Why bother to clean?

If you’ve just gone to all of the effort to Spring clean your home, the time you invested has been time well spent—regardless of whether you’ve removed any actual health hazards from your home in the process.

• Most importantly, living in a clean, well-ordered and well-maintained home is good for your mind and the impression that you make on other people. When you live in a home that you’ve taken care of your self-esteem rises and you feel prepared to take on other challenges in your life.  When others visit your home, a clean home encourages them to think that you’re good at managing your life in general.
• When the space you’re in seems clean, etc., your wellbeing improves and probably your mental performance, as well.
• In a comfortably clean space we’re fairer judges of the actions of others.
• When we’re in a space that seems clean we may be less burdened mentally by previous events in our lives.
• When a space smells clean to us, we’re apt to behave more appropriately in a space, for example, less likely to leave litter in it. When a space smells clean to us we’re also likely to be fairer, more trusting and helpful to others.
• Cleaning also allows you to change the subtly change the scentscape in a space, via the use of different cleaning products, for instance, which can have all sorts of ramifications, as discussed in this article.
• A cleaned space is also less likely to be visually cluttered, which cuts stress levels, as discussed in this article.
• Some personality types, especially those who are more conscientious, are particularly interested in spending time in well-maintained spaces, for more information on designing to support personality, read this article.