# How cluttered is your house?



## rainyday (Apr 28, 2006)

All the threads on CPS and clutter got me wondering where MDC mamas (and papas) fall. Here are the three sets of pictures for determining what level your clutter or lack of clutter is!

bedroom pictures

kitchen pictures

http://www.us.oup.com/us/images/trea...dinglivingroom

So, which level is closest to yours? It's anonymous, so let's be honest!


----------



## velochic (May 13, 2002)

Even with my super-fast internet connection, it took forever to download.

Less clutter than #1. I'm a neat freak and dh and I are minimalists.


----------



## *clementine* (Oct 15, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *velochic* 
Even with my super-fast internet connection, it took forever to download.

Less clutter than #1. I'm a neat freak and dh and I are minimalists.

I was cracking up. We're less than picture #1 because I would never allow newspapers to be nicely folded on an end table. That'd drive me crazy lol.


----------



## ledzepplon (Jun 28, 2004)

We're a 1. I would go mad if my house was any messier. Of course, throughout the day dishes get left on the table and toys are strewn about, but I HAVE to clean it up at the end of the day.


----------



## skai (Apr 21, 2007)

Normally cleaner than #1, now #1 because we're packing for a month-long trip.


----------



## Imogen (Jul 25, 2006)

I'm a Number 1.... I don't cope well with clutter. We do live in our house though, so toys are out and things become untidy during the day, but it's always cleaned away in the evening


----------



## alicia622 (May 8, 2005)

I voted 1. Although we do have a junk room that is probably around a level 7. That's the yard sale room







If we want to get rid of something it goes in there till the yard sale. DH is about a 2-3 so I spend a lot of time picking up crap. Maybe I should vote a 2?


----------



## velochic (May 13, 2002)

Quote:


Originally Posted by **clementine** 
I was cracking up. We're less than picture #1 because I would never allow newspapers to be nicely folded on an end table. That'd drive me crazy lol.


Yep... and I don't put any knick-knacks around the house. If it doesn't have a purpose, it's gone. Dd will get out a set of playthings, but then knows to put them away before she moves on to the next fun thing.


----------



## KarmaJoy (Jan 25, 2006)

Hmmmm. I voted 1 because there is no way I am a 2, but I might be like a 1.5 when my house is really messy. I never get to 2.


----------



## barose (Dec 6, 2006)

<1

Anything more would drive me crazy.


----------



## Viola (Feb 1, 2002)

More clutter than 1. It seems like there should be something between 1 and 2. There is trash on the floor in photo 2. I have clothes hanging off my bedpost and stuff piled up on my dresser, so I'm definitely not a 1.


----------



## *clementine* (Oct 15, 2004)

This reminds me.
One time I was complaining to my sister about how cluttered my house felt even though I'd JUST decluttered it.
She was like "Do you mind if I declutter your first floor for you?" I looked around and told her to have at it.
It was sooo much better when she was done.
I think of myself as below level 1, but sometimes I slip up.
After making the comment about the newspapers laying out in that picture, I looked at the small bookshelf next to me. Eh Gads! It's bad. There's DVDs on it, but other things have found their way onto it out of necessity. Even though I straighten it, one of these days I'm doing another overhaul. I just literally feel awful if my space isn't clean.


----------



## Peppermint Leaf (Jan 11, 2008)

I am a 1

however ............ my garage --- well thats a 7 at least !!!







:


----------



## Autumn Breeze (Nov 13, 2003)

well, between a 2 and a 3...but there is no trash, and stuff isn't piled on beds. hard to explain. dh has too much computer crap in the living room and our room, and it'd displaced some of my stuff. And i'm trying to minimize all my stuff.


----------



## Amylcd (Jun 16, 2005)

Less than 1.


----------



## Autumn Breeze (Nov 13, 2003)

well, this is certainly embarrassing.

come on, someone has to have a house like mine!!


----------



## kirstenb (Oct 4, 2007)

I am between a one and a two. I never have trash on the floor, but I do have more clutter than a one. Clothes piled on dressers, etc. the kitchen usually has some dishes in the sink.


----------



## Joyster (Oct 26, 2007)

Golly, I'm going crazy thinking my house is a disaster area because we're moving and so everything is out and about, but even then it's about a 1. I feel so good now.


----------



## *clementine* (Oct 15, 2004)

I'm back to add. My bedroom has some serious clothing clutter going on around the perameters of the room. We don't have a dresser at the moment, so our clothing is in bins on the floor. The unhung stuff. Then there's the toddler bed in there with all the blankets piled up on it. Our room looks awful even though I just cleaned it. It's supposed to be very zen like in there. I'm going to have to restore it to it's "should be" state. Which is going to take an afternoon to do.
When I went to do laundry, I took stock of the basement. It's a level 2. We only use it for storage and doing laundry though. About once every season I borrow a truck from someone and unload/clear out the basement. I've known that it's needed done this Spring and didn't do it.....so now it's really needing it. Meh. I don't much care.


----------



## kirstenb (Oct 4, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *AutumnBreeze* 
well, this is certainly embarrassing.

come on, someone has to have a house like mine!!

Don't worry, I'm not a one!

And if I had to judge my hall closet... well, it's hard to open the door sometimes. All the junk gets tossed in there. I try not to think about it much!


----------



## Autumn Breeze (Nov 13, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *kirstenb* 
Don't worry, I'm not a one!

And if I had to judge my hall closet... well, it's hard to open the door sometimes. All the junk gets tossed in there. I try not to think about it much!









The closet in our bedroom is almost like that (was like that not too long ago, have no fear). I took about 4 laundry baskets of stuff to the Goodwill.

We're moving once dh get off disability, so as i'm packing, i'm purging, or will be.


----------



## littlest birds (Jul 18, 2004)

My house feels very messy to me, but I am only a #2, my laundry storage room that only has clothes and storage is the only one where things are actually often heaped on floor.

The higher #'d pictures seem so unrealistic to me. Then again my own mother's house is probably a #5-6 or higher. Though existing in her space is also pretty unrealistic for me.


----------



## OakBerry (May 24, 2005)

I voted 2, as an average.
My bedroom and dining room are spotless, but the living room and ds's room? Not so much, that's where the toys collect.
My kitchen is clean but I end up with piles of mail and yet more toys on the table and countertops.


----------



## roomformore (Apr 28, 2006)

We're between 1 and 2. The kids and I are home all day and there's always books lying about and something getting dropped. My spare room/office is pretty bad right now, but I'm sorting baby clothes in there right now.


----------



## kirstenb (Oct 4, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *AutumnBreeze* 
We're moving once dh get off disability, so as i'm packing, i'm purging, or will be.

This will be us in a few months. I am dreading having to wade through it. Part of me wants to just toss everything in the garbage without looking at it.


----------



## Lemon Juice (Jun 6, 2005)

Oh I should have opened the pics before voting







I thought you meant on a guessing level, like a pain scale or something









So I voted 6...but it's NOT like the pic at all...I'd say more like level 1.


----------



## janasmama (Feb 8, 2005)

We are a level 1, sometimes cleaner than 1.


----------



## Autumn Breeze (Nov 13, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *kirstenb* 
This will be us in a few months. I am dreading having to wade through it. Part of me wants to just toss everything in the garbage without looking at it.

if I had it my way I'd only pack, dishes/cook ware, clothes, some toys, the dvd's and vhs, computers (only what we've used in the last 3 months so not all the extra crap) and a few other things. Everything else would stay, including all furniture, woujld be replaced.


----------



## SleepyMamaBear (Jun 5, 2005)

the main part of the house is like a 1.75. my area where the comp, tv, and bedroom is, is more like a 2.25. kitchen, almost constantly 2.
we like to watch "How Clean is Your House?" on BBC. and some of those houses ARE 9's its really sad.
when i met DH, he was staying with his brother, and his mom who his brother was primary caregiver for (like 23hours a day 6.75 days a week) when she was bedridden with huntingtons. their place was like a 4. almost constantly. i went in there and decluttered and scrubbed and scoured and got it down to a 1. and a month later, it was back to a 3.5 almost 4.
its really really heartbreaking.


----------



## HarperRose (Feb 22, 2007)

The house is about a 2, but the kids room is a 3. Even though I go through and clean it to less than 1 about every 2-3 mos. In DAYS it's back to a 3. I want to cry.


----------



## Collinsky (Jul 7, 2004)

I said 3.

My downstairs is currently at about a 2, same with my kids' room. Bathroom and kitchen are at 1. My bedroom is at 4, although all that crap they show on the bed is in the floor and spilling out of the closet - I don't understand why anything would be on the bed if there's room on the floor.







