Saturday, January 8, 2011

Dave Barry's cleanliness: Man vs. Woman

Hi Everyone,
I had my blog for January all written, but I when I saw this Dave Barry post on my monthly calendar, I had to share it. In this post, he makes a case on how much "cleaner" a bachelor is than a good housekeeper. Enjoy!

"There was an article that appeared recently in the New York Times, concerning household cleanliness. The article stated that your kitchen--yes, YOUR kitchen--is basically a festering swarm of potentially deadly bacteria. The most interesting part of the article concerns a discovery by a University of Arizona microbiology professor names Dr.Chuck Gerba. He has found that people who had the cleanest-looking kitchens were often the dirtiest. Because "clean" people wipe up so much, they often end up spreading bacteria all over the place. The cleanest kitchens, he said, were in the homes of bachelors, who never wiped up and just put their dirty dishes in the sink. That's right: You so-called "good housekeepers" with your so-called "cleaning" are in fact smearing bacteria around, while we so-called "slobs" are, by courageous inaction, making the world's kitchens safer for everybody. There is no need to thank us. All we ask is a little respect."


Me again: Ha! Do you agree?

22 comments:

Beth Trissel said...

Who knew? :) I'll have to ponder on this one.

Carly Carson said...

Ha. Good post. Don't agree. If true, it's because bachelors don't have children, aka germ factories. Also, doesn't matter because bachelors don't live as long as married men, so, at the end of the day, that's what counts. Take that bachelors! (j/k)

Barbara Monajem said...

What about the "divide and conquer" principle? Spread the bacteria around and there aren't enough to get a toehold. Leave them together, and they'll build an army big enough to overrun the whole castle, uh, kitchen.

Hmph. Makes at least as much sense as his theory. :~)

Toni V.S. said...

A good article, Joanne. I'm in there with the bachelors, then. I don't own a vacuum cleaner and I eat off paper plates. Just scrape 'em clean and into the trash. I also recycle, so only have actual "garbage" to empty about every 2 weeks.

Josie said...

Beth,
I've heard that there is more bacteria on a kitchen sponge than anywhere. Martha Stewart says to put the sponge in the microwave for a minute every day to remove 99.9% of the bacteria.

Josie said...

Carly,
I didn't know that bachelors didn't live as long as married men. I guess we learn something new every day.

Josie said...

Barbara,
Your "divide and conquer" principle makes sense. I wouldn't want an army of bacteria to invade my kitchen! :)

Josie said...

Toni,
I own a vacuum cleaner, but that doesn't mean I like using it. And paper plates are very useful.

Mona Risk said...

Joanne, I beg to disagree. Bachelors' home and kitchens and bathrooms are generally a mess. Of course there is a few exceptions. Don't go teach the kids not to clean in order to have less bacteria!!!

Judith Keim said...

Amazing what we do to justify our actions or inactions!! LOL Dave Barry is lots of fun! I say clean up!! Especially when you live in a warm climate like Florida!!

Mary Marvella said...

Could be that bachelors have a cleaning lady who disinfects, too! Their bathrooms were not part of this study?

Paisley Kirkpatrick said...

I have seen one extreme to the other. I think one can make themselves sick cleaning too much, sterilzing too much, and spending half their lives trying to keep everything spotless. A child of a cleanaholic, I was scare to do things because I might make a mess and people were uncomfortable coming into my Mother's house because it was so clean. On the otheer hand, it is unwise to live in a dump as well. I think a happy medium is the way to go. Be clean but don't let cleaning be the end all.

Josie said...

Mona,
I agree that a bachelor's home is usually very messy. It's all in fun and a good "excuse" for men to use.

Josie said...

Judy,
Clean up after yourself is right! If you don't want to use a sponge because of the bacteria, use a disinfectant wipe. Can you imagine all the interesting buys that would start to emerge in a warm climate? Ugh!

Josie said...

Mary,
That's very funny about the cleaning lady. I highly doubt that many bachelors would have a cleaning lady. It's all in good fun and a lame excuse to not clean.

Josie said...

Paisley,
I also lived in a very clean house, but we weren't afraid to have friends over a make a mess. Hopefully my own home is a happy medium.

Joan Leacott said...

I heard one comic say that men viewed the floor as one big shelf. Guess this goes with the dirty kitchen excuse.

Josie said...

Joan,
As the mom of a 16 year old girl, I think that teenagers regard their floors as 1 big shelf, also.

Scarlet Pumpernickel said...

Hey, I'll put my kitchen up against any bachelors! I'm a writer not a housekeeper. Write on!

Josie said...

Scarlet,
LOL! That right---writing comes first, then housecleaning. :)

Clarissa Southwick said...

Well, that's reassuring. LOL. I live in a house full of teenage boys. I should be safe. :)

Josie said...

Clarissa,
With all those teenage boys, you should be beyond safe. :0