Are you a neat freak or a pack rat? Your SO?

[E B]

I am a neat freak married to a pack rat. Clutter makes me crazy, but my husband doesn't mind it at all. My desk is nice and neat, his is covered in stuff. My closet has only what I wear; I go through it regularly to donate to Goodwill. My husband's closet is filled with clothing he's had forever and much of it he doesn't wear.

Today, I've asked him to go through it and "clean house." He's doing it, but only because I'm asking him to.

Our situation got me thinking: Do you consider yourself a neat freak or a pack rat (or somewhere in between)? Is your significant other just like you, or the opposite?

How do you deal with each other's tendencies?

 

[MonkeyPie]

I cannot even tell you how this place would look if I didn''t make my husband clean once in awhile...which is terrible, because I am not a naturally tidy person, and I am ten times more neat than he is! Yuck.

 

[Italiahaircolor]

My husband and I are in the middle. We absolutely love to keep our home neat...a place for everything, and everything in its place. But, we have a junk drawer, and a spare closet that has random odds and ends...

 

[princesss]

We''re both fairly neat...but he''s not as clean as I am, if that makes sense. He doesn''t wash off the counters, and will leave dishes in the sink until they stink. That used to be me, but after living by myself for a little while and wanting people to come over, I started keeping things much neater. And then he moved in with me for a little while, and my place hasn''t been the same. I get lazy when the mess is already made, so it gets a little bad. But I keep everything, so there''s not a lot of room in the closets. It''s actually about time for my yearly closet clean-out. That''ll be nice...then I can organize and put the summer clothes up and the winter clothes out.

 

[E B]

Date: 10/5/2008 9:28:51 PM
Author: princesss
I get lazy when the mess is already made, so it gets a little bad.

This is my problem too. I have to make sure DH keeps things tidy, because once it passes a certain point, I give up, and then I get cranky and scatter-brained. DH functions better when things are neater too, and I''m constantly reminding him of this. He just doesn''t see the mess.

Thankfully, things are getting better because we''re both learning to cope with the other''s issue in a productive way.

 

[iheartscience]

I''m a pack rat and messy, and my fiance is a pack rat but he cleans up regularly. I wouldn''t call him neat, though-he makes messes all the time but he cleans them up pretty soon after. My twin sister, on the other hand, is an insane neat freak and she NEVER makes a mess because she just cleans constantly all day long. I wish I was more like her...

 

[lovegem]

I can go 1/2 year without cleaning. I can basically live in a dumb site. SO does the cleaning if he starts sneezing.

 

[Kaleigh]

Ebree,
I feel for you. I am a neat freak, hubby is a pack rat. I clean things out when he's away on business. I warn him before he leaves, like clean this up, or it will be tossed. I don't toss things of importance. I know what is relevant, what isn't. I can't live with clutter, and clean out closests and drawers often. My daughter is like me, but more extreme. Her hubby better be a neat freak or else. I just don't like clutter, it makes me uneasy. I like a neat house, but one that looks lived in.

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Well we''re not married yet..but I''m somewhere in-between and he''s a pack rat definitely.

I

him, but he has a tendency to just set things down and keep everything.

 

[kittybean]

I''m a pack rat, and he is somewhere in between. Unfortunately, we both get very lazy once there''s a mess already. I wish I could be as big on cleaning my house as I am on cleaning my diamonds!

 

[deegee]

I''m not exactly a neat freak, but I don''t like clutter. I just went through the house and picked up, and the cleaning lady comes tomorrow! I have stopped going into my hubby''s office. His desk is a nightmare to me. He has piles of paper everywhere on his desk, on the floor, on the cabinet, in the bookshelf. I can''t take it! He can''t stand to throw things away. His night stand beside the bed is loaded down with receipts and change. His change jar is so full he just tosses loose change in the top drawer now.

 

[butterfly 17]

I am definitely a neat freak, but my husband is in between. We just cleaned out the garage in August and when I went to look for something the other day, the garage was a mess, you could hardly walk through it. My husband decided to just dump everything there, thinking that I wouldn''t bother to go there since I had the baby.

Of course I made him reorganize it again!

Clutter bugs me. Crumbs bug me as well!

 

[neatfreak]

I am sure you can figure out what I am.

My husband on the other hand is a slightly OCD packrat. There are certain things (like his desk) where everything has to be perfectly in place. Other stuff (like the dishes or cleaning the bathroom or the 20 boxes of things he insists we move from place to place but he would be hard pressed to tell me what they contain) he could let go FOREVER without even noticing. But luckily he has his jobs and he tries to be good about it for me.

 

[ladypirate]

I''m a neat freak and SO is somewhere in between--he''s tidy, but doesn''t insist on having the house spotless like I am known to do when we are expecting company.

 

[Haven]

I''m somewhere in between married to a pack rat. I always keep things in order and clean, and I don''t like to keep or have things that I don''t use. Hubby is pretty neat, but he has a lot of STUFF. It takes a while for him to let go of things, which does cause a but of unrest in our house every once in a while.

This is how we deal with it: I mention that perhaps he hasn''t used thisorthat in quite a long time, and maybe that means he should give it away/throw it out/donate it. He resists, and insists that he needs it. I wait a few weeks and ask if he''s used it. He says no, and then comes up with the brilliant idea that he probably doesn''t need it anymore. It''s all about making him think it was his idea to rid himself of the item, and not mine.

 

[FrekeChild]

I''m a neat freak who is living with a pack rat. Not married yet.