(I can Tetris crap in a closet like no one's business. And yes, I verbed "Tetris." If you saw my closet, you'd know why!)

We are decluttering now, and the difference already has been amazing. Getting there.







:


----------



## BarefootScientist (Jul 24, 2007)

1 to maybe 1.25. I would rate our garage a 3 or 4.

I don't see how you could live in anything higher than 3 for very long...7-9 are ridiculous!

My MIL's house is probably a 5 or 6. I get panicky feelings after a day or two there...


----------



## GooeyRN (Apr 24, 2006)

Living room is much neater than level 1. My bedrooms and kitchen are a bit messier than level 1's, but no where near as bad as level 2's. I am a neat freak, dh is a hoarder. I am always very busy. It is a huge stress in my life.

I can't tell you what the garage and storage shed are, but I imagine VERY bad since I do not go in them.


----------



## iowaorganic (May 19, 2007)

There is a huge sifference between 1 and 2. I am somewhere inbetween. closer to 1 I think because if we had trash on the floor I would hold a come to Jesus meeting for the slobs in my house. Nasty. Our house is definitely lived in though. But not dirty. I can't see how people can live in the 5 and higher homes. How do you walk through or use the furniture or know where anything is?


----------



## kirstenb (Oct 4, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Collinsky* 
(I can Tetris crap in a closet like no one's business. And yes, I verbed "Tetris." If you saw my closet, you'd know why!)











I'm going to have to borrow that phrase!


----------



## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

i am a 1.5 and there have been really bad times when I got to a 2. But then i would have to do something, and it is only about 3 times in 6 years. Now the room I am in now. The someday master bedroom right now computer/indoor shed room, is between a 6 and a 7. Once we have a shed though... it will be my master bedroom, ah a 1 with a 1.5 on bad days, I am so looking forward to it.


----------



## KaraBoo (Nov 22, 2001)

we just recently trimmed down our possessions and got our apt set up so it takes 20 minutes tops to clean up for guests. So we are currently at a "less than 1" on that scale.


----------



## notwonamesalike (Nov 13, 2007)

Wow...makes me feel better about my messy house right now.

I think that at the moment we're between a 1 and a 2 - trying to unpack after a month of cross country travel, camping, etc. Usually we're cleaner than a 1.

No trash on the floor in our house, although there are usually some clothes laying on the floor in the bedroom, and dishes on the counter.


----------



## ShannonCC (Apr 11, 2002)

I voted 2 but that's not entirely accurate. I think there's too much of a difference between 1 and 2. Maybe I'm a 1.5, but definitely not a 1, so I voted 2.

Also, I'm not sure why 1 in the bedroom and kitchen are nice and neat while 1 in the living room has stacked papers and litter on the floor. So maybe I'd say I'm a 1 per the living room picture and more of a 1.5 in the others.


----------



## Collinsky (Jul 7, 2004)

My room was at a 5 or 6 for a while ... we were having guests and to make the rest of my house all at level 1, I tossed EVERYTHING into my not-that-big bedroom. And one of my friends opened the door and saw it! I was mortified.







It's at 4 right now... with any illness or trouble, I could easily see it growing into a bigger problem. Fortunately I'm healthy and happy... but not everyone is. Adding any illness (mental or physical) to an existing clutter issue is just a recipe for this sort of living situation.

For people who are used to living with clutter... it's different than if you just walk in someone's house and their place is a wreck. Because it's YOUR clutter. It's your mess. It grew gradually, and you just get used to each subsequent level. You get used to not using furniture - or that chair's job becomes to hold stuff. You get used to pushing stuff over, moving piles around, or sitting on the pile. You get used to stepping over or walking on things, and knowing the best path through/over the stuff. When I was a teen, my bed was often unusable due to the clothes on it (I was probably at 4-5 all the time then) and I would sleep in a pile on the floor. It wasn't a big deal to me. The stuff stops registering after a while. Which doesn't mean there isn't an underlying and all-pervasive sense of guilt, dread, and shame... just that if you're used to a pile of clothes being in that chair, you don't notice it anymore - unless someone from the outside (friends, neighbors, anyone) might see it.


----------



## DaughterOfKali (Jul 15, 2007)

Level 1.


----------



## alicewyf (Apr 24, 2008)

I was going to say level 1 until I saw the newspapers and stuff on the floor of the living room photo. Geez. We are cleaner than Level 1. I would go insane otherwise.


----------



## DaughterOfKali (Jul 15, 2007)

Yeah, I noticed that the Level 1 Living Room was a bit messy.


----------



## ShannonCC (Apr 11, 2002)

: to what Collinsky wrote

I grew up pretty bad. Maybe not as cluttered as some of these pictures (probably a 3/4 in most rooms with a 5/6 in others but with paths to walk), but also animal messes, days of stagnant dish water, in addition to smothering clutter. So my 1.5 house is not Better Homes and Gardens but I am happy with it







But yeah, when you live like that, you don't see it. I can't believe I lived there. Now I go back to visit and I can't stand to be in there long. The smell and the overwhelming feeling of all that crap just gets me. But when I lived there, it was just the way we were.


----------



## wednesday2004 (May 22, 2005)

Those pictures sure made me feel better about my house. I grew up with a ocd neatfreak for a mom and she'd always tell me how messy I was. All my life I've worried about what people thought about my place. I think I rate a 1 for the bedrooms and a 1.25 for the kitchen and livingroom. Guess I'm not too bad after all.


----------



## Calidris (Apr 17, 2004)

I voted other.
Wrt laundry on the couch, stuff piled up on the table/bookshelf, it maybe up to 3, but since there is NEVER actual garbage on the floor, and rarely stack of books/newspaper on the floor, there is no way I can choose even a 2.


----------



## christy005 (Mar 5, 2007)

level one..or 1 1/2 and sometimes cleaner than 1.. I couldn't stand it at a level 2.

My dh on the other hand (before we got married and lived together) was probably at a 5 or 6. lol


----------



## journeymom (Apr 2, 2002)

Most of our house is a one.

The office is between four and five. So cluttered with boxes and stacks that it's unusable.

Dd's room is a four in clutter and dirt.







:









It seems to me like there's a big difference between one and two.









=============

Someone mentioned wanting to pack only what's essential and leaving everything else behind.

I would LOVE to do that. And we're not even moving.

I completely forgot our bedroom. It's probably a three. Dh has a lot of clothes and we need at least another dresser. And to reconfigure his closet. He's got stacks and stacks of clothes on the floor. It's maddening.

And, yes, when company is coming I gather all the stacks from the 'public' part of the house and dump it in our bedroom and shut the door. We have Pandora's Bedroom.


----------



## mom2x (Apr 5, 2004)

i said 1, but there are snapshots throughout the day that are 2ish. i sweep it a few times a day into "today's pile-o-crap" and deal w/ it that night - it gets put away daily. i'm invaded by the "not me" barbarians regularly. they loot and ransack, pillage and trash w/ no conscience whatsoever, all in the time it takes me to cook a meal.


----------



## Ruthla (Jun 2, 2004)

My bedroom and living room are between 1 and 2. My kitchen is currently between 2 and 3.


----------



## menomena (Jun 14, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *KarmaJoy* 
Hmmmm. I voted 1 because there is no way I am a 2, but I might be like a 1.5 when my house is really messy. I never get to 2.

This would be us, too.


----------



## Samjm (Mar 12, 2005)

We're mostly 1's, with a couple of trouble spots that tend more to 2's. The only time we have trash on the floor is when the 17 month old decides to unpack the trash can.

By the end of the day the house looks more like a 2, but it is always back to a 1 by the time I go to bed.


----------



## ani'smama (Nov 12, 2004)

1. We have more knick-knacks and decorative type stuff than all 3 of the #1 shots, but it is organized and neat looking. I would go mad with all of the clutter shown in some of those shots. Clutter makes me crazy







:


----------



## menomena (Jun 14, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mom2x* 
i said 1, but there are snapshots throughout the day that are 2ish. i sweep it a few times a day into "today's pile-o-crap" and deal w/ it that night - it gets put away daily. i'm invaded by the "not me" barbarians regularly. they loot and ransack, pillage and trash w/ no conscience whatsoever, all in the time it takes me to cook a meal.

this resonates very much. especially the "not me" barbarians.


----------



## Calidris (Apr 17, 2004)

Part of the problem with those pics, is that they are staged, not _real_ clutter.

The pictures at this site have a much more real feel to them
http://www.squalorsurvivors.com/pictures/index.shtml
click on the people's names to get stories and pics.


