Tidy house, tidy mind?

I was wondering if any obsessive tidiers would like to come around for a day or two ?

Who ya gonna call “Kim & Aggie”?

No it’s not that bad but I wouldn’t mind the Rich brothers for the garden :grinning:

In the late 60s I had a girlfriend who was a tidier extraordinaire. I have never seen anybody like her before or since, she was like a whirlwind going through a place. Yet she was a very arty type, even worked as a tracer for a while though her forte was managing guest houses.

We were at my parents house once and she asked my mother if there was anything she could do, my mother said it would be nice if she could tidy the bedrooms upstairs (we had a full house at the time).

She was back within 15/20 minutes and just rejoined us. Later my mother pulled me aside and said that she didn’t believe she had tidied properly so checked and was amazed to find all four bedrooms were spotless, beds made, dusted, tidied etc.

What was wonderful about that girl was that everything went back in its proper place - after my last wife left I found a collection of my screwdrivers and pliers at the back of the cutlery drawer.

I often wonder if what the difference to my life would have been if I had married her rather than the two women I did marry.

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You would have driven her mad .

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Or vice versa :grin:

I like the house tidy and that does spill over to the mind. If there is anything unresolved in the mind, then it’s not tidy and I don’t sleep well.

Actually we got on very well, it was a close run thing and were together for a few years. I met her years later when married to my first wife and we still got on well. She just liked tidying but wasn’t fanatical about things always being in their right place but just did it without thinking.

I have an Asian friend (an accountant) that visits occasionally who is similar, every morning she is up sweeping and dusting the house (doesn’t like vacuum cleaners, even sweeps the carpets and rugs) - keep telling her not to but she says she enjoys it, so who am I to stand in the way of her pleasure?

Actually I think they enjoy(ed) my untidiness, neither ever complained about it anyway. Strange but true.

Yes I wholeheartedly agree with tidy house tidy garden tidy mind.
I’m proud to admit I’m OCD when it comes to neatness, cleaning polishing & dusting demolishing. :+1:t2:

Tidy house, tidy mind?

From a more general perspective this is not necessarily the case as your question mark rightfully indicates. Such an identification may indeed fall short. It reminds me of the well-known phrase “a healthy mind in a healthy body” which expresses a direct relationship between body and mind but is, in fact, a simplification of something far more complex. Just as Juvenal’s quote actually says “You should pray for” (a healthy mind
) thus making the statement less absolute, your phrase may also be qualified through that addition.

I have an ensuing war with trying to keep flat surfaces clear of anything. It seems they are like a magnet for clutter!

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I would say “tidy house = peace of mind”. If you can totally control one part of your life, the part that you have some control over, then the chaos outside your control seems less frightening. Of course some people take this to extremes, beyond tidying the house.

Anxiety and stress can be helpful to creativity and productivity, but sometimes you have to accept that there is only so much you can do to fix all the problems in your world. In terms of tidiness, I think decluttering is the answer. We accumulate so much stuff and we don’t need 99% of it.

There’s a woman in the next street who is out with the leaf blower the minute the bin men have gone.She doesn’t only do her drive and kerb but everyone else’s for about 100 yards.

The answer is Blowin’ in the wind.

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A flash of inspiration!

2267bflash

You wouldn’t sully her floor in a hurry :018:

I’m staying with my sister, she accumulates stuff from Amazon , no surfice is clear , stuff is everywhere . Clutter , clothes on floor , cushions piled .stuff and more stuff her computer desk is full as is the table , so much that to sit and eat I push stuff to one side . Her dog has 3 baskets, one full of toys , he never plays with, another full of grooming stuff , another full of treats. No surface is free ,. Shoes in piles on a shoe rack , 20 maybe. I’m caring for her , been here a month and I’m driven bonkers. I’ve given up trying to tidy . She can never find anything , it can take hours . Her mind is cluttered too just like her overfilled flat . I can’t wait to go home to my minimalist uncluttered house and my quiet clear head .

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I’m off out now to do the garden

:astonished:
I couldn’t survive in a messy, untidy environment.
Everything in it’s place, and clothes neatly folded.
My workshop is in the loft. Nobody can get up there, especially Mrs Fox (she keeps pestering me for a loft ladder) everything is where I left it, and although it may look untidy to some, I can lay my hand on everything I need

Mrs Fox sometimes spends hours looking for her misplaced keys or phone, when I come home the keys go on the peg in the cupboard and phone in it’s cradle on the shelf.
There is a place for everything, and everything goes in it’s place


I couldn’t possibly use a dishwasher Annie, as soon as I finish eating, pots are in a sink of water and washed up and dried and put away out of the way before I can sit down and rest easy. I wouldn’t want to go back to the job later and put stuff away
I like to deal with it straight away
Job done!

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A house in the next street to me has artificial grass for its lawn. I have often seen the lady of the house vacuuming it! I think she must have a very tidy mind 


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But not green fingers?

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