My house is full of clutter, and if the cleaning lady hasn’t been here, parts may not be clean. (We do clean up cat puke and other nasty stuff, though, yikes!)
Sure, come on in. I’ll just move these boxes of jigsaw puzzles off the couch so you can sit down.
Why wouldn’t i have guests over?
Many (not all) of my friends also live in cluttered dwellings. A few keep their houses perfectly tidy, with not a thing out of place. Honestly, that makes me uncomfortable. It makes me feel like I’m messing up the decor by being there. Maybe because my grandmother kept her house perfectly tidy, and i suspect she did resent the kids messing things up when i spent the night.
Before covid, we entertained all the time. We enjoy cooking for friends, and we have decent space for parties. People seem to return, so our clutter must not be too shocking.
No. I live in a trailer attached to my landlady’s house, and the left side of the couch is cluttered with debris. The trash needs to go out; I can’t get the top sheet on my mattress and haven’t for months, and the couch is collapsed and not capable of supporting a guest comfortably for more than an hour or two at a time. There are leaks in the ceiling, and we have a problem with roaches and mice.
Moreover, it’s not really big enough to have more than three people in it at once.
But it’s a roof over our heads for $365 a month with a family we love, albeit one that’s conservative to the point of being daffy.
Funny, but some friends are coming over shortly to play music. I set up chairs and music stands, and put out drinks and snacks, but didn’t clean a thing.
I used to be VERY messy - as a kid and through college. But I like living in a clean house.
My lovely wife just reported that she has sorted all the socks. I hear she is about to try her new Roomba. I’m working on making up the new mattress and organizing my reading midden for 2022 (paper version) between Zoom meetings.
A couple people have mentioned dishes in the sink. I can 100% guarantee you that, even if I’m away for an extended period of time and my wife is the only one at home, there will NEVER be dirty dishes in the sink. We may have two bedrooms stuffed with so much junk that we have to keep the doors closed to keep it from spilling into the hallway, but dishes never sit in the sink(s) unless they are drying in the drainer rack. Every dish, pan, and utensil is either washed immediately after use or placed in the dishwasher (after rinsing it clean, of course).
But, but… it’s so much easier to clean the oatmeal bowl after it’s been soaking in the sink for a while. Or the pot I cooked rice in.
Dirty dishes in the sink aren’t immediately visible, and don’t really count as an immediate issue to address. If we’ve timed things badly, and the dishwasher is mid-cycle after supper, the entire supper setup may be neatly stacked in the sink until the dishwasher becomes available – with enough water on it to keep stuff from drying on, of course.
I do not feel the sink needs to be empty to welcome guests into the house, including into the kitchen.
I don’t try to explain it. For some reason, my wife and I are both nearly phobic about dishes sitting in the sink (or even on the counter near the sink).
Almost any time I cook, step one is to fill the sink with soapy water. There’s always down time while cooking to clean as I go, and stuff won’t need soaking if it’s getting washed right away.
The pot i cooked rice in is easier to clean it i soak it than if i try to clean it right away. Also, i need at least part of the sink clear for washing my hands, unwrapping the chicken, cleaning vegetables, etc. as i cook.
I basically view the interior surface of the sink as a dirty place, that contains dirty things (like raw meat) so i don’t contaminate the rest of the kitchen.
(We fill a pot with soapy water if we plan to wash a lot dishes by hand. Then rinse them in the rest of the sink.)
Hell-no! I do my best but with 3 cats and central air in our home, things can get pretty interesting quick. One cat is very sneezy so add some window washing to the dusting, tidying and vacuuming going on around here pretty constantly. I DO get in some regular decluttering and purging though that has been tough for 2020.
I recently read a book on organizing and decluttering that I really could get behind, yet the one thing I totally disagreed with was the assumption that I’d love have my house guest-ready so I could invite people over. No, actually, I want to keep this hovel up because I like to enjoy a clean and tidy house .
Sure. Whether it’s messy or not. Our house reflects who we are. If you don’t like it, you are welcome to visit someone else. Luckily, the types of friends we have don’t care.
That said, we are clean people. There’s almost never dishes in the sink, the counters are wiped down after we use them, the bathrooms get cleaned and floors vacuumed every weekend, etc. But there’s often clutter about. If you don’t like books all over the place, in-process crafts on the dining table and dog toys on the floor, our home might not be for you.
Also, i need at least part of the sink clear for washing my hands, unwrapping the chicken, cleaning vegetables, etc. as i cook.