 

[E B]

Date: 10/6/2008 12:10:45 AM
Author: FrekeChild
I'm a neat freak who is living with a pack rat. Not married yet.

Oops! I meant to say "in a relationship with" instead of "married to." Darn it. Oh well- please consider the poll every kind of relationship-friendly.

 

[FrekeChild]

I figured as much. No big deal either way.

 

[omieluv]

I would have to say that I am in the middle, while BF is on the neat freak side. His mom has OCD and I think he learned some of her behavior, which can drive me crazy. However, I would much rather live with someone who is on the neat freak side than on the slobbish side.

 

[bee*]

We''re both sort of in the middle. I used to be a packrat but definitely not so much now but you could never call me a neatfreak. I like the house to be clean but I''m not obsessive about it. D would definitely be a lot lazier at the cleaning than me which drives me mad. We deal with it by having our own spaces, for example, we have a big four by four shelving unit-the two sets of four on the left are mine, the two on the right are his. Than we can keep them as we want.

 

[Lorelei]

Pack rat undergoing treatment.

 

[Tuckins1]

My hubby and I are both pretty clean... I wouldn''t say neat freak, but my friends would! I don''t scour my house every day or anything like that, but if you ever dropped food on my floor, you can be pretty sure that it would be safe to eat!

 

[AdiS]

I am a pack rat and hubby is a neat freak. Our life together is really interesting and full of emotions

He says he can''t understand how I''m able to find the computer on my desk. I say this is artistic chaos. My clothes are always lying around while his are neatly folded and inside the closet. He usually waits patiently hoping I''d remember to tidy up a bit. When I don''t he just looks at me and says: "Dear Andrea (yeah, that''s my name) would you mind terribly gathering your stuff and getting them the hell out of here?" lol Thank God he loves me so much.

 

[zoebartlett]

I voted that we''re both somewhere in between. We both have major tendancies to be pack rats, but every once in a while we go through things and get rid of stuff we don''t need or use. We just donated a bunch of stuff to the Boy Scouts who had a huge yard sale. They came and picked up a few pieces of furniure we didn''t need, and it felt so good to donate the items. We''re still working on the idea that everything needs a purpose and a place -- we agree to that philosophy but it''s hard to get rid of things at times.

 

[fieryred33143]

I voted somewhere in between, married (almost!!) to a pack rat.

I lived out of a suitcase for 7 years before moving into my very own space. So I learned not to accumulate stuff. I''m not neat though as I can be messy at times but I dont hold on to a lot of stuff.

As of right now we have over 2,000 CDs all over the house (even though my FI has an IPOD with 18,000 songs...he won''t get rid of the CDs). He has at least 100 music magazines starting from 1996. When we were moving, he used to have a collection of alcohol bottles in his room. He wanted to bring them all over.

Um...No

I made him throw it all out which was painful for him because of the "memories" Whatever. (Oh and guess what...he has ANOTHER collection of bottles in the room

)

 

[pennquaker09]

I voted other. I''m definitely more of a neat freak than Nate, but even though he likes things to be neat, he doesn''t do anything to facilitate it. I suppose he depends on me to be neat for the both of us.

 

[geckodani]

I''m somewhere in between.... the husband should have his picture next to the definition of pack rat.

It gets... interesting.

I usually leave his man-cave (office) alone, and let him do whatever in there. I try to keep the rest of the apartment clean, although that doesn''t always happen.
I have to say I''m a CLEAN freak, rather than a NEAT freak. There''s nothing growing in corners, LOL. But there might be a shoe.

We cleaned the man-cave the other day in preparation for my sister visiting. It took 3 hours, 5 or 6 trash bags and 2 good will boxes. Oy.

 

[Elmorton]

My parents are terrifyingly pack-rat so I''m rebelliously a neat-freak. I can handle it if the floors need to be vacuumed or if there are crumbs on the table, but I can''t stand it if something is out of place or if there is clutter all over. DH is also very orderly, but he''s more in tune to the actual cleanliness stuff. He will hold on to things longer than I will, but if I complain, he''ll donate things or go through a pile of papers and recycle, etc. We''re a pretty good pair in that regard. Both of us always want to have the house in order so that anyone could drop by at any time and we''d be able to invite the person in and not feel embarrassed about the condition of our home.

I will say though that my parents'' habit of not being able to throw anything out has been hard for me to overcome! Both DH and I have a large rubbermaid bin in the basement that is filled with stuff we have a sentimental attachment to but can''t seem to get rid of. When we want to add something to the rubbermaid, since they''re full, we''re basically forced to make a decision for something else to go. I find that when something has been out of sight for awhile, the object becomes less sentimental and easier to let go. I also will do the trick from Clean House where you take a picture of something before letting it go bye-bye. I don''t know why, but I find that strangely comforting.

 

[Pandora II]

I''m a packrat married to a somewhere in between. I loathe over-tidyness - it makes me feel anxious and uncomfortable.

My clutter is always ''clean'' clutter though - books, papers etc

I will admit to having THE most untidy desk in the entire HQ building. The strange thing is that I am a VERY organised and detail orientated person and I am pedantic in the extreme about neat presentation!

When I worked in a design studio I found it interesting that those of us who did the very detailed, almost photo-real designs had the most incredibly messy desks with paints and books and pens everywhere, whereas the designers who did the more abstract, free form designs were all exceptionally tidy.

Very strange!

DH and I have a wonderful cleaning lady who keeps us from going under!

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

Neither. I like tidy but neatfreaK? nope. My Dh is a packrat and I just get rid of his junk.....and mine. Can you say curling pants from highschool? yikes!

cheers--Sharon