[INFP] INFPs - Do you keep your environment clutter free?

[DeannaBelle]

Hahaha no wai :'D

My room is very cluttered most of the time with books, lots of notebooks, clothes etc. and I don't really notice~
And the cats (they are really elephants) like to play with what ever I have on the floor :rolli:

Sometimes I think 'ha, I'll put everything in the right places and clean up', but of course it's not that easy
I'll start somewhere, there's stuff I don't have a place right now so I'll just put it there with the other stuff. Eventually I get the one place in order, with more piles in other places. At this point I'm bored or tired and go do something else, and my room is not so much less cluttered

Hah! That's so me! (except the cats, I LOVE them but I am allergic) My biggest problem is that htings just do not have a place. There's no room to being with, and even when there is, I have issues trying to find the most logical, most beautiful, most perfect place for an item to go.

Also, I have a horrible tendency to make tons and tons of "useful" notes and lists.

 

[DeannaBelle]

To offer a contrast with INFP's, I actually don't keep my environment clutter-free. I tend to keep things in places where I'm more likely to use them or see them, in fact. I tidy my house up if I think I might be having company or something (which is rare), but otherwise I don't see a point... put stuff away just so I can pull it back out again? For what?

I do have a tendency to leave things in the same places, though, and I don't think I let it get too bad. I know a few SJ's who literally pull something out that they know they'll be using again shortly (within a few hours), use it once, put it back up, and then take it back out each time, when it would have been much easier to leave it out until you were actually done with it, or even permanently locate it in a more accessible place. If it weren't so socially accepted, I'd swear that behavior had traces of OCD in it.

I've noticed that for me, things I use frequently (more than three times a week) tend to get left out, and other things usually get put away. Unless I have company, in which case I actually do put everything away... and then pull most of it right back out by the next day or two.

(sorry about the triple post; someone please teach to how to multiple quote)

I lived with an INFJ once. I adored her. I was a nanny for her kids. We were both messy with strong desires to be organized, but not strong methods for organization.

I know exaclty what you mean about putting something away when you're going to use it! What a waste of time! It drove me nuts as a kdi when my dad would tell me to put something away that I saw as being in process. However, I am trying to make distinctions and habits about putting things away that are truly not needed immediately.

 

[Jive A Turkey]

I am too perfectionistic to clean. I start in the kitchen, but then I end up rearranging drawers and stuff rather than doiong the dishes. I am a mess lol

Opposing the notion of perfectionism, do you think that maybe you avoid the dishes simply because the work is so monotonous?

 

[Wandering]

(sorry about the triple post; someone please teach to how to multiple quote)

Click on the " "+ " button next to the "Quote" button, in each post you want to quote. Then once you've selected them all, hit the "Post reply" button at the top or bottom of the screen.

 

[INTJMom]

...
I am too perfectionistic to clean. I start in the kitchen, but then I end up rearranging drawers and stuff rather than doing the dishes. I am a mess lol

I hear that!
I've got the same problem.

 

[Sandy]

Yep, a lot of what everyone is saying is ME! Again, I have found ways to keep from throwing things out (I'm a rabid reuser), and I enjoy finding a home for all my items without my place looking cluttered. Clear bins are so useful and efficient! I don't have to label them, and they can go against an unused wall very uniformly (mine are upstairs)!

Take for instance... I travel quite a bit. I have many small shampoos, lotions, travel size toothpastes, razors, trial-size perfumes, and trial or empty 3-oz bottles. Instead of putting the small bottles of shampoos with my "hair" items bin, I have made another bin just for things that I know I will need when I go on a plane (in gallon-size ziplock bags). When I am getting ready, I open the bin, and everything I need is right in there (This helps, too, because I generally buy things on sale, and I don't have to find things at full price at the last moment). Because these items aren't items that I use on a day-to-day basis, this process cuts so much needed space out of my closet and medicine cabinet.

Everything I do anymore seems like a process to me.

 

[Zelath]

My room is usually quite messy and my family members have asked me how I am able to stand it like that. I personally do not like having my room all neat and clean as it was last week when we had a realtor come through the house. I hate to put my clothes in my closet on hangers or in drawers; I prefer to simply put them in a pile at the end of my bed or whatever. My desk is pretty cluttered at the moment, but all I have to do is move a couple of things around and it will be clean; once my desk gets past a certain point I'll clean it up, but it will get to how it was in a matter of days.

 

[Leysing]

A trail of random stuff follows me everywhere I go

I draw and play the guitar, so all tables in my house are full of sketches and sheet music etc. I ride horses, so my smelly and dirty and hairy riding clothes are everywhere. ("HAS ANYONE SEEN MY BOOTS?!")

My dog loves to chew paper and spread the pieces around the floor. He also loves to spread his fodder around, spill his water daily and drool a lot while eating. Rolling on piles of weird substances, eating from piles of weird substances and dancing in mud puddles seems to be very enjoyable, too. I love my dog but I hate cleaning.

I dislike cleaning even more than I normally would because I've always been forced to do it. I have an ESFJ mother obsessed with orderliness. :steam:

But I'm obsessed with hygiene.

 

[Eileen]

From an INFJ's perspective: Right now, my environment is cluttered because my mind is cluttered. When I am happy and settled and when my life is logistically simple (ie, I'm not traveling all the time, I have a regular schedule, etc), things are pretty neat (except in the work spaces I occupy constantly--those are never neat). Right now, my whole life is kind of up in the air and so I feel like I can't do anything with the mess until I know whether I'm going to put things in cabinets or in boxes. I hate clutter--physical or psychic.

My INFP sister has always been really messy. She seems to be maturing out of it some, but she definitely is more cluttered by nature than I am. This is pretty much true for all of the INFPs I know. My INFP roommate in college had a pretty neat room, but when she opened up her closet, it was a little different (though I think she is like me--kind of on the border between INFP and INFJ).