Learn The Truth About What Causes Someone To Not Clean Their House

So, what causes someone to not clean their house? Is it really laziness that makes someone refuse such an obvious task?

The answer can be more complicated than you think so don’t quickly jump to a conclusion. There are even more things to be concerned about in this problem than simply finding out what causes someone to not clean their house.

This is what we will discuss in this post.

Is it true that laziness is the only reason for people to refuse to clean their houses?

Let’s see the summary of the topic:

• What makes people refuse to clean their house - behavior explanation.
• What would happen when someone lives in an untidy house.
• What we should do to help people who don’t want to clean their houses.

What makes people refuse to clean their house - Behavior explanation

First of all, we should not count laziness as a reason on the list. Laziness is just a temporary state that everybody experiences every once in a while. It can quickly go away, and there are forces that constrain you from 
avoiding doing something simply because you are lazy.

That is why laziness is not something we should be concerned about when we see someone procrastinating to clean their house. Here are six common reasons that make people refuse to clean their houses:

1. Lack of mobility

Lacking mobility is something that usually happens to the elderly. As their age increases, their bodies are no longer as active and flexible as they used to be. Therefore, they can no longer do house chores effectively, 
especially cleaning.

Since cleaning requires us to move and bend a lot, it is a major challenge for old people whose bones are stiff over the years. The less they clean their houses, the more trash will accumulate. After a while, their houses end 
up in a horrible stage where messes are everywhere and they can longer clean them all up.

Old people suffer from all kinds of pain, so they are not able to clean the house properly like us

Even with the help of advanced cleaning machines like vacuum cleaners, keeping the house tidy is still a hard task for the elderly. Sadly, most of the elderly don’t know how to use such hi-tech machines or how to clean a vacuum hose and its attachments so that they can maintain it.

The problem gets even worse if the elderly are living alone. There is no one helping them, and they are usually afraid of being a burden to their children or society, so most of the time they are not asking for help.  

2. Mental health problems

For people who suffer from mental illnesses like depression or anxiety, cleaning is the last thing they would think of. That is why we usually see a scene of people with mental health problems living in a room/house full of garbage.

When their emotions are so messed up that they have to find a way to control their unstable state of mind, even getting up to work or study is a huge challenge for people with mental illness. This is a severe condition that needs professional intervention.

Imagine you wake up every day, wondering whether you should keep staying alive or not, then cleaning the house is not a thought that may cross your mind. That is what it feels like for people with depression. They are not lazy, they just don’t have the will to do anything when living is already hard to keep up with.

Moreover, people with mental illness who don’t have treatment are more likely to stay away from society, therefore not letting people around them know about their situation. As a result, nobody knows about the rotten environment they are living in, along with the miserable mental illness.

People who suffer from depression lack of motivation to do everything, including cleaning the house

3. Physical health problems

Besides mental health problems, physical health problems are also the reason why people don’t clean their houses.

But this case is less serious compared to people with mental illness. It is quite similar to the lack of mobility case above.

There are people who were born with disabilities or unfortunately lose their ability after accidents. Cleaning may be an easy task for us, but a challenge for them. Normally, people with physical health problems will have a caretaker to help them deal with daily life, it could be their family members or services.

But not everyone is lucky enough to have that kind of help. There are people who suffer from disabilities that do not have anyone taking care of them, which resulted in unfinished house chores including cleaning. After a while, the mess inside their houses becomes too much to handle.

People with a disability find it challenging to clean the house by themselves

When a disabled man can’t afford caretaker service, chances are they will have to stay in an untidy room/house for the rest of their life. And the situation will only get worse as time passes by unless there is someone to step in and offer to help.

4. Too many possessions

Another common reason that makes it hard for people to clean their houses is having too many possessions. The simple habit of keeping everything one thinks is useful or may come in handy in the future is what causes someone to not clean their house.

For these people, cleaning is not the thing they don’t want to do. They may even do this task very well, at least better than all the people from the other five cases. But what stops them from having a tidy home is having too many things that they are not willing to get rid of. Some people even bring more stuff back home!

Stacks of old magazines, empty used bottles and jars, boxes and shopping bags… these things are all over the house, waiting for their chances to be used. That is what people who like to collect stuff think. They are not aware of the fact that these potentially useful things are becoming trash in their houses.

If these people don’t realize what they are doing to their homes, they will soon become a junkyard where cleaning is impossible unless they get rid of all the “useful stuff” they have been keeping. Unfortunately, not many people can break this not-so-harmless habit.

