Adore Life And Wife In Chiang Mai Buti Did A Spring Clean Yesterday

[sagaris]

I think Thai people have the highest state of personal hygiene possible but Id be interested to hear your opinions

my missus wont throw anything away

She keeps platsic bottles old cardboard boxes and glass bottles and everything basically.

We have one hose that has now had it. So its wrapped up with plastic bags to plug the holes. she uses this for washing things out the back.

Strange ideas on washing up plates and dishes.

Weve got four bathrooms with great showers, yet she and the three kids and mother in law prefer using a big tub of probably stagnant water with a bowl to brush their teeth and shower from. Is this thrift or stupidness.

She dont dust or hoover. Mr sheen has not made an appearance.

I hoovered yesterday and filled three small bags and thought this might help stopping my kids coughing so much. or is that the pollution, which isnt terribly evident today. so many questions so few answers.

end of thr day this is a slightly tongue in cheek post. ive only been married 12 years.

Ps. Toys dominate the whole house good toys, poor toys, threw away a load of platsic crap that had no decipherable use and was accused of throwing away spidermans arm. had to go backto the dump and search for a three inch bit of plastic. (It turned up. )

pps on a more serious not where can i donate decent toys so they can reach more needy little kids.

Rant over

breathe.........

Edited December 28, 2009 by sagaris

[anonymouse]

If it's any consolation your situation pretty much mirrors my own but I've also noticed if I throw any broken stuff out it ends up in the next door neighbours car port with the 200 other boxes of old rubbish they have stored.

[villagefarang]

Certainly bears no resemblance to the way we live. A place for everything and everything in its place. Old unused stuff is collected by the old unused stuff collector. I knew what I was getting before we got married, not after.

[jaideeguy]

Same same here......most of the 'stuff' ends up getting passed onto the inlaws to take to the recycle place or fix, but so much just sits or gets hidden in the couple of storage rooms that i built for 'stuff' i don't wanna look at or don't need. I called my storage room a 'spare room' ....she calls it 'the scare room' because it has been home to snakes, wasps, ants, frogs and anything else that crawls.

Note to anyone building...........It's a BAD IDEA to build storage space because they just fill it up to over flowing!!

[mamborobert]

I'll join the rant.

First of all can someone PLEASE explain to wifey that casually moving a fan brush about the floor moves the dust (sometimes into a neat pile if done correctly) but does not remove dust from the house. Removing the neat pile once made is apparently purely optional.

And the killer for me...we have fridge, it keeps things cold and fresh. Apparently that it what it is manufactured for.

Why oh why then does wifey insist that all left over food (including cooked fish, chicken, rice, and assorted thai specialties) get put in a glass cabinet where it can stay at room temperature for hours only to be devoured by visiting hordes of relatives, sometimes days later.

I use wrap for food and place in the fridge, wifey and family look at me like I just did a naughty with the family rooster.

One day they will also learn that if you put the top properly on the soft drink after you have poured a glass and place it in the fridge it will remain both fizzy and cold. Will wonders never cease.

The fridge is however vitally important to place phone and charger on top off, a photo of mum in law, and of course dust.

Edited December 28, 2009 by mamborobert

[PeaceBlondie]

I tolerate about a tenth of that. The house is cleaned thoroughly, every week. I had a messy wife, and divorced her. 25 years later, she hasn't learned. And I'm not very neat.

[villagefarang]

I tolerate about a tenth of that. The house is cleaned thoroughly, every week. I had a messy wife, and divorced her. 25 years later, she hasn't learned. And I'm not very neat.

Every week? My god, ours is done everyday.

[sbk]

On second thought, I really don't have a lot to say here except, if you don't like the way your wife does it then it might be better for your peace of mind to do it yourself

[samuibeachcomber]

could i say it possibly has to do with having nothing in the past(until they met you)and old habits are hard to break.when you have no money to buy things with you would keep all and everything incase it could be used later and save having to spend money.with regards to cleaning,some people are just plain lazy(no answer there)but what are you doing having a vacuum cleaner anyway.surely a thai sweep and mop of the floor will do.

