I realized recently how differently my girlfriend and I approach the task of cleaning our apartment. I tend to be a "big picture" sort of cleaner. I want to vacuum, put the noticeable things out of place away, and finish with the greatest amount of visible organization in as efficient manner as possible. I admit I can and have resorted to the "out of sight, out of mind" technique of cleaning when pressed for time.
While my cleaning aspirations tend to focus on the macro, my girlfriend is all about the micro...the details. She's a precise organizer who'll spend hours sifting through storage boxes to categorize the contents properly. She'll clean and polish areas of the home only visible by lilliputian contortionists. She plans to have our book collection organized by Dewey Decimal. Fortunately, together, we make a great team when cleaning, since we tackle our goals with similar enthusiasm despite the different cleaning techniques.
So we're curious about other people's cleaning habits. Are more of you devoted to the general cleanliness of your home, or do you find pleasure in the minutiae? And do you prefer to clean with someone with the same style of organizing, or someone who approaches the task from the opposite angle?
I think it's kind of a mix between the both. If someone's coming over to your place in 10 minutes, it's definitely the big picture in the living room, though detailed when it comes to the bathroom (or at least the toilet and sink). If it's your weekly clean up session, it's a bit more detailed. Sometimes the details are too small to see when the place is a mess. Not that my place isn't pristine at all times :P
Is this a male/female distinction? Because my husband and I follow the same pattern.
i tend to focus on the macro for the most part, especially if guests are coming over - then it all just goes into the closet, the floors are quickly swept, and the kitchen and bathroom are wiped clean.
but for those times when i really decide to do a major organizational/cleaning session, then i'm all about the micro: my closet is separated into pants, skirts, dresses, shirts, and coats. and amongst the shirts, the long-sleeved, short-sleeved, sleeveless, and work/professional shirts are separated. most of my books are organized by authors, but multiple authors may also organized by subject, and books/textbooks for work are completely separated and grouped with old school notes (which are also grouped together by subject).
i've realized that this is a great way to release my obsessive-compulsive tendencies =)
It's not that uncommon for males and females to clean differently, especially when their general psychological approach to life is from that same perspective.
Given the same situation, without being pressed for time, most males tend to lean toward a more "overall and big picture" approach to cleaning, then sort out the smaller intricate details after the first "sweep". Females on the other hand, will go from task to task, room to room, methodically cleaning and organizing every last bit of said space before moving onto the next.
Of course these standards aren't rigid, and there is quite a bit of room for self-expression, but our general approach to cleaning is how we all generally approach life.
I, for one, just leave shit everywhere. Chaos and upheaval is my thing, and I rule it with an iron fist...or fists, as the case may be.
I have found the determining factor here is left brain v right brain. My husband was completely anal about cleaning (a cop type). Once he bleached the steak knives. You could have eaten off our flours. He cleaned the details.
I'm an artist (currently jewelry). I'm picky about clean toilets, sinks, counters and such. But a gazillion beads and flashes of silver and some dust on my work space is like heaven. Clean it and I'm lost. I know where every spec of everything is in the midst of that chaos because I organize in a different way than others. Things are clean, you just can't always tell.
Our solution: First I cleaned my work stuff, and then he scrubbed the rest. We never cleaned at the same time........and he wouldn't let me touch his cleaning products :)
I do both types of cleaning consciously. During the week, I focus on macro cleaning - sweeping the floor, putting away laundry. On the weekend I choose a micro cleaning project. This weekend, I'm cleaning the closet next to the bathroom that has become a storage place for a few too many things.
My mental split of these items isn't really macro and micro though. I think of these activities as cleaning and organization. I also think of them as divided by time. The macro stuff is, for the most part, something that can be done in five minutes, or at least done in five minute chunks of time. The micro is something that can only be done when I can reserve a larger chunk of time.
Micro, macro, cleaning, organization, task, project. Lots of ways of thinking about this.
I think my husband and I differ a bit, but we're mostly both pretty "big picture". I admit I sometimes get on these little obsessions if I have time, where I become hyper-focused on cleaning something in a very detailed manner though. I think a balance of both is important in any house, otherwise, the details NEVER get taken care of, and that's gross after too long.
~Monica
I don't think it's so much gender differences, as much as personality. Isn't Emily in Grad School for an MLS? It makes sense that she would want to catagorize / organize things. I've had a few ex-boyfriend's who were incredibly "anal" in their approach to cleaning, and let me tell you, when you have a bf who is even neater and cleaner than you, it's an amazing thing to love! I've never ever had to have the sort of conversations about picking up towels, clothes, etc.