----------



## Iris' Mom (Aug 3, 2007)

I'm between 1 and 2, but really, I'm nothing like these pictures. I have way too much stuff and not enough storage, so I have a lot of clutter -- a LOT of clutter. That doesn't mean I throw empty soda bottles on my bedroom floor or dump a pile of clothes in the middle of my kitchen. What's that about?


----------



## liam's mom (Jun 18, 2003)

we're generally a level 1. things get cluttered occasionally but there's never trash on the floor or anything.


----------



## The4OfUs (May 23, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *AutumnBreeze* 
well, this is certainly embarrassing.

come on, someone has to have a house like mine!!











I picked 2 because I have a couple rooms that are 1's, one room that's a 3, and the rest of the rooms are 2's. BUT, I also agree that I don't have empty soda bottles strewn about, and no clothing piles in the kitchen either, so it's more of the level of clutter in those pictures than stuff being in the really wrong room or empty food/drink containers being left out.


----------



## Hera (Feb 4, 2002)

Somewhere between 1 and 2, though dh would prefer cleaner than 1. My closets, drawers, and workspaces approach level 3, though. I'm kinda visual/spacial like that.


----------



## JamesMama (Jun 1, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Viola* 
More clutter than 1. It seems like there should be something between 1 and 2. There is trash on the floor in photo 2. I have clothes hanging off my bedpost and stuff piled up on my dresser, so I'm definitely not a 1.

That.

My kitchen is somewhere between 1 and 2, my living room is less than 1 because I cleaned today







: well except for the kiddo toys on the floor. And my bedroom is probably somewhere between 2 and 3 minus the trash.





















My bedroom is where my 'mess' lives...clean clothes, toys on rotation, clothes the kids have outgrown that I need to sort through into keep for #3 and figure out something to do with them.


----------



## rainyday (Apr 28, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by **clementine** 
I was cracking up. We're less than picture #1 because I would never allow newspapers to be nicely folded on an end table. That'd drive me crazy lol.

Me too. It's hard for me to leave today's newspaper out for DH all day, so I could never handle having weeks of them stacked up like that!

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Viola* 
More clutter than 1. It seems like there should be something between 1 and 2. There is trash on the floor in photo 2. I have clothes hanging off my bedpost and stuff piled up on my dresser, so I'm definitely not a 1.

I agree that 2 seemed like a big jump from 1. It seems like a lot of people might have piles of clothes around but fewer probably have garbage just tossed on the floor.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Collinsky* 
My room was at a 5 or 6 for a while ... we were having guests and to make the rest of my house all at level 1, I tossed EVERYTHING into my not-that-big bedroom. And one of my friends opened the door and saw it! I was mortified.







It's at 4 right now... with any illness or trouble, I could easily see it growing into a bigger problem. Fortunately I'm healthy and happy... but not everyone is. Adding any illness (mental or physical) to an existing clutter issue is just a recipe for this sort of living situation.

For people who are used to living with clutter... it's different than if you just walk in someone's house and their place is a wreck. Because it's YOUR clutter. It's your mess. It grew gradually, and you just get used to each subsequent level. You get used to not using furniture - or that chair's job becomes to hold stuff. You get used to pushing stuff over, moving piles around, or sitting on the pile. You get used to stepping over or walking on things, and knowing the best path through/over the stuff. When I was a teen, my bed was often unusable due to the clothes on it (I was probably at 4-5 all the time then) and I would sleep in a pile on the floor. It wasn't a big deal to me. The stuff stops registering after a while. Which doesn't mean there isn't an underlying and all-pervasive sense of guilt, dread, and shame... just that if you're used to a pile of clothes being in that chair, you don't notice it anymore - unless someone from the outside (friends, neighbors, anyone) might see it.

Collinsky, thanks for this. It really helped me understand how it happens!

Did anyone else notice that the #1 pictures didn't all seem to go together? In the living room, they had really big stacks of newspapers. Yes, they were neatly stacked, but still, that's at least a couple weeks' worth of papers just sitting there! The kitchen was neat, but it had the cereal boxes out. And then there was the bedroom, which was downright spartan, even by my standards. My bedroom is very, very neat, but it doesn't look like it belongs to a monk who's taken a vow of poverty! There's a phone, a clock, a lamp, a couple of books I'm reading, a photo, and a couple of candles. The bedroom one was almost excessively spartan, for my taste.


----------



## Autumn Breeze (Nov 13, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *The4OfUs* 









I picked 2 because I have a couple rooms that are 1's, one room that's a 3, and the rest of the rooms are 2's. BUT, I also agree that I don't have empty soda bottles strewn about, and no clothing piles in the kitchen either, so it's more of the level of clutter in those pictures than stuff being in the really wrong room or empty food/drink containers being left out.









: thanks


----------



## miss_sonja (Jun 15, 2003)

Most of the house is level one, but the basement is a 2 or 3.


----------



## beanandpumpkin (Jan 2, 2005)

I'm a 1 for most of my house, but my bedroom is worse than a 1 but better than a 2... I don't have garbage laying around on the floor, but I do have right now 3 baskets of clean laundry that are piled pretty high and 2 boxes that have not been unpacked yet (we just moved)....


----------



## hillymum (May 15, 2003)

Less than a level 1. The children and I pick up as we go along. I do have draws of papers that only get sorted out every few weeks though. If I sleep later than the boys the main living areas can be reduced to a level 2.


----------



## ABrez (Apr 4, 2007)

I voted 1 but.... don't look in my garage. If I haven't used something in the last six months or so I get rid of it. DH on the other hand never throws anything away.... so it goes in the garage. You can barely walk in there.


----------



## big-mama (Nov 13, 2007)

I had to say other. We have several baskets of clean laundry that should be in dressers but we ran out of space. Need to go thru and prune out some clothes. There is never trash on the floor, but the edges of my room has laundry baskets (clean clothes) and a few boxes with extra toys in there that the next youngest has outgrown and the baby hasnt grown into yet. My office area has piles of paperwork to sort and file and the living room is covered with a playpen, exersaucer, swing, all sorts of baby stuff the baby never uses LOL.

The examples confuse me. The bedroom example show a #1 having nothing on the floor, it looks very sparse and organized. No clothes, trash not even a dirty clothes hamper.

The living room #1 has trash on the floor.

There should be a 1.5 where the dirty laundry for the week hasn't been done and clean is waiting to be put away and possibly just more "stuff" in there but not to the point where the use of the room is impeded. Rather than to go from basically nothing in the room to trash on the floor, which is a big leap IMO.


----------



## Dmitrizmom (Nov 11, 2002)

depends on the room and the time of day. . . I try to start and finish each day at less than a 1. My bedroom is the only room that I will let slide and then maybe to a 2ish before I have a major cleaning surge.


----------



## greenmagick (Jun 6, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *AutumnBreeze* 
well, between a 2 and a 3...but there is no trash, and stuff isn't piled on beds. hard to explain. dh has too much computer crap in the living room and our room, and it'd displaced some of my stuff. And i'm trying to minimize all my stuff.

That would be us....no food or yucky trash but there are random papers and things the kids drag around. DH and I both save everything.


----------



## Tradd (Sep 13, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *skai* 
Normally cleaner than #1, now #1 because we're packing for a month-long trip.

Yup - although in my case, I'm in the midst of packing to move in a month or so. I've got my boxes of books in the LR, and other things are out of place.

I'm a neat freak (most of the time) AND a minimalist. So much of a minimalist, that my moving estimate (for a single person whose main furniture is a couch and a double bed) came in at $460 (only moving about 20 miles) - 2 guys and a truck for 3 hours.


----------



## mandib50 (Oct 26, 2004)

it depends on the room ... less than 1 for the living room and my bedroom ... kitchen is between 1 -2 depending upon the time of day, mostly because the countertops end up with dirty dishes on them (although we don't ever have garbage on the floor) and the kids rooms .... they can be a 2.


----------



## MommytoTwo (Jun 20, 2004)

But there is a difference between clutter and garbage IMO. I definitely have more "clutter" than #1, but it is certainly not garbage strewn on the floor - it's pictures and candles and books, etc.


----------



## *clementine* (Oct 15, 2004)

I went back to look at the pictures again. If my living room looked at bad as the living room in picture #1, I'd be bumming out.







How is that a starting point for their example of clean?


----------



## SAHDS (Mar 28, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Calidris* 
Part of the problem with those pics, is that they are staged, not _real_ clutter.

The pictures at this site have a much more real feel to them
http://www.squalorsurvivors.com/pictures/index.shtml
click on the people's names to get stories and pics.









:

Wow, that was insane. The person "Suedonym", their 'after' pictures were filthy. Sadly, DH says he's seen houses like that (the *before* pics).

