Te vs Ti cleaning style

[Pionart]

I rarely clean but I don't make much mess either. I will usually just tidy my desk by putting the papers in a pile if I want to study. I tend to just put things in a place where they won't be bothersome.

 

[Kas]

My cleaning style's like this: I dump everything out into the open, throw what I don't want into a huge trash bag, throw the stuff I'm going to keep to the side, & when I'm done sorting all of it, I re-organize all of the rest of the stuff I'm keeping back (but never in the same place, it's always completely re-done).

I do the same type of thing when I organize stuff for my grandma (she's an ESTJ, but claims I organize better than her! lol). For examples, she has me organize her pantry. I take everything out, placing it on the table or kitchen counter, & completely re-organize it. The only things that are always on the same shelf are the cans, but everything else gets resorted wherever it fits. I like to start from scratch, instead of just re-shifting everything around. We keep clothes hangers in a clothes basket, too, & after awhile it gets practically impossible to pull any out, because they're completely intertwined. Therefore, I'll dump all of them out onto the floor, sort them into piles, & place them back in after they're all sorted.

I was wondering if cleaning/organization techniques correspond with the Te/Ti functions?

It's interesting that some of you mentioned lists, because for whatever odd reason, lists never work for me.

Only since I've got to college, have I started to use separate folders for different classes, too, so it'd be less for me to carry at a time. Before that, I would always just mix all my papers from all my classes in one folder, filling it up until it was ready to burst, & then start a new one.

Cleaning my room usually consists of me tossing everything out of my drawers & removing everything from the floor of my closet, leaving it scattered along the floor & on my bed, along with the stuff that's already there. I get rid of what I don't want, shoving old papers & whatever else I don't need in a bag, & literally throwing or kicking everything else to the side. It's always a bigger mess at first before it gets put back. Then, I start re-stacking books & games, putting back shoes, & putting back whatever else into where there's now room & looks good.

Also, day calendars never work for me. I end up writing things anywhere in the book, circling one assignment, underlining another, star-ing others, until I can no longer tell which ones are due what days, give up on writing them down, & just try to remember from the top of my head. My only fixes so far are writing things, while in classes, down on my hands, or posting sticky notes on my dorm room walls. I'll make 5 of them, each with a heading at the top of a different day of the week from Monday to Friday, & write the assignments for those days under them. I don't do that as often as I should, though.

It's very similar with me.

I'm rather a messy person. However when the time of cleaning comes I just clean and organize everything. I dump everything out from drawers and closets. It’s an incredible mess. My family used to laugh that it’s worse than it was before . The results are good though, everything is in order.
I also don’t like making lists.

And I have separate folders for different classes as well. Well, papers and the computer are places where I keep order (most of the time).

The difference is that I keep calendar and I couldn’t do without it. I just can’t remember deadlines and when I have meetings etc.

 

[ceecee]

I grew up in a very tidy house. My Mom used to vacuum twice a day. Dusted all the time. Laundry ... the machine never seemed to stop running. We could take a glass out of the cupboard, set it on the kitchen counter, turn around to get milk out of the fridge to pour some to drink and then wonder where the glass went. She had already put it in the dishwasher.

This is my mom. It makes being in the same house with her really stressful for people. Not for me so much but for others. I get this is on a compulsion level for her and I don't think much will ever change so I just accept it. I'm not like her, I'm far more relaxed about it because I know I would drive my family insane and is that worth driving the people you love insane? No.

Ha! I should add, if I am hosting dinner or having company for the holidays - it's like I have new eyes or something, I want the house to be perfect and alllll of a sudden, I can see every teeeny tiny thing that needs to get done! I'll definitely overdo it at those times, and tire myself out too!

Yes but I plan in advance for the holidays and make sure the major stuff is done (bathrooms, floors, picked up, that kind of thing) and I can concentrate on cooking. I use to get far more stressed about it but not anymore.

 

[ceecee]

