[Cobfreak]

This is probably going to be a strange request, and I might ramble. But I'm going to give it a shot.

Often when I'm looking at pictures and journals of tanks here (and elsewhere), I am struck by the rooms that the tanks are in. I'd really love to get some advice, and see some pictures, and see some discussion, about peoples' philosophies about keeping planted tanks and the rooms they're in neat, clean, and in some kind of harmony.

This is NOT something I'm good at, at all. In general my place is a mess, and even when my tanks look good the stands the area surrounding them looks cluttered. Mostly that's my own fault; I've always been that way. Now I've got two young kids and it just gets worse.

The pictures that I see of beautiful tanks on beautiful stands in beautiful rooms are a real inspiration for me, and give me something to strive for.

Any of you super-neat people have any thoughts on this? And pictures!?

 

[scags]

Well I'm naturally very neat and clean. I'm constantly picking up after my kids and trying to keep the house organized. It can be a lot of work, but I love the end result. Make it a habit and it becomes easier.

 

[macclellan]

Most stuff goes in the stand. Stuff I use regularly (ferts, food, dechlor) are in a drawer so I don't have to bend over to get it. Easier = cleaner.

 

[Cobfreak]

Well I'm naturally very neat and clean. I'm constantly picking up after my kids and trying to keep the house organized. It can be a lot of work, but I love the end result. Make it a habit and it becomes easier.

Certainly something I am fighting here is my own nature. I certainly recognize that some people are (or seem to be) naturally neat and clean; the things they do to keep things organized seem to be second nature. I'm not that way at all.

Constantly picking up after the kids (and myself, and my wife) is something I can, and do, attempt to get better at. Unfortunately it comes in waves. Changing one's nature seems to be, surprisingly, difficult.

Still, I've been getting better, and more involved, this hobby. The more I read and look for inspiration, the more I recognize the importance of "peripheral" variables that I'd previously either not noticed or ignored.

I'd be very interested in hearing from anyone else who HAS managed to make a sort of cross-over, from being naturally inclined toward disarray and chaos to being fastidious and cleanliness, especially anyone who's done so in relation to keeping planted tanks.

Granted, that seems like a very specific set of parameters; but it strikes me that keeping planted tanks lends itself toward being organized and tidy, and so anyone who comes at it and is not that way may struggle with the same thing I'm struggling with. OR maybe not.

 

[aquaman3000]

I hide most of the disarray in another room.

 

[Eden Marel]

I'm a messy extremely lazy sloth, so I have a mess everwhere, I'm not gonna really bother to clean much unless I really have to cuz in a couple days it'll become messy again...

 

[mistergreen]

Trash stuff you don't need. That's the best way I find to keep things neat.

 

[Tacct]

My room tends to switch between the states of aquaman's two different rooms daily. You could probably come in one day thinking I was a neat freak/OCD and then come in the next day (or sometimes just a few hours later) and wonder how I make it from my door to my bed.

 

[Sharkfood]

I hide most of the disarray in another room.

Out of sight, out of mind. I love it! roud:

I have a 6' wide closet in my extra bedroom that is piled from floor to ceiling. I have to push in on the stack of junk to close the door.

 

[Diegosaenz]

my room is a mess... im probably going to be moving my aquariums to another room haha

 

[DaveK]

I do clean up everything and get it all neat looking once and awhile, but usually I just tell people please excuse the clutter and mess, I'm working on a new aquarium project. (grin)

 

[talontsiawd]

Trash stuff you don't need. That's the best way I find to keep things neat.

That will help you so much. I used to be someone who would hold on to things I didn't need, I tend to keep car parts to cars I don't own anymore. I have slowly been trashing or selling off old things and I realized it is hard to be dirty when you don't have much to leave around. Having a girlfriend helps greatly too, assuming you are old enough for them to be sleeping over.

I am not a neatfreek at all either so I tend to put a lot of things in boxes even if I don't organize them. It's the same mess, you just can't see it anymore lol.

 

[malaybiswas]

i store all my aquarium stuff in a old armoir in the the garage. I make every effort to keep the display area clutter free not only by keeping it clean but also by maintaining a simple decor in that area so that only the tank adds most of the visual interest there.

