The CLEAN generations...us Villagers?
 

I think we Villagers come from a group of people who kept themselves and their homes and their children very clean and orderly.

What do you have to say about this? Have times changed?

I still see a lot of well kept homes on the outside and visit a lot of well kept homes on the inside here in The Villages. I haven't been in anyone's home that was dingy or not well ordered here.

Are we too scrupulous as a group or just right? How do our children and grandchildren approach this subject? Were we silly or right about our standards for cleanliness of boomers or better?

What is this?

A topic for discussion. Not bullying or criticizing. A topic about people and how they do things that may be generational.

I think young people don't have TIME to keep up a house like we did, and maybe it isn't important.

Well, we lived in caves for a long time.

Strange but True: Antibacterial Products May Do More Harm Than Good - Scientific American

Is having pets dirty?

Of course, but well worth it


Do you think people do the right thing wiping off the cart at Publix before using it?

One of the more ridiculous things I see. I contacted more "germs" in 10 minutes of work than a grocery shopper could get from a cart in a lifetime. (My opinion subject to change if there is a pandemic of pneumonic plague)


How clean are most people?

Probably a double bell curve----1/2 the population centered at 3 1/2 out of 10, and the other half at 8 1/2.

I wipe the cart handle, shop, then take my filthy germ ridden change directly from the cashiers hand without giving it a thought.

That's after buying tomatoes, apples, lettuce etc. that dozens of people have picked through before you. Kind of like the waiter who serves your soup by putting his thumb in it.

But then think about what you are bringing it home to:

Where the most germs lurk in your home - CBS News

Funny you should bring this up, Gracie, as it was a topic for discussion among my siblings this weekend when discussing the "old days". Although my parents both worked full-time, opposite shifts so as to rarely leave us with someone else, my mother kept a very clean and orderly house and had a meal on the table every evening before leaving for work. (Can you tell that she's my hero?) We were also blessed with a lot of love.

Anyway, my older brother and I were talking about how we were never allowed to do anything over the weekend until our beds were stripped and sheets changed and our rooms were dusted and swept, besides other chores throughout the week. What I realized was that my mother was not just teaching us ordinary household skills, but more importantly, it taught us discipline and responsibility. To this day, I love having a clean and orderly house. I don't obsess about it, but I find that it keeps me more clear headed and focused (and as I get older, I can actually find things - big plus!!)

I don't think the younger generation is as focused on that though. Seems like they are so busy with careers and such that it is not as much a priority. My son thinks I focused too much on that sometimes, but I often wonder if this adds to the higher anxiety levels of a lot of the younger generation. Like I said, I think it's much more than just about cleanliness, it's also about order and discipline and accomplishment, for example. I remember recently viewing a video of a former navy seal and he was explaining the reasons to continue to get up every morning at the same time and make your bed first thing, even in retirement. According to him besides promoting discipline, it starts your day out with already accomplishing something which sets the tone for the rest of the day.

Yes but........I still dust my baseboards before company comes. As I have done for years. I am saying it is a generational thing. My grandchildren don't know what a baseboard is and they are successful adults.

Why I now eschew lemon wedges in my iced tea.

Bacteria on Lemon Slices - Dirty Lemon Wedges at Restaurants

I think this is a great question Gracie but I have a zero answer. I have 3 siblings. We all grew up in the same house. My brother and I lean to the neat side. One sister has stuff thrown everywhere yet it is clean. My other sister is a complete slob. Maybe it is a predisposition?

I do think people are born with a somewhat fixed personality. I was thinking of what used to be the norm. When we would host card club as twenty somethings, it required a major, major effort...back then.

I belonged to the generation whose mom washed on Monday, ironed on Tuesday...etc. BUT when I was a kid we washed our hair every day but didn't always shower or bathe every day. We washed up as far as possible. ;)

I think the principle of your post is flawed. No Villagers are not cleaner except for self selection. Villagers are willing to live in a community that requires neat exteriors of their homes. Residents chose this location, we self selected to live close to people like ourselves. Witness the percentage of people of color here. Further, Villagers on the whole are wealthier than the average retiree. So we have the income to maintain property.

Now if the topic is are Villagers cleaner than other retirees in planned communities of similar value?, that is a another discussion.

I personally believe that a lot, but not all, kids today don't have the same morals or hold the same values that we, as their parents, do.

Although most of us, but not all, tried to raise our children with the same standards as we were raised, societies standards today are so different. For the most part, the "younger generation" doesn't keep their yards as nice or their houses as clean.

A lot of Villagers pets that I see appear to be clean and well kept. Pets paws do bring dirt into a home. Whenever ours go out, in the morning with dew on the ground or after a rain, we always wipe their feet off.

