People, put your trash IN the trash receptacle

From what I can gather, there are basically two types of housekeepers.

The first group views a clean house as the baseline normal. These folks hold their breaths when the house is in disarray; they know that it won't be long before they get things back in order.

The second group views clutter as baseline normal, and people in this camp hold their breath when the house is clean because they know it's just a matter of time before everything is strewn hither and yon again.

I'm definitely in that second group - the ones who clean up BEFORE company comes rather than AFTER company leaves.

Realistically, there is probably a continuum between those two poles, rather than hard-and-fast camps. My mother, who left us a house that could have been mistaken for a landfill, is at one end of the spectrum. My friend Smiley, who organizes grocery bags as she's loading them into the trunk of her immaculate car, is at the other end.

If Mom was a 1 and Smiles is a 10, I'm not sure where I fall. Probably somewhere around the 3 zone. It's bad enough that people know not to stop by my house when they're passing through. (Although, no one ever just "passes through" our section of county highway up here.)

It's not bad enough, though, that a government agency would consider taking my children away for their own safety. Maybe I'm a 4.

It's something that I really want to work on, but I face one substantial obstacle: I don't really want to work on it. I've determined that keeping the house as clean as I would like to it be would amount to a full-time job. I would have to never stop cleaning. Furthermore, I'd have to harp on my family, threaten violence and banishment, and generally be tense all the time.

Remember, we all fall into that second, clutter-as-normal group.

When I was a teenager, my best friend's mother was a born-again Christian and a born-again housewife. Their house was pristine - nothing out of place EVER. The living room carpet always had fresh vacuum stripes and the kitchen looked like it had never been used.

In the hallway there hung a "diploma" from the housekeeping course that had changed this family's life. My friend told me that, when she was younger, the house was always a mess. Then her mom went to this housekeeping course, and between that and gettin' Jesus, she had been cured of her sloth and sinful homemaking.

She was a full-on 10. I know I'll never be there. I don't even want to be.

But maybe a 6 or 7.

Dear readers - where do you fall on the spectrum? Have you always been there? Were you ever closer to 1 than you are now, and how did you change?

Comments

[Pandy]

I'd say I'm a 5 if I have my way, but my husband is maybe a 2, so there's no chance of me keeping the place as clean as I wish.

[Mrs Figby]

I'm probably an 8 or 9, but living with three kids and a husband who are all about a 2 thwarts my best intentions. Our house is typically a 5. I find having it clean and picked up adds greatly to my emotional well-being, but I'd rather compromise on that and have a family than live alone but in a pristine environment.

[ppb]

I am about a 2 who wishes she was a 10. But really what I am is someone who is embarassed enough by filth to forego vacations and meals out in order to have someone else clean my house every several weeks. The clutter? It's mostly homey to me.

[gabby]

i'm about a 2 and THANK JEEBUS my husband is a 9. ok, maybe i don't thank ANYONE when he harasses me about me leaving my cereal bowl out. everysinglemorning. but seriously? it's ONE BOWL. him and his 9 need to get over it.

[koli"s mom]

I definately fall between a 4 and a 5. When my boys were young if I asked them to help clean the house they would immediately want to know who was coming over.

[lila]

I think I'm an 8, trapped in the body of a 4.

[Keri]

I guess I'm a 5. I live by the creedo that "my house is clean enough to be healthy and dirty enough to be fun."

My sister-in-law, though, is a 22. She battles an olympic class cleaning OCD. Vacuuming 3500 sq feet twice/day. Washing her kitchen counters with bleach "hundreds of times" per day (according to her). Her cleaning rules their house. Their 4 kids would benefit from more dirt and less bleach.

My late mother-in-law was a 10. She was a high-pitched, naggy cleaning mom. No fun.

You'd think that my husband would have kept the training (brain-washing?) that his mom gave him. Not so much. He's probably a 3.5.

I have learned from watching my sister-in-law and mother-in-law that having an UBER clean house doesn't make you happy NOR does it make your family happy. Being a happy and good mom/wife/person is more likely to contribute to the family happy state.

I think my daughter learned to write her name in the dust on my coffee table! It's educational, dangit!

