Scenario (based on a true story): Mr Woozle loves to munch on cashew nuts whilst reading the paper. As a result, he constantly leaves the jar of cashews sitting on the living room coffee table. This drives Mrs Woozle crazy since an unsightly plastic jar of nuts on the coffee table simply ruins her otherwise perfect living room decor and every time she returns the jar to the kitchen cupboard, she'll find it back on the coffee table the next day. Mrs Woozle accuses Mr Woozle of being untidy and not being able to put things away after himself. Mr Woozle claims that it is silly to locate an object so far away from where it is most frequently used and that the jar of cashews naturally belongs on the coffee table. (He is the only one in the house who eats cashews). Mrs Woozle's argument appeals to asthetics and tidiness, Mr Woozle's argument appeals to practicality and convenience. Who do you agree with? What is the solution?

Overall, I find women - if they aren't instinctively tidy - like to create artifical tidiness - usually by cramming all their junk into cupboards and drawers. This makes a room look tidy, but it also makes things impossible to find and get to when you need them. In contrast, mens' approach to "tidying up" seems to be to haul everything out of the cupboards in order to sort them out before putting them back in neatly. This is fine except that it often takes days or weeks before everything is finally sorted and put back in, prompting the lady of the house to scream about how the man has made an even bigger mess despite promising to tidy up. Is this consistent with others' experiences?

By the way, Mr Woozle finally sorted out the problem by storing his cashew nuts in a very elegant urn that harmonized perfectly with Mrs Woozle's interior decorating scheme.

Posted by: Tom on July 11, 2006 8:37 PM

See, this is why a man can't live in my house.

One notices that when it comes to sailboats and airplanes, men manage to be organized. That's what really tears it.

Anyway, brooms are older than you think and my garage is neat as a pin.

But I get that from my father (a man much like Lex, except that he simply made my mother have help and led us, some of us, by example). In fact, we have a saying that "you are not my father's child" unless you have/wouldn't dream of having a pencil sharpener - in good working order and not gummed up with shavings - in the garage. Those of us who are my father's children, truly, have square pencils, too, in case you were wondering.

As long as we're talking generally, who else finds that the tidier a person is, the more likely it is that person can rough it?

Posted by: j.c. on July 11, 2006 9:26 PM

Tom said: "In contrast, mens' approach to 'tidying up' seems to be to haul everything out of the cupboards in order to sort them out before putting them back in neatly." Yup -- this used to be a major bone of contention between the ex-hub and I -- whenever we'd have people over, I'd be throwing things in drawers and cupboards, cleaning surfaces, etc., and he would choose that day to drag everything out of a closet or the garage, which felt like cleaning to him.

The new man of the house and I are getting a person to come in and clean, as soon as we can, hopefully by the end of the summer. Neither one of us is any good at it.

Posted by: missgrundy on July 12, 2006 1:03 PM

Hah! That's not a mess. That's creative clutter. I'm female and I like my tables filled with stuff. It's like a physical extension of my mind--just as everything is on the table is stewing, so are ideas in my brain. I find it hard to think when everything is so bare and sterile. (Maybe this is why I dump tons of junk on the desk when I go to the library as well...)

Posted by: sya on July 12, 2006 8:52 PM






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