[kcrazorbackfan]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

Is having pets dirty?

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

How clean are most people?

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.

[kcrazorbackfan]

Originally Posted by Abby10

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.

Boom 💥. Great post.

[Jdmiata]

Originally Posted by Toymeister

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.

Well said !

[CFrance]

His mother warned me...

[autumnspring]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

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.

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

[manaboutown]

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

[Chi-Town]

I wash my hands before I go to the bathroom.

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk

[Mrs. Robinson]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

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.

I have never given a baseboard the white glove test and probably never will.

I'd much rather see a vacuumed/washed floor, a clean counter top and a sparkling Baccarat crystal glass filled with sour mash bourbon and ice.

[rubicon]

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

[rexxfan]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

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?

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

[dewilson58]

Originally Posted by Chi-Town

I wash my hands before I go to the bathroom.

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk

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

[BobandMary]

Originally Posted by Chi-Town

I wash my hands before I go to the bathroom.

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk

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

[manaboutown]

Originally Posted by Chi-Town

I wash my hands before I go to the bathroom.

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk

So do I!

[DigitalGranny]

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

[Taltarzac725]

Originally Posted by suesiegel

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

Kind of an interesting history lesson.