Clean or messy room?

[Boleslav]

I voted clean, but I really wanted to vote "tidy" - they are different concepts. I don't mind rooms that are a bit funky, but I do like to find what I need quickly.

Someone upthread made a comment about what's normal for teenage boys. I work with a lot of teenage boys and in general I'd say that keeping a room "clean" would be hard for them (some of my teenage boys come from extreme poverty, so they have to wear the same clothes again and again, even if they are dirty and smelly, they have stinky gym clothes in a bag, cleaning products are expensive, they would have to clean the room themselves because Mom is at work, and they don't know how to do it, etc). On the other hand, they should be encouraged to keep things tidy because kids who are organized do better in High School and in College.

So I wouldn't sweat it over whether or not the room is stinky because of the rank socks in the corner, but what is important is some level of organization.