Are you a neat freak?

I'm certainly not but I wish I had a little in me. :lol3:

I went to a party over the weekend and the person's house was immaculate. I don't know if I have ever seen a house that neat and clean. Everything looked brand new. I'm hoping they have a cleaning lady. :lol3: The best part of it all - They have a cat! They wasn't a speck of cat hair ANYWHERE!!!! How do you do that? :lol3:

I came back home looked around my house and just shook my head. :uuh:


So, do you have a little neat freak in you?

I used to be.    Awfully!

I had a very good friend who said she just loved how neat I was - it gave her a sense of order and she was like it herself.  I know this is a real thread stopper, (sorry, but it's what happened);  my friend got cancer and died.  And from that moment I stopped being neat.  It wasn't a conscious thought, it just happened.  I think something inside me said 'life's too short'.

I'm no slob, but I'm really glad I'm not that crazy woman with the duster and the 28 assorted bottles of natural cleaning products anymore... 

Mani said:

 
I used to be.    Awfully!

I had a very good friend who said she just loved how neat I was - it gave her a sense of order and she was like it herself.  I know this is a real thread stopper, (sorry, but it's what happened);  my friend got cancer and died.  And from that moment I stopped being neat.  It wasn't a conscious thought, it just happened.  I think something inside me said 'life's too short'.

I'm no slob, but I'm really glad I'm not that crazy woman with the duster and the 28 assorted bottles of natural cleaning products anymore... 

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@Mani, I don't think its a thread stopper, I just think its how life throw its curve balls.  Sorry for the loss of your good friend, cancer is one awful illness, sometimes can be beaten and sometimes not.  Its interesting that is when you changed in thinking that 'life is too short"......Because I have always thought like this, but then  I am too much of a "clutter, leave the dust until highly visible, no time to do it now"....kind of person.  

Now, I am just trying to become more of a neater, free of mess and clutter type of person.  Its an uphill battle, but if I can find a medium balance between "neat freak" and way too messy....it will be good.  

Hoping to get some "neat freak ideas" here though, but not 28 bottles of cleaner..  

There's dirt and then there's clutter... I can't think straight around clutter, so our house stays pretty tidy in that way (the exception is teenage daughter's room but I don't go in there).  

We clean every Sunday but my husband does most of the work, including vacuuming the sofas, dusting, and vacuuming the floors. Sometimes I will vacuum mid-week, especially if we have someone coming over. I always keep the kitchen tidy, the dishes washed and put away, (and I keep the litter box scooped and clean). It's a very old house so it never feels like-new clean but that is okay with me. As long as there's not "stuff" lying around everywhere I don't mind a little dust.

I used to keep things a lot cleaner than I do now. It's impossible to keep a house clean with a 19 month old. As fast as I can pick things up, she pulls it all out. 

My house is always 'tidy', but never as clean as I would like...   Cats seem to lose a huge amount of hair, and dust keeps coming! I clean real well when ever someone is coming to stay for a few days, and being out of town and away from almost everyone insures a telephone call first, thankfully! I always say my house will be cleaner in the summer when I'm off, and then I spend all my time outside, weeding and watering. My grounds look like a park! No matter how much I clean I always see something I missed, last month when I was celebrating a birthday, I looked up and saw how dirty my ceiling fans were, SIGH again! So really, it's a never ending, kinda thankless job, but it sure looks nice when everything is spotless!

I go into 'neat freak' cycles.  I will go through and clean and straighten everything and keep it up for awhile and then I come out of that cycle.  I don't let things get dirty but I'm not a neat freak until the next cycle.  I have found that watching a marathon of hoarder reruns will put me into a 'neat freak' cycle.  I'm no where near what is on those shows but I think it's like I'm thinking 'slippery slope' and I don't want to go there.

I'm so obsessive compulsive. I have to vacuum everyday. I drive myself crazy!!!AUGH!!!
Here in Colorado it's so dry and dusty. You can polish your furniture and less then 8 hrs later it looks like you haven't.

I'm getting better. Life is too short to spend your spare time cleaning. There was a time when I would spend every moment at home cleaning. My husband use to call me the coffee guy from Mad T.V. Like I said I do vacuum everyday. I can't handle the litter and hair.

