I am a big fan of being productive. It is one of my qualities that, frankly, annoys my husband. I know this because when I began a question the other day that started with, “Babe, could we…” He interrupted (in all earnest) “No, we cannot do the dishes now. Or clean the apartment.”

That being said, I think that he secretly appreciates productivity, too. Because we did our fall cleaning last weekend (no washing windows, just throwing old clothes and organizing our cramped closet) and he walked around in a daze afterward, exclaiming how different our bedroom looked and how it felt like we had upgraded to a whole new apartment.

The day was not without incident, however. Although John and I are both pretty good about weeding out clutter, our compatibility streaked to a halt when I asked John to dump his sock drawer out on the bed.

This wife had no idea her man was so ill-dressed! I know when his shirts are clean or dirty; I knew he needed new jeans (which we just bought last week). But I had no idea how many mismatched socks he had! When John and I were dating, he’d show up at my apartment with socks of two different colors; my roommate and I would make fun of him and he would quickly retort excuses about his rights as a bachelor. But I hadn’t seen him run stockingfoot lately and had quite forgotten all those conversations. After all, hubby is no longer a bachelor!

And that was where we butted heads. John is of the opinion that odd socks can be worn–not just exceptionally, on a bad day–but regularly. That one can save money by just wearing whatever sock is in the drawer instead of buying new pairs when needed.

What think you? Although you cannot save his socks, (which, after ten minutes of semi-logical debate and in the midst of loud protests, I threw in the trash), I would like to hear… Should married men still be allowed to wear socks that don’t match?