One of my grandfather's favorite sayings was that once burned by milk, someone will always blow even on cold water. In other words, many unpleasant experiences actually lead to our tendency to play it safe. The old gentleman was also a maniac about order and once told me off for just a single book lying on the table, not parallel to the edge...
No, I'm not about to start ranting about my childhood traumas now - especially since my grandpa actually lived in another city, and I saw him maybe once every couple of years (well, thank goodness!). It's just that our story today is connected precisely to doing chores and the narrator's past negative experiences.
More info: Reddit
Cleaning can be the point where some couples tend to break up, but it can even be a turn-on for many people at the same time
Image credits: Freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)
The author of the post is 26 years old, she's dating a 21-year-old guy, and he sometimes stays at her place for a sleepover
Image credits: designx4u / Freepik (not the actual photo)
One day, after returning home, the woman found her room untidy, with dirty dishes on the couch, and her boyfriend was on his phone, feeling totally indifferent
Image credits: Freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)
The author admits that this situation nearly gave her the ick because her previous boyfriend was a really sloppy guy, to be honest
Image credits: precisodeumconselho
So the woman asked the netizens how she could politely hint to her boyfriend about her attitude to cleaning and being tidy overall
The Original poster (OP) says she's 26 years old and has been dating a guy five years younger for the past seven months. They have a wonderful relationship, but a recent incident has made the author a tad bit concerned. The boyfriend currently lives with his parents and occasionally sleeps over at the OP's house.
One day, when our heroine returned from work, she found everything in a complete mess. In her room (the woman shares an apartment with her roommate), a towel was strewn across the floor, empty, dirty dishes were sitting right on the couch, and the guy was on his phone and didn't even notice the author cleaning up after him.
Yes, our heroine cleaned up everything without saying a word, but a small worm of doubt has been lodged in her soul ever since. The thing is, the author has her own complicated history with clutter. She confesses that she was a very messy person at college, and it took her a long time to get over it.
And the original poster's previous boyfriend was a true master at speed-making a pigsty out of any home - and that's largely why their relationship actually ended. So now our heroine got seriously worried and has decided to ask netizens for advice – how can she delicately ask her boyfriend to pay more attention to doing chores and related matters?
Image credits: Freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)
Usually, with each new generation, stereotypes grow that its members are far less tidy around the house than older people. However, the data from this ECOVACS survey clearly demonstrates that this is not the case. For example, millennials and Gen Z typically clean their house 16-17 times a month, compared to 10-11 for baby boomers.
The authors of the article note that young people simply have a different paradigm for cleanliness – for example, they may often clean the house again, right in front of guests. At the same time, many people truly do judge their partners by their attitude toward household chores. Moreover, for them, seeing their partner cleaning is a turn-on.
For example, this survey by Homeaglow shows that 4 out of 5 respondents judge their partner based on the cleanliness of their home, and for 56.2%, poor housekeeping by their significant others has at least once prompted them to consider breaking up. So, for example, this article on Psychology Today rightly advises couples to thoroughly discuss their cleanliness standards and attitudes toward cleaning to avoid future tensions.
Well, it's absolutely right that the original poster pointed this out, and even more so that she wanted to talk to her boyfriend about it. Incidentally, many commenters also noted this, giving her a shoutout. And you know what? If you were expecting this to end in a breakup, it didn't.
The guy turned out to be very attentive and tidy, the author noted in the update. In the conversation, he apologized to her for the mess she witnessed and promised it wouldn't happen again. Looking ahead, he kept his promise, and the original poster admits that they're just living their best lives now. All that's left is to be happy for this couple and perhaps drop your comments below, right?
Thank God, the boyfriend turned out to be a decent guy, and he shares the author's viewpoints completely, so the netizens just gave them both a shoutout for this story
