not satisfied with having control of all the entire house, my wife is now tring to muscle in on what happens in "my" garage and "tidy" it up.
que lots of "why are there so many bikes in here" "i never knew you had so many" "what are all these bike bits for??" etc etc.

HELP!

say you'll be clearing the wardrobe out while she's down there.

I've taken to enticing spiders into both my workshop and the garage by leaving dead flies near the doors. My wife won't go near them 🙂

You need a bigger garage 😉

It always amazed me that there would be constant moaning about being untidy around the house, yet a woman will casually launch any garden furniture, empty cardboard boxes etc into the garage with never a second thought

My wife was banned from the garage and shed in 1998 (when she dropped shovel on my motorbike).

Binners, s'not the HOUSE, izzit? 😉

nothing to discuss… put your foot down… no compromise!

many years ago i suggested knocking a door through from house to garage, what a mistake that was, non garage/male/my things kept appearing on my workbench.

built my own house last year, the garage is integral… insulated and heated but not accessible without going outside… it's all mine!

+1, Binners – but I can't complain too much while I have 2 bikes hanging in the utility room, which Mrs Fadda keeps banging her head on!

Spiders, it's full of spiders, that should keep her out!

You have to avoid getting yourself in deeper though. be careful with the protests

"what the hell is my …. (insert which member of your bike collection)… doing buried under a pile of boxes?!!!!
"whats the problem, they're only cardboard boxes"
"I don't like you just lobbing boxes on top of it! do you know how much that thing cost?!!!"
"Actually…no. You never mentioned how much it cost. Would you care to enlighten me now"
"erm……"

my ex (still living in the same house) operates an "if it looks tidy, is tidy" policy

ie she will clear surfaces etc – but when you open the cupboard you get hit by falling hoovers/ saucepans / ironing boards etc as everything has just been thrown in.

Find a wife with fewer control/cleaning issues.

coffeeking – Member
Find a wife with fewer control/cleaning issues.

Ah, if life were that simple we wouldn't need garages.

There are two sets of keys to my garage.
My set and my spare set.
It's an effective way of keeping her out.

grievoustim – Member
my ex (still living in the same house) operates an "if it looks tidy, is tidy" policy

ie she will clear surfaces etc – but when you open the cupboard you get hit by falling hoovers/ saucepans / ironing boards etc as everything has just been thrown in.

Same here. When I helped move Mrs JB into my place, her (shared house) was spotless, just as long as you didn't look at anything over 5'5" high (mean height of girls in shared house).

Above the 5'5" threshold, the whole house was rancid.

we now live in a fairly perpetual level of untidy chaos, but at least there's no nasty surprises for tall people :-/

I don't have a garage.
🙁

i won't have a garage for much longer

😐

>Ah, if life were that simple we wouldn't need garages.

If life were that simple we wouldn't need women 😉

My OH generally isn't that bad – at our old place I kept 3 bikes under the stairs without too much grumbling. But she is a bugger for complaining about stuff being left around, yet used to leave the week's ironed clothes hanging up all round the bedroom (now sorted 'cos we've got a large spare bedroom where the wardrobes are – aka her changing room.

On the other hand…she's **** useless at keeping the kitchen tidy, why use one plate or utensil when you can use 4. Never heard of 'washing up as yer going along' either…

Once she threw out an unopened bottle of aftershave she'd given me (there were a couple of others there, plus razor, and not much else of mine) whilst tidying some (cutlery) drawers of cosmetics etc stored in the bathroom
'you've never used it'

'thats barely 2 square inches, you've got at least 4 drawers of your stuff in here, how much room did that take?'

'oh'

I've been talking about painting the 'den' (kinda workshop thing at the bottom of the garden) green – actually using some paint we'd used in the hall at our old place. Oh no, can't do that, it's too bright. She almost *never* goes there, it's bikes, tools, and paint…which I've pointed out, and I think she's cottoned on 😉

You should allow your sons into the garage, otherwise they'll never learn skills like how to whittle, saw, take your things to bits, break stuff with hammers, spill paint and make a flame thrower from a can of WD40

no questions, no comprimise, there is no conversation to be had.

she can have the rest of the house, but she will never take your garage!

a guy has to have a sanctuary he can retreat to, something that smells of solvents, GT85, Petrol, Swarfega, and has shiney spanners in it.
and where he can leave a bike in its component pieces and not have to clear it up at the end of the day, and the tools will bexactly where you left them!

if i were in your position, i would buy myself a yale lock, secure the hell out of the garage, and leave it at that.

wife to me – You can't have any more bikes, there isn't enough room
me – look of dispair on my face
wife – we need a bigger house, and I want a SS 😆

I'm happy..