My house is less than a 1 on the scale, even my garage is probably at a 1, maybe 1.5.


----------



## sugarlumpkin (Dec 20, 2006)

I voted Level One, but that describes only my bedroom and kitchen. My living room is cleaner than the Level One photo.


----------



## anne1140 (Apr 10, 2007)

I voted 2, but it's hard to say. It depends on the room. Most of the house would be 1, but the kitchen and bedroom, probably 2. So maybe I should say 1.5.









We definitely don't have trash on the floor, though. Most of our messiness is leaving dirty dishes on the counter and clothes on the floor in the bedroom. Also, the table by the front door is the collection spot for everything set down.


----------



## ewins24 (May 16, 2006)

Those pics made me feel so much better about my clutter. I'd say that my living room, kitchen and family room are about a 1.5. The family room is a bit messy right now but thats b/c I'm working on catching up on my laundry. But its not like this all the time. My room is about a 2 b/c thats where everything gets stuffed if we get behind.


----------



## Jojo F. (Apr 7, 2007)

I voted a two for an average. With 4 adults- my lovely ILs- and a 5yo that has WAY too many toys this place could certainly use some tidying up but sans trash on the floor. Mind you, there is about 2 of everything so it can get a bit crapmed at times. Plus, my MIL has an obsession with chairs, I kid you not. Right now we have 13 chairs in this house plus 7 outside. Why? I have no idea but I sure as heck can't wait to get our own place!!!!!!

DS always tears the pillows of the couch so they are on the floor along with his toys. Today is a laundry catch up day so there is a load of towels on one of our 13 chairs that needs to be folded.

The dining room table always has something on it like my purse, MIL's purse, that days mail and right now my new sewing machine- yay for the new machine







:

The kitchen is always a little messy, dishes in the sink, cutting board out, and some recyclables that haven't made their way to the bin yet.

The only rooms that have anything on the floor is the living room and DS's room and definitely no trash on the floor.

My room was a total disaster, probably about a 3.5 but again no trash, just clothes. I'm going through the things that still fit me and stuff that will have to wait about a year!!LOL!! Plus, we are hoping to move soon so I kind of have the cleaning bug and I'm going through EVERYTHING.

Those pics are kind of funny though, it's quite a drastic change from one level to the next and what's with all the trash?


----------



## SevenVeils (Aug 28, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by **clementine** 
I think of myself as below level 1, but sometimes I slip up.

That's so funny. I think of my house as being about level 3, but it is definitely not even close to 1. T and I were looking at the pics and reading the list and we kept saying "why would we do that?"


----------



## Purple*Lotus (Nov 1, 2007)

We are a 1.


----------



## KeanusMomma (Apr 29, 2006)

it was weird in those pix that they didn't have anything that was halfway put away, or just overflowing in their own storage spaces. My house is like that (what I just said, not like the pix). So I selected a 2. I usually have some dirty dishes in the sink, about a third of kitchen counters covered, loose papers on the computer desk, maybe some clothes on the couch or floor. that kind of thing. I don't often have trash everywhere, because that's the easiest thing to clean.

What were those pictures from? Does anyone really have a house like 6 or above? I understand that one's house can get pretty cluttered, like to a 4 or so, but when it's stacked to the ceiling with crap, no one can get in, so how can a person's whole house be like that?


----------



## princesstutu (Jul 17, 2007)

I'm level 1, give or take a pile of books on a table.

I couldn't tolerate anything level 2 or above in those pics. The floor is always the first thing picked up in my home. If I can't walk unhindered, we will have problems.

I can't tolerate clutter. When I go to my friend's house, I start picking stuff up automatically. It's about comfort, really.


----------



## princesstutu (Jul 17, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *KeanusMomma* 

Does anyone really have a house like 6 or above? I understand that one's house can get pretty cluttered, like to a 4 or so, but when it's stacked to the ceiling with crap, no one can get in, so how can a person's whole house be like that?

I take it you don't watch BBC America's _How Clean is your House?_


----------



## StrawberryFields (Apr 6, 2005)

Definitely a 1 but mostly because there is a huge difference between 1 and 2! My house isn't always as neat as #1 (although living room #1 was really cluttered) but it's always definitely way neater than #2.


----------



## aniT (Jun 16, 2004)

Oh wow.. I read the poll voted 7.. THEN looked at the pictures. We are between a 2 and a 3. I feel much better now.


----------



## KayleeZoo (Apr 8, 2003)

Our house is currently a 1. It's been as bad as a 2 in the past, but I am on top of things now and don't let it go that far anymore.


----------



## oceanbaby (Nov 19, 2001)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *StrawberryFields* 
Definitely a 1 but mostly because there is a huge difference between 1 and 2! My house isn't always as neat as #1 (although living room #1 was really cluttered) but it's always definitely way neater than #2.

Yep. I was going to say #1 but with maybe a few toys or books on the floor, a stack of folded laundry waiting to be put away, or a stack of papers/magazines about to fall over. But even at it's messiest I never have outright garbage on the floor. So while it may not always look like 1, it NEVER looks like 2.

Just looked at the living room - definitely neater than that level 1.


----------



## bright-midnight (Mar 26, 2007)

I voted 2, but it's more like a 1.5









Most of the time we are at 1, but i've been letting things slip the past few days.


----------



## ~Megan~ (Nov 7, 2002)

Usually around 1.5 but I'm working on keeping it at 1. Its my new goal.


----------



## kblackstone444 (Jun 17, 2007)

Usually around a 1, but sometimes closer to 1.5. I think we've been to a 2 once or twice, but without the garbage or the dirty clothes- just the actual "clutter".

Now, what I want to know is, who voted a *9*?


----------



## katheek77 (Mar 13, 2007)

1.

My bedroom isn't as straight as the pictured 1, but it's not even close to the number 2.

The only time anything gets to even the number 2 level is when I'm decluttering, but that's because I pull everything out of whatever I'm decluttering, and it's always picked up by the end of the day....


----------



## DesireeH (Mar 22, 2003)

#1. I'm definitely not a neat freak but constant clutter and trash would make me crazy. I'd rather have nothing.

My work desk is probably a 2 and even then it drives me nuts to look at it.

My kids bedrooms are probably a 2 also...but I have them pick it up each night so they can have #1 for sleeping and go back to #2 with the toys the next day. LOL

No trash though, just toys and books...


----------



## MOM2-2 (Jan 13, 2002)

DEFINITELY A 1!!!!

My heart was starting to palpitate looking at the 2s and beyond.

I have Type A personality....a therapist nightmare....maybe dream...LOL!


----------



## Rhiannon Feimorgan (Aug 26, 2005)

I voted 2 as we are often at that point by the end of the day. It does get picked up again to a 1 level though.

I was once about a 6 or 7.


----------



## becoming (Apr 11, 2003)

Cleaner than 1. I couldn't deal with the ghost & pumpkin on top of my cabinets and food boxes on top of the fridge even. We have no clutter *anywhere*, it drives me nuts.

I think it's crazy how big of a difference there is between 1 and 2.


----------



## *clementine* (Oct 15, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *becoming* 
Cleaner than 1. I couldn't deal with the ghost & pumpkin on top of my cabinets and food boxes on top of the fridge even. We have no clutter *anywhere*, it drives me nuts.

I think it's crazy how big of a difference there is between 1 and 2.

OMG becoming! I almost wrote that too and then I thought people would think I was a freak. That was the first thing my eye went to in the picture and I was like "Not in my kitchen."







:


----------



## avivaelona (Jun 24, 2005)

I just don't know how to vote, my house almost never has trash on the floor (I suppose some paper might get dropped if DS is having a scissors day), or a big pile of newspapers, and except on my bedroom chair there are never clothes out like that. But there is just more clutter...too many knicknacks, toys that don't really have good homes and so are "away" stacked neatly on the floor...its cluttery, and sometimes a little messy, and the clutter isn't piles or hoarding its just decorative or fun stuff without enough restraint, or things put down in the wrong place but neatly or dishes from dinner left til the AM. I'm guessing that we are mostly between 1 and 2 but its really a guess...for some things we are better than 1 and other things maybe worse than 2, I don't know.

I always think of it as being a 6 though because I grew up in a house that was maybe a hair above 0 on its worst days. As a result I rebelled and some times my bedroom was a 5 (though only with toys and clothesf never yucky old food or whatever)


----------



## tallulahma (Jun 16, 2006)

i voted a 1. Im way less than a 1. I HATE things about. dh is a 2 though, and man it is hard to keep up. im constantly behind him. He leaves things everywhere, cooks & doesnt clean up.

