# Are you "the clean one" or the slob? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 16, 2015, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-the-clean-one-or-the-slob/740590 "2015-12-16T02:32:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-the-clean-one-or-the-slob/740590/1 "2015-12-16T02:32:44Z")
In your home, are you “the clean one” or are you the slob (or at least NOT “the clean one”)? ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-the-clean-one-or-the-slob/740590/2 "2015-12-16T02:37:18Z")
I don’t really make the kind of messes my wife does, so I’d say I’m the clean one. But then, I don’t clean very often. So in a sense, I’m the messy one? What usually happens is the wife will make messes that I won’t clean and she yells at me for being a lazy slob, when in reality I just don’t really make much of a mess, mainly because I’m too lazy to clean. SO, although I am lazy, I’m not a slob. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-the-clean-one-or-the-slob/740590/3 "2015-12-16T02:43:00Z")
Myself, I certainly make my share of messes, but I’m much quicker to clean them up than my wife, and I abhor disorder, at least as far as my own stuff goes, so I go to great lengths to make sure the things I regularly use end up in a designated place. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-the-clean-one-or-the-slob/740590/4 "2015-12-16T02:52:07Z")
I am the clean one but gave up on a clean house long ago because of the fights that those discussions caused. ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-the-clean-one-or-the-slob/740590/5 "2015-12-16T02:53:46Z")
I live alone so I don’t suppose the poll makes any sense, but I’m pretty tidy. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-the-clean-one-or-the-slob/740590/6 "2015-12-16T03:01:13Z")
I’m neater, but I’m dirtier, hence I put “something else.” ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-the-clean-one-or-the-slob/740590/7 "2015-12-16T05:15:57Z")
I’m tidy-ish, but not clean. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-the-clean-one-or-the-slob/740590/8 "2015-12-16T05:33:23Z")
I’m only cleaner in the kitchen, as I clean as I cook and she doesn’t. The kitchen looks like a bomb went off when she’s done. Otherwise, we’re both pretty cluttered, but she’s more organized about schedules and such. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-the-clean-one-or-the-slob/740590/9 "2015-12-16T06:07:14Z")
How many people, on their death beds, have said: It is my greatest regret that I didn’t spend more time cleaning house? (It’s just going to get dirty again, folks) “She laid down and died and was buried in dirt” - do see “Life is a Toil” - old Am folk song - both Ronnie and Pete of the Weavers recorded it. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-the-clean-one-or-the-slob/740590/10 "2015-12-16T06:15:16Z")
I live with my GF. We are both thoroughly convinced that the other one is the slob, and we are each the clean one. Because we each have different ideas of what it means to be clean/slobby. I like having the kitchen sink empty of dirty dishes and the bathroom sink devoid of stray hairs. She likes to have the bedroom floor free of dirty clothes, and all towels in the house fresh smelling. Needless to say, we each find the other lacking. But we each find ourselves to be the pinnacle of neatness. So, there’s that. ---
**Author:** ![scareyfaerie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scareyfaerie/32/3135_2.png) [@scareyfaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scareyfaerie)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-the-clean-one-or-the-slob/740590/11 "2015-12-16T09:38:31Z")
I am the cleaner one, but I live with a packrat so it’s more like cleaning around his stuff and accepting that he isn’t going to change and the house will never be tidy. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-the-clean-one-or-the-slob/740590/12 "2015-12-16T11:14:34Z")
I live alone, and am the slobbiest of possible slobs. As I’ve mentioned in the “Do some households actually stay generally clean?” thread: I have a brother who is as neat-and-tidy as I’m lazy and messy. In the main, we enjoy each other’s company – but our polar-opposite-ness in this way can cause a bit of a strain. There’s a possibility that some time we may end up living together: he informs me firmly that if that situation comes to pass, housekeeping will happen his way – a prospect which arouses in me a certain amount of dread. Should that day come, I feel that his best course of action might be to ship me off to North Korea for a heavy dose of brainwashing… ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-the-clean-one-or-the-slob/740590/13 "2015-12-16T11:27:34Z")
> [@Arrendajo](#): > > I live alone so I don’t suppose the poll makes any sense, but I’m pretty tidy. There’s an option for that… please click on it, right now my vote is feeling lonely! ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-the-clean-one-or-the-slob/740590/14 "2015-12-16T12:02:26Z")
I am more tolerant of temporary messes than my wife – for example, a few dirty dishes in the sink overnight doesn’t bother me as it does her. And, my method of organization is different than hers: I feel some things are MORE organized if they’re visible (say, specific little piles of papers on a table), partly because I need to SEE things to be reminded about what my priority tasks are. In contrast, she likes things to be “put away” more than I do. But I’m far from a slob. In fact, I’m more meticulous than her, for example, at making sure things are stored in logical categories. ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-the-clean-one-or-the-slob/740590/15 "2015-12-16T12:12:38Z")
Definitely the \*\*clean \*\*one. My husband is equally \*\*tidy \*\*as me, but I notice when things need cleaning. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-the-clean-one-or-the-slob/740590/16 "2015-12-16T12:30:35Z")
Slobs the world over gather at the Summer Solstice to worship me, their Queen. But I can’t stand dirt. Right now my bathroom floor needs mopping, and I don’t have time for it, and it’s making me crazy. But if I don’t sit and relax for a bit, my head will explode. So I’ll just whine here about it instead. I have a friend for whom cleaning _is_ relaxing. I wish I could be like that! ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-the-clean-one-or-the-slob/740590/17 "2015-12-16T13:12:53Z")
Our home cleaning obsessions dovetail pretty well, and over the years I have learned not to expect her to straighten things out that bother me while she has learned the same. I don’t vacuum, but I do have a lower tolerance for laundry build-up. And so forth. ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-the-clean-one-or-the-slob/740590/18 "2015-12-16T17:34:05Z")
Contrarian that I am, I picked ‘something else’. I’m not tidy, but neither am I a slob. I’m cluttered. I don’t like to pick up stuff, but my stuff and the things the stuff is sitting on, are all nice and clean. About every 3 weeks, I reach clutter critical mass and put it all away. But then it just builds up again until I have another critical mass. In the meantime, I clean under the stuff. I know, weird, but it’s my process. ---
**Author:** ![NVME702-redux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a183cd/32.png) [@NVME702-redux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NVME702-redux)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-the-clean-one-or-the-slob/740590/19 "2015-12-16T22:13:13Z")
I put something else- I am the short term cleaner, cleaning in the now instead of putting if off. I tidy the kitchen as I cook and I’m hoping to instill these habits into my daughter, who is my Sous chef. My husband cooks from an inspired passion and leaves the mess like a rowdy lover would leave a bed, sheets and pillows tossed about, clothes bunched up and torn- but oohhh, the fire! He cleans methodically and does it as a giant project. leaving it all for one weekend. I would rather clean to have it clean, and do general upkeep every day if possible. However, like its been said: Cleaning with dogs is like brushing your teeth while eating Oreos… but add to it that our kitchen sink has been on the blitz since Thanksgiving week…YUCK ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-the-clean-one-or-the-slob/740590/20 "2015-12-16T22:27:52Z")
I am the slob. My wife is only a little less of a slob but she will put more effort into cleaning than I will. On the other hand I am much more organized than she is, I put stuff away where it belongs while she puts stuff anywhere that it fits. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-the-clean-one-or-the-slob/740590.md?page=2)