Have you become more 'precise' as you've aged

Think of the japanese tea ceremony, well it has nothing on my coffee ceremony!! For me the cafetiere should be warmed, the kettle brought to the boil but NOT actually boil. my particular coffee spoon which has the correct amount used. The choice of 2 or 3 royal worcester white mugs, coffee must be allowed to stand after being stirred for a time I decide. Then when it is exactly as I like it it is poured into my china. Whatever time I wake up - unfortunately at the moment about 4am, I improve the day by always having this coffee ready to be able to sit in silence and listen to Bach before 7, and choose to see that as resetting the morning for the better. Take my own china if I have coffee in a cafe, not using horrible cardboard or thick and horrible earthenware. So it goes on. Now living alone I am perfectly happy behaving like this, as in a way I sort of regain control of the day by cheering my morning up with my coffee. I wish there was a perfume "eau de cafe" I would wear it for a while in the morning - to be followed by "eau de new mown hay" or even "eau de newly tarred road"!!

These things improve my day and therefore are good. Going out in the garden and doing anything outside comes way above things like dusting or hoovering, but I must be clean myself and have clean clothes. So it all comes down to really whether you live alone and can chose everything to be as you like it, or live with someone else, where I would say there has to be a conversation, and some give and take to a certain extent but NOT where you are expected to respect their foibles but they dont respect yours.

I am tidy but, in my view, it makes it easier to be laid back.

I'm a bit of both. If I'm doing something its the "it'll do" approach. If someone else is doing work, it's definitely got to be 100% correct.

I don’t think it’s a question of being more precise, but as we age, we have neither the time to spare nor the money to get things wrong? I’m meticulous with paperwork - usually making a point of doing it, at my desk, once a week and either shredded afterwards or filed for future reference.
I do plan some things ahead, why drive 30 miles to a shop that isn’t open - a waste of time and petrol.
Domestically, I’ve always run a fairly tidy home - I hate going to bed and leaving any mess for the next day. When the DDs were at school, I’d lay the kitchen table for breakfast before I went to bed - saved so much time and hassle.

My husband is increasingly precise and takes everything VEEY literally ...more and more as he gets older

I’m definitely a ‘that’ll do’ person but prevarication has become my middle name in old age. DH has always been precise because of his job but I’m sure he’s now bordering on OCD.

I have always been methodical as far as my work was concerned, but at home, as long as the place was clean it could be untidy without my being bothered.

That changed when I was about fifty - I don't know why, but I could no longer live with stuff lying just anywhere, but had to have it tidied away.

At work I was very precise and tidy,t at home far more relaxed about everything i.e. housework and tidyness

My first cup of tea HAS to be in a white China mug.

Scribbles

Oreo
... but DP has become very strange about what mug he uses, even saying that particular ones are for tea and others for coffee confused

Oh yes. Thank heavens I'm not alone in my compulsion. I'm pretty laid back about most things but, for reasons lost in the mists of time, tea in this house must always be in a green mug and coffee in a blue one.

😆
I had no idea that so many have these sort of preferences when it comes to mugs, I can see that DP is in good company with his whims.

I tend to do things at the time, otherwise if I leave "what ever" , it will be on a back burner for ages, then it's a that will do attitude.

Nah- I work out if it is worth the bother and if not I just think life is too short to worry at the tail end of my existence. You can’t take anything with you.

Kate1949

No. I'm still slap dash. I'm very much a 'that'll do' type of person.

So am I!

Sometimes think, "that is good enough" should be put on my headstone!

Glad to know it’s not just me with the mug issue!

Certain mugs for certain drinks and times of day. DH thinks it’s odd but then he drinks certain alcoholic drinks in certain glasses 😕

I’m quite laid back about things otherwise.

Witzend

It would depend in what sphere. I’m probably more precise (aka pedantic!) over language, and I’m a bit of a perfectionist with cooking and knitting, but apart from that I’ve probably got more ‘just CBA’ with age.

I totally agree.
A bit “live and let live”in any life attitudes

Slap dash Me and getting worse.
DH precise 😏

Nightsky2
Just remember the good thing about tomorrow is. It never comes

posset

I'm Queen of slap dash - "it'll do" is my mantra!

My mantra is….I’ll do that tomorrow but when tomorrow comes there’s always something I’d much rather be doing like sitting in the garden listening to my radio or reading my book.

DH is incredible fussy, always has been and always needed to be in his profession except when it comes to the kitchen, in particular around the sink. He slops what’s left in his coffee mug, soup bowl , tea mug into the sink and leaves a mess which drives me potty as it’s a white sink. Honestly it’s like when he used to share a flat with five other law students and they were a messy untidy lot😞. Some things you just don’t forget even if it has been 55 years.

Another one who is very picky about which mug I have my morning tea and coffee in. In the morning it’s got to be one for tea and another for coffee. In the afternoon it’s got to be the mug with the bunny rabbits on. I’ve been known to tip my tea, made by DH into the rabbit mug. It’s sad. 😀.

Oreo
... but DP has become very strange about what mug he uses, even saying that particular ones are for tea and others for coffee confused

Oh yes. Thank heavens I'm not alone in my compulsion. I'm pretty laid back about most things but, for reasons lost in the mists of time, tea in this house must always be in a green mug and coffee in a blue one.

kittylester

I have always been a bit slap dash (or, my preference, relaxed) and have become more so as I have got older.

DH, on the other hand, worked in a profession where accuracy was vital. He seems to be becoming more precise as the years go by.

What about you?

DH, on the other hand, worked in a profession where accuracy was vital. He seems to be becoming more precise as the years go by.

I'm accurate, I believe I'm ever more precise as year pass.

...^and the Big Picture of imaginative solutions (realistic or not).^

I do like that, must try to remember it!!

Oreo

Lathyrus3

I prefer to think I am someone who “works to the big picture” and doesn’t get hung up on detail😬

Having said that I have noticed that I have developed a need for certain mugs and cups at particular times of the day - the morning tea mug, the breakfast coffee mug, the afternoon tea mug, the camomile cup and saucer…..
It doesn’t taste the same if I can’t find the right one.

And there I am back into slapdash. Where did I leave that mug?
🙄🤔🤣

Funny you should say that, as I don’t care about having certain things but DP has become very strange about what mug he uses, even saying that particular ones are for tea and others for coffee

Well, I'm with your DP!
China mugs for tea, but not absolutely necessary for coffee.

I do like everything in order but am rather too slapdash to do it all thoroughly too often. When I whizzed round with a duster and quick vacuum this morning I remembered my Mum saying it would be more of a lick and a polish than a good clean.

But just noticed the pouffé's on its side in the conservatory after I vacuumed and it's annoying me 🤔 Not enough to do something about it though.

DH is certainly a lot more interested in housework than he used to be. Always been meticulous about paperwork. Director of Filling Forms.

Jaxjacky

I’m very precise in ‘managing’, insurances, car MOT’s, tax, medical appointments etc.
But actual doings in the house, or leisure I'm still of the what I can get away with mentality.

Snap.

I also swing between loving "Detail" (getting a dress repair just right, precision in word choice..

...and the Big Picture of imaginative solutions (realistic or not).

But easy going generally unless someone is truly nasty or offensive.

It’s good to know I’m not on my own over cups and mugs.