[venturalaw]

I don't attribute tidiness or lack thereof to being Thai. My Thai wife loves to clean, clean, clean - but is she tidy? No. Then there is the neighbor's Thai wife - doesn't clean but makes certain that everything is picked up and tidy. Both homes have children under the age of 2. In other words, I don't see where the differences are due to race. There are neat freaks, and slobs in all races. One thing that I can not get past however, is putting a bag of trash outside the door, and not making certain that the bag is tied - it can be left open for days. That bugs me!

[Boo]

my husband is a tidy man as in very organised, knows where all his crap is & knows to pick up after himself. What he hasn't mastered is the art of wiping surfaces after cooking or where the laundry bin is but he is a good man & these things are tolerated. His mother & her sister on the other hand are classic thai hoarders & lack the cleaning gene that seems to be missing in a lot of people in the good kingdom of smiles.

Hubby usually comes home to Thailand once a year, instigates a huge clean & clear out of random bits of wood, old bed frames etc & then we happily stay in a (relatively) clean & tidy house. A year later we come back only to find that the house hasn't been cleaned beyond a cursory sweep every day & the shit that was removed the year before (and the year before that & the year before that ) has made it''s way back into the house again.

One up side is that after these visits to mums house he is super duper nice to me as he appreciates a wife who knows how to keep house & that he is lucky to have her as he enjoys a clean environment as much as I do

[KevinHunt]

Every single word from the OP describes perfectly my wife n kids. After 20 years I've got used to it. Not worth getting excited about - they ain't gonna change.

[elektrified]

Why oh why then does wifey insist that all left over food (including cooked fish, chicken, rice, and assorted thai specialties) get put in a glass cabinet where it can stay at room temperature for hours only to be devoured by visiting hordes of relatives, sometimes days later.

I use wrap for food and place in the fridge, wifey and family look at me like I just did a naughty with the family rooster.

This seems to be a habit amongst all Thais that I really don't like. I like to wrap and put in the fridge leftover foods immediately. Over the years I've had a few Thais give me that same look and say something like "mai arroy". They don't seem to understand that leaving cooked rice out for even a couple of hours is the ideal environment for the Bacillus Cereus bacteria to thrive. This will cause severe food poisoning.

Edited December 28, 2009 by elektrified

[mcgriffith]

I had my knickers in a twist a month or so ago on this issue.

Have a neighbor in my apt bldg who shares an adjacent parking space in the enclosed garage area.

Piles of heaped up cr_p, with literally kilos of dirt/dust, dead geckos, butterfly wings, etc.

And a thriving colony of wasps, living in a trash can, that was filled with some mystery vegetative matter.

I cleaned it up, myself. Couldn't bear to look at it, anymore.

Really the only solution.

I still think he (farang) and his Thai wife think the apt bldg staff did it for them....so they will just continue to throw candy wrappers on the floor, and toss moldy <deleted> in this public space.

Whatever.

[manjara]

Describes my wife too! We built 2 bathrooms onto the house in the village but she still prefers the little outhouse with the hole in the ground.

My wife won't use the vacuum cleaner because it makes too much 'foon'. Let sleeping dogs lie, I suppose is their attitude. Furniture is never moved (in 8 years), the microwave is always caked in stuff whenever we visit, and cockroaches have taken up residence in the coffee machine (they prefer Nescafe). My first job is to clean the appliances to a level where I feel comfortable using them.

Now that we are living in europe she still tries to leave stuff out of the fridge and is constantly surprised when it is 'boot' after a day or so. Actually I am constantly surprised that Thai food is not 'boot' after a day or 2 in the heat of thailand, I guess the food is fresher there, whereas ours is at least a week old before it gets to the supermarket.

