How a lifelong messy person can become neat

“Hey there, can I stop by for a few minutes? I want to bring you a new bottle of wine to try.”

“Uh...sure.”

“Great! Be there in 15 minutes.

What happens in those 15 minutes is largely decided by whether you are a Type A personality, or whether you're pretty much like the rest of us. If you're a die hard messy person, those 15 minutes will be spent frantically stuffing messes behind closed doors so it at least looks like you're not as messy as you actually are.

 If you're a Type A, you didn't have to do anything more than get out the cork screw, a couple (sparkling clean) glasses, and maybe some cute wine glass charms.

If you're a messier person though, not to worry. You can still learn to be clean and tidy, no matter how old you are. Here are a few tips to get you started.

Declutter

Most houses aren't so much dirty as cluttered. The mess often comes about because we have too many things. Let's be real. When was the last time you ever needed the lid with no matching tupperware to it? The thingsbesidesyour scissors in the junk drawer?

 If you don't use it, get rid of it. It'll free up space so you can find what you're looking for, and probably half a dozen others you bought replacing it because you couldn't find it.

Reward yourself

A job well done might be reward enough for some people, but if that worked for you, your house would be sparkling. Something to look forward to can really help here. Set a timer for 15 minutes, and tell yourself when it is done, you can check facebook, put on a favorite movie, or treat yourself to something small. 

 Break it into small pieces

That fifteen minute increment isn't just an example. Most of the time messy areas stay messy because of how intimidating it is to clean the whole mammoth mess up. By telling yourself you'll only clean for 15 minutes (and setting a timer to prove it) you can clean without commiting to a 10 hour nightmare of scrubbing and sweeping. If after 15 minutes you still want to go, by all means keep going, but know you can stop at any time.

Applaud yourself for your success 

You did it. Whether you go on to be messy tomorrow, your house is clean today. Often the reason why people continue to be messy is the constant feedback they hear about how messy they are. Cleaning up your workspace only to hear someone make a snide comment about your normal habits can make you never want to bother again. 

 The secret is to change that. When you do a good job, tell yourself so. Admire your work. Revel in the fact that you got it done. Enjoying your success is a big part of encouraging you to keep going.

 Even if you're the messiest person alive, you can still straighten things up. You just need to choose to try.