Classic Moment: Messy Partners Debate

# When Messiness Kills Attraction: The Deal-Breaker You Might Not See Coming

Ever noticed how your feelings can change when you discover your partner's messy habits? You're not alone. A fascinating new study reveals that 37% of Americans feel less attracted to their partners due to messiness, while 61% admit clutter creates relationship tension. This eye-opening conversation explores how cleanliness affects our perception of others - from nightmare roommate stories to first date disasters where a trash-filled car became an immediate deal-breaker.

## Timestamps & Key Takeaways:

**0:00-1:15** - The study: 37% of Americans find partners less attractive due to messiness
* Clutter causes tension in 61% of relationships
* First impressions about cleanliness often become relationship deal-breakers

**1:15-2:30** - Personal experiences with messy people
* College roommate horror stories
* How car cleanliness reveals personality traits

**2:30-3:45** - Dating disasters related to messiness
* The first date ruined by a trash-filled car
* How living together often forces cleanliness adjustments

**3:45-5:30** - Billy's extreme cleanliness habits
* Washing down the boat before eating
* Cleaning around people while they're still eating

**5:30-6:15** - Pop culture references to messiness
* The classic Friends episode with Ross and Rebecca Romaine's disgusting apartment

Whether you're the neat freak or the messy one in your relationship, this conversation will have you laughing in recognition while possibly eyeing that pile of laundry with new concern. Listen now to discover if your cleaning habits might be secretly affecting your love life!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
At least a done ban on the show. She's the
Queen of Studies.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
No, okay, you've got cool studies every morning.

Speaker 3 (00:08):
This one actually is really interesting. It says a third
of Americans admit a partner's messiness makes them less attractive. So,
whether it's dirty socks or towels laying all over the floor,
thirty seven percent of partner's messiness made them feel less
attracted to them, and then sixty one percent admitted that
clutter causes tension in their relationship.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
Yeah. I got to tell you.

Speaker 4 (00:27):
When I first moved on to campus at Merrimack College,
my biggest fear was having a roommate who I didn't
know and have never met, and it turns out he
was from Canada and a complete slob.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
I would clean up after him.

Speaker 3 (00:44):
Well, you're very OCD, so I can totally see that happening.
I always look at someone's car.

Speaker 5 (00:51):
You can tell a lot by all other person by
how clean their car is on the inside.

Speaker 3 (00:56):
Yes, very much. So it's harder I think with families,
like with young kids and stuff like that, to keep
a car like, you know, really really really clean. But
that is a good thing. I actually agree with this list.

Speaker 1 (01:09):
It would be a deal breaking for me.

Speaker 5 (01:10):
I have a friend who went on a first date
with a girl that he was into, you know, physically
attracted to her.

Speaker 3 (01:17):
Nice.

Speaker 5 (01:17):
They had a good connection. They went on a date.
She offered to pick him up. She came, he got
in the car, they went to dinner, she dropped him off,
and he never spoke to her again because her car
was so dirty.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
On the inside.

Speaker 5 (01:30):
Oh there was stuff. There was trash on the floor, clambellies. Yeah,
he looked down in between the seats. He could see
all the food that fell. O. God, no, which is
tough to get out. But for me, my wife when
we moved in together, kind of changed me. I mean,

(01:50):
I mean, I'm I'm a clean but like I'm a dude.
So I lived by myself. So I wasn't the cleanest,
you know. I was a little messy. And my wife
is very clean and she got me in order pretty fast. Yeah,
you know, the clutter and all that.

Speaker 1 (02:03):
See.

Speaker 4 (02:03):
I loved the years when I lived alone. All due
respect to my wife, I'm even happier now, but living alone,
I didn't have to worry about anything.

Speaker 1 (02:12):
Everything was constantly.

Speaker 5 (02:14):
Well you're you're a freak.

Speaker 3 (02:16):
Yeah, you're so neat.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
Yeah, I'm talking about all over the marina.

Speaker 3 (02:19):
Yeah, like you have cleaners come and then you clean
after they leave.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
I cleaned before they get there too.

Speaker 5 (02:26):
No, what am I being judged? One of my favorite
Billy stories happened this summer. We went to pe Town.
We sailed down on Billy's boat. It was fantastic. Three couples.
You know, I'm starving. It's a two hour journey to
Pee Town. We get off and my wife I say
to my wife, you.

Speaker 1 (02:40):
Know when I go eat, now stop.

Speaker 5 (02:42):
My wife goes, I'm starving too. We docked there, right, Lisa,
and I'm like, let's go, and they're like, no, we
can't leave yet. Bill has to wash down the boat
with a hose. Okay, and there's Billy. Then he comes
and gets me and makes me drag all these hoses
up to help them. And there he is hosing down.
Hold on, ready for at least the clean boat. Yeah,

(03:04):
I was.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
She's just the thing about boating though, it's just a
giant flex Okay, Especially you go into a visiting marina,
you want to make sure, you know, everything looks good, shiny,
but you want to get the salt off too, you
know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
No, I'm a freak with it. I'm a freak.

Speaker 5 (03:18):
I wanted the lobster role. I just landed. It was
my cheat, weak vacation and you're hosing it down.

Speaker 3 (03:24):
Well, I was on the boat, I don't know, maybe
like a year ago, and you know we were all
like eating and billy like we were all sitting at
like the little bar still area and you were cleaning
up before anyone had stopped eating their lunch, like you
or you had the spray bottle out with a napkin
and you were like spraying around all of our plates. Yeah,
it was really weird.

Speaker 1 (03:44):
Yeah, it's it's my wife, Michelle's pet peeve.

Speaker 4 (03:47):
Like She'll be having a lunch, yeah, and I'll come
walking over and I'll spray the counter.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
And she'll lift up her dish. My god, what are
you doing like like chemicals. I'm like, right, I don't know.
There was a spot on the counter.

Speaker 5 (04:01):
And imagine he wanted my wife and I to sleep
on his boat. Why don't you sleep on the boat.
How about no ware?

Speaker 1 (04:09):
No god?

Speaker 6 (04:09):
Byseses story about the friend who went on the day
in the car was mess and he never called them again.
Makes me think of that episode of Friends where Ross
went out with Rebecca Romaine and she went back to
her apartment and it was so disgusting to put his
hand in like putting or something while they were making out,
and it was a rat and a bag of chips. Oh,
such a funny episode.