Yes, I totally understand where you are coming from when it comes to picking up anxieties from your parents. My mother, love her but super high strung sometimes, has a thing about never being late for anything. We will leave at least an hour early for any event, from a movie to a wedding, and will nearly always be the first there. It has sort of transferred over a bit, to the point where while I do not get really anxious if I am late like she does, as I still am late pretty often(sigh), but it has been drilled into my head as rude. And I absolutely see it that way, as completely inconsiderate. I guess my problem is just that while I understand why certain things are valued, what the reasoning and consequences are for not following certain procedures, it is just too hard to always keep them in mind and play a specific part. But yeah, that is a bit of a derail. Anyways that was just meant to say that environment can have an impact, it might not change what is innate, but it might tweak the definitions a bit. But yes a here and there is so much easier and more flexible than a rigid do this now, then do this, this, and that. Except you and I totally differ when it comes to cleaning for other people. I might move some junk over so someone can sit down, but I don't want to give anyone any ideas of staying. And I assume generally, probably wrongly, that if it doesn't disgust me then it doesn't disgust anyone else. Well that is when I actually notice the mess, as it all blends in. I like the mess actually a bit, kind of odd but it distinguishes the room and is soooo much less stressful then having to do everyday 'tasks'. Really it generally isn't even a blip on my radar, unless it is pretty much slapped into my face. Then when it is it seems overwhelming, and I have no place to start so I don't. So break it down, gain awareness of and concetrate on one thing, and try to chip away at it? Is that what you do?

I completely understand. Maybe try talking to her and keep it at the front of your mind when you can. I think if she sees effort on your part, it might help. Even if that effort is way above and beyond what your mind would usually do.

 

[pizzathegreat]

My living room is usually clean, but I don't do much to make it look otherwise. My bedroom is another story though. Clothes will build up all over the place and there's usually a line of soda cans and water bottles on my night stand. Dishes also build up in my sink. I don't usually wash them until I need one, then I figure I might as well wash them all.
So my cleaning style is basically letting things go for a while until I need to pick something up one day, and then I just clean everything because why not.

 

[Frosty]

I completely understand. Maybe try talking to her and keep it at the front of your mind when you can. I think if she sees effort on your part, it might help. Even if that effort is way above and beyond what your mind would usually do.

Yeah I was feeling particularly bad about it yesterday because I just recently broke my ankle and I am pretty much out of total commission for the next few days~well next month-ish or so but the next few days will be particularly bad~ and I can just see this turning into a sort of circular cat vs dog fight. I cough, and she comes running thinking that I am dying and cooks me a four course meal.

But she does not handle stress well at all... she just piles more and more on herself-in a way I sort of see as needless and damaging-but yeah then she explodes. So everything she does is sort of bitter sweet because it absolutely comes with strings attached, strings that I cannot keep track of. The thing is is that she loves to do things for other people, we did have a talk about that, she says that it makes her feel important and it is the method of how she judges and feels loved in return.

I can understand that, it is just not at all the same way for me so it is hard for me to consistantly keep in mind. She needs way more from me than I need from her, but it is like a race that I always lose, we both lose. She adds more stress and more worry to herself faster than I can hope to to understand it and deal with it.

Anyway, I generally do try to talk to her about it, but it is difficult to get her in the mood where she is calm enough to not immediately either shut down and get all defensive and accusatory, or get all down on herself and have an intense emotional reaction where she is not open to seeing any perspective but her own and gets all paranoid that I am judging her and attacking her, which honestly I am but not in the negative way that she thinks~ I just want to understand and hear her perspective and help her decompress, but she generally misinterprets it that I do not appreciate or even worse love her. Anyways, she is difficult to talk to in an irrational and emotional state, it is like I have to weed through it all, find something I think important, and then be incredibly diplomatic about it. Exhausting.

But when I can find her in a time where her world is nice clean balanced organized and spinning in the way that she wants, then we can move towards understanding how to tolerate each other-(more her me, I know how to work with her in 'theory', less in consistant practice). It is hard to find her in that mood.

But the cleaning is something that I know is very significant and important to her, so anything I can do to take something off her plate in a way that she appreciates and understands~a way that is very blatant~ is pretty much ideal.

So thank you! But enough about me... Back to the topic.

 

[Poki]

Actually I hate maintenance and repetition so I tend to do as much as I can to avoid it. Autopsy on bills, make enough so I don't have to really watch my acct. Different then Te which seems to have to make everything fit together in a certain way., I would prefer to fit it all in the trash. Life is meant to be enjoyed, not maintained.

 

[Such Irony]

I don't have a set cleaning routine. I am a neat person though. (Take that P stereotypes!). Basically, I clean as I go along. If I see something dirty and it annoys me, I clean it.

 

[Doktorin Zylinder]

I have a cleaning service that comes once a week, as well. The house is vacuumed, the knickknacks dusted, the tile and bathrooms scrubbed. It would take quite awhile to do it by myself, but it takes them about four hours, so it's very convenient. They don't touch anything in my office, though. It is absolutely off limits. The dishes are done every night after dinner and I unload the dishwasher before bed. Laundry is done on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursdays depending on the load and if I can hang it outside to dry or not.

When I clean the freezer, I make a list of everything in it so I know what's there and I rotate the contents the best I can.