I'm good at taking care of my things. I don't destroy them, ignore them, rip them, mess them up, break them, smear crap on them, or just leave it to luck it won't malfunction somehow if I don't maintain it.

I learned very early on money does not grow on trees and that your parents won't always be able to pull whatever you want/broke out of a hat. I learned very early on that living in/caring for the house was a family responsibility and NOT something you had to do only when it occurred to you to do it. I learned early on that if you knowingly neglect to care for your home and the contents within (including family members), and it results in breaking/malfunctioning, it will not be replaced.

However, in MY experience as matriarch of THIS household, here are the following things I've learned:

I learned that 5 seconds of cleaning out the lint trap in the dryer will prevent the dryer from eventually breaking down, taking longer to dry clothes, expending more energy (e.g. higher bills) or worst case scenario, burning down the frickin' house and killing everyone within the house.

I learned that if you continue to load the dishwasher with wads of food and coffee grounds still in/on the dishes, the dish washer WILL break and your spouse will have to increase her credit debt and buy a new dish washer to fix YOUR mistake.

I learned that crumbs strewn all around the toaster (or all over every available space on the kitchen counter) are in fact NOT visible to the naked eye for some odd reason and therefore, does not need to be removed.

I learned it's okay to clean/clear things around the house half-way even though you have two very young kids in that house who get into and touch EVERYTHING.

I learned that asking for something to be done is not enough. Demanding/ordering for something to be done isn't enough either when asking doesn't work. And when the demanding/ordering fails to give you results, and you have to resort to screaming/yelling and threatening, that IT is also not enough b/c you've only done it about 523 times.

Maybe the 524th time will be the charm - but who knows. Apparently, I have a great deal of lessons still to learn.

I have a prediction....I think the next lesson I learn will be "Laziness - why mine is more important than your well being".