Thread: Tell me about keeping your room clean.

You gotta have a place for everything. Whatever kind of stuff tends to end up being clutter, think about where you could keep it. If clothes are the biggest problem, maybe get a hamper for your room.

I have OCD, I think my mother has OCPD. So that explains why my house is exceptionally clean and tidy.

I'm usually lazy to do some hoovering, so i delay it as much as i can... often more than a month Then once i do it, my room is clean enough to stop my mom complaining about it.
Althrough i only hoover, i don't dust off things, because if something would be moved on my table or on the shelves, that would annoy me too much. Dust doesn't bother me anyway.

As for clothes and stuff on the ground, i never do that. I only have a pile of books on the ground, nothing else. It annoys me if something falls down, so i immediately pick it up and place it somewhere.
I store my clothes in my small wardrobe and everything else on shelves or my table... or well, the bed, since my bed fills 2/4 of my room

Hire Carrot as a live-in maid.

Or hey, here's a thought - get a girlfriend who has OCD! Of course that could backfire - she might just demand that you clean everything up.

Originally Posted by Darkmatters

Hire Carrot as a live-in maid.

Or hey, here's a thought - get a girlfriend who has OCD! Of course that could backfire - she might just demand that you clean everything up.

Nah I'm lazy. And my true nature is a little dirty! I've been forced to cleanliness and neatness because I can't stand things being out of place and it might raise my anxiety.

Get a girlfriend with OCPD, unlike people with OCD who are forced to do things against their will, people with OCPD truly want to be clean. It's a win-win huh?

Lol ok, hire Carrot's mom as a live-in maid!

Might get her out of Carrot's hair for a while and help her out too.

But to get serious again - I'm generally a big slob, but recently I've actually been doing a good job of cleaning my house and keeping it that way. One thing that really helps is to just decide to clean a little bit at a time wherever you are. I mean like, when you're getting ready to leave your room, just always look around and see what needs to be straightened up and do one or two things right then, before you let yourself walk out.

I've also found it really helpful to make a goal for each day. I found out about a technique that helps with this -

Ok, let me just try to explain the whole idea real quick.

Basically, it's wrong to think of it as breaking a bad habit - it's much more useful to think of it as replacing wrong behavior with more useful behavior. You need to think about when it is that you make the mistake - you might decide it's when you walk out of your room leaving it messy every time. Realize that just 2 minutes spent straightening up before you walk out is a hell of a lot better than just saying "screw it" and strolling out. It's also a good idea to come up with a catchphrase to say to yourself at this time. It doesn't even have to describe what you're wanting to do - just some silly little phrase that alerts you that you're about to do 'the bad thing' again and that it's time to instead do something helpful. Anything that's memorable to you or makes you smile will do. Something like "Code Red" or "Operation Just Fucking Do It Already".

When you're about to walk out, think the phrase to yourself, and do what needs to be done. Break the job up into chunks, just do a little each time rather than facing a giant task all at once.

And plan it out.

This goes back to what I said earlier about having a place for everything. If you end up with certain things laying on the floor you might not have a proper place for them, or else you're jut not putting them away when you're done with them. The bigger problem is if you don't have anywhere for them. Once you solve that then it's an easy matter to put them there when you need to. Once you've got a place for all the stuff, plan the sequence for effective cleaning. Maybe one day just put all your CDs games and movies away, then the next take care of the laundry laying around or whatever. Having the plan already in your head makes it a simple step each time to just do what you already know you need to do. Otherwise when the idle urge hits you that "one day I need to do something about my room" it all can just seem like too much to tackle all at once and you just shake your head and say screw it.

Prepare to get scolded by her!

Easy: I let it get messy.

Organize your room and clean it. Put everything in a certain location. If they move out of that location, put them back in it ASAP. <- That's pretty much the hardest part. It's all about this step actually. You just have to build the willpower to hang your clothes back in the closet instead of throwing them somewhere. Put the clothes you wear most often in your closet, in the spot that's most accessible. Keep the not-so-often used clothes, undergarments, bottoms, pajamas in your dresser. Do your laundry regularly. Ya know

Well I think I did offer Carrot a job as a maid in another thread somewhere...

