Domestic Shortcomings

1. 66

   Jessie L Watsonposted 6 years ago

   With any luck, as we grow older, we begin to carry out household chores more or less autonomously without much thought. The degree to which certain people keep their houses in order depends largely on personality. For me, I've had to train myself to be more conscientious of my surroundings. I am, by nature, not wired to notice certain things out of place as being a "problem". It's gotten better. But one thing I still struggle with at 29 years old is laundry. I have no issues doing laundry but I have problems putting it away and getting it mixed up with other dirty laundry.
   
   Just out of curiosity, what are your own problematic areas of domestic responsibility?

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   1. 81

      Wesman Todd Shawposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      All of them. I'm a 44 year old non domesticated human. I'm terrible at cleaning or putting things 'away' to where most females would consider appropriate. I'm so totally different from my mother and father, sister and brother. They are all successful whereas I'm poor and disorganized.
      
      On the upside, I'm far less bi-polar than certain uncles of mine, and comparably, I'm at least doing something, and know where my things are located.

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      1. 66

         Jessie L Watsonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         Well, many have argued that setting your living space in order is a good way to increase overall efficiency in your life. But, judging by your profile pic, you look like a musician which makes you an artist by default. Much of the psychometric data on creative people is that they are less organized than non-creative people. I'm highly artistic and creative too, in a literary sense. I've really had to tyrannize myself to keep my space in order. It's possible.

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         1. 78

            Kathryn L Hillposted 6 years agoin reply to this

            And, you shouldn't have to "tyrannize" over yourself. Cleaning, organizing and decorating/designing can be fun and creatively challenging! Also, it helps if you are always adding or subtracting to what you have going on visually. I am constantly changing pictures, pillows, colors ... and even curtains.
            Recently, I have given away so many things to the Good Will, since who knows when I will have to move. Maybe sooner that I expect. I love how empty it is now. Also, I Iearned long ago, not to collect, stash or display memorabilia and dust collectors.

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   2. 78

      Kathryn L Hillposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      The detailing. It takes looking around as though you were someone else. Finally, you catch sight of the dust, the crumbs, the smudges, the cobwebs … all that stuff YOU never even SEE! (But others DO notice!)
      
      It takes a certain amount of house pride to care about how "nice" everything looks. If you don't care about the effect or the feng shui of the place* or the impact your house will have on visitors, either outside or inside, you won't care enough to keep it organized. And if you don't have anyone over … who cares? Let it be a dump!
      Actually, the home I like to visit the most is always a mess. It is comforting, somehow: Laundry in baskets, piles of toys, blankets and clothes…
      Kitchen full of dishes to be done, but tons of snacks …
      
      * " ...feng shui has become an aspect of interior decorating in the Western world and alleged masters of feng shui now hire themselves out for hefty sums to tell people ... which way doors and other things should hang.
      
      Apart from any mystical implications, Feng Shui may be simply understood as a traditional test of architectural goodness using a collection of metaphors. The test may be static or a simulation. Simulations may involve moving an imaginary person or organic creature, such as a dragon of a certain size and flexibility, through a floor plan to uncover awkward turns and cramped spaces before actual construction.
      
      This is entirely analogous to imagining how a wheelchair might pass through a building, and is a plausible exercise for architects, who are expected to have exceptional spatial visualization talents. A static test might try to measure comfort in architecture through a ‘hills and valleys’ metaphor. The big hill at your back is a metaphor for security, the open valley and stream represents air and light, and the circle of low hills in front represents both invitation to visitors and your control of your immediate environment. The various Feng Shui tenets represent a set of metaphors that suggest architectural qualities that the average human finds comfortable.
      
      Others ... practice ... forms of feng shui, including hanging special mirrors, forks, or woks in doorways to deflect negative energy.
      
      In recent years, a new brand of easier-to-implement DIY Feng Shui known as Symbolic Feng Shui, which is popularized by Grandmaster Lillian Too, is being practised by Feng Shui enthusiasts. It entails placements of auspicious (aesthetically pleasing) Five Element objects, such as Money God and tortoise, at various locations of the house so as to achieve a pleasing and substitute-alternative Productive-Cycle environment if a good natural environment is not already present or is too expensive to build and implement.
      
