Relationship Advice on Places and Spaces 

One of our friends, let’s call her Sherry, recently met an attractive guy named Mark in the most unlikely of places (at least, in his opinion): a home remodeling and building center. They were both there on a Saturday night.

After bumping into each other on several aisles, Sherry, noticing Mark wasn't wearing a ring, smiled at him and said, "What does it say about both of us that were wandering around Home Depot at 8:30 on a Saturday night?" 

A conversation followed. Mark, also noticing that Sherry wasn't wearing a ring either, asked for her phone number.

In the next two months, they saw each other several times a week.

But at that point, Sherry began to grow a little suspicious. They spent all their time at her condo, and Mark seemed reluctant to invite her to her home, even though he had stayed overnight at hers more than once.

She was relieved however, when he said one night at a restaurant, "I'd love to have you come to my place for dinner, but I'm doing some remodeling right now. I'm in the middle of a couple of projects. The house is a mess."

A few weeks later, when they were out together, he mentioned that he’d forgotten something and needed to go back and pick it up.

“Great,” she said. I’ll finally get to see your home.

"Put your blinders on when you come in," he said. "Promise me you won't look around."

He was right. It WAS a mess. But he reminded her, “I’m re-doing a lot of stuff. It doesn’t always look like this.

He was right. When Sherry saw the place again—a couple of months later—it looked worse.

None of the "projects" Mark was “working on” ever seemed to get finished. But more projects were always getting started.

And each time she came to Mark’s house, she realized that it was becoming more and more cluttered.

Soon after, she ended the relationship.

While we believe a home doesn’t need to look like a picture from Good Housekeeping, you should be able to walk across the living room floor without tripping on a claw hammer, kicking a piece of two-by-four lumber, or stepping into a pile of sawdust.

You should also be able to visit your Prince’s castle to see how clean and organized it is. While we know plenty of women who are slovenly, we don’t know any who expect their spouses to clean up after them.

Sorry to sound sexist, but the same cannot be said for most husbands.

Sherry knew she would be living on a construction site if she married Mark, and she took appropriate action.

Is his car really messy and dirty? One of our friends says she distrusts any man who doesn’t keep a trash bag in his car.

We think she’s holding men to a standard that many women don’t even observe, but…

Like a home, the inside of a car is a pretty good indication of what your living space will look like someday if you marry him.

If the car is pristine on your first few dates, but a couple of months later you start finding candy wrappers between the seats, cold, hard french fries on the floor, and a layer of dust on the dashboard…

Guess what!

You’re going to have your hands full keeping your home clean after you set up housekeeping together.