Organization of a Physical Space

[Purple INFJ]

Salutations:

What factors do you guys know about that contribute to a person having a messier or cleaner space? It seems to me that this is something that can't be answered from only one angle.

I seem to note that some people seem to be natural at organizing objects and have "place reflexes" in that they can't stand to see something outside a place that they somehow sense as corresponding with the object. It's as if, in their heads, they can make fast associations between objects and places.

I have personally struggled with organizing objects, although I am making an effort to improve in this area, and have managed to make some progress in it. But I don't mind some clutter here or there, it's not like I aim for perfect organization.

I understand the topic is complex, but I think it's worth discussing. Some points I think could be useful:

1) Being an Intuitive or a Sensor I think plays a part in your relationship with your living space, in terms of your perception of it.

2) I'm mildly familiar with Executive Function skills, but I definitely can't say much on the subject. I understand that people with ADHD/ADD and/or on the autism spectrum can struggle with this.

3) Supposedly people with the Melancholic temperament are the best at being organized, if I remember correctly. I believe temperament theory is not used by many psychologists though, and I understand DISC is basically an updated form of it.

4) Can some people learn organizational skills slower than others, or maybe can have an easier time organizing some things vs. others?

Should be an interesting discussion...

 

[-Outsider-]

I suspect I might be ISFJ, and everywhere I go always looks like a tornado hit it. I just don't see the value in putting everything back where it should go when I'm inevitably going to take it back out anyway. I'll admit that a neat and organized space is more aesthetically pleasing, but I'm just too lazy to give a fuck about making it nicer. I suspect I might be ISFJ or a similar type, so idk.

Really, I wonder if this has to do more with how you are raised, with personality playing a still significant, but smaller role. My parents were never overly strict about us having neat and tidy spaces, so they tended to look like disasters. Well, my parents would get annoyed now and then and make us clean our spaces, but it really was not very strict. Counter this with a military family that is very strict on their children remaining neat and tidy. I'd suspect these children grow into adults with similar tendencies. Habits start young.

I'm not saying that personality doesn't play a role here, but perhaps nurture just plays a bigger role in this case.

Just my guess.

 

[magpie]

I think it's important to make a distinction between clean and organized. My external environment isn't what I'd consider to be clean. It's quite messy with clothes on the floor and dishes in the sink, and a lot of clutter everywhere. Books I'm reading piled up on tables, art supplies surrounding unfinished paintings, etc. It is what I'd consider to be organized though. I know where everything is and why it's there. All the clutter is from starting and not finishing works in progress. The organization, I suppose, is mostly in my mind, meaning I organize my mind to make up for external clutter, and that helps me to view the clutter as organized.

I do organize some things very specifically. I alphabetize the books on my bookshelves by author. I'm a collector of some things, like coins from different countries, and those collections have a specific place they belong I suppose. I do a lot of things out of sequence. I start one project and move onto the next before finishing the first over and over. I also start wherever I feel like in the process as opposed to starting at the beginning. But again, there are some specific things I can't do that with. If I'm listening to an album and feel like the way the songs are ordered tells a story, I can't listen to the songs out of sequence. That would be like reading the middle of the book first and then flipping around randomly to different chapters. It ruins the meaning of the art.

I'm melancholic sanguine if that's useful to you.

 

[Smilephantomhive]

When it comes to objects I'm out of sight out of mind, so all my clothes are sprawled out on the floor cause I forget about them if they are in my dresser. I should try using my closest more.

 

[Agent Washington]

If I know where things are, it's fine.
If I don't know where things are, but it's too much effort to find out where, that's a cost-benefit analysis.

Over the long run, if you can manage space well such that everything is immaculately organised, then it is for the better.

But, I also see how much effort it takes to maintain such a space. Unless it's absolutely crucial, nobody can make me expend that amount of energy to maintain this routinely.

 

[ceecee]

Organized and clean are different things. Unclean is not acceptable for my physical space, I don't really give much leeway there. Organized is something else. I love organizing and I want my spaces to be organized. The driving reason is because I'm lazy and don't want to look around for anything. I don't like a chaotic environment and messy, unorganized spaces and things are often in a chaotic state. Plus I really like the visual pleasantries organization gives me. I don't usually alphabetize or color code everything, although I do with some items where it makes searching easier.

I also think upbringing has something to do with this, to a degree. I have never gotten as anal as my ISTJ mother, I never will. I have some minimalistic tendencies - I'm sure this factors into me finding organization to be easy. There simply isn't the amount of stuff that there could be in my environment. I also love purging/throwing things away.

 

[cascadeco]

I think I'm a lot less messy than many (most?), but I am probably not too organized.

Aesthetics of my living space is hugely important to me, so I really dislike having stuff all over the place, in disarray, stuff on the floor, tables covered in crap, etc (with the exception of my art table, which IS completely covered , and my closets aren't really subject to my 'aesthetics' desire). So I consider myself to be a neat person, and the larger space itself is neat and clutter-free. However I do not organize things within cupboards/drawers/closets, so these little micro-areas are not organized at all (though most of the time I know where everything is).

[I consider best fit mbti type to be ISFP for me]

 

[Hiraeth]

I consider myself unorganized and messy by default. My room looks like it was hit by a hurricane and almost nothing is ever put back in its rightful place, so I tend to lose things quite easily. The thing is that I don't seem to mind it either. What I have found through my own observation over some time now is that my external environment tends to influence my own thoughts. For instance, when my room is decluttered, clean, and minimalistic, my mind also becomes minimalistic in that thoughts and ideas don't come as naturally to me, and as an artist that can be catastrophic. On the other hand, when my room has knick-knacks and tchotchkes everywhere, I'm more easily inspired because I can observe the little things around me and additionally come up with a plethora of ideas on the fly, so messiness would have some beneficial qualities for me in that case.

I do, however, organize certain things as [MENTION=22178]magpie[/MENTION] mentioned in her post and can be very anal about it too, like my music library and things of that nature. It has to have meaning and significance for me to care enough to do so though, otherwise organizing becomes a pain.

I'm an ISFP, btw.

 

[entropie]

Strongly organized, tidy and clean. I am german, we suffer from bacteria in hospitals that came from cleaning too much. :/

But I thing a general sense for organization comes more withe age. When you have to schedule the working day and time grows precious, you start to be more organized. On top of that I dont have many things, so I barely search for stuff, cause the few things all have a place.

 

[Siúil a Rúin]

I don't remember where stuff is, so I am organized as a way to cope. I'm definitely not festidious though. I don't care about objects being in absolutely specific places, but have general categories where things go. Each drawer contains one particular type of thing. My approach is very efficient in that it is the most organization for the least effort.

I used to believe the stereotype about J's being organized and P's being messy, but my boyfriend is a lot more of a clean-freak than I am, but he is very in the moment person, and probably an ENFP. There's no way he's a J in any other capacity except that he needs things clean. So he calls me the messy bunny, but my own super cluttery family would tell you I am extremely organized.

As a child used to be the one who packed the car for trips and moves. I can organize anything into a logical arrangement. You can give me a trash-heap and can make ordered sense out of it.