I am a neat freak about certain things, mostly the kitchen and the bathrooms. I think it is from working in the restaurant business for 20 years- I cannot stand to see disarray in the kitchen. And when I cook, I work very clean (wiping down my work area between each task, washing the prep dishes and utensils as I go) When I sit down to eat a meal, the kitchen is spotless and the dishes done, except for a stray pot needing to soak and the plates we are eating off of. I do a quick disinfectant wipe through the bathrooms everyday and a total clean once a week. I am a bit of a germphobe and compulsive hand washer. I blame my mother, she is the same way.
The rest of the house is hit or miss. I try to do a good dusting and mopping once a week. The other task I must do is vacuuming the tracked kitty litter. I do it once, usually twice a day. Everything has a proper place and if it is not in it's proper place, it bothers me. I have gotten out of bed to arrange things that are disorganized. It literally makes me unable to relax and sleep.
My husband is a hoarder. Our house is nothing like the ones you see on the TV shows, but I honestly wonder what his surroundings would look like if left on his own for a few months. When I hear those sad stories of widowers found sitting alone in a house with newspapers stacked to the ceiling and cats wandering everywhere it scares me. We have come to a partial agreement (meaning I want more concessions) about dealing with his acquired stuff. He has certain, designated areas where it can accumulate and I don't throw away anything other than cash receipts for purchases under $50 without checking with him first. Then, he usually takes the item I am trying to dispose of and squirrels it away somewhere else. Sigh.
It has gotten a little better since he got some PTSD counseling and I am trying to be understanding. I know holding on to everything is filling a psychological need he has, but I hate it. I absolutely cannot stand it. And I really don't understand why he cannot throw away trash and useless items. Why does he need over a hundred empty pill bottles? He about had a fit when I threw away 80 of them, leaving a more manageable 20 bottles. We didn't speak for two days. He doesn't do anything with them, they just sit there and collect dust. Why does he not throw away any papers? He even keeps his empty cigarette packs, until I make him dump out the tiny bit of tobacco in the bottom of each pack into a giant ziplock. That was our compromise on the empty packs. But I still have to look at a giant stack of empty packs (read:trash) until he dumps them once a month. That is just the tip of the iceberg.
We have moved several times over the past few years, so thankfully, a lot of his stuff is now in boxes. But he acquires new stuff everyday and I can feel it creeping and growing. We have a stack of thirty or forty boxes full of all his little bits of inconsequential crap and things that should have been tossed years ago. He will not let me organize. He says he knows exactly where every item is and when I organize, he cannot find anything. That makes no sense to me. How can you not locate something when it is in a box or container with like items and clearly labeled? Most of the arguments we get into are because of his stuff. I hit my limit about once a month (that's when the empty cigarette packs get dumped).
I am sorry, I didn't mean to go on and on about our issues. My tendencies towards neatness and organization really clash with his hoarding. I rarely talk about it and I actually feel a little better releasing some of my frustration here, semi-anonymously.

Yes - BUT I am not as bad as I used to be. I have gotten used to seeing cat toys and dog toys all over my floor. My hubby says it looks like a kitty/doggie daycare goes on at our house day and night. I never really pick up or put away the toys unless we are having company. Other than that - Yep - I am extremely neat and tidy with most things. I do hate cleaning my house but do feel so good when it is all done. People do come over and can't believe I have six cats and two dogs AND the house is this clean. It does put pressure on me though when we do have company to keep up with those standards. :lol3:

I was prior to having three children. I am still clean, but I will let things go until the next day (or the next...) as long as it is just messy and not dirty. There is a difference! I can tolerate mess but not filth!

It depends.

My computer, absolutely yes! I'm constantly house cleaning files; sorting and organizing and deleting as needed.

My kitchen, is small with limited counter space, so I have to keep a relatively tidy kitchen or I have no place to prepare food.  However, while it may not always be 100% tidy, it's always 100% clean. I'm very meticulous when it comes to cleanliness and food preparation.

My bedroom is also pretty tidy. I make my bed every day, and don't leave clothing laying around. 

Bathroom is well organized too and I usually put stuff back where I got it from after using it. So it stays tidy. Well, except for the towel haphazardly thrown over the towel rack instead of nicely folded!  LOL

My living room is as organized as it is going to get given the limited amount of places I have to store/hide stuff.  I am notorious for pulling stuff out (mani / pedi stuff, lotions etc), and not putting them back. at least not until the day before my cleaning person comes.

So what it boils down to is that I'm not a total slob, but I'm not an obsessive neat freak when it comes to my living space. My computer hard drive is another matter!  LOL

happybird said:

I am sorry, I didn't mean to go on and on about our issues. My tendencies towards neatness and organization really clash with his hoarding. I rarely talk about it and I actually feel a little better releasing some of my frustration here, semi-anonymously.

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@happybird Don't apologise!  It's good to just get it out.

Those 'hoarding shows' have opened the eyes of a lot of people to this problem.  And it's far more widespread that we realise.

I recently read this book by an Australian comedian who 'came out' as a hoarder:   It's an excellent look at hoarding, done with a lovely wit, and gives a good description of how she overcame it - the techniques she used.

I really feel for you

Not really. Or at least I don't think so. However, if you were to ask my husband, he'd probably say YES! 

I don't like stuff all over the place....I don't like a lot of clutter. Caps do not belong on the backs of the kitchen chairs, coats should be hung in the closet and dirty clothes do not belong on the bedroom floor. Rick feels that he's only going to use the coat again tomorrow, so why hang it up? If he's going to wear his cap tomorrow, why put it away? And as long as he eventually gets his dirty clothes into the hamper, why does it matter that they're on the floor right now? It makes me crazy. 

