Jim's Blog

Clutter up my life

When living with someone there are rubbing points. Differences in comfort zones for little day to day things. How often the lawn is mowed, where the toothpaste tube squeezed from (end vs middle), if silly hats should be worn all the time or just during special occasions. We have those things. I think that our biggest rubbing issue is the amount of clutter we feel comfortable with.

Perhaps some background first. Laura comes from a home where everything is exactly in its place and things are all lined up, including the carpet. Everything looks new. I on the other hand come from a family that's the opposite side of the spectrum. Tidy-challenged. Neatphobic. Organizationally inhibited. Messy-abled.

I understand that things being messy drives Laura crazy. It must be like being in a room packed full of people and everyone yelling. You can't think. Chaos. I try to help keep things tidy but every item that I put in its place moves me farther from my comfort zone. When things are all put away I feel like I'm standing in the middle of a darkened stadium with only an incandescent penlight with the battery running out. Luckily for us we've got several places that are compete disasters and when I'm feeling a bit bonkers I can just go there. So if you ever see me moving a comfy chair into the furnace room, you know I'm just satisfying my ancestral yearnings to be surrounded by clutter. And sheet metal, but that's a different story.