All of our stuff ends up at the family once we have finished with it and my wife makes a tour of the village handing out stuff that we don't use anymore (usually because the colour ran due to her complete inability to use a washing machine properly). In Europe we now have a dryer and our electric bill doubled once she worked out how to use it. EVERYTHING goes in! so more damaged stuff for the in-laws.

I never met people with a bigger propensity to break things, and it has been passed on to my kids. We can't keep anything for more than a day without something breaking, falling off, chipping, bending etc. It's better just buying the cheapo crap, at least when it breaks it doesn't hurt as much.

[sbk]

Why oh why then does wifey insist that all left over food (including cooked fish, chicken, rice, and assorted thai specialties) get put in a glass cabinet where it can stay at room temperature for hours only to be devoured by visiting hordes of relatives, sometimes days later.

I use wrap for food and place in the fridge, wifey and family look at me like I just did a naughty with the family rooster.

This seems to be a habit amongst all Thais that I really don't like. I like to wrap and put in the fridge leftover foods immediately. Over the years I've had a few Thais give me that same look and say something like "mai arroy". They don't seem to understand that leaving cooked rice out for even a couple of hours is the ideal environment for the Bacillus Cereus bacteria to thrive. This will cause severe food poisoning.

Of all the Thai people you have known that leave their food out for a few hours, how many have come down with food poisoning by doing so? Since most rural Thais do this, you'd think the entire country would be locked in the toilet with food poisoning at this point.

[backsoon]

Hello everybody! Having read the above posts, recognise many patterns. Lived in 3 really different countries. Married more than twice. Seen it all. My wife is a supermodel of cleaning. Makes me feel guilty, but can't 'stop the music'. True, she tries to keep food morsels, but I just throw all out, and make quick end of this. We never argue.

Now, where does being Thai come into a messy, untidy, unhygienic stinker? They come in all shapes, forms, genders and nationalities...

As to the village folk, - peasants are peasants all over the world. If you marry one, do not expect her to sing Beethoven or dance Giselle. And she will prefer the dugout.

Happy New Year to you all.

[Throatwobbler]

Our place is kept spotless. If I sit still too long I am in danger of being tidied.

[sagaris]

I moved the mattress today and looked inside

And was fairly appaled by the sub culture residing.

I put down a thousand baht and said look what Ive found and suddenly hoovering became a bit more interesting to my gorgeous wife. I had it very dramatically being just about to be sucked into a nearly unused siemens vacuum.

might encourage her to hoover more

ps dont get me started on the clothes.

we are on number four so nothing can go back until we have it we know what it is etc etc.

I have one full room full of baby clothes.

She says they will stay there until i cut my GABORS. which aint gonna happen.

Edited December 28, 2009 by sagaris

[xen]

Could relate to a lot of the previous posts . Had to laugh about spiderman's arm.

In my case my ex wife used to be tidyish to a degree until running three restaurants left very little time to do house work .

But her sister was amazing. She thought of herself as being "Hi-So" and threw out everything wether it was hers to throw out or not. When she was living with us she would use a pair of nail clippers once and then throw them out. Un - opened bottles of expensive cosmetics,jewerly, clothes. a used twice Loius Vitton bag (genuine). We used to bring meals home from the restaurant and they would use a stainless steel fork/spoon to eat and then put the spoon or fork into the container and then straight into the rubbish. No dirty stuff in the sink to wash up . Ridiculous waste ....Plus heaps of my stuff like tools etc. Drove me crazy searching for my stuff that she must have thrown out. Learnt how to search the rubbish bin to retrive stuff before the garbos came. Look at the baaaaaaaa falung !!!!!!!!

[lioness]

On second thought, I really don't have a lot to say here except, if you don't like the way your wife does it then it might be better for your peace of mind to do it yourself

My thoughts exactly.