I probably do vacuum every other day or so, largely because of the cat hair. I try to dust, even if it's a quick Swiffer, 3 times a week. I scoop boxes twice a day. As I get older, I find myself wanting a cleaner place to live.

I think that really, what it is, is that people associate a messy house with the wife. If somebody comes into a messy house, they don't think "Oh, the husband isn't cleaning!" They think, "Gee, she's certainly not cleaning her house!" Know what I mean? And no matter how clean one person may be, if the other person isn't doing his or her share, it's a lost cause.

Our living room, like Lauren's, looks like a kitty day care center. (I've often wished I could train the kids to put their own toys away; they certainly know how to root around in the kitty toy box to get a toy out!) But that doesn't bother me as much as seeing a bunch of mail and newspapers on the kitchen table, caps all over the place and coats on the backs of chairs. Since it bothers me the most, I'm the one who does most of the cleaning and straightening in the house.

Usually the first day that Rick is gone is spent doing a complete house cleaning. The rest of the time he's gone is spent enjoying a fairly clean house. And then usually within the first 15 minutes he's back home, the house starts to look like a hurricane hit it. I try not to let it bother me, but sometimes it's just too much.

I like for the living areas to be clean and picked up. I can't stand clutter and I love throwing away stuff. When I buy a new piece of clothing, I throw one out of my closet. I like dishes washed clean toilets and showers. The thing I dislike most is dusting. So sometimes my floors are clean and there is not clutter in the floor or on the tables. But you might can write me a note in the dust on the coffee table. :lol3:

If you could see my house you wouldn't have to ask!   It's messy; but not dirty.  It's an uphill battle with 2 small kids.  The cat's don't add too much to it.  DH is a much better house keeper than I am.  I like to get up, turn on some music and just clean till I'm done.  The kids make it a start stop start stop affair and I just get too distracted that way.  I do better when I make a task list and check things off or even plan what to do on what day.  I got away from that over the winter I guess. 

I guess I'm the opposite of SwampWitch; when my house is TOO clean (like in-law clean ) I feel out of sorts.  DH had to get used to living with some clutter around after we got married.  He'd prefer everything simple and out of sight.  Fortunately he lets me be me. 

blueyedgirl5946 said:

. I can't stand clutter and I love throwing away stuff.

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Me too!

When I lived in a one bedroom apartment it was driving me crazy.  Litter box in the bathroom.  Portable (wheel over to the kitchen sink) washer and dryer in my dining room. Portable dishwasher in my small kitchen.  My walls were literally lined with furniture; it made it hard to clean.  Plus my bedroom was my over flow storage, so it was anything but restful.

Now that I've moved to a 2 bedroom, it's much better. I have a second bedroom that I use for the 2 litter boxes, my dryer, book case and a shelving unit for large pots and small appliances that I do use, but not on a daily basis; for example my slow cooker.

I'm always going through cupboards/closets/drawers getting rid of stuff.  A month ago I went through my sewing machine cabinet drawers and cleaned them out. Had all kinds of junk in there, and no room for sewing supplies.  Thew out about 90% of the stuff in them because I hadn't opened those drawers in more than a year. So I figured I didn't need to keep anything from inside them.

Did the same thing with my closet in that room. Went through my purses, wallets, music CD's.  Got rid of 1/2 of the purses and wallets, and all of the music CD's.

This weekend I plan on tackling my linen closet which also has 2 shelves with toiletry stuff; most of which I haven't used in many months. So those things are going into the trash.

I don't even bother boxing stuff up for charity anymore.  It's too inconvenient. They only pick up on certain days between certain hours. I live in an apartment building and I can't put the stuff downstairs because it's against the building rules, and I'm not going to take time off work so I can sit here all day waiting for them to pick up the stuff.  So I just throw it out.

MoochNNoodles said:

I do better when I make a task list and check things off or even plan what to do on what day.  I got away from that over the winter I guess. 

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I have a small magnetic white board on the side of my refrigerator now. I don't always look at it though. :anon: :lol3:

Hi. My name is Brenda and I am a neat freak  LOL.

I can't stand a messy house .. Some of this comes from having spent time in a small high-rise apartment at one point in my younger years. Organization and optimization of space were absolutely essential. 

My hubby and I live in a two storey older log home that creates a lot of dust and this, along with three cats means that every week we are vaccuming and dusting and washing counters and floors in the kitchen and bathrooms. While at times it can be a bit much depending on how busy I am with other things, I actually enjoy cleaning and seeing everything looking spiffy and in its place. At least once a year we go through the basement, closets and outdoor sheds and do a thorough clean out. Now, if only beds could magically make themselves up after we get up every morning I'd have it made! ... Not a fan of making beds.  

I, too, HAVE to make lists of what to do for the day, memories are one thing that DON"T get better with age. I keep a tidy house, it's smaller so anything out of place really shows. I can't stand dirty windows or doors so clean them a lot. My place always looks immaculate when company comes, they always comment that they would never know I had cats, high praise! But in between....... I let it go a little, I freak out when somebody shows up unannounced, I have my husband 'stall' them!