3 types of messy people and how to get organized as a messy person.

If you identify as a messy person, you may fall under the following types:

1. You’re messy and you don’t mind.

2. You’re messy and you do mind.

3. You’re messy and you do mind in some contexts and you don’t in others.

Walking into a messy kitchen or living space does not exactly inspire feelings of calm and restfulness, however for the first type, this is tolerable, livable, and a daily reality.

Cluttered environments might just feel normal, even comforting to “know where everything is”. If you are messy and you don’t mind, chances are that you do not see much point in tidying up, as it’s only going to get messy again anyway.

However, if someone else cleaned your space, you might not necessarily object to it and demand for it to be messy again. This type might have more issues with other people having a problem with the mess, than they do themselves.

If you fall under the second category; you are messy and you do mind, you do not feel tolerant about it, as you definitely feel stressed when there is mess around. It impacts you greatly and you may criticise yourself for being unable to keep on top of it. You may put a lot of pressure on yourself to clean and tidy, but feel overwhelmed by it. Therefore, you may feel stuck in a loop of slowly allowing the mess to build, which allows the pressure to also creep up. This induces procrastination and inactivity, until eventually, you cave and tidy and clean, to the point where you crash and burn yourself out. Then the cycle repeats.

Then there is the third type, who does mind when there is mess around in certain contexts and does not mind in others. You may be a little more flexible in your approach to mess. Where cleaning and tidying is an important part of your daily, or weekly routine, there may not be a set schedule as to when this happens. It may more depend on whether guests are coming over, or even when the opportunity to clean arises. You may even have a certain standard as to “acceptable mess” and intuitively know when this line has been crossed. It may only be then that the urge to clean kicks in.

Whichever type you are, you may still notice that if your environment is messy, and chaotic, your stress levels, as well as others around you in the same environment, will be maintained.

Whichever type you are, being in a clean and organized environment will help that stress dissipate. Walking into a clean kitchen when you want to make a sandwich is much more pleasant and straightforward than trying to balance everything on the only remaining surface left.

How to get organized as a messy person

1. You know you better than anyone knows you. Consider what spaces at home could be improved with some tidying or organization?

2. What could you do to organize these spaces?

3. Answer the questions 1 and 2, but this time for your work or study space.

After you have implemented these changes

1. What change might be the simplest to make and maintain?

2. What do you notice in your stress levels when your environment is more organized?

3. What changes would make the most impact?

Reference

Schroeder, W. (2021). Counselling activities workbook. Winnipeg: ACHIEVE Publishing.