During the day, i must wipe down my counter 25 times. I straighten the living room 5 or 6 times.

its exhausting when dh is home all day. By the end of the day its near a 2. I get up early on weekends and clean so its spotless and 100% decluttered. dh calls it "turbo mode".

I looked at the surviving squalor and no joke started a panic attack. got woozy and nauseous, had to close the window.

im way ocd.

watching that show "flipping out" made dh go "wow there are other people like you".

My house got to a 2 when dh was in charge after my homebirth- i snapped.

i was raised by an ocd madwoman though


----------



## mija y mijo (Dec 6, 2006)

Cleaner than a 1. But it has it's moments where it gets to a 1-1.5. Like tonight there were toys everywhere and the kids rooms do get messy. And we homeschool so there are random projects and games out throughout the day. Our house is very clean, but cozy.

I just had a thought... we do have books and pottery and pictures on tables and tons of paintings and art on our walls. We have throws and decorative pillows on the furniture. Our house is full of art. It all has a specific place and it's there for the purpose of being aesthetically pleasing. Is this considered clutter?


----------



## pookel (May 6, 2006)

I voted 3. It may be as good as a 2 right now, but the normal state of things is 3-4.


----------



## littleaugustbaby (Jun 27, 2003)

I would say on a messy day, level 1. DD's playroom can easily get to a 1.5 if she is in there playing. Most of the time we attempt to keep it below 1.


----------



## Pinoikoi (Oct 30, 2003)

I am happy to say that we are between a 1 and a 2 on any given day for the bedroom and kitchen. We do a clean sweep thing on Sat mornings, so that usually puts us back squarely at 1. I have 4 boys, so I can't say I stay at any one level... they come through, there's crap on the floor, I walk through, pick it up..it's a cycle.. My living room NEVER looks like a 2 or worse, though.. so that's great I think.

Our old house got pretty bad, though. We were just so overcrowded, my bedroom became a dumping ground. Thank goodness we were able to move.. it gave me the opportunity to donate lots of out grown clothes, etc and pack what I really needed.


----------



## lacysmommy (Nov 10, 2004)

Most of my rooms are 1 or less, but I have one room that is probably 2 or 3. Actually right now my rooms are all probably 1.5 but I'm spending the day cleaning tomorrow







I'm hoping to get my office down to controlable levels of clutter soon. We have to clean out our shed first.


----------



## The4OfUs (May 23, 2005)

I can't believe there are this many clean, uncluttered people here. And how come the other 40+ level 2-3 respondents aren't posting (except for Autumn Breeze







and a couple others)? Is it embarrassment because there are so many others posting that anything above a 1 grosses them out? Cause honestly, I can't imagine putting out the amount of time and energy, with two little ones and working full time at home, it would take me to keep my entire house below a 1 all the time. I'd have to spend all my breaks and an hour or two every night cleaning and straightening to keep my house at a 1 daily...and I just don't care about it that much.







We're not dirty, we're just messy. I suspect if I wasn't working I could do a better job of being towards a 1 because I'd have more time to spend with the kids and in turn more time to clean...however, I am inclined to clutter. I'm not a hoarder, I'm actually a very good purger. I'm just not bothered by a little bit of room-appropriate stuff being strewn about, whereas I guess others clearly are. Interesting!!

Now, my one level 3 room needs some work, there's no question. But in *my* defense







, this is a room that DH has contributed a significant amount of clutter to. And I graded it a level 3 by the volume of of clutter....as others have said, there's no actual garbage or old food laying around...it's just really, really packed with clutter and paper mess.

Come on all you other level 2-3s....where are you?????????


----------



## kristenok18 (Jun 26, 2006)

I'm a level 2, with our bedroom being a 3. I just hate going in there except to sleep, so clothes and things get piled up. Our basement is worse, but it's all boxes stacked in a fairly organized matter (at least until dh is looking for something and messes it all up). But to be fair, it is mostly boxes of books/music from our academic years, and I hope to someday have a room big enough to designate as a studio where they will all have homes and I can reclaim part of my former life. Books and boxes of dishes from my grandmother that are waiting for a hutch or china cabinet so that they can come out of hiding. There are boxes of stuff that need to be thrown away as well, but it's easy to forget about that mess when I don't have to see it all the time.







I can't stand trash lying around (dh is bad to leave food wrappers out














, but I tend to have piles of books, statements/bills, magazines. And then ds's toys all over. I can never quite get on top of everything.


----------



## a(TM)?Star (Oct 13, 2005)

We're a 1.


----------



## 4evermom (Feb 3, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *The4OfUs* 
Come on all you other level 2-3s....where are you?????????









We definitely have clutter issues, stacks lining the hallway, piles of folded clothes in bedroom, pile of papers to be sorted on bookcase, stuff from my grandparents estate that haven't found homes. But the clutter is mostly room appropriate. We don't have food dishes and trash in the bedroom, etc. Other than the stacks of papers-to-be-sorted on bookcase, it looks like things get picked up and cleaned regularly.

We have quality clutter, lol. Craft supplies piled on one table. Lego spaceships displayed on the toy cupboard. And the house and furnishings aren't run down, ratty, stained. There is a big difference between cluttered and squalid.

Dh is more prone to the trash on floor thing. Drives me buggy. I especially hate things underfoot. His "office" gets pretty bad. But our house isn't smelly or unsanitary. I can't really relate to any of the pictures.


----------



## The4OfUs (May 23, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *4evermom* 
We have quality clutter, lol. Craft supplies piled on one table. Lego spaceships displayed on the toy cupboard. And the house and furnishings aren't run down, ratty, stained. There is a big difference between cluttered and squalid.









I love it! Quality clutter....


----------



## chel (Jul 24, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *rainyday* 
Did anyone else notice that the #1 pictures didn't all seem to go together? In the living room, they had really big stacks of newspapers. Yes, they were neatly stacked, but still, that's at least a couple weeks' worth of papers just sitting there! The kitchen was neat, but it had the cereal boxes out. And then there was the bedroom, which was downright spartan, even by my standards. My bedroom is very, very neat, but it doesn't look like it belongs to a monk who's taken a vow of poverty! There's a phone, a clock, a lamp, a couple of books I'm reading, a photo, and a couple of candles. The bedroom one was almost excessively spartan, for my taste.


at first I was only looking at the bedroom pictures and couldn't believe how someone could be <1, but yes now that I've found the other pictures, you are right.

I'm a 1.5 I have clutter, but never trash.


----------



## siennaflower (Aug 31, 2004)

I voted 1. Technically we're less than a 1, but right now I have things pulled out of closets in piles to sell on ebay. Normally though that's not the case.


----------



## Brown Lioness (Dec 28, 2005)

I WAS at a level 3 (and i dont even have kids yet lol), because we JUST finished moving a week ago. But since that thread, i did some serious cleaning, purging and putting away and now the place is at a level 1.


----------



## sparkprincess (Sep 10, 2004)

Depends on the room.

Most rooms are a 1. 1.5 when they get bad.

The basement is probably a 2, but there's not much I can do about DH's computer crap.


----------



## colobus237 (Feb 2, 2004)

Halfway between one and two. We sometimes have piles of rewearables in the bedroom, but we don't throw garbage all over the floor as in picture 2. We keep lots of stuff on top of the fridge because it's an old kitchen with little cabinet space...but again, we don't throw trash or clothes on the kitchen floor (or if the kids do, we pick them up).


----------



## darien (Nov 15, 2005)

I voted other. I've got more clutter than 1, but less trash than a 2.

I've got to show dp this thread. The way he talks, you'd think our house was at least a 5.


----------



## lovesdaffodils (Jul 11, 2007)

According to those pictures, less than a 1.

At any point during a day, there are probably toys and paper and what not on my living room floor, but we have clean up time a couple times a day and put everything back where it goes. My bedroom right now has laundry (in 2 baskets) that I should be putting away though, but not clutter and trash. The kitchen is generally pretty clean and organized, occasionally a cup or cereal box left out on the counter when we're busy.


----------



## MCatLvrMom2A&X (Nov 18, 2004)

OK now I dont want to answer







Everyone seriously only has a 1 or 2??? How in the world do you manage that????

Bedroom = 2.5
kitchen = 2.5
Living Room = 2.5

So I guess that gives me a total of 2.5. At times it has gotten to a 3. Thank gooness it didnt ask for the bathroom because if it did then I would end up more around a 5.


----------



## barose (Dec 6, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *The4OfUs* 
I can't believe there are this many clean, uncluttered people here. And how come the other 40+ level 2-3 respondents aren't posting (except for Autumn Breeze







and a couple others)? Is it embarrassment because there are so many others posting that anything above a 1 grosses them out? Cause honestly, I can't imagine putting out the amount of time and energy, with two little ones and working full time at home, it would take me to keep my entire house below a 1 all the time. I'd have to spend all my breaks and an hour or two every night cleaning and straightening to keep my house at a 1 daily...and I just ??

I have no LO's so take this with a grain of salt.









I am not a 1 by nature. I tend to accumulate clutter. One way I stay a 1 is to eliminate clutter and not accumulate anything that isn't necessary. I make sure there is a place for EVERYTHING. Even the candles that we burn in the evening have a place during the day. Nothing is laying around. Decor is to a minimum and only what we truly love. We dont have unnecessary furniture but make sure we have pleanty of storage.

It just makes it quick and easy to do the actual cleaning of the house.

This is my motivation http://zenhabits.net/2007/08/a-guide...nimalist-home/

My office is still a 2 and DP's office is a 2-3 (working on that!)


----------



## The4OfUs (May 23, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *barose* 
It just makes it quick and easy to do the actual cleaning of the house.

This is my motivation http://zenhabits.net/2007/08/a-guide...nimalist-home/

I LOVE this website. It seems so simple.....yet so unachievable!







:

I've been working on weekends purging...only problem is now we have piles of purged stuff all over the house waiting for a yard sale in late August.


----------



## EviesMom (Nov 30, 2004)

Right now? 2.
At the end of the day before I go to bed? under 1.
When we just get back from a trip? 3.

I still say those pics are wonky though. I don't get the clothes in the kitchen thing. I have plenty out from breakfast and lunch and have been thinking how I need to put it away, but it's oatmeal box/dishes/recycling/fridge magnets, not clothes on the floor.


----------



## big-mama (Nov 13, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *EviesMom* 
Right now? 2.
I still say those pics are wonky though. I don't get the clothes in the kitchen thing.

Yeah they are. There are clothes on the floor in the kitchen but no dirty dishes in or near the sink. Weird.


----------



## Collinsky (Jul 7, 2004)

The pictures are just for visual reference of how _much_ clutter/mess each level is - not what _type_ of mess it would be. For instance, with the higher levels, you might also have rotting food or fecal matter going on. With the lower levels, it might all be stuff that belongs in that room, just not put away.

They used the same clutter for each room just to show scale.


----------



## Mom2Boy&Girl (Aug 25, 2007)

We're a 1. There are some moments during the day that my house can approach Level 2 (thank you, DD and DS). But it's a temporary thing that always gets cleaned up before I go to bed. I cannot sleep with clutter or dirt around me. I just can't.


----------



## Mom2Boy&Girl (Aug 25, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *BarefootScientist* 
I would rate our garage a 3 or 4.

Oh goodness, I didn't realize I needed to include my garage into the equation!







That's the only room in the house that isn't my responsibility. Ugh. Right now it's probably a 5. But as soon as DH ebays all his car parts that he got for a song from some kid on a message board he belongs to, it'll be a 1 if I have to kill him to get it done.







:


----------



## papercranegirl (Jun 27, 2006)

I always seem to have clothes in my kitchen







:
DP leaves his lab coat and tie on a chair as soon as he walks in, littlest one takes his clothes off wherever he is, and the older 2 unpack their sports bags in the kitchen making a pile for me to wash. Our laundry "room" is a closet right off the kitchen. The food prep area is clean but the seating area closest to the laundry will be forever plagued with clothes until they all move out. DP included


----------



## ebethmom (Jan 29, 2002)

We spent the weekend cleaning for ds's birthday party. We managed to get the kitchen, living room, playroom, and bathrooms to a 1 or less than 1. But that did turn my bedroom into a 2 or 3! Our kids' rooms are about a 2.

Our carport went from a 1 to a less than 1, too! Yea!!! I'm really enjoying the space.

The storage space in the basement is an irritation. It's hard to rate, since it is mostly boxes. But I can't find ANYTHING when I need it, so I just rate it I for irritation.


----------



## kittywitty (Jul 5, 2005)

I put cleaner than #1 except for today. We are unpacking!


----------



## jimblejamble (May 18, 2007)

Bedroom: Somewhere in between 1 and 2. Imagine 2 but without all the stuff on the floor.

Kitchen: 1.


----------



## andisunshine (May 2, 2006)

I put a 2. All the rooms are messy with clutter but not garbage or food. The laundry is clean but in baskets waiting to be folded and put away. Papers need to be filed. Toys need to be put away.
I am really getting the urge to make a dent in the junk we don't need. I hate having all this stuff around and it wears on me psychologically. I was looking at the Squalor Survivors pictures the other day and it is frightening to see how clutter can get out of hand. I can imagine being mentally torn down and not having the energy to deal with it. Now if I could just manage to have a house like the Zen minimalist! Ahhhh, that would be so nice. It looks so relaxing.


----------



## barose (Dec 6, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *The4OfUs* 
I LOVE this website. It seems so simple.....yet so unachievable!







:

I've been working on weekends purging...only problem is now we have piles of purged stuff all over the house waiting for a yard sale in late August.










Tell me about it! Thankfully, we have basement storage, but I can't get rid of this stuff fast enough. We have a charity org that drives by 3x a year to pick up stuff, but I still have a bunch of things to get rid of.


----------



## DevaMajka (Jul 4, 2005)

I voted 2.

My bedroom would be 2-2.5. No trash, not many clothes on the floor (mostly stuff that didn't get all the way to the hamper, but I put them in when I walk by), but dp and I each have designated clothes piles (on the dresser and desk). lol. We each accumulate piles of clothes that have been worn but are clean enough to wear again.

Kitchen- 2. Different stuff, but yeah, it would be a 2. No clothes, but there are dishes on the counter, and we have one counter that always becomes a landing place for clutter. It is the home for things that have no home. lol

Living room- between 1 and 2. If toys count as clutter, then it's usually a 2. When I spend a half hour cleaning up, it's cleaner than 1.


----------



## Llyra (Jan 16, 2005)

It depends on where my kids are.









At night, after they're all in bed, and I've had a half hour to pick up, my house is about a 1. In the middle of the day, when they've been playing hard for hours, and I've been busy doing whatever I'm doing, and DH has a couple projects going, it's probably more like 2 1/2 or 3. When I send them to my mom's overnight, we often are cleaner than 1.

My bedroom is pristine, though. I can't sleep where there's clutter. It disturbs my peace too much. And my basement is often a 3 for several days on end-- I don't have time for it most days, and we spend very little time there so I really don't care.


----------



## homeblossom (May 4, 2006)

There should be a scale with regards to how much space you live in. We are a fam of 6 in a very small house and four kids make a lot of mess. Im so sick of nagging at them to pick it up. I almost had a nervous breakdown when I had my first child that I wouldn't have time or energy to put everything in its place (my mother was OCD clean) but when your breast feeding every two hours and it takes over an hour to complete, you learn to prioritize. I have to admit Ive gotten a lot better, Ive started reading decluttering books, ive learned to throw things out, I dont 'collect' things anymore with the notion that someday I may come up with a use for them. Its difficult when you are conscious of what you throw away (my family makes fun of me because I dissect the trash into compst, recycle, burn and garbage, which at that point is just packaging). Ok so I may be a three most of the week when Im working, on Sat, I bring it down to ground zero and feel like I can relax on Sunday's and work on some of those big piles.
Here's some questions for all of you:
Do messy parents make messy kids? and in turn neat ones beget little neatfreaks?
Is it worth all the stress of hounding your children incessantly to clean up?
Do you see kids who carelessly trash the house as not caring or just kids who are too busy being kids to worry about big people stuff like cleaning and organizing?


----------



## bri276 (Mar 24, 2005)

I agree there needs to be something between 1 and 2. We're probably a 1.5 on a regular basis- a 2 on our absolute worst days and a 1 one or two days a week when we have a cleaning spree and/or aren't home much!

my friend's mom has a 8-9







I worry about her health


----------



## sapphire_chan (May 2, 2005)

Like level 1.5. I don't have trash laying around like in 2, but everything isn't neatly put in their own places like in 1.

Honestly, I have as hard a time picturing people regularly living at 1 or less as I do picturing people living at 4 or more. (Yes, I know people do, I've even been in their homes, I just can't grasp the day to day habits and such behind it.)


----------



## MoonStarFalling (Nov 4, 2004)

Anything over a 1 would drive me insane. I get seriously depressed and anxious. And I would never allow anyone in my home if it was a 1 even. My MIL's house is a 3. Maybe even a 2 at times. I don't understand how she can live like that let alone imagine what a 4+ would be like.


----------



## LokiPuck (Jan 11, 2003)

I would say most of my house is a 1.5. Except the dining room, which is about a 2.5 edging closer to a three. We don't use it to eat in, it is just a catch-all for all of our crap.

Our house is rather small, designed in what I think is a dumb layout. There is very little storage space, plus DH is loathe to throw anything out, ever. It has become a source of stress to me to be honest. There is a minimalist inside of me, waiting to burst out, but I can't ever get rid of any stuff b/c then DH throws a fit. I would love to put a dumpster in my driveway and just start pitching stuff in.


----------



## kalisis (Jan 10, 2005)

Between a 1 and a 2. Even while moving, we're still right there.

NOW, my old house with STBXH, it was a 3 on a good day and some areas, as bad as a 7. I worked my butt off to keep it at the 3 level for years and finally got tired of it, so cleaned out the kitchen and living room and said it had to be near a 2 continually. I had to ride him every day to keep crap picked up. I do NOT want to see what it looks like now that I've been gone for a year.

His house that he lived in when I met him - whew! Somewhere between an 8 and a 9. And I cleaned it up.


----------



## Collinsky (Jul 7, 2004)

My bedroom - which was a level 4 when this thread started - is now between a 1 and a 2! Yay!







: It was definitely the worst room in my house. And now, my kids' room has migrated from a 2 to a 3. Sooo... I'm tackling that tonight. And then my WHOLE house will be between a 1 and a 2. Boo Yah.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *homeblossom*
Do messy parents make messy kids? and in turn neat ones beget little neatfreaks?
Is it worth all the stress of hounding your children incessantly to clean up?
Do you see kids who carelessly trash the house as not caring or just kids who are too busy being kids to worry about big people stuff like cleaning and organizing?

I think it does tend to run in families. I have the same struggles my mom did. Which is the same that her mom and sister have always had, as well as my dad's mom and his siblings. And now me and my siblings, all to varying degrees. And neat parents generally have neat kids (or neatish, anyway.) My best friend is the tidiest person in the world. (Not a neat freak but she is just so ... tidy.) And she doesn't remember EVER being told to clean her room or straighten up. There are some who have a "backlash" effect when they're on their own - the child of white-glove OCD parents who becomes a slob, or the child of slobs who becomes OCD about the cleaning. But I think in general, we learn what we live, and carry that into our lives.

I think that it's absolutely pointless to hound kids to clean up. It's not pointless to try and engage them. It's not pointless to model habitual cleanliness, tidying up, taking joy in a clear counter or a shiny sink or folded laundry. But what it boils down to, in the VERY black and white world of kiddos, if you want the toys picked up, and you do everything you can think of to get them to do it, what they see is that you want something done and will do anything to get someone else to do it. If nothing else, we teach them to rely on outside motivation to "take personal responsibility" - instead of their personal responsibility being something internally motivated.

I do think that for a person who is habitually tidy, kids can be a shock and a half as far as the mess goes, in those early years. I feel bad for people like me who are living with clutter and mess pretty consistently, and definitely for people who are living with level 4 or above. But I also feel bad for people who have to have less than 1, because that seems like it would be so much work and stress all the time. I watched Nanny 911 (or Supernanny, I don't remember) once and the mom would stay up until 2 or 3 EVERY morning to clean her house to her specifications. And she would tidy up all day long. She was so focused on keeping her house looking as clean as she thought it needed to be, that it was interfering with her enjoyment of life and her children. I am sure that those of you who have houses that are less than one either simply don't have anything in your house, or you'll chime in with how you fit it all in... but as someone who is NEVER less than one in any more than a square foot of my house at a time, it's hard to envision. Because if not being able to relax if there is any disorder is the price to pay, I'm not willing to do it. I've got way too much on my plate to freak out if there's a towel in the middle of the living room floor.


----------



## Collinsky (Jul 7, 2004)

*

Sorry, double post. Urgh.


----------



## hannybanany (Jun 3, 2006)

Between 1 and 2.


----------



## Porcelain Interior (Feb 8, 2008)

I think messy/neat traits are inborn.

Not to say that a person can't be raised in filth and grow up with the same standards and keep those as an adult based on being use to it. Or a person raised with an uber neat freak learning the ropes and ending up that way as a grown up....

That isn't the same thing though as being born organizationally handicapped and the opposite organizationally awesome.

Almost my whole entire family is comprised of rabid neat freaks. RABID. Naturally so.

I am the fly by the seat of the pants head in the clouds oops what was I doing girl.

I struggly. I do not have squalor, but please don't ask to see my office. You can't walk in it. There's too much stuff. My worst problem is I have to have everything laying out where I can see it or it doesn't exist. So we have layers of important papers/books/articles etc.

I try to keep it in just a few rooms though.

Looking at the rating system I don't think we're ever near a 2. Always under. That to me is serious proudness.


----------



## GooeyRN (Apr 24, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *homeblossom* 
There should be a scale with regards to how much space you live in. We are a fam of 6 in a very small house and four kids make a lot of mess. Im so sick of nagging at them to pick it up. I almost had a nervous breakdown when I had my first child that I wouldn't have time or energy to put everything in its place (my mother was OCD clean) but when your breast feeding every two hours and it takes over an hour to complete, you learn to prioritize. I have to admit Ive gotten a lot better, Ive started reading decluttering books, ive learned to throw things out, I dont 'collect' things anymore with the notion that someday I may come up with a use for them. Its difficult when you are conscious of what you throw away (my family makes fun of me because I dissect the trash into compst, recycle, burn and garbage, which at that point is just packaging). Ok so I may be a three most of the week when Im working, on Sat, I bring it down to ground zero and feel like I can relax on Sunday's and work on some of those big piles.
Here's some questions for all of you:
Do messy parents make messy kids? and in turn neat ones beget little neatfreaks?
Is it worth all the stress of hounding your children incessantly to clean up?
Do you see kids who carelessly trash the house as not caring or just kids who are too busy being kids to worry about big people stuff like cleaning and organizing?

My parents house is filthy. I am a neat freak. My brothers place is filthy.


----------



## milehighmonkeys (Apr 13, 2006)

It's interesting that in the kitchen example, it goes from completely clean to stuff on the floor. We have some clutter, but we don't pile stuff on the floor. That seems weird to me. Our clutter is mostly too much stuff. We've got cookie jars and books on the counters. Sometimes we have overflow dishes on the counter because the DW is running. We also have too much furniture, so spaces seem smaller than they really are. To me, cluttered doesn't necessarily mean there is stuff on the floor. I would call that messy before I would call it cluttered.


----------



## matey (Sep 15, 2006)

I just wvoted and didnt ook at the pictures, becasue I get so excited about polls. I put three, but WOAH, we are NOT a three. We are a one.


----------



## sbgrace (Sep 22, 2004)

We're probably typically/day to day a bit beyond a 1 but not at a 2 with the whole house in consideration.

My parents would be at least a 4 in the main/public areas of the home and at the end of the scale in bedrooms, bathrooms, family room, basement/garage/other areas. Unusable rooms, can't have repair people in kind of clutter. I've seen and cleaned up a 9 in real life. Hubby's parents would definitely be at least a 3 and probably a 4. So...

In our case our parental example didn't equal our adult lives. Our home has never been anything close to a three. But I have sympathy for how some people get there and how hard it is to change. I've decluttered my parents home completely 4 times in my life. It always goes back.


----------



## spero (Apr 22, 2003)

I don't function well in clutter. When things move to the 2 stage and beyond, I get overwhelmed and bitchy.

My side of the bedroom is a 1. DH's side is 2-3.

The kids' rooms are a 1 on Saturday (their cleaning day). Usually by Monday, DS's (10) is at least a 3. I swear the kid finds some measure of security in his clutter. DS's (17) room is a bomb lately, 3-4, b/c he's never home to clean it. The girls share a room and it usually doesn't get worse than a 2, unless they stop using their clothes basket. DD (14) has a LOT of knickknacks, but she's very particular about keeping them neat and organized.

The kitchen is a 2, mainly b/c of DH and his tendency to "shed" his crap in that room.







:

The LR is typically a 1, but if I'm not around for a couple of days or I'm really busy it will quickly escalate to level 3 or worse. My kids are "shedders" too.







Bad habits learned and not discouraged by BOTH parents!

I will admit that right now my office is in 3-ish mode. I need to deal with that soon.

The basement and the attic (and DH!!!!!) desperately need the attentions of Niecy Nash and her Clean House crew.


----------



## Debstmomy (Jun 1, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *KarmaJoy* 
Hmmmm. I voted 1 because there is no way I am a 2, but I might be like a 1.5 when my house is really messy. I never get to 2.

Same here. I could not imagine that much trash left on the floor!!!!


