Are you disorganised/messy/untidy?

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I used to be tidy as a child, but now I'm messy; don't know why it changed that way, as generally it's the opposite.

i HAVE very good organization skills and know how to organize things and always have,

Is my appartment organized? ehhhhhh, id say no! i KNOW where everything is but its not really organized

infact i am VERY VERY messy. lots of clothes everywhere and sonic toys laying around, unwashed dishes, ect.

I am all these things, without help. I rely heavily on my smartphone and ^^routine. I make appointments and reminders for everything on my smartphone and have adopted a "do it now strategy". When I eat I put dishes directly in the dishwasher . Never ever in the sink . I have a set schedule to do things and only task myself with small simple things like "take out the trash" or "vacuum the steps". Specific things at specific times. It's easier when you have a pattern to follow. I'm not good by any means. I missed Thanksgiving at my mother's last year because I missed the day. But I am far from the atrocious that I used to be.

i'm so fussy about being tidy that i get distracted and sidetracked and untidy things end up being left untidy.

I am reminded of something allegedly said by Albert Einstein, in response to comments about his untidy office:

"If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, then what are we to think of an empty desk?"

I find organising or planning anything a nightmare, pure anxiety and stress provoking. Professionally I look, really un-professional as I start to flap and panic before meetings or any large social contact, its horrible. I over compenate by preparing hours in advance (if I can) Sometimes I can't do that. Multipule demands on top send me into a total spin and the world starts to cave in on top me.

Mess, no. I can not cope with clutter of any kind, it clutters my head. I do not like to have more possessions than I need, I hate stuff. If I lived on my own I would be living in a house with almost nothing in it, think scandanavian minimalist and you have the kind of look and feel I would be going for.

i replied to this before in a handwriting draft and i put it somewhere but since then it has been overlaid with other papers so i can't find it and therefore i can not answer the question.

I find something easiest if I can see at least a corner of it. If something is in a drawer, I often have to guess if I filed it by date, material, colour, function or size. My Aspie mom was tidy, perhaps because she had to find things in a darkroom. She never tried to help me learn - I was shocked, in my 40's, when a friend mentioned that she had a list of her file folders. I have been very late to learn a good balance of tidyness in my workshop to reduce clutter and make the work easier. When I was young, the only reason ever given for tidying up the school shop was "it is time" not "I'm finished with that for now." Cleanups were pure interruption. However, my main interest is in doing original work, and I feel much less inspired in a sterile environment.

That depends. I'm tidy and messy. I have my own system. It looks very untidy, but the truth is I know where everything is. It's when it's tidy that I lose everything. My mom tidies up my room, but then is when I can't find things, they get lost. My desk at work perhaps I guess might look a mess, but it's tidy to me. As a matter of fact, I'm one of the few people who doesn't lose things. Like I said, I have my own system which works for me. It's when other people, like my mom tidy things up that creates a problem.

I used to wonder why machinists, at $30 / hr. were sweeping up their own work area, when professional cleaners were coming in for the office area for $10. Then I noticed all the $50 tool bits they picked out of the sweepings.

I used to be clutter bug whom couldnt find anything and would get really stressed out.

Once again I am going to recommend minimalism. It works.

I am like this.

My House Was Clean Yesterday. Sorry You Missed It!!

In other words, yes, but not as bad as I used to be.

I can GENERALLY (more than 90% of the time) find the stuff I really need-- checkbook, billfold, purse, keys, bills, the kids' homework. Well, OK-- ALWAYS the kids' homework, because I tend to get sharp if it doesn't stay in their backpacks until it needs done and go right back once it's finished. Sometimes not so much my stupid phone. I carry it around everywhere, like everyone else these days-- and if I lay it down somewhere, or it falls out of my pocket (I've gotten "curvy" enough to have to wear womens' pants; womens' pants do not come with pockets near often enough and about half the time the pockets they do have are next to useless), I'm screwed for a while.

My space is usually clean (safe, sanitary, easily accessible) and not hoarder-y.

It's almost never "neat" and "tidy". If it's "neat" and "tidy," it's either Big Cleaning Day (happens 2-3 times a month, when I go through and pick up little things that have accumulated in a room that don't belong there and fix the organization of things like drawers and shelves, dust things, get rid of the cobwebs, clean windows, shampoo carpets on account of the effing dog, and generally make every room except my bedroom and the laundry area look "like a picture of this room should look"), we're expecting some kind of company to whom "neat" and "tidy" are important, or I'm having major issues with anger, anxiety, or both.

I understand that "neat" and "tidy" are culturally important, socially important, that those things more than actual cleanliness are the things that send the message, "I care and I work hard." I have a MAJOR problem with that norm, which basically boils down to screaming, "Kindness, honesty, and decency are more important metrics of character than tidiness, for f**k's sake!!" But I understand that it is what it is.

That norm can kiss my rosy little hind end; people who worship that norm can stay the hell out of my house. Other than my MIL, people who put a lot of stock in that norm are only welcome here if they can accept that WE DON'T and keep their judgment and their sniping to themselves.

"Neat" and "tidy" take entirely too much effort in an ASD/ADHD family with four kids (three of them still under twelve, which seems to be about the age at which they start to stop being walking tornadoes), a frequent parade of neighborhood kids, and almost enough pets to file for 501c status as a non-profit rescue. I can do "neat" and "tidy," or I can do "a warm and friendly place where you are expected to do your share of the work but the look of the house is secondary to the life we live within it." I can't do both, at least not at this stage of our lives, and I know which one matters more to us.

Personally, myself, I don't LIKE "neat" and "tidy". It doesn't bother me in other peoples' space, as long as I'm just visiting (and not for more than two or three days). I like "clean" and "I know at least roughly where most things are." "Neat" and "tidy" always feel rigid and stuffy to me, like I should make sure everyone tip-toes and keeps their voice at a conversational whisper and God forbid anyone should track dirt or spread out a project or spill a glass or run or shout. In my own home, "neat" and "tidy" feels like a stage-set for a play that isn't even my life; it makes me want to cry and sob and either make a medium mess or run away to some place where it's OK to LIVE.

Me, too. If everything in my space (especially my kitchen) is spick and strack right down to the pots being super-organized and the fridge shelves being sorted by category, I won't be able to find a thing.

When I retire, I'm going to make sure I don't have too much stuff.

I already strive to have the minimum amount of possessions. I don't really decorate my house. Basic Furniture, a few plants that get watered every Saturday. No kitsch. I have a few collections of things like rocks but I don't count those as clutter. Less to lose and less to take care of. I find it lot less stressful.