What's the Difference?

Recently, I've had the opportunity to spend some time in several homes across the spectrum of socioeconomic strata. Some of them were clearly upper income families, others were just as clearly very poor families. Beyond the cost of items in the homes, I found myself wondering what actually is the difference between these homes. And mind you, there is an astonishingly sharp difference. The furnishings didn't have price tags on them and in some instances you would have been hard pressed to immediately identify the costs of items in any of the homes. But there was a great divide between the homes. I kept looking and thinking.
It occurred to me that one of the sharp differences had to do with clutter and messiness. Homes of the better income families tended to have far less clutter and to look generally tidy and well cared for. Homes of the poorer families tended to have a great deal more clutter, more shabbiness and more messiness. It was as if someone had given up on making life pleasant in these surroundings.
The observation extended to the yard around the house, each and every room of the house, and the general condition of the house itself.
Living the Bon Vivant begins with a little organization and some soap and water. Decluttering and de-messing our homes goes a long way toward giving us the good life that we all desire.
In upcoming posts, I want to look closer at this and take different areas of my home one at a time and look at the way in which this difference is expressed in the homes I observe. I know this makes an enormous difference, I want to examine exactly how it makes that difference.