----------



## MisaGoat (Jul 10, 2006)

I am probably between and 1 and a 2. I voted 2 though. When I clean it probably looks like a 1. The rest of the week it looks closer to 2. I have a few more projects to do before September when I go back to school. I want to get to the point where everything has a home and I don't have stuff I don't like, don't wear, don't use around.


----------



## rachelle-a-tron (Apr 13, 2002)

Less clutter than #1. I'm a total neat freak!


----------



## Kidzaplenty (Jun 17, 2006)

I can't believe how clean most of ya'll keep your houses.

I suppose my problem is that I have so many children living here. No matter how clean we get it, all it takes is one or two things each out of place for it to look cluttered again.

I voted 2 but it could be 2.5 at times.


----------



## dancebaraka (Dec 14, 2006)

less than 1. we are minimalists and frankly, I need order outside cuz my inside a bit, uh, cluttered.


----------



## Kajira (May 23, 2006)

I voted 1, but my bedroom is a 2 right now, as soon as I get my butt off this computer and go fold the 2 baskets of laundry that will also be a 1 or better and then I'll go to sleep.


----------



## *clementine* (Oct 15, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Kidzaplenty* 
I can't believe how clean most of ya'll keep your houses.

I suppose my problem is that I have so many children living here. No matter how clean we get it, all it takes is one or two things each out of place for it to look cluttered again.

I voted 2 but it could be 2.5 at times.

Yeah. Um. I think you get a free pass.


----------



## Claire and Boys (Mar 27, 2007)

Mostly a 1, but occasionally strays into 2 territory. Probably on the whole between the two.

Anyone thing there's a big gap between 1 and 2?


----------



## *clementine* (Oct 15, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Claire and Boys* 
Mostly a 1, but occasionally strays into 2 territory. Probably on the whole between the two.

Anyone thing there's a big gap between 1 and 2?

I think that was brought up early in the thread. And yes. There is. You can do a 1.5 or something, when talking to us, to fill that in.


----------



## christyc (Mar 22, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *KarmaJoy* 
Hmmmm. I voted 1 because there is no way I am a 2, but I might be like a 1.5 when my house is really messy. I never get to 2.

Yeah, that's us, too. I voted 1, but usually there are a few things out of place. RARELY, we'll get to a 2 but I can't take it for more than a day or so and have to clean it up.


----------



## earthgirl (Feb 6, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *KarmaJoy* 
Hmmmm. I voted 1 because there is no way I am a 2, but I might be like a 1.5 when my house is really messy. I never get to 2.

Yep, same here. I'm probably consistently at 1.5.


----------



## Maggirayne (Mar 6, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *homeblossom* 
I almost had a nervous breakdown when I had my first child that I wouldn't have time or energy to put everything in its place (my mother was OCD clean) but when your breast feeding every two hours and it takes over an hour to complete, you learn to prioritize.
Do messy parents make messy kids? and in turn neat ones beget little neatfreaks?
Is it worth all the stress of hounding your children incessantly to clean up?
Do you see kids who carelessly trash the house as not caring or just kids who are too busy being kids to worry about big people stuff like cleaning and organizing?

I grew up in a house with boxes, not tons, but never quite enough room to unpack, so I have more stuff than room. I'm a packrat. My mom would nag me to clean. By myself, I get distracted and end up reading. I do much better with someone talking to me. So I have a friend and we go to each other's houses and clean.
Today, my husband was groaning about doing the dishes, I hadn't done them in a month, my mom and he have been since I broke my arm. But it's hard to keep up. So I said I'd do them if he'd fix lunch. And supper. so I made room on the counter for my laptop so I'm reading and working.









That all said my place is 3-4 overall.


----------



## Nora_SEA (Jun 7, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *KarmaJoy* 
Hmmmm. I voted 1 because there is no way I am a 2, but I might be like a 1.5 when my house is really messy. I never get to 2.

This is me also. I also thought there was a HUGE difference between level 1 and level 2 in the pics? I would pass out from anxiety if my house resembled #2. But it isn't always #1. And I can function fine with it not being perfect. Definitely #1.5 for me!


----------



## tracyhos (Aug 27, 2005)

I voted 1. But I'm probably more like a 1.5. I mean the bedroom pictures. A 1 is nothing on the floor (like say a laundry basket) and yet, a 2 looks cluttered to me. The kitchen and living rooms I'm a 1 for sure, or cleaner than a 1.


----------



## sphinxie (Feb 28, 2006)

I voted 1, but I'm either a 1.25 or a 1.5 depending on the day.


----------



## slsurface (May 8, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *velochic* 
Even with my super-fast internet connection, it took forever to download.

Less clutter than #1. I'm a neat freak and dh and I are minimalists.

Same here. Level 9, are you kidding me?!? I was disgusted by level 3.


----------



## savithny (Oct 23, 2005)

We're no higher than a 2 by these charts at the end of most days.

But these don't capture our clutter precisely, because they're of "hoarders." The clutter in the pictures is mostly newspaper saved by a hoarder for some reason. I get rid of stuff like that immediately (well, every 2 weeks when the recycling gets picked up). Our stuff is more varied, and thus harder to rate. Still, I think we average below a 2, and I get crazy and turn into Pyscho Mommy if we cross past 2 - and make everyone pick up.


----------



## chinaKat (Aug 6, 2005)

We're a 1. If I left DH to his own devices (as I have in the garage) we'd probably be a 3+, perhaps much worse.

I grew up in a cluttered and truly dirty home. My room as a kid was just as bad as the rest of the house. It wasn't until I moved out that I realized that there were other ways I could choose to live.

When I live alone I'm well below 1, uncluttered to the point of almost spartan.


----------



## Adamsmama (Oct 24, 2003)

Most rooms in my home are 1 or less than 1. There are some small spaces (like the office) that is probably more of a 2 -- that i just need to do a thorough decluttering of.


----------



## 2lilsweetfoxes (Apr 11, 2005)

I'm somewhere between a 3 and 4 right now due to the fact we are switching around rooms and all the toys are in the living room right now--and the kiddos have dug through the boxes and thrown them everywhere. Should be back to a normal 1-2 in a week or so, since we are having company...(light the fire under our butts to get this project done)


----------



## Jodie (Jul 18, 2002)

I would say a 2 without the trash. We have toys and clothes about throughout the day, that gets picked up usually in the evening. Sofa is clear.

I usually have dishes in and next to my sink(no mechanical dish washer)

Bedroom has 1/2 clean clothes and dirty clothes that pile up sometimes.

Striving to be below a 1, but DH and kids are a 2, so we are getting to the 1 stage.


----------



## it's just apples (Oct 15, 2006)

Mostly a 0 or 1. If it gets past a one it's certainly not trash. My office sometimes gets to a 2 with paperwork for my business.


----------



## craftymom (Jun 27, 2005)

kitchen--1.5 during the day, closer to a 1 evening/morning
living room--less than 1 unless kids are playing
bedroom--1.5

But there's only trash on the ground if the boys have torn up paper to use as garbage for trucks!


----------



## sunkissedmumma67 (Jul 9, 2007)

Definetly more than 1, but not yet 2!


----------



## mamajama (Oct 12, 2002)

My room is probably around a 3.







: Same with the kids' room.

The rest of my house is between 1-2. Uh...except some closets. And my laundry pile feels like a 7 right now.


----------



## Justmee (Jun 6, 2005)

Anywhere between a 1 and a 2 depending on how I'm doing LOL


----------



## sunnybear (Nov 18, 2004)

I'm between 1 and 2...not QUITE as perfect as 1, but not as much laying around as 2.


----------



## thixle (Sep 26, 2007)

Very interesting...

We are about a 3-4 right now, but I swear most of it is moving boxes, and I'm sorting!







I'd be completely embarrassed if someone came in right now. Even though the dishes are all over the kitchen counter, they are clean. All the piles of stuff are being sorted.

Usually, it's about a 1-2. Functional, but lived in.


----------



## littlemizflava (Oct 8, 2006)

i voted other. the pictures are flawed there is a huge difference between clutter and garbage all over the place.


----------



## eurobin (Aug 20, 2006)

Right now I'm a 2 and I'm about dying. We just got back from vacation and I'm not unpacked yet though. Most of the time, I'd like to be a 1 but I'm usually a 1.25-1.5.


----------



## ~Boudicca~ (Sep 7, 2005)

I am between a 1 and a 2, I think. But we don't really have clutter, though. It's more like random stuff that we use and the kid's toys that make for a delightful smattering in our common rooms. What's underneath is clean though. I try to keep up on dishes and laundry and things are relatively organized.


----------