Wherever there are sanitizer wipes available to wipe down push carts at a business, I use them; you never know what's on the hands that last pushed them.

Boom 💥. Great post.

Well said !

His mother warned me...

The good old days were not as good as we remember
 

Before us but the expression,"Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater," comes from bathing practice. Even in the 1900's few people had indoor plumbing. To bathe you had a large copper pot that you could sort of get into. The water was pumped from your well. The water would be warmed by pots from the stove. A major effort. It was not uncommon to get a bath once a month. Into that tub of warmed water first went the father-reminder it was once a month, then the mother, then the kids, Last was the baby. As to "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water," you can imagine how dirty the water was by the time the baby,last to go, got it's bath

Just as long as one is not OCD and overdoing it. Germaphobes - obsession with sanitation is actually a sign of obsessive-compulsive disorder on MedicineNet.com

Howard Hughes comes to mind as an extreme example. Hughes's germ phobia revealed in psychological autopsy

I wash my hands before I go to the bathroom.

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we try to maintain our home as if we were staging it for a sale. I like to strive for a continuing pristine look throughout the house the garage and the lanai and birdcage...yea we often dust the moldings too

I was taught that if I saw something that needed doing, I should do it and further, that if anything was worth doing, it was worth doing right or not at all. So yeah, I ended up a bit of a neat freak that I swear borders on OCD sometimes (OK, maybe a lot of the time). But I live in a clean and orderly home (to the extent I have control over that). Those same principles served me very well in my career as a software engineer, so I think that all things considered its a net positive.
--
Bob C

:censored:

There are soooooo many responses to this, but I'll pass.

:censored::icon_twisted:

Chi-Town, you must be a doctor or nurse!

So do I!:rolleyes:

Excuse me. I must go now and clean my house. I don't want to, but you shamed me into it!

Kind of an interesting history lesson.

Or possibly retired Navy.... my husband tells me they washed their hands before going to bathroom when wearing their white uniforms....

I for sure think it is a generational "thing". Like cursive penmanship and phone land lines and paper phone books...

I wanted to spend time with my kids doing memorable things so they didn't have the memories I did, of mother cleaning house. My home in TV is tidy and neat, but because I don't have any kids living in it. My generation wants to experience life, not live within standards other set for us...

I am a Villager, semi-retired at 49 because I saved every penny and lived a simple life. I am guessing the OP is a good 30 years my senior. We share the same profession, although you were most likely respected in your day...unlike teachers of today!

Hard to define exactly which generation you are referring to since Villagers can range from 45-100+...

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If I don't trim/edge my lawn after mowing, my older neighbors will give me the stink-eye.

We "youngins" just appreciate the rustic look...At least we ain't tattooing ourselves freakish and growing beards to our navels like the next "narcissistic nihilist" generation.

There are a proportionate share of slobs living in TV and one indication is their golf carts. I saw a guy the other day stopped at a red light and yes...picking his nose
Hope he was not on his way to the grocery store

cleaniness is next to godliness

Yes and those same hands touched Cans,Fruit,freezer door handles and everything else in the store. Any benefit from wiping cart handles is lost the moment you touch something on any shelf.

I don't think that it's a generational thing. Growing up and in my adult life, I have seen people on both ends of the spectrum and in the middle.

When I was a kid, my house was always reasonably clean.
We had neighbors whose houses were pigsties and I recall going into friends homes where we were not allowed to touch anything or sit on the furniture.

I've met the same kind of people in my adult life. I see people that sweep the streets in front of their homes after they finish their daily cleaning and I see people that have let their house fall apart.
I think that most people are in the middle somewhere although I would guess that those who are on the extremes believe that they are in the middle.

Excellent post Dr.Boogie - although I would throw this in to the conversation. I am privileged to have known people from all walks of life and I have found that the more intelligent and educated they are, they hate housework; and the ones who were great stay at home Mums and wives were super housekeepers.

I know a lot of educated people of my age who continue to keep their homes clean. I still say it was a norm for our generation. I am 78.

None of them are appalled by bacteria. If you want to clean your home, you must be prepared to dive into some unsanitary things and places.

None of them have homes that are not comfortable and welcoming and not at all kept nice just for company.

I think the men of our generation keep their garages that you could almost do surgery in them.

I don't think it is bad, any of it. I rather like it.

Cleanliness is somewhere up there with..........niceness.

That is O.K.

My biggest germ fear is being around children. And, keep them far away from the buffet table, please.

What - you don't like them taking a bite out of something and putting it back????:evil6: