Why is cleaning so difficult?

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the hardest part, really, is sticking with it, without fail. a day off here and there soon deteriorates into hoarderhood.

This might be useful, and so would that... And some of this... And don't throw that...

And before one kmows it one can't move for things!

that's about the size of things for many of us.

Oi.

I resemble these remarks.

after watching my agile sister struggle to clean up my kitchen for me, i am very shamed and reluctant to give up the fight to keep neat and clean.

If you throw something away because you have not used it in years, it will still be on your mind the next day, so you might then realize how it could have been used.
"If you have a big enough scrap pile, you don't need a saw."
There are practical limits to hoarding related to memory. I once spent years shopping for a flashlight that was mostly battery, not wasted volume. I finally found what I wanted in my camping gear, forgotten there. It had been salvaged from the garbage and restored, but little used.
BTW, organizing is a skilled job. I was 40 before I learned that file folders can be listed as well as labelled. That makes it easier to choose the best one.

Obsessive compulsive disorder

Anal expulsive

This is so fascinating as I’m hyper vigilant about managing my space and everything has its place!! !

^^^so you manage to be neat and tidy most of the time?

Definitely and probably to my detriment sometimes. It’s part in part anxiety and OCD (not being able to relax unless everything is in its place so to speak). But I’m also a highly structure driven person so I think that helps? I once had a house mate tell me, in my early 20s, that our house never looked ‘lived in’. I simultaneously felt both proud and offended.

I work with kids with ASD too, and if their executive function is low, I encourage them to ‘chunk’ their tasks as suggested above so you can tackle small problems one at a time. Timetable to hold yourself to account and seek help if you need it! Doing so will help you feel successful. I hope this helps.

When I was renting, I had to move frequently. I even got superstitious about getting everything unpacked leading to re-packing. When I finally put stability above community, I tried to organize my new space as much like the previous one as possible as a memory aid. It took me over a decade to figure out the best arrangement for the new space. Remembering what is where is a huge investment. I find that the notorious pile of papers is not a bad system if it is just kept in chronological order.
I heard of a guy who had a meltdown when his wife moved some of his messy-but-familiar stacks of papers, which was the beginning of the end for his marriage. A shared space has a lot more need for order. A small space is very quickly overwhelmed if not tidied up, but at least there's less to put away.

a pity about the marriage.

I don't know why it's difficult for you, but it's difficult for me because I tend to see every task as multiple smaller tasks. For example, instead of "pick paper up the off floor," I see my dirty floor and think "pick up this flyer, then pick up that torn envelope, then pick up that wrapper, then pick up that receipt..." etc.

So I get overwhelmed with the number of individual things I have to do.

mebbe pick up the papers one at a time, put each paper into 2 boxes- either "important" or "trash." the trash box is just for obvious unmistakable trash. the important box is for things like receipts, bills, correspondence.

Ditto for me. I hate to clean. I hate to pick up. I consider something done when I have the finished product in hand and dismiss from my mind the necessary clean up.

I believe that if I clean clean something up it should stay cleaned up.

Alas, the world doesn’t work the way I want it to.

Ah. Yes! That is what has been happening to me lately where I need to have a structured "Go to it" method but end up with so many distractions that nothing gets done and I have to walk out and leave it to avoid shutting down.

But once I am in the right frame of mind I can dedicate myself to it.

I am both extremes. Either super tidy or super messy and most of the time it is on the essy side! When in work (When I used to work) I was normally super tidy and organized but I really struggle to be the same when at home. Home is my de-stress area. When I used to work, work was where I was constantly on edge and stressed. It was hard to relax when working as I was always in constant thought... While doing one process I was in thought of the stages involved in the next task... Switching off was not an option while in work and often when not in work I could not switch off either. It often takes many months after quitting to be ablw to switch off in a mental way to the stresses of work.

My bedroom... My personal space... It is my relaxing place. Yer. A little too relaxed!

Last edited by Mountain Goat on 05 Aug 2021, 5:23 am, edited 2 times in total.