Opposite attract...and then they attack!

There is no clear winner yet, and I'm not talking about the Presidential Primaries. I am talking about the battle that is waging in the South household. Jared and I disagree on how clean a "clean house" is. I hate clutter and messes and unvacuumed carpets while he likes his house to have a "lived in" feel to it. Unless it comes to his tool box, garage, or storage room, he thinks that putting things away means leaving it where it lies. He says that that way he can always find what he is looking for. Meanwhile, I am constantly following behind him and putting things away. This system causes problems though. For example:

Jared: Where are my pants?

Me: Hanging in the closet.

Jared: Why are they there?

Me: Because that is where they go.

Jared: If you would leave them on the floor I would be able to find them.

Me: If you would put them away you would too.

Jared: They are away on the floor. That is where I like them.

If the house is not clean, I am not happy. It causes me too much stress. I can't sit down and enjoy a movie, or take a nap, or do much of anything if there are messes everywhere. Jared says I create my own insanity. I say he creates my insanity by making messes. One of my biggest irritations is when he leave his church clothes lying on the floor because that means more cleaning and ironing and possibly dry cleaning that could have been avoided. Two Sundays ago I was picking up the bedroom when I made a decision. I would leave all of his mess alone over on his side of the bed. I thought that this would last a couple of days and then he would admit that it is nice to have me help clean up and that would be that. But NO!!! It took him 5 days to even mention the mess, and instead of acknowledging how helpful I am, he told me that it is nice to have his mess left alone. I was clearly not winning this battle. Score 1 for him. Two days later, on Sunday, he got out of the shower and instead of getting dressed, went out and watched TV. I smiled to myself, because I knew why. A few minutes later he came in to me and asked me what he was going to wear that day since his church clothes were all wrinkly on the floor. I suggested that he iron them. Score 1 for me! Unfortunately, he has extra shirts so he only had to iron the pants. That night I walk into our bedroom to find...

his church shirt draped over our headboard and MY nightstand,
his sock carefully placed on our TV,
and his pants hanging from our lamp on our dresser. I am starting to sweat it at this point. I may have to admit defeat. He is a much more worthy opponent than I first thought. But I suck it up, add the clothes to his growing pile, and admit he has earned another point. A few days pass and he mentions that there are too many cups on his nightstand and needs to put them in the sink. I am excited!!! He is going to clean up the mess. He then takes all of the cups and puts them in the BATHROOM sink. Score 1 for him, again. The next morning I move the cups back to his nightstand. Score 1 for me. Last night he was looking for his slippers. I suggested that he dig through his pile. He tells me that it is too messy over there to find anything and starts throwing all of his mess onto the bed and floor. I can tell that he wants me to break down and clean it, but he doesn't want to admit it. I have told him over and over these past two weeks that all I want is for him to admit that it is nice to have me clean and a promise to stop complaining about me cleaning. I guess he is not ready to admit defeat yet either. He goes out to the car and I hurriedly throw all of us stuff back over to his side of the bed before joining him. I would post pictures of his side of the bedroom, but I just can't bring myself to show anyone this mess, yet. The scoreboard is pretty much even right now. How much longer until we have a winner?