Why do Thais not care about a neat and clean home?

[robblok]

5 minutes ago, observer90210 said:

And my dear fellow poster, I do hope that you did not take my comment as aimed directly to your post. Thank your for sharing your thoughts.

No I did not take it as aimed at me, i know that half of the time I am defending Thais here on the forum. Just mean that different does not always mean bad. We all set different priorities.. who is to judge what is good and bad (unless it endangers things)

[BEVUP]

2 hours ago, djayz said:

What a load of waffle! 

My parents own their house outright - no mortgages, no loans, no credit (not even credit cards do they have), nothing! Yet the place, both inside and outside, is so clean you could literally eat your dinner off the floor.

Some people are just born dog lazy, live like animals and are as happy as pigs in muck. 

I believe we all have the right to live as we chose, but don't waffle on about Westerners being clean only because we have mortgages. 

Most people here don't clean because 1) they're too lazy to do so ("too hot to cleaning" or "favourite TV series on now") or 2) they were never raised with the concept of cleaning, keeping the house spic and span, doing house chores on a regular basis. 

This is one of the few issues my missus and I don't see eye-to-eye on. 

 

I'll jump in now

Your right, & to add the reasons why they don't do maintenance like we westerners is that most of them are in hock to their eye balls paying for the house , car ect

[robblok]

5 minutes ago, wildewillie89 said:

The Mrs, and also her folks, like to have a lot of useless stuff laying around the house that makes it look a tad clattered, but the houses are cleaned everyday. Whereas back home, nowhere near as much stuff laying about the place, but by no means was the place cleaned as often.

We just added a storage space when we built the outdoor kitchen, so now inside is a win win.

Hmmm... I am mostly guilty here in the house for having the most stuff and taking up the most room, gf on the other hand prefers to have as little stuff as possible so its easy to move around. 

[Neeranam]

3 hours ago, BuaBS said:

Thais don't understand hygiene as we know it .

Cleaning ladies in hotels/motels are a good example.

If there is no need for hygiene , there's no need to be neat and tidy.

They know a lot more about personal hygiene

[BEVUP]

54 minutes ago, farmerjo said:

A house and a shed(to put excess belongings in) has never caught on in Asia.

How true

We have good neighbours on one side & complete young thai/chinese kids on the other (they dont give a crap)

Showed the good thai neighbour around our house & she commented on how Falangs like to have a shed

[Neeranam]

How can you judge all Thais together?

Anyone, other than a tourist, learns the hierarchical social system.

Some at the bottom of the ladder live in pits, rice farmers etc, similar to trailer trash in the US. Most I know have maids, and therefore spotless houses. Any foreigner that can't afford a maid probably married a woman on the same social rung.

[BEVUP]

12 minutes ago, JOC said:

So according to your wisdom, people who have lived here 15-20 years, should not comment on anything Thai related, because we have to visit immigration from time to time?

Makes (no) sense....

And since replies here have been quite Thai friendly.....I doubt very much, that it will leave any Thai citizens traumatized...

Same around the world isn't it

No harm in comparing cultures - keeps it interesting 

Like when you visit an country - why? how? amazing?

[BEVUP]

7 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

How can you judge all Thais together?

Anyone, other than a tourist, learns the hierarchical social system.

Some at the bottom of the ladder live in pits, rice farmers etc, similar to trailer trash in the US. Most I know have maids, and therefore spotless houses. Any foreigner that can't afford a maid probably married a woman on the same social rung.

Really 

Well not all people have the chance to be in the same position as you (with your maid )

They would no doubt want to be but lifes struggles may have denied them that (it's a very discrimenative world out there )

It takes both levels of society to achieve ones means - If the Low Sohs stopped working the Hi Sohs no have & it certainly wouldn't be due to the Hi Sohs that the Lo Sohs have

So you obviously belong on your horse with your Maid sweeping up the shit because we Low Sohs have much more pride & are not a lazy bunch as to not be able to look after our own castle we worked hard for 

 

Half the thais will not accept a maid 

[Morch]

18 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

How can you judge all Thais together?

Anyone, other than a tourist, learns the hierarchical social system.

Some at the bottom of the ladder live in pits, rice farmers etc, similar to trailer trash in the US. Most I know have maids, and therefore spotless houses. Any foreigner that can't afford a maid probably married a woman on the same social rung.

