A neat and clean home

I inherited this  from my mom. Although I didn't understand her in my childhood … Why should we tidy up the living room, before we start to watch the evening movie?

»I can't sit calmly if I see that everything is higgledy-piggledy« she said, when I and my brother was surprisingly watching her and asking ourself why toys and trash at the coffee table bothering her so much. Couldn't we clean it during the television advertisement? 

And look at me now… History repeats itself. I feel guilty if  I sit on the couch, when I know that  clean dishes needs to be put in the kitchen cabinets. And I can feel the same way, when me and my boyfriend go somewhere outside, in a grocery store or a restaurant, and leave the untidy apartment. Isn't just nicer to come back in the orderly and neatly home? 

The table in the living room must be clean. Always! Box with tissues has to be in the corner of the table. In front of it must be a candle and then next to it a handcream. Gregor's joystick doesn't belong on the table. Although he protests. But not for long, because he leaves the organization of our home to me. He knows that I enjoy doing that. Aesthetics is important. I want that everything is nicely arranged. Everything has to be on its place. This is my priority.

You have to agree that mornings are better when you step out of the bedroom and things are exactly where they should be. So we can begin preparing our breakfast and get ready for a new working day. And you probably drink your coffee with much greater pleasure, when your bed was already made up. With your regularly cleaning you can also save unnecessary panic or a sense of embarrassment, when an unannounced quest appears at your front door.

As you may know, the order in your home can gives you a chance to physical and mental release. And by keeping your apartment tidy you can get rid of the bad conscience, which is telling you that you need to become more organized. And of course, you can get rid of extra stress! You can feel it, when things are not in place. But Gregor doesn't understand this fact. And because of that he loves to tease me and moves objects from their right spots on purpose. And  we all know that mess at home on men doesn't affect as negative as to women. 

The tidiness of our home environment certainly influence on different aspects of our lives. Even on our nourishment! The experiment showed that people from orderly room were more likely to choose a healthy snack compared to those who were in the disorderly room. They were also much more generous, because they donated more money than others from disorderly room. Well, yes, I also have to mention that participants from disorderly room showed more creativity. So hmm… I guess that artist are allowed to have a messy homes.

The neatly environment promotes normative, moral and prosocial behaviour, while the untidily home is connected with bad and destructive behaviour. Some of the conclusions that I've mentioned to you may be completely logical and understandable, while others can be an interesting and beneficial fact. But I hope that you can now understand how can we influence and regulate our habits by organizing our home. 

Did you like my article? You can subscribe in the field below. 

Love

Saša

Source: Vohs, D. K., Redden, J. P. and Rahinel, R. (2013). Physical order produces healthy choices, generosity, and conventionality, whereas disorder produces creativity. Psychological Science, 24 (9), 1860 – 1867.