates for, in different rooms, ie sissors, ink pens and pencils.

i don't mind a small mess if i am doing a project.

babe

 

[B'sgirl]

It's not a mess, it's just "organized" clutter. And no matter how much money I spend on organizers, when it comes right down to it, it's still just clutter. I'd post a picture of my computer desk if I could un-bury my camera.

 

[jkath]

Neatie here!

Barbara - I bought Sandra Felton's "Messies Manual" years ago (I think when my first boy was a baby) and I read it cover to cover. I still use the "Mount Vernon" cleaning method to this day.

I have a thing about organizing - I love to do it. weird.

 

[texasgirl]

you post pics of that room, i will post the "dancing fool" video on myspace, you tube, and here.....

Waiting patiently for the reason for the loud silence that followed from sixsix!!

 

[mikki]

I used to be a messie when we lived in a single wide trailer. My motto was everything has a place and everything is someplace. The only thing I can say is I usually knew where to find everything. When we went to the bank apply for a morgage for our doublewide I had all the financial papers they needed together in an hour.
Now that we are in our new place with all the closets and storage, I do keep it a lot neater, the only thing that is usually cluttered is the comp. desk. Except when MIL is comming to visit, she is complusive about things being a certian way. Curtians have to be just right mini blinds perfectly even horizontal. So if I know she comming I mess things up just to drive her crazy!!!!

 

[SixSix210]

Waiting patiently for the reason for the loud silence that followed from sixsix!!

no comment...

 

[*amy*]

Neat & organized. That's the only way I roll. i.e. All the hangers are the same color & facing in the same direction. My clothes (for the most part), are arranged by color, as are all my shoes. Everything (usually) goes back in its place, unless I'm working on a project. Getting better as I get older though. The place almost looks lived in.

 

[meshoo96]

no comment...

He knows better. For all of this now, I'm making him finally help me clean that room today. His ides to get rid of the bed, so now he has to help organize the room....

 

[DrThunder88]

No, I'm not a messie like you. I'm a whole other breed of messie...like Messasaurus Rex. or some such.

 

[LEFSElover]

Neatie here!

Barbara - I bought Sandra Felton's "Messies Manual" years ago (I think when my first boy was a baby) and I read it cover to cover. I still use the "Mount Vernon" cleaning method to this day.

I have a thing about organizing - I love to do it. weird.

Jkath, please, oh please may I borrow you for say, a month?PLEASE!

Very very true that if your house is cluttered as is your mind.
God knows my mind is more cluttered than clouds in the sky.
Our garage is so cluttered that you don't know where anything is.
It's just really awful and a good reason to move outta here if nothing else.
Once my BFF asked me if I was a clean freak or a neat nick.
I looked at her and thought, "Ut oh, I"m neither."
She was a clean freak but was very cluttered in her house, clean though, very clean.
Just visiting her and her husband in BigFork Montana on our vacation, in their multi million dollar home on the lake, I expected to see what I know of her and her home cleaning skills. I saw none of it. Her house was a pig stye. Clutter and junk everywhere. No room in the kitchen sink to put even a dirty fork.
Her Alzheimers mom now lives with them and she has no time to think let alone be by herself and clean let alone grab the vacuum and dust. I feel so awful for her but writing this just now, is reminding me to call her and tell her I love her. She IS the most incredible woman ever created by God.

 

[MexicoKaren]

When we made our move to Mexico, we had only been married a year. I had moved into DH's house (<1000 sq ft) from my house (>2000 sq ft) and we were bulging at the seams. He is a colossal messie/packrat. He still has his mother's first driver's license and his father's w-2 forms from 1942. Because it is so expensive to ship stuff down here, we decided to pare it all down to two 200 cubic foot containers. We had a huge yard sale. We took countless trips to Salvation Army. We would invite people over for a "goodbye" dinner and make them take stuff with them. We would leave stuff on friend's doorsteps (You don't need another coffeemaker? Toaster? Electric knife?). We had an estate buyer come and take stuff and we had a 10 yard dumpster. We still have too much stuff, because now we have been acquiring MORE. And Mexican houses have NO cupboards/closets/storage space. I try to keep it neat and clean, but it is a losing battle. He tries, too, but it is not in his nature. But here is the most important thing to learn: I'd rather be happy with my sweet and generous messy husband than all alone in a clean sterile house.