Anyone who routinely follows the blog knows that I am married to one of the most wonderful men in the world. He, however, is male, and therefore the now famous Mars/Venus situations are sprinkled through our relationship. A few posts ago, I explained my homage to the recliner and I am genuinely fine with that. When we moved into the four bedroom house we now occupy a neighbor with two children, dogs, and a cat asked why only two of us needed four bedrooms. I said, “Two offices.” We have tried to share an office and that is not a good idea. I do often have a messy desk, but it is not my preferred style. My agreement with my husband has always been that he can spread out, scatter whatever, and I won’t touch it as long as I can close the door when we have company.
That, then brings me to the den which is quite open with no door to close, plus where one steps into when entering the house. Thus, the issue of clutter. Now, I am not talking about partially eaten food or a beer glass with dregs in it left sitting for days. That is an altogether different category that if my husband was prone to, we would probably never had married. No, I’m talking basic, non-dirty clutter – magazines, books, shoes, backpack, etc., types of things. I have come to the conclusion after many discussions – some a bit more sharp than others – that this is definitely a Mars/Venus topic. Men, or at least my husband example of the species, doesn’t acknowledge “clutter”. Therefore, if he doesn’t acknowledge it, then it doesn’t exist and ergo, why should it bother me? It is stuff rather than clutter. Simple stuff, all of which does have a place to go, but if one is going to need it again soon, why put it away and just have to get it back out?
This explanation by the way, also plays well into our entrepreneurial society and is why we have “Space Bags”, “Container Stores”, closet systems, and professional organizers. Those of us who wish to control clutter are in a constant search for convenient means to make putting stuff (clutter) away and yet still be easily accessible. Hmm, perhaps I have just provided an economic reason to have clutter. Ah, well!