(edit) she is serious, so now, I might have to give up my saturday ride, to work, so that I can afford new flat with extra space 🙁

Ah, if life were that simple we wouldn't need garages.

I dont, I have 5 bikes in the flat with us 🙂

Politely ask her to stop imposing on your sanctuary or making changes and if she doesn't you should start leaving spanners, tyres, jerry cans etc around the house

If she approaches stand in the doorway revving a chainsaw! Keep her out at all costs. It will feel dirty and "wrong" if she gets in there and starts polishing!

If she keeps intefering pay for her to go on a spa break. Use the time to move all her stuff into the garage, and all your bikes into the house.

You probably wont have to worry about her interfering for too much longer.

I need my shed because I do not feel at home in the house. My wife's away at present, and I have moved into the spare room. Even so, it feels like I'm house-sitting. 🙁

A man's refuge is sacrasanct.

I find that having locks on the door keeps mine that way, as she who must be obeyed struggles to open them even with the keys.

I empathise with you all though.

My View:

Tidy = knowing where things are, even if they happen to be on a table-top or shelf

Her view:

Tidy = Nothing on any table top or shelf, everything must be stuffed into a cupboard or the bin.

The upshot of this being me wandering about the house looking for my things, hoping that they haven't been thrown away or hidden forever.

As a rule, men and women have different ideas about how to live.

Pointing-out that they married a heterosexual, real man rather than Gok Wan should resolve any dis-agreements 😉

I need my shed because I do not feel at home in the house. My wife's away at present, and I have moved into the spare room. Even so, it feels like I'm house-sitting

I feel you on that one. Mrs North is currently unwell and, being off work all week, took up her parents' offer to stay with them. Which means that she isn't left at home alone. Good for her, but now I am..!

Other than opening and closing curtains, I have not been into the living room, the back bedroom or the top floor bedroom all week. The night before last, I did not leave the kitchen, preferring to do my bike fettling (some advantages) and dinner preparation and eating in there.

I have, however, retuned the bedroom radio away from 5Live to Radio 4. 🙂

Oh, and to answer the OP – we have a cellar, but no garage/shed. It's cold and dark down there, so Mrs North refuses to venture down at any time. She is welcome to any time. I don't believe in demarcation like this in the home. And, besides, I'm tidier than her… 😀

she can have the rest of the house, but she will never take your garage!

<<Mel Gibson mode>>
"Ye can tek oor lives, but ye can nivir tek oor garages!!"
<</Mel Gibson mode>>

😆

There is a section of our garage that contains a 2nd freezer and the tumble drier, but thankfully my wife rarely ventures further in than that. Just as well, because if she was in there regularily she'd spot when a new bike has been added (as happened earlier this week).

She does occasionally complain about the mess, but with no real conviction.

My mate has lots of expensive toys in his garage & if his wife asks he says they're mine.

I keep telling him if anything happens to him I'm straight round there to get them back.

Moaning. It must be Friday! 😆

shed, garage, loft. Mans places.

Your wife is only allowed into those places if she's bringing beer/tea/coffee/cakes or is offering to clean your bikes for you.

Oh I suppose they're allowed in if they've got bikes of their own, but they've got to pretend they're men and talk about girls and cars.

Last spring while sat out on the patio my wife asked
"just how many bikes are in the garage?"

So I got them all out (spare frames/wheels & components were left in the garage

Her reply "quite a few then" she's never once complained and was quite understanding when I got a shed for the garden stuff so it was bikes only in the garage and I even took a mountain bike with me on honeymoon.

Being an mtber I know where every thing is in the garage and how to use it.
However I did insist on some wardrobes being fitted to keep the camping gear clean and dry.
Blimey I even know how to mow the lawn and use the tools. However I think I went a step too far getting some nice pieces of old curtain swatches for wiping down bikes., They're draped nicely over the work bench.

shed

I think the comments in the blog on the front page from the potters house will give you all the information you need to get this one sorted out.

Does your wife have to pass through the garage on her way to the kitchen?

No?

So what's she doing in there,then?

It's perfectly acceptable for her to come into the garage on the way back from the kitchen with an ice cold bottle of beer for you though! (Already opened of course).

😉