I have a small room, 8x12 (just big enough for a bed, nightstand, and a couple bookcases) but I tend to just make "stacks" of things. I have a stack of all my old schoolwork, a few stacks of books, and a 3-foot plastic drawer type organizer thingy that is filled with random stuff. And I have a couple plastic containers under my bed for storage, hidden by a bed skirt.

But then again, I don't have much "stuff." If you don't have much stuff, you don't have to worry about clutter! Simplification is great for more than just cleanliness.

The problem may not be HAVING a place for everything or not being organized, it might just be stuff that you don't need or use.

True dat!

And I'm a stacker too. Here's what teeters over my head as I sleep:



The REST of my house is much cleaner - I'm currently sleeping in what will be a storage room until I finish building a bookshelf in the real bedroom, so my books perch wherever they can find purchase.

All the colors on the book spines were really tacky looking, so I sepia-toned it to make it look better.

Originally Posted by slayer

Well I think I did offer Carrot a job as a maid in another thread somewhere...

Why do I have so many maid jobs offer?

Originally Posted by Darkmatters

All the colors on the book spines were really tacky looking, so I sepia-toned it to make it look better.

You shouldn't have mention it, now I'm curious about the colours. I didn't find anything wrong when I looked at the photo.

---

Back on topic, I'm used to keeping things back where they were. I packed my bed every morning and I arranged my table after every time I have used it. I don't need to pack my clothes so that's one burden less for me. I share the same room as my grandma so I share wardrobes with her too, and my grandma helps me to pack the clothes.

The only problem for me is to repack my cupboard and dust off some dust. The dust annoys me time to time. And did I mention I clean my laptop every one to two days because I get annoyed by the oil stuck on my laptop? My cupboard looks fine as it is now, meaning it's not too messy and things don't look like they're sticking out or toppling over. Reasons I haven't pack my cupboard are laziness, I have too many excess new things, I get dizzy if I squat down and get up (low blood pressure).

Originally Posted by Carrot

Why do I have so many maid jobs offer?

I manage to keep my room OK now because I did a Big clean up a few months ago and said to myself "THIS MUSTN'T HAPPEN AGAIN, EVER" It took me three days with help. The curse of being non-chalant.

Ohhh it was BAD. Everything was covered in 8 years of dust. True story.

So, I keep that promise to myself before it's 8 years later again LOL

Whenever my room is messy, I like to keep in mind about how relaxed I will be and the better my dream will be if the environment around me looks zen-ful. I really like observing the neatness of my room after cleaning it, the way my night stand light illuminates over my bed and the way my sheets look crisp and made before I get under them.

That sounded really weird. Do I have some sort of disorder?

Originally Posted by slayer

Tell me about keeping your room clean.

I can't.

Originally Posted by Darkmatters

Or hey, here's a thought - get a girlfriend who has OCD! Of course that could backfire - she might just demand that you clean everything up.

There is a 100% chance of it.

Be responsible.
Try to organize your things, give each of your things an specific area where it should be place.
Don't be lazy.
Clean your room everyday.

I have no willpower to tidy my room on a regular basis. As long as I can find what I need for the day, I'm satisfied.

Kind of late, but...

Be organized:
Keep things that are similar (or used together) in the same location

Have cleanliness:
Minimize the amount of things in plain sight; maximize the amount of things in drawers, closet, etc (but don't cram everything into the drawers/etc; keep it "clean")

Originally Posted by slayer

tell me your secrets

I can't seem to keep random crap off my floor. Clothes, junk, and more clothes. I don't really make use of my closet or dresser. I would actually like to get rid of my dresser.

So, what are some tips to keeping a clean room?

Don't throw shit on the floor.

Just relax and focus on what you want to do...and then be all the way there when you do it

If your scatter-brained its going to be hard to get it done, you have to take it easy and focus. Theres no rush