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Other people's mess is more fun
June 11th, 2012 09:30 amWhy is it so much easier and more fun to clean (or help clean) someone else's house, compared to your own?
When it comes to de-cluttering, I suspect a lot of it is lack of sentiment and emotional baggage. When you have to decide whether or not to get rid of Tchotchke A, the owner sees the emotional history of the object and the (perhaps complex) relationship with the person who gave it to them, while the outsider watches and says "Yes, but it's still a cigar cutter in the shape of a constipated garden gnome. How many of those do you need?"
Maybe it's because, in your own house, you know you'll just get it messy again, that cleaning is a never-ending depressing cycle and it's almost not worth the bother. If it's someone else's house, you can show up while it's messy, leave while it's clean, and convince yourself you've made a great and lasting mark on the world.
Habituation must play a part, too. We all have a raft of small jobs that would be really quick to finish, but they've gone unfinished for so long that we don't actually notice them anymore. I'm particularly guilty of this where house repair projects are concerned; my parents have been remodeling their house for fifteen years at this point, so I'm used to constant construction -- with the result that I can ignore, say, a blue light can and accompanying electrical wires hanging out of the ceiling in the kitchen. For two years.
Actually putting the damn light back up took me half an hour -- and the help of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
emony42, who's the catalyst for this post. I spent the weekend at her house goading her to finish jobs, and then returned to mine and wondered where the heck all that oomph went. I was probably a bit naggy, but (as with the light) she's welcome to come return the favor any time. Little fishes know I need it.
Anyhow. I've taken the day off work, and my tasks are to post the next chapter of Star and... clean the fridge.
Anyone have a hazmat suit?
When it comes to de-cluttering, I suspect a lot of it is lack of sentiment and emotional baggage. When you have to decide whether or not to get rid of Tchotchke A, the owner sees the emotional history of the object and the (perhaps complex) relationship with the person who gave it to them, while the outsider watches and says "Yes, but it's still a cigar cutter in the shape of a constipated garden gnome. How many of those do you need?"
Maybe it's because, in your own house, you know you'll just get it messy again, that cleaning is a never-ending depressing cycle and it's almost not worth the bother. If it's someone else's house, you can show up while it's messy, leave while it's clean, and convince yourself you've made a great and lasting mark on the world.
Habituation must play a part, too. We all have a raft of small jobs that would be really quick to finish, but they've gone unfinished for so long that we don't actually notice them anymore. I'm particularly guilty of this where house repair projects are concerned; my parents have been remodeling their house for fifteen years at this point, so I'm used to constant construction -- with the result that I can ignore, say, a blue light can and accompanying electrical wires hanging out of the ceiling in the kitchen. For two years.
Actually putting the damn light back up took me half an hour -- and the help of
emony42, who's the catalyst for this post. I spent the weekend at her house goading her to finish jobs, and then returned to mine and wondered where the heck all that oomph went. I was probably a bit naggy, but (as with the light) she's welcome to come return the favor any time. Little fishes know I need it.Anyhow. I've taken the day off work, and my tasks are to post the next chapter of Star and... clean the fridge.
Anyone have a hazmat suit?
