Most of us would probably agree that spending time in clean places is preferable to spending time in messy, dirty places.
It feels nicer, it looks better, and it’s more hygienic. But beyond the initial benefits, there’s a whole range of other reasons why we should be trying to spend as much of our lives as possible in clean, tidy spaces.
Whether it’s your home or your office, a clean environment can impact our behaviour, productivity, and wellbeing in all kinds of positive ways, and there’s a lot of research out there to support that.
In this article, we’ll look at just a few of the ways that a clean environment can impact our lives in a positive way.
It Makes Us Healthier
Research shows that people who live in cleaner houses are generally healthier than people with messier homes.
Cleaner people were also more active. On top of the physical health links, cleanliness also seems to have an effect on our mental health. A study in 2010 found that women who described their living spaces as “cluttered” or full of “unfinished projects” were more likely to be depressed and fatigued compared to those who used cleaner and tidier adjectives.
Of course — correlation doesn’t mean causation. Maybe healthier and happier people are more likely to invest energy in staying clean, and that explains the link. But there is definitely a connection between tidier spaces and healthier inhabitants.
Clean Work Environments Make Us More Productive
Messy work environments aren’t the best place to get work done.
In messy environments, we:
- Lose documents — leading to wasted time, incomplete projects, damaged reputations, and confusion
- Feel more stressed, which in turn makes us perform worse at our jobs and even suffer from health problems
- Struggle to maintain good relationships with others. Yes, really. Research suggests that workers in untidy environments are less agreeable and more neurotic, making them less adept at building and maintaining good working relationships.
- Make poorer decisions, which can affect almost every aspect of our working lives
Being in a messy work environment could also harm your career in more direct ways. 28% of employers are less likely to promote someone with a messy desk.
Messy Environments Ruin our Diets
In this study, people with messy homes and environments were more likely to snack and break their diets.
Why does this happen? One theory is that clutter and mess stress us out and drain our mental energy. This saps our willpower and makes us more likely to have those little moments of weakness that lead us to break our promises to ourselves.
Messy Environments Might Be Hurting Your Social Life
Half of homeowners asked in one survey said they wouldn’t invite friends over to a messy home. So if your environment is messy, it might even get in the way of your social life by stopping you from having guests over. And if it’s messy enough, they might not want to come even if you ask them!
The same applies to the office. Clients and valuable employees won’t want to spend time in a messy, cluttered, and unhygienic environment, so failing to stay on top of your cleaning could result in losing business and talent — seriously harming your company.
How to Keep Your Home and Office Clean
Here are a few tips to keep your personal and professional spaces as clean as possible.
- Make sure you have all the right materials. That means tools like vacuum cleaners, mops, and brushes, and also cleaning products like disinfectant. There can be a big difference between ‘almost right’ and ‘right’ when it comes to cleaning materials, so do your homework!
- Try to share responsibility. If you work in an office, it helps to have clear roles when it comes to who cleans what, and when. If everyone has their own small job to do, it makes life easier for the whole team.
- Encourage staff to clean as they go. Little steps like throwing away garbage after use and keeping personal desk areas clean can go a long way to improving the overall environment.
- Make sure everyone has the tools to be clean. Provide bins, disinfectant, wipes, brooms, and everything else that might be necessary. This applies to home as well as the office.
- Work with a professional. A team of expert cleaners can almost certainly do a far better job than you, your family, or your co-workers — and this frees you up to focus on your own responsibilities.
At Tailored Services, we help businesses and households in Mackay stay as clean as possible with our expert cleaning services. We aim to build ongoing relationships with all our customers, getting to know them and their needs inside out.
To find out how we can help you create a better environment to live and work in, get in touch.