[map]

Cleaning is sooo bourgeois. If you are very upset and must occupy you mind; removing spots and organizing clutter is therapeutic and that is about all it is good for. Stinky rotting stuff needs to go, unless it is really good cheese from France, but in my book that is about it. I will do it if I get paid. I was actually paid to clean someone’s house for a while and yes I was pretty good at it. I did a good job, but for myself, there is too much to read, and listen to and see and experience then shelve vegetable cans in alphabetical order and actually pause to worry if tomatoes should really go on the fruit shelf because though classified a fruit most consider it a veggie. I am never embarrassed about my constant clutter either. It is all interesting neat stuff. If everything is clean and something is missing—how horrible you know it is not there. With clutter it may well be there, you just have to keep looking, or better still just get another copy. There is always another copy of important things somewhere.

[Thor]

Coming from the same 1 household as you, I've been struggling for as long as I can remember, and I am happy to say that I have finally arrived at the 4.5 to 5 range. Our place pretty much always has that "lived in" feel with some things here and there, but I am happy to say that I rarely, if ever, would feel embarrassed if an unexpected friend drops by. (Though I might be embarrassed if they happen to catch me in the wolf t-shirt I sleep in!)

[moreena]

I have a semi-strict policy of 8 for the main, public-receiving floor. But upstairs? Each in our own little personal hidey-holes? Those rooms can descend into -2 territory. All except the bathroom, because that is where the dog takes her bath and she just leaves it too spectacularly dirty to ignore.

[raehan]

I think I'm a five.

I got to tell you I'm much grumpier with the kids when I'm cleaming than when I'm not, so there is something to be said for letting it go and just beting with your kids.

[katner]

I would say that i am about a 3, Hub is a 3 also, and we have never cared. He sometimes ratchets up to an 8 and goes on a manic cleaning spree. Those are good days, if everyone stays out of his way. The big difference for us was moving from an enormous house into a tiny apartment right when we had a baby. Said baby is now 2 and the housekeeping, such as it was, has suffered. We try to keep the minimum done and not stress about it. Fortunately, the small apartment and toddler aspect also keeps all visitors away. I used to clean houses for money also, so at least when i do clean, it is efficiently.

[revdrmom]

Like you, I've spent most of my life in the 3-4 range. And I knew who my "true" friends were b/c they were the ones who could drop by w/o judging me for or being shocked by the mess.

But recently I splurged and hired someone to clean once every two weeks. And it is wonderful. It forces me to keep the clutter under control, and it is amazing how good a clean house makes me feel when I don't have to do the cleaning.

It also helps that I only have one kid still left at home. I don't know how anyone can be in the 10 range and still be sane with young kids at home.

[amy]

My husband and I both fall in the 3 range, and friends know if they drop in they'll find a mess. I have a sister-in-law who is a 10 (can it go to 11?) and I'm a nervous wreck when we take our kids to her house.

At least I know our guests aren't worried about spilling on our already dirty floors. :)

[angela marie]

I would say that I'm a 5 or 6. I love an uncluttered feeling THOUGH with 4 children, 1 husband, 1 dog, 1 cat and 1 fish (yes, the fish is responsible too), we are a bit cluttered.

Right now, though...I live as a 9 and on Sundays, a 10. Because we are selling our house. Those damn showings and Sunday Open Houses really crimp my 'throw the socks in the corner for now' style. And half of our stuff is in a storage facility...that helps with the decluttering. ;)

[MotherKARML]

I have been a 3 at best most of my adult life. Lately, I have found that a 3 is terribly stressful during the morning crunch to get my son to school, while packing an infant around. I started looking for some uncritical support, and I found www.FlyLady.net. This website has helped me so much. Especially, the morning and nightly routine. Just setting those two things up has made a world of difference with not only the chaos in the house, but in my head too. Maybe you will find some relief in that website too.

[Mary]

I am probably about a three. My husband is closer to a six or seven. That means that most of our arguments are about clutter. That reminds me...I have to go unload the dryer. He will be SHOCKED to find that done when he gets home!

[stepblog]

I'm an 8. Which I'm delighted to learn, from Keri, makes me bourgeois. I didn't use to be this way, but found sometime in the last few years that the baseline, once achieved, is not hard to maintain. And I know where everything is, usually, which saves time.

What can I say, I'm a Virgo. It comes with the territory. A bourgeois Virgo.