 

I raised the idea of hiring a maid once, long ago. Mrs. thought it was (a)  subtle criticism of her cleaning abilities (it wasn't), (b) a waste of perfectly good money, as she'll be bound to clean "Thai style" (I know, I know...), and (c) doesn't like having strangers in the house (can relate to that).

 

Perhaps when we're older, but by then they'll have proper robots for that.

[EVENKEEL]

The longer one stays in Thailand the less we see the filth perhaps. We develop an immunity perhaps to the Thai ways. Consider in Issan how many have never lived in a house with painted walls, never washed their dishes inside the house. Now all of a sudden they are living in a new house with painted walls, fancy brass colored railings, multiple inside bathrooms. You get the picture, but it still doesn't explain why outside the houses trash is everywhere. Before panties get all bunched up let me say that this was my experience where I was. It was a very, very rural area. They are good people don't get me wrong. Went to a wedding at a real crappy place, but the father of the bride couldn't be bothered to knock down the weeds or pick up the ageless plastic, bottles and crap laying around. That wouldn't have cost him a satang. But the funny thing is not all are like that, a few folks just as poor but were more productive. 

[thaibeachlovers]

Just look around.

They don't care about their surroundings, so why would they care about their houses?

[theguyfromanotherforum]

5 hours ago, cyberfarang said:

To westerners they consider homes as their castles, but the reality is, that in most owned western homes the buyers are mortgaged up to their necks and therefore have to keep their properties up to certain standards otherwise they won`t be able to sell and the banks/mortgage lenders won`t give loans on properties that are in dilapidated conditions. In other words, property owners in western countries become trapped in a system where they have to live and work for many years for the upkeep of their properties.

 

In Thailand whereas they place more emphasis on land values and properties can be cheaply built, they consider their homes as just roofs over their heads not as assets of investment value.

 

Now you know.

 

[djayz]

1 hour ago, BEVUP said:

I'll jump in now

Your right, & to add the reasons why they don't do maintenance like we westerners is that most of them are in hock to their eye balls paying for the house , car ect

With all due respect, I honestly don't believe it has anything to do with money or payments. It's a mentality thing. 

Do I stay at home and clean or go out and meet my friends for somdam aroi maak? That is the question. 

I see it daily in my home... 

Ignore the dirt and get out quickly. It's "too late/hot/dark" to clean... (honestly, I've already cleaned up by midday anyways). 

We're not going to change this mentality overnight. 

There'll still be monkeys to train tomorrow. 

  

Edited April 8, 2018 by djayz

[CLW]

How can you judge all Thais together?
Anyone, other than a tourist, learns the hierarchical social system.
Some at the bottom of the ladder live in pits, rice farmers etc, similar to trailer trash in the US. Most I know have maids, and therefore spotless houses. Any foreigner that can't afford a maid probably married a woman on the same social rung.

No one here is judging or generalising. It's just observations, impressions and opinions.
Apart from that in my personal opinion anyone that hires a maid is 1) very lazy and 2) has money to burn.
Because in other than low wage countries of Asia it is very costly to hire a maid.
Just tell you a example of my Indian friend who lives here now. They had maids for everything in their house.
Now being alone here he is seriously not able to wash and iron clothing, clean properly, cook food etc.
This is more than a proof of somebodys inadequacy at a age of 20 years.
But if you are raised like this and not ashamed of yourself, carry on.

[djayz]

2 hours ago, JOC said:

Could it be a climate thing?

Because of the warmer climate here, those living in houses tend to spend much more time outside..... (compared to our cooler home countries) therefore the state of the house becomes less important....

Live in an all Thai middle class neighborhood....Every morning the house owners sweep their driveway and the street in front of their houses...

Like all over the world....there are clean people and there are pigs...!!

Sorry to burst your bubble, but I'm not from this climate, quite the opposite actually, and I still clean my house, porch, drive way, back garden path and in front of the house on a regular basis. Heat or no heat. Why? Because I "set my mind to it". 

"Lazy people make excuses, others just get on with the job". 

Edited April 8, 2018 by djayz

[eldragon]

Depends on the Thai. My ex complained if my bag was left in the wrong place.