      Feng shui is so important to some strong believers, that they use it for healing purposes and to guide their businesses and create a peaceful atmosphere in their homes, in particular in the bedroom where a number of techniques involving colours and arrangement are used to achieve enhanced comfort and more peaceful sleep."
      
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_shui

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   3. 79

      Credence2posted 6 years agoin reply to this

      I am a man of routine and habit, taking large chores and breaking them into bite sized morsels whenever possible. I have little if any aesthetic sense, just clean neat and functional. My other half deals with the aesthetic and what it is the neighbors are likely to think. In the real world, I suppose some of that sort reasoning is appropriate.
      
      It is the BIGstuff, I don't like, like painting rooms in the house. I am an object that would always prefer to be at rest.

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2. 96

   Gregory DeVictorposted 6 years ago

   Jessie, I live in a condo and am motivated to keep everything in order 98.6% of the time. However, I have always had major issues with laundry.

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   1. 66

      Jessie L Watsonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      HAHA. Intriguing.

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3. 96

   Gregory DeVictorposted 6 years ago

   Jessie, if I had to list three household responsibilities that I dislike the most, all three would be laundry. This issue goes all the way back to my first year of college.
   
   When I was teaching public school, I had a crazy colleague who disliked doing laundry so much that she only did it every six weeks. In the faculty room one day, she complained that she had to do laundry the night before and needed something like 10 washing machines in her apartment complex to get it done. (I hope you’re laughing because all of us back in Philadelphia sure did.)

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   1. 66

      Jessie L Watsonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      It's comical and I can definitely see that happening.
      
      My biggest obstacle with laundry is that I live in a very small house and have limited space for dressers and cubby holes. If I put laundry away in a drawer, its because those clothes are off-season and I don't want to look at them for 9 months.
      
      Often times, I will leave a clean load in the dryer and select my daily clothes out of that or else they'd end up on the bed in my spare room.
      
      And socks...don't get me started on socks....haha

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4. 96

   Gregory DeVictorposted 6 years ago

   I understand your issue. I live in Pittsburgh and there are extremes in our weather which means extremes in how we have to dress.

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5. 96

   wildernessposted 6 years ago

   For me it's doing minor household repairs.  Fix the little hole in the wall or re-paint that spot where we scarred the wall moving furniture.  I don't do it, I don't do it, I don't do it and pretty soon I don't even see it anymore.

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   1. 66

      Jessie L Watsonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Yeah it's a weird perceptual game we play with ourselves. Imagine how that works when we fail to acknowledge our emotional baggage....
      
      An unattended dam will break as does the human psyche.

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6. 96

   Gregory DeVictorposted 6 years ago

   I have a space issue and as a result am always looking for things to get rid of. The biggest problem that I have with “stuff” has been books, which I don’t want to get into.

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   1. 66

      Jessie L Watsonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Do you have a style? What kind of art do you have?

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7. 91

   MelRootsNWritesposted 6 years ago

   Dusting, or undusting, as Amelia Bedelia would say.  It's there, but I don't see it.  Then, one day the sunlight hits the dresser and geez, it looks like I haven't dusted in a year.

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8. 0

   Snakesmumposted 6 years ago

   I can relate to that !   :-)    Hate dusting.

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9. 96

   Gregory DeVictorposted 6 years ago

   Artwork? Style? I have very contemporary art that I bought at West Elm online. A lot of it is recycled metal art. I also have collages of Decomates clocks in two rooms. I used to have wood and roofing nails wall art that I made myself. Yes, I’m artistic. Dusting that stuff though was an impossible task.

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10. 96

    Gregory DeVictorposted 6 years ago

    I don't like ironing or cooking either.

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11. 78

    Kathryn L Hillposted 6 years ago

    "With any luck, as we grow older, we begin to carry out household chores more or less autonomously without much thought."
    
    No, as I get older, I become more aware and less automatic. I am more mindful about order and flow. I become more aware of why I am cleaning or organizing. I have more desire to have things under (my) control with everything I use placed in certain places for specific reasons; mostly for feng shui reasons which to me means ease of moving through a house and keeping things well cared for and clean.
    In conclusion, cleaning your home can be an act of creativity.

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