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My house is mostly tidy. It's not perfect tidy, but tidy enough. Having a girlfriend increases home tidiness and cleanliness a lot too.
When I was single I was messier.
Tho I have to say the tidiest things in my life have always been my cars. Perfectly vacuumed, no dust, leather cared for with the proper leather care products... Wood trim maintained with the correct wood care stuff. Especially proud of my E-class and C-class. They are in showroom condition. Engine detailing is a hassle, but it's worth it. When I go in for a service, they'd ask me "Do you even drive this car?"
Yes I do and I feel proud as fuck when people think my cars are new. When you take care of your car, your car takes care of you. So better make her shine...
I was in the Navy for nearly a decade, and I got used to being neat - a place for everything, and everything in its place. It's not a compulsion or anything, just that I learned that putting things back where they belong makes life a lot easier because you know where something is when you want it.
My wife grew up with a mother who is obsessively tidy, and her reaction has been to become a total slob.
I decided it was a battle not worth fighting, so I keep my personal stuff organised as I like, and if I want something of ours that isn't where I left it, then I ask her to get it or to at least point me in the right direction. Early on, I wondered if she might eventually get fed up with that and become a little more organised, but there's no sign of that after twelve years together.
As for general hygiene, I'm pretty relaxed about that, since I think the modern obsession with blasting germs and removing dust at frequent intervals is the result of businesses brainwashing consumers, and there's evidence that having a slightly grubby house is actually good for children.
I clean obsessively, despite the fact that I have several young children, a baby and pets that make the place messy again straight away.
I would actually really like to clean less as it stresses me out and I don't want my kids picking up on that show-home vibe. Also I'm heavily pregnant right now so any precious free time I get should be spent napping/resting. I just don't know how to relax unless the house looks perfect. It's a bit sad really, a family home should be for living in and enjoying, not being afraid to touch things because mummy will swoop in and start cleaning like a nutcase.
God knows that mothers get loaded with enough guilt from all quarters as it is, so I hesitate to mention this, but are you familiar with the research that indicates that children who grow up in houses that are very clean are more likely to develop asthma, allergies and other autoimmune problems than children who grow up, for example, in a farmhouse where there's always at least some muck around?
Humans evolved to deal with an environment that's full of microbes of all sorts - beneficial, harmful and neutral - and a young child's immune system is set up to deal with these invaders. The hypothesis is that if children are not regularly exposed to germs, their immune system basically goes into overdrive and starts responding violently to harmless things, such as pollen.
Because of my career and my husband's career I am very aware of all of these things already. We grow all of our own vegetables and keep animals which the children are heavily involved in so they are exposed to a lot of muck, I would say. They're very outdoorsy kids.
Absolutely love tropical Australia, I wouldn't let my kids roam around barefoot all day all year round in the UK, no way. I think they're having a healthier childhood here.