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[totally thaied up]

Before moving in with my wife, the house was a mess. My inlaws would be up at 4 am in the bakery starting to cook for the days bread and puddings for the day's sale. My wife would be up at 5 am to help. At 7 am, would shower, get dressed and go to work in town as an accountant. She would be home at 5:30, take over the bakery till 7 pm to give her 62-year-old Mother a rest. My brother-in-law is an electrical contractor, and his schedule was much the same. Gone at dawn, not home till dusk.

 

I had time to burn and spent nine months cleaning. During this time I put in tiles, painted and blocked the drive-a-way. We sold off so much rubbish, chopped down trees, removed old outhouses. I put in ceilings, polished beautiful teak floors. I could do maybe a few days work of 2-4 hour periods early in the morning, and then I had to rest due to a severe illness I have.

 

The house was traditional Lanna, and I enjoyed doing it. I did not pay a Sin Sod, and we just married at Amphur very low key. The family themselves are much more wealthy than me via lands they have. So I ending spent 300,000 on small upgrades to make the house farang friendly and to me, that was chicken feed for what I got in return. Previously I was spending 12,000 a month on rent for a townhouse, so I feel for what I got, was a pretty good deal all-round.

 

The father and my brother-in-law watched what I did for nine months. They just left me alone. They would see me up at 6 am cleaning, sweeping the leaves and keeping the house tidy, while doing small renovations. At times, when I am very ill, I may be able to nothing for a week. To my surprise, my father-in-law and brother-in-law now take over the duties until I am well to do them again.

 

 

So when I am well enough and fully able to do things, they leave me to do the chores as they work in the business. The days I am incapable, everything gets done correctly by them. My wife now does contract work her accounting and no longer goes into town and does everything at home. Due to my health issues, she prefers to stay close to me. 

 

Now, this has been going on for over two years and a half years. My father-in-law is an amusing man and tells me now it is easier to keep things tidy then to have them the way before. 

 

So for some, like my family here, keeping the business running and food coming in was the number one thing, and everything that came after it including cleanliness did not seem relevant. 

 

[geriatrickid]

Once again, another biased thread. If you experience dirty homes and a mess, then it is a reflection of your social circle and nothing more.  The Thai homes I have been in  are clean and tidy. People raised in up country pigsty dwellings have never been exposed to clean and neat so they do not know the difference.

Thai males who complete their military service are educated in what clean and order means. Unfortunately, some quickly  lose that appreciation when they go back home and relapse into their slovenly ways. However, for those who came from clean homes, they maintain the approach. Even Thais of modest means can and do keep their homes neat and orderly.  This thread is nothing more than a discussion of the lifestyle of the lower caste of Thai society.

[sirineou]

2 hours ago, Morch said:

 

I raised the idea of hiring a maid once, long ago. Mrs. thought it was (a)  subtle criticism of her cleaning abilities (it wasn't), (b) a waste of perfectly good money, as she'll be bound to clean "Thai style" (I know, I know...), and (c) doesn't like having strangers in the house (can relate to that).

 

Perhaps when we're older, but by then they'll have proper robots for that.

As attractive the idea might sound,I don't care how" prorer" robots get , I am not replacing my wife with a robot!!  Haven't you seem the movie WestWorld?

[totally thaied up]

15 minutes ago, geriatrickid said:

This thread is nothing more than a discussion of the lifestyle of the lower caste of Thai society.

No, and not in all cases. One of my wife's friends lives in what I would call a mansion. The places is a pigsty; even the children draw on the walls, clutter just everywhere. She is well to do and comes from a well to do family.

 

I could not, in fact, believe my eyes. Such a beautiful place in disarray.

 

I put it down to this. Some people are dirty, and some are not. Some people need to be shown how to be clean, and it either sticks or not. My mother taught me from a young age to be clean.

 

In my home country, it is much the same. My neighbors next door on the left side of my house go to work all day and they live in jungle/pigsty. My right side neighbors are out of town a lot on business but the place is pristine, and they do all the house/yard work on the weekends. 

 

Its pretty simple to me. You can be taught to be clean, and it is all up to you no matter what your social rank is.

Edited April 8, 2018 by totally thaied up

[Neeranam]

7 hours ago, CLW said:

No one here is judging or generalising. It's just observations, impressions and opinions.
Apart from that in my personal opinion anyone that hires a maid is 1) very lazy and 2) has money to burn.