Some people have the habit of collecting stuff they think will be useful in the future

5. Lack of time

People who lack time for cleaning are probably the least serious case on the list. In their lives, there are priority things to do all the time and cleaning is simply not one of them. That resulted in an untidy home with a frustrated owner.

However, we can’t blame them for leaving their homes in such bad conditions. People who don’t have time for cleaning are usually those who are currently struggling with life. It could be stressful studying, demanding jobs, and busy work that keeps them from sparing time for home care.

There are people that are too busy with work to spend time cleaning the house

“But they can always hire someone to clean their houses for them or use a robot cleaner!” Many people react like this when hearing the case. But what they haven’t considered is maybe these people are trying to make ends meet, that is why they are so busy all the time. Therefore they have no time for cleaning.

If they have the finance to get a cleaning service or buy cleaning robots, then the problem won’t even have the chance to occur. That is why the only thing they can do is watch the mess in their homes getting bigger and bigger every day.

6. Lack of self-confidence

Lack of self-confidence seems like a strange reason for people to not clean their houses. But this is actually a mental problem that exists. People who suffer from this syndrome are those who don’t believe they deserve good things in life. Therefore, they also don’t think they should enjoy a clean home.

These people have similar problems to those who have depression and anxiety. In their subconscious, they are not good enough to have a nice living environment. That is why they don’t have the will to take care of their homes by cleaning and decorating stuff.

Not only people who lack self-confidence don’t have the motivation to clean their house, but they are also not willing to ask friends and family to take care of this matter for them. Since they think they don’t deserve good things, having help from the outside world is something they wouldn’t think of.

This case is actually more serious than it sounds because it is also a mental health problem that needs proper treatment from professionals. So don’t point fingers and criticize someone who doesn’t want to clean their house. 

They may have a hidden mental illness that you are not aware of.

People with low self-esteem tend to think they don’t deserve to live in a nice place, so cleaning the house is not the right thing to do for them

What would happen when someone lives in an untidy house

No matter what the reason is, people who don’t clean their house for too long will face these problems below sooner or later:

1. Pet dander and dust

The most obvious thing that happens when you leave your house unclean for a while is dust building up. Things get worse if you have a pet at home. All the pet dander and dust accumulated will affect your health badly, especially the lungs. If you already have a sickness, it will become more serious when you stay in an unhygienic environment.

2. Mold

Mold will appear and start spreading once the place has enough moisture and stays in darkness for a long time.

Your fridge and bathroom will be the first place of its invasion if you don’t clean the house for too long.

Mold not only makes your house look bad but also harmful

3. Rodents and bugs

If you don’t want to invite rodents and bugs to come to live with you, you better not leave your house unclean for too long. These animals not only sabotage the furniture but also bring along bacterias and diseases that cause you sickness.

4. Food poisoning

No matter what causes someone to not clean their house, the risk of food poisoning is inevitable. Eating utensils that are left in the sink for too long can develop toxic things that cause diarrhea, stomach ache, and many health issues that are related to the digestive system.

5. Bad smells

You can tell right away if someone hasn’t cleaned their house for a long time when you walk into the room. The smell of rotten food, dirty laundry, and many things that are left unattended will create a very unpleasant scent. 

Inhaling this kind of air is not good for your lungs at all since it is not clean and fresh.

Other people will instantly notice a bad smell when they step into your house if you leave it uncleaned for too long

6. Unbalance social life

Once a person is not taking good care of their house, they are less likely to invite people to come over or welcome unexpected guests. Therefore, their social life will be heavily affected. They will become more distant from society or even their family and friends.

7. Poor physical and mental health

If you have been wondering: “why can’t I clean my house as other people do?”, you may suffer from some kind of mental illness that you are not aware of. If you do not care at all about grooming yourself or tidying up your house, it’s a sign that you should start to pay attention to your mental health.

What we should do to help people who don’t want to clean their houses

We can always help those who can’t clean their house by doing that task for them, as long as you have their consent. For those who don’t suffer from physical health problems but don’t care about cleaning their house, try to help them open up about their mental state and get professional intervention as soon as possible.

You should try to help people with cleaning problems because they are not always open about their situation 

Conclusion

The reason why someone doesn't clean their house can be more serious than just being lazy, especially when the situation keeps getting worse. Pay close attention to these people so that you can help them right away.