[powderpuff]

could i say it possibly has to do with having nothing in the past(until they met you)and old habits are hard to break.when you have no money to buy things with you would keep all and everything incase it could be used later and save having to spend money.with regards to cleaning,some people are just plain lazy(no answer there)but what are you doing having a vacuum cleaner anyway.surely a thai sweep and mop of the floor will do.

I am married to a hoarder. No mistake my wife's sister keeps the cleanest house I have ever seen. She gets up a 5 am to get started. My wife too keeps house beautifully. The family like the mosquioto free 4 bathrooms.

No the problem is the inability to throw anything out. You may not believe this but I have a cupboard where there is a stack of those plastic things that come in the center of a pizza. The plastic eggs come in. Those wonderful free knives that come with a S&P cake. Yup.

But seriously. Go buy a new garden hose; replace it - take the old one & throw it in someone elses garbage can up the street. Tell her it's your money & you'll spend it how you like. Then have a discussion about how hoarding junk breeds mice rats & cockroaches. Most Thai's don't like cockroaches - even fried. Tell them you had a dream where a Thai ghost came to you in your sleep & told you to clear all the junk from your yard.

They are still gonna bathe out of a bucket - nutsy.

[BlackArtemis]

My wife constantly cleans, she likes to rearrange her closets etc when she has free time. Whenever I turn around there is laundry being done.

one thing I loved about living in Chiang Mai was that every Saturday morning she would bring loads of fresh flowers into the house.

I feel guilty sometimes because I don't do enough!

Her mother is the same way mind you.

[Loaded]

An ex Thai gf used to microwave food wrapped in tin foil. The sparks and lack of warm food didn't seem to register with her. It was quite surreal.

[clickblade]

Cleaning YOU HAVE TO LOVE THEN DONT YOU

[mccw]

Why oh why then does wifey insist that all left over food (including cooked fish, chicken, rice, and assorted thai specialties) get put in a glass cabinet where it can stay at room temperature for hours only to be devoured by visiting hordes of relatives, sometimes days later.

I use wrap for food and place in the fridge, wifey and family look at me like I just did a naughty with the family rooster.

This seems to be a habit amongst all Thais that I really don't like. I like to wrap and put in the fridge leftover foods immediately. Over the years I've had a few Thais give me that same look and say something like "mai arroy". They don't seem to understand that leaving cooked rice out for even a couple of hours is the ideal environment for the Bacillus Cereus bacteria to thrive. This will cause severe food poisoning.

Mai arroy is correct. I leave things out but covered for several hours, sometimes overnight (but i'll normally of finnished it by then) and tastes good and never been sick. Things that i'm going to re-heat later or know i'm not goin to eat go in the fridge. It took a while to get used to because of all the rubbish you see on cleaning products in the west about "ahh the germs everywhere". Overly clean enviroment makes for a weak immune system and easilly upset belly.

[mccw]

My thai missus is a bit too much in to clean and tidy, wanting me to lug all the furniture around so it can be cleaned under; where i come from thats called a "spring clean" and done once a year. She used to spend too much time cleaning or complainng about messy, so i got a cleaner to come in 2 or 3 times a week and said just let her do everything and in the middle time don't worry about it, worked like a charm, maybe too well, now the dishes pile up as thinking let the lady do em when she comes.

I like to keep bits of wood, bamboo, metal and stuff, never know when it'll come in handy, my problem is not enough space; the missus used to throw everything away but after several occassions where we had to buy more of something she has relented coz her unwillingness to spend money is stronger than her tidy nature.

[Thakkar]

Our house isn't dirty, but it's certainly messy. We all tend to leave things lying around. For instance, at any given time, each of us is reading at least one book, several mags and a newspaper or two, so reading materials are all over the place. Also: phones, calculators, coins, pens, mail, CD's, stationery, iPods, plastic folders with printouts, etc.

If mess were a living entity, ours would be a wild child because it never gets disciplined.

