Men and their concept of a clean house.

Small rant so I don't take it out on hubby later.
So chicklet and I were gone for 8 days, meaning hubby and the kitten were home alone. I left the house spic and span hoping to come home to the same. Well, lets just say its going to take me days to catch up on the housework. Honestly...how does one man and a cat make such a mess in such a short period of time?? The kitchen floor looks like someone went running through the mud and straight into the house. And I really have got to introduce hubby to the concept of wiping down the kitchen table after a meal. ARRRGGGHH!!!
OK, I'm done now. Gotten it off my chest. Time to get started 

When we got married, I was in the US for a couple of weeks before he flew over to join me. When we got back to Dublin I walked into the kitchen and it was like he fled the house the morning of his flight to the US. Dishes were in the sink, the pan he used to cook his breakfast was still sitting on the stove (thankfully not turned on!), I'm surprised he turned off the lights! I was annoyed to say the least.

Oh, and good luck getting him to wipe down the kitchen table. I don't think my husband has ever wiped the kitchen counters. Ever. Now, he's come a long way since that day we flew back to Dublin (3 years ago!), but I can't seem to train him into wiping down surfaces. I'm always amazed at how much my dad does when we go there. But then I remember they've been married for 40 years, so my mom has had a lot of time to train him! 

I'm sure my bf could rant about me in this thread. He's a NEAT FREAK. OCD to the Extreme on CLEAN and well I'm a complete and utter minger. 

It's one of the thing that drives him nuts about me. 

He'd be jumping up and down reading this going - "It's not a man thing, it's a personality thing!" lol
 

My DH is like yours, Phatbeetle. He's a total neat freak. I think he enjoys cleaning.    Luckily, I'm fairly neat myself. However, he always seems to find something that I'd never think of cleaning. He doesn't get on me at all, he'll just say conversationally, "Wow, look at how much dust is around the screws at the bottom underside of the dog feeder."  ?? Who the hell would even LOOK there for dust?

I actually enjoy it, as my ex-husband was the biggest slob I've ever met in my life.

I'm sure my bf could rant about me in this thread. He's a NEAT FREAK. OCD to the Extreme on CLEAN and well I'm a complete and utter minger. 

It's one of the thing that drives him nuts about me. 

He'd be jumping up and down reading this going - "It's not a man thing, it's a personality thing!" lol
 

Yup mine too, I don't give a fig about cleaning at all, I'm not disgusting, but I am not tidy or even notice mess a lot of the time. I am totally casual about flinging my stuff wherever it falls, I call my boy "the finder of lost things" as I am always losing everything.
Whenever I lived on my own, I had a cleaner. I offered to pay for this, the boy said "Oh they wont get things clean properly", I offered to buy a dishwasher, I got "you have to wash them before they go in there so what's the point?"
I've given up now!

Haha, I'm definitely another messy woman. I just don't really care about mess on a day-to-day basis. Every once in awhile, I'll clean up but honestly, it's probably still messy to other people's standards...

I offered to buy a dishwasher, I got "you have to wash them before they go in there so what's the point?"
I've given up now!

Not true about pre-cleaning/rinsing dishes. Modern dishwashers do better when you don't pre-rinse things.

You girls are cracking me up! OK...not a man thing I guess! Maybe there is one "not so neat freak" in every relationship so things just balance out???

You girls are cracking me up! OK...not a man thing I guess! Maybe there is one "not so neat freak" in every relationship so things just balance out???

I am by NO means a neat freak. Which makes my complaining about him even scarier. I'm just neater than he is and sometimes I wish he'd see the filthy counter tops too. 

I am by NO means a neat freak. Which makes my complaining about him even scarier. I'm just neater than he is and sometimes I wish he'd see the filthy counter tops too. 

Same with me.

Last night, my husband had a beer and when he took the cap off the bottle, it landed on the floor next to the bin. And he claims he didn't even notice. When I went into the kitchen, it was the first thing I saw - so I asked him to pick it up.

I'm still waiting. 

kbeech, I completely understand. I left for just a few days last year and before I left, I had done a very thorough cleaning. Our kitchen wall right next to our sink needs to be touched up with paint often, because it always gets water marks on it, so I had even painted the wall. When I got back, my husband had spilled soup all over that very wall! No to mention countless other messes throughout the house, including a half piece of pizza behind the sofa. How does that even happen!?!? He hadn't even cleaned up the soup very well, because there was hard, caked on soup all over the base board. I'm getting mad just thinking about it!

DF and I are not neat freaks, but we agree that anything that could be seen by an unexpected visitor should always be presentable. We're a lot more lax about the upstairs. The thing that drives me batty about DF is that he always gets out of cleaning the bathroom. It needs to be cleaned and I'm not doing it this time. He's doing it. I don't care if I have to drag him in there and barricade the door. He's doing it. 

Haha, I'm definitely another messy woman. I just don't really care about mess on a day-to-day basis. Every once in awhile, I'll clean up but honestly, it's probably still messy to other people's standards...

Not true about pre-cleaning/rinsing dishes. Modern dishwashers do better when you don't pre-rinse things.

Yup, that in fact that was my argument, that it was a waste of time/effort/energy and made no sense to me whatsoever although it's the detergent rather than the dishwasher that makes pre-rinsing obsolete, they break down food waste, so if there's no food waste they attack your glasswear/dishes.

Yup, that in fact that was my argument, that it was a waste of time/effort/energy and made no sense to me whatsoever although it's the detergent rather than the dishwasher that makes pre-rinsing obsolete, they break down food waste, so if there's no food waste they attack your glasswear/dishes.

Heh, I knew it was something. Dishwashers are amazing things.

Same with me.

Last night, my husband had a beer and when he took the cap off the bottle, it landed on the floor next to the bin. And he claims he didn't even notice. When I went into the kitchen, it was the first thing I saw - so I asked him to pick it up.

I'm still waiting. 

Don't get me started on bottle caps. My husband leaves them on the counter next to the bin. 

Heh, I knew it was something. Dishwashers are amazing things.

I know, right? The boy is crazy.

Maybe it was the Don Draper esque way in which I suggested buying one!