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Some people can live in complete entropy, while others go mad at the sight of lopsided hand towel.

Researchers wanted to understand why some people keep their homes tidy and others are comfortable living in complete chaos. They said that understand how consumers organize their homes might help them understand how they cope with daily disturbances and interferences.

"Tidying a home is an activity that goes beyond moving objects from one place to another or putting them in specific places. Rather, it is a process of building a meaningful domestic environment. Through their tidying activities, people define symbolic borders and guides that constrain their daily activities and interactions," study authors Delphine Dion of Sorbonne Business School, Ouidade Sabri of Paris-Est University and Valérie Guillard of the University of Paris Dauphine, said in a news release.

In the study, participants took photographs of both organized and unorganized areas in their homes. Participants were then asked to answer specific questions while looking at the photos in the laboratory. Researchers said the questions were designed to measure how well participants could or couldn't put up with clutter.

Researchers found that people used classification systems to create tidiness rules. Some participants used a one-level classification system (all shoes go into one box) while other use second and third-level sub categories like all heels go into their own box, or pairs of shoes go into their own box.

The findings revealed that people deal with disruptions to their classification systems by either modifying the rules or tolerating the transgressions. Researchers said the latest findings support the idea that knowledge of rules and coping mechanisms can help people cope with hardship and daily interference.

"Understanding everyday tidiness practices helps us understand how consumers negotiate social norms regarding tidiness to cope with their daily constraints and opportunities. It enables us to understand the idea of 'home sweet messy home,' that is, how consumers can live in a messy home without feeling any anxiety about it," researchers concluded.

The findings are published in the Journal of Consumer Research.