It wasn't always like this. It only began after we got kids. We found it's much less stressful to accept the untidiness and join the Borg. Cleanliness is maintained with several simple rules: No eating anywhere in the house or garden, except at the dinner table and clear up immediately after. No dishes allowed to pile up in the sink, vacuum every few days, and major top to bottom clean up once a week by a bevy of outside cleaners.

[wolf5370]

OK - with me its not the wife, who is anal about tidiness and cleanliness, but the MIL. When the wife's away (working abroad) the MIL comes to stay to "look after me and the kids".

I bought a vacuum cleaner, but she pushes dust and cat hairs around and leaves nice little piles everywhere (or uses one of those upright dustpans and leaves it in the corner full of dust/animal hairs). So, I vacuum instead.

She insists on keeping the empty dog and cat food tins, but likes to line them up along the window boxes out the back of the house (uncleaned) which attracts ants and flies.

She also keeps those little drinks cartons and piles them on the breakfast counter (I bag them and place them outside - give the ants more choice of cuisine outside rather than venue options.

However, the most annoying this is dustbins. I have bought three of them in the last 6 months. She keeps using them to store rice in (after cleaning I hope!) and uses an old large plastic paint pot for the rubbish - in the kichen - which has no lid so fills up with maggots and flies! So, I buy new bins WITH LIDS and eventuially she runs out of types of rice to store in them. Great, except she rarely uses them. When she cooks, she uses a carrier bag and places all offcuts, peel, shell, packaging, whatever in the bag and leaves it on the kitchen counter - if I throw it away, she just starts on a new carrier bag. If I'm out, or in the office and don't visit the kitchen, in the morning its swarming with ants and I have to pick it up and drop it into the dustbin and close the lid. It just never seems to get through to her. The dustbin is about 2 meters from the cooker, or roughly 80cm from the usual carrier bag parking spot.

Edited December 30, 2009 by wolf5370

[sagaris]

could i say it possibly has to do with having nothing in the past(until they met you)and old habits are hard to break.when you have no money to buy things with you would keep all and everything incase it could be used later and save having to spend money.with regards to cleaning,some people are just plain lazy(no answer there)but what are you doing having a vacuum cleaner anyway.surely a thai sweep and mop of the floor will do.

I am married to a hoarder. No mistake my wife's sister keeps the cleanest house I have ever seen. She gets up a 5 am to get started. My wife too keeps house beautifully. The family like the mosquioto free 4 bathrooms.

No the problem is the inability to throw anything out. You may not believe this but I have a cupboard where there is a stack of those plastic things that come in the center of a pizza. The plastic eggs come in. Those wonderful free knives that come with a S&P cake. Yup.

But seriously. Go buy a new garden hose; replace it - take the old one & throw it in someone elses garbage can up the street. Tell her it's your money & you'll spend it how you like. Then have a discussion about how hoarding junk breeds mice rats & cockroaches. Most Thai's don't like cockroaches - even fried. Tell them you had a dream where a Thai ghost came to you in your sleep & told you to clear all the junk from your yard.

They are still gonna bathe out of a bucket - nutsy.

Yep, plastic forks, tomato sauce from fast food joints, loads of cups from cinemax ( Have a walue) apparently, shoe boxes, cardboard boxes from games.

Concur with fridge situation and really concur with the bin situation and the plastic bag for peelings and left over food.

She Keeps every toiletry item from every hotel ever visited. Old magazines, newspapers.

I also personally dont like the old clothes used as pemanent floor wipers near the fridges.

Hang on.... have you ever tried to throw away an old pair of flip flops. That wont happen. They will be retrieved.

last thing is the way she wont use "the nice stuff". the beautiful clothes for the kids, so they outgrow them, the perfume so it goes off. The nice shower gel. Even sometimes the nice food. coffee.

Save for later. Its mind blowingly silly.

Going to introduce the concept of new years resolution today. Should produce huge results