We’ve all been there: the date is going swimmingly until your online love interest invites you back to their place and you discover it looks like a messier version of the set from a Seth Rogan movie, circa the mid-2000’s. The kitchen is overflowing with dirty dishes, the bathroom is a certified bio-hazard and the living room looks more like an over-sized hamster cage than a living space for actual human adults. Sound familiar?

With little less than a month until Valentine’s Day, lots of singles will be hoping for a bit of romance, but a recent survey by Terry’s Fabrics showed that being untidy could put a real damper on your love life. In fact, 39 percent of women said they wouldn’t date someone if they knew they had a messy home.

However, if you dig a little deeper into the study’s results (which surveyed 2000 singles in the UK,) the numbers are even more disturbing.

● Going out for the night? Only 15 percent of men said that they cleaned their living space properly before bringing a date back to their place. That’s compared to 61 percent of women who said they’d clean up before inviting someone over.

● 29 percent of men said they never bother to dust. However, 34 percent said they were willing to hire a cleaner if they thought it would help them get a date.

● Most worrisome was the list of disgusting things women have found in a potential partner’s room. Dirty underwear and half eaten food ranked at the top of the list, with unclean toilets, piles of unwashed dishes and random floor messes coming in close behind.

● The most popular “cleaning technique” amongst guys surveyed? The ole’ “shove everything under the bed or in a cupboard” before she comes over.

On a more positive note, a study from the University of Minnesota suggests that disorderly environments are linked to breaking free of tradition and thinking outside the box. Disorganized people tend to think creatively, are good problem solvers and enjoy learning.

With that said, I think most of us would prefer to date someone who wasn’t going to be the next Leonardo da Vinci if it meant we didn’t have to look at his dirty underwear and boxes of half eaten pizza every time we came over to watch a movie.

Numbers aside, here are a few more reasons why you should clean up your act for 2017:

1. A tidy living space says, “I’m an adult.”

A kitchen that’s overflowing with empty, used pizza boxes does not. We’re fully-formed adults who want to date other fully-formed adults. An easy visual cue that you’re up for the task is if you can maintain a living space that doesn’t make your dates wince whenever they cross your threshold. A clean and well maintained living space is just good marketing. Simple as that.

2. It makes the other person feel comfortable.

You might be thinking, “It’s not my job to make other people comfortable. I am who I am!” True – and sure, if you stick to your guns, maybe someday you’ll meet someone who loves you just the way you are (dank laundry pile and all.) But, if you’re hoping to maximize your dating success, making the other person feel comfortable is kind of your job. If you want someone to come over to your home for wine and a movie, you better make sure that they don’t sit on the half exploded pizza pocket that’s been lodged in-between your sofa cushions for the past few months. It’s just common decency.

3. Because you’re worth it.

I know. I know. “But I don’t mind the mess. I’m the one who lives here. Why should I bother?” Even if you’re not dating anyone, you owe it to to yourself to stop living in abject squalor. You’re better than this. We all are. So, put on your big girl or big boy pants and grab a mop. You’ll thank me later.