 

[JByer323]

My aquarium is in my room. I tend to keep my room/apartment pretty clean looking.

For the ladies, you know.

 

[msnikkistar]

Having a 4 almost 5 year old makes keeping my house clean for more then 3 hours is a chore for me. I am not the tidiest of people to begin with, but I have forced a habit for myself to pick up bits of trash and just throw them out. Every night I cook, and my husband does the dishes. That is our trade off. Then my "cleaning" day is Sunday. Otherwise, I just try to tidy up everyday.

 

[speedie408]

Easy... find a wife that's not lazy j/k. Though my wife does do 80% of the house cleaning around my house, she's not OCD about it like some other folks we know. I worry about those type of ppl haha. I'm naturally lazy so I know what you mean. Not implying that you are.

 

[shane3fan]

Im a pack rat and hang on to all kinds of crap that I shouldnt. Im also bad to start a project and not finish it-leaving it half completed and totally in the way. We just purchased a new house with lots more room and a basement--so I will have more spaces to hide stuff--lol. Seriously, I am looking forward to the new house because everything SHOULD have its proper place and the clutter will be gone. I think that is the biggest secret--dont accumulate more junk than you have space for.

 

[msnikkistar]

Im also bad to start a project and not finish it-leaving it half completed and totally in the way.

Sounds a lot like my husband. lol

 

[Cobfreak]

Im a pack rat and hang on to all kinds of crap that I shouldnt. Im also bad to start a project and not finish it-leaving it half completed and totally in the way. We just purchased a new house with lots more room and a basement--so I will have more spaces to hide stuff--lol. Seriously, I am looking forward to the new house because everything SHOULD have its proper place and the clutter will be gone. I think that is the biggest secret--dont accumulate more junk than you have space for.

I'm also a pack rat, and it's a huge part of my problem. And aquarium keeping isn't my only hobby. And I also tend to do exactly the thing you just described - "start a project and not finish it - leaving it half completed and totally in the way." Definitely a nice, concise description of some of my biggest character traits.

Don't want to worry or scare you, , but if you're anything like me, your new house WILL have a place for everything... for approximately 6 months, by which time you'll have discovered how much extra space there is, what with everything being put away, and you'll be finding whole NEW ways of filling up all that space with half finished stuff.

I appreciate all of the comments about throwing things away, and I agree that it's important, and I know I don't do enough of it. Very often for me, it seems, a couple of things happen: 1. I don't throw things away because I think, "this will DEFINITELY come in handy for SOMETHING... sometime....", and then, 2. Once I've finally had enough and thrown away some selection of junk, it seems like only a week goes by before I find a need for one of the very things I threw away. What I start to realize, lately, is that the annoyance of needing something I've thrown away is much less irritating than the annoyance (and burden) of always having too much stuff in the way everywhere. So I am still working on this.

I'm not sure exactly what I hoped to learn by starting this thread, but I am definitely enjoying reading about others' experiences in this area. And I really enjoyed seeing the picture posted early on of Aquaman3000's space. I would love to see more examples of clean rooms with well presented aquariums. Gives me something to strive for. I don't care if you post links to pictures of others' nice setups, either - I just like seeing them.

Oh, and speedie - unfortunately my wife is similar to me in this respect. She's actually very good at really, seriously CLEANING up, though. She can make a place sparkle. But she doesn't do it often, and she's just like me as far as not KEEPING a place clean, not picking up regularly. And I've discovered it doesn't really serve any purpose for me to, you know, tell her about how "we" should work on that. So I'm hoping I can just sorta lead by example here in working on this. fingers crossed.

 

[talontsiawd]

I am telling you, you got to put everything in boxes. I have a closet that is a total mess but looks like everything is in great order. I put everything that I think I may need at some point in my life in a box. I only keep out things I need for the most part (well, I still have too much crap I need to part with but way less clutter around the rooms).

It is a great solution because you are still messy but nobody knows lol. I used to be the type that wouldn't store anything that wasn't organized so it would pile up. I figured I needed to organize it first before it goes into a storage container. Then I just realized I don't work like that and it will never happen. I just started throwing things in boxes and my room is so much neater but I still operate as a total slob with much of what I own, just out of site lol.