Is that not judging?

 

People hire maids as they are cheap.

When husband an wife are both professionals earning decent money, it just makes sense to get a maid.

 

Our Vietnamese maid costs something like $10 a day.

 

[HauptmannUK]

Crikey! My wife is for sure the cleanest person I have ever met. Everything is washed, scrubbed, polished, tidied or vacuumed to within an inch of its existence. She is also almost OCD about personal hygiene. Its like living in a hospital. Trouble is she holds me to the same standards!

She is from an Isaan farming family....

[simoh1490]

I got into trouble some time back for saying this but it remains very true, house cleaning etc is a learned trait, it's not something that people are born with they must be taught, mother to daughter etc - that hasn't happened yet in much of Thai society.

[Neeranam]

9 hours ago, djayz said:

With all due respect, I honestly don't believe it has anything to do with money or payments. It's a mentality thing. 

Do I stay at home and clean or go out and meet my friends for somdam aroi maak? That is the question. 

I see it daily in my home... 

Ignore the dirt and get out quickly. It's "too late/hot/dark" to clean... (honestly, I've already cleaned up by midday anyways). 

We're not going to change this mentality overnight. 

There'll still be monkeys to train tomorrow. 

  

Are you calling your Thai wife/relatives monkeys?

Whatever next.

[Neeranam]

1 hour ago, HauptmannUK said:

Crikey! My wife is for sure the cleanest person I have ever met. Everything is washed, scrubbed, polished, tidied or vacuumed to within an inch of its existence. She is also almost OCD about personal hygiene. Its like living in a hospital. Trouble is she holds me to the same standards!

She is from an Isaan farming family....

Always taking a risk there.

[starky]

11 hours ago, sirineou said:

Our house is always spotless, Mother in laws house is always clean but cluttered, she never wants to throw out anything, I think it comes from being very poor when young. My wife and her mom always have that fight. Wife wants to throw everything out, we certainly have enough money for MIL to buy whatever she wants, But MIL cant bring herself to throw out anything.

cultures develop by people doing what is necessary in their particular situation, and culture is not static, it changes as situations change. but they also have momentum and resist change.

I'm in a very similar position our house is spotless as is the in-laws but the amount of clutter is astounding. Apparently we will need "everything" for " something" someday. Though as you correctly say growing up poor you would never throw anything away on the off chance it might come in useful. I can totally understand this.

[HiSoLowSoNoSo]

I got the floors swept twice a day and the laundry is always perfect ironed, but on top of the cloth cabinets, fridge under bed its another story, same with spider nets hanging from the ceiling, anyone else out there with the same experience?

[Morch]

9 hours ago, sirineou said:

As attractive the idea might sound,I don't care how" prorer" robots get , I am not replacing my wife with a robot!!  Haven't you seem the movie WestWorld?

 

I have......now stuck with an image of Yul Brynner in an apron going around the house mopping the floor. But seriously, guess there comes a time when home maintenance (including cleaning) of a largish house become a bit much. Same reason we went for a single floor design.

[Henryford]

Do Thais care about anything?

[nickmanchester2]

17 hours ago, djayz said:

What a load of waffle! 

My parents own their house outright - no mortgages, no loans, no credit (not even credit cards do they have), nothing! Yet the place, both inside and outside, is so clean you could literally eat your dinner off the floor.

Some people are just born dog lazy, live like animals and are as happy as pigs in muck. 

I believe we all have the right to live as we chose, but don't waffle on about Westerners being clean only because we have mortgages. 

Most people here don't clean because 1) they're too lazy to do so ("too hot to cleaning" or "favourite TV series on now") or 2) they were never raised with the concept of cleaning, keeping the house spic and span, doing house chores on a regular basis. 

This is one of the few issues my missus and I don't see eye-to-eye on. 

 

yes, i agree, my parents have a huge house which has been mortgage free for many years and also a 2 bedroom caravan about an hours drive away which is their holiday home - both spotlessly clean.  They have just bought myself and my brother a house as well to avoid inheritance tax, and its also spotless - well at the moment it is, when me and my brother are in, we are going to have to keep ontop of the cleaning as i'm sure my dad will be over to check we are keeping it tidy most days.