I grew up with an older brother and lived with a male roommate for a short period so I can attest to the fact that living with a man is a VERY different experience, and you learn a lot about them once you do. I asked women of the BuzzFeed Community to share what they learned about guys after living with them. Let's just say some of the responses I received had me both cackling and nodding my head in agreement. Here is what some had to say.
1. "I do not understand how we both live in the same house, with the same kitchen, and he still can't find shit. Or put it away where it has gone for the six years we have lived here, so now I can't find it. Seriously, my love, the Crockpot is in the same cupboard on the same shelf it has always been."
2. "I’ve found that men are loud. Like, really loud. Even if nobody is over, then they’ll be screaming at the TV. It's so funny but annoying at the same time."
—Anonymous
3. "The amount of time they spend doing mindless activities like playing video games or just hanging out in the garage with their tools. I’m not sure how much time can be spent in the garage or on the toilet. Blew my mind."
4. "I’m a registered nurse, and once my boyfriend and I moved in together, I realized he doesn’t wash his hands very well. I witnessed him only wash his fingertips for what seemed to be, like, legit three seconds, and BOOM, he’s done! He still does that to this day; it’s so gross to me. He also would rather sneeze snot over his face and not hold the sneeze in if he’s not in the vicinity of tissues or napkins."
—Lexy, 31
5. "No skincare routine. My husband rarely washes his face (he rarely breaks out) and doesn’t use any type of lotion. It’s maddening. I wash my face morning and night followed by serums, eye creams, and moisturizer. I get out of the shower, and I have to slather myself with lotion. I don’t understand how he doesn’t look or feel like Death Valley."
6. "Never mind the living room or dining room that we would be entertaining in, he’d head for the Legos and dust bunnies behind the couch in the family room. Thanksgiving? Time to tidy the deck or patio so that nobody will be due to Midwest temps. Birthday party? Better get the garage sorted, even though the party’s in the back!"
7. "How many items get lost or broken when it comes to guys. I've had three guy roommates, all at different times, and several of my dishes and flatware have just disappeared. Plus, not doing dishes until there is nothing left to eat with. I ended up buying a whole new set of flatware so I had forks and spoons. Also, all of them did laundry, like, EVERY DAY! What were you washing every day? When my last roommate moved out, my heating bill dramatically dropped. Although I'm still good friends with my last roommate, I'm happy to have my own space again."
8. "I learned that men can be just about as petty as you can imagine. I remained friends with a male roommate’s girlfriend after they broke up, a friendship he encouraged when they began dating, mind you. He got upset that we were still hanging out even though she never came over to our house. So upset that he moved his 72-inch television out of the living room and into his bedroom so that I couldn’t watch it. Not to mention that this meant our other male roommates no longer had access to a common room television."
"Our other male roommate couldn’t stand confrontation and left a baking sheet he thought was dirty (it was clean) on our coffee table for three weeks as some sort of 'lesson' to clean up after me. Again, it was clean, and it was my pan to begin with. Finally, he sent me an eight-page text message (pre-smart phones) detailing why he left it there and the lesson he was trying to teach me instead of just talking to me. He was one floor above me when he sent the text. Men. Smh."
—Anonymous
9. "How attentive they are! I always have a full water, socks on my feet, and the light turned on right before I notice I need it. There’s NyQuil next to me if I’m just starting to feel stuffy and coffee waiting if I have an early morning. Every year we live together, it gets better and better. I just never knew that men were so observant. Also, how can they notice if I am running low on cotton pads but not see all the beard hair in their sink?"
10. "Men's skin can be so oily that it damages fabric. My husband showers every day, but white sheets will turn yellow over time (yes, I wash them regularly!) from him laying in them, and I had to throw away a cute upholstered headboard because it developed a grease mark from his hair touching it at night. I learned to always buy him a green toothbrush or else he won't remember which one is his and he'll accidentally use mine. Also, men can love cute things as much as women. When we adopted our first kitten together, he was obsessed! He genuinely enjoys the whimsical decor I've put in our home."
11. "How they can turn their brains off! I always have an inner monologue and thoughts running a mile a minute, but my husband and son can just decide to turn that bit of their thought process off."
12. "They have no idea how the menstrual cycle works, and female anatomy in general is alien to them."
13. "I grew up in a house with three boys. I had to hide food deep in the pantry if I didn’t want them to get to it first. The bathroom always reeked of pee. I don’t miss it."
14. "I grew up with older brothers and my father. I always thought I would never want to live with a boy again after that for the 'usual' reasons. My now-husband is nothing like the men I grew up living with. We are very much on the same page with how we like to live and keep house. There is no arguing over beard shavings, toilet seats, dirty dishes, etc. It's peaceful and comfortable. I learned that a healthy relationship with good communication means there doesn't need to be any unnecessary tension. If I don't like that he left his socks on the floor, I just tell him, and he puts them in the hamper. He is incredibly respectful, very different from the men I was raised around."
—Anonymous
15. "Men get their sense of value from different things than women, and in different ways. They want to know that the things they do (work, achievements, effort) no matter how small, are seen and appreciated and that you respect them because of it."
—Anonymous
16. "My husband is a lot tidier than I am. I didn’t even realize what a slob I was until we started living together when we were dating. He may not be aware of this, but that realization is what helped motivate me to be tidier, and I continue to be because of him almost 13 years later."
—Anonymous
17. "So I just got married and was prepared from the horror stories my friends had told me: 'They don’t clean, never cook, just watch TV, etc.' So I come home after a LONG day at work, and what do I see? My husband had cleaned, cooked my favorite food, and gave me a massage all while watching TV."
