Husband Says the Secret to a Happier Marriage Starts With a Clean House
“Happy wife, happy life” is a joke commonly used by married couples.
However, one husband says that he’s unlocked a new life-changing phrase that has made him reconsider how he and his wife share household duties. According to The Minimalists, “calm house, calm spouse” may be the catchphrase married couples should be using instead.
And judging by the responses to his video, he’s not the only one who feels this way. In fact, many wives have left comments confirming this theory, saying that they completely relate to this concept because they feel more stressed out when there’s a mess at home.
It’s not just because they find the clutter visually overstimulating, either. One woman said she finds things being out of place stressful because she knows that she will have to be the one to clean it. Meanwhile, others say that a little mess makes them feel more relaxed.
Husband Claims His Wife is Happier When the House is Clean
Ethan Lapierre originally shared the video, which was then used by The Minimalists. In the clip, Lapierre waxes poetic about his home life. “There is a direct correlation between my wife’s happiness and our house looking like no one lives in it,” he said in the video.
“I saw someone say that and I think it’s true,” he continued. “Maybe it’s a little dramatic, or a touch exaggerated, but I’m telling you when the countertops are cleared off, the smile is a little brighter.”
He went on to describe how both his and his wife’s moods improve as the clutter disappears from the house, saying that he now understands that they both see clutter a little differently. “So now when my wife says, ‘This house is a mess,’ I’m not hearing, ‘Oh, we have to do chores,'” he revealed, saying that he now hears “stress management” and “I need help,” which allows him to jump into action so that they can both enjoy their home a little bit more.
People Agree With the ‘Calm House, Calm Spouse’ Concept
It seems that many spouses were already familiar with the idea, and they were quick to talk about why it works in the comments. “The divorce rate could be cut by a huge percentage if all men understood this,” one person wrote.
“One psychological point behind that is how the women see the clutter and know they’ll have to clean it eventually,” another wrote. “It’s an exhausting state of mind to live in. Men either don’t see it because they never had to because of their mothers, or they see it and know someone will do it for them, so it doesn’t affect their mood.”
According to Psychology Today, the video and the responses may be spot on. A 2010 study found that wives who felt that their homes were cluttered were likely to have higher cortisol levels throughout the day. Meanwhile, those who viewed their houses as uncluttered tended to see their levels drop during the day.
Of course, the same can’t be said for everyone. There were even some folks in the comments who said that they were okay with a bit of a mess at home. “Personally, I need a little chaos. Not a lot, but too many clean surfaces make me feel uncreative and sad,” they wrote. “That said, my criteria for buying things is, ‘Do I want to dust this or store it?’ Usually nope.”
While it’s clear that different people have different responses to clutter, those who have a more unfavorable response to it tend to have a harder time at home when they view their space as cluttered. The good news is that it seems like it’s an easy fix when their spouse is willing to get involved and tackle some of the messes so they don’t just fall to one person.
