There must be some middle ground. We just need to perceive it.

Yes! Exactly! We see and say just that so often in our church work, or something like it-- that when people are butting hands, usually neither one quite has the right solution, because the right one would bring peace and maybe even forward movement past one's usual experience. But of course the bro-thing is also a boundary issue and defining a workable boundary when living with someone else who sees the boundaries differently can be difficult!

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Regarding tips and solutions for clutter, may I say humbly that I have really solved so many of these issues in our home (and kept the good habits) that people might just want to look thru my old posts where I used the word TIPS either in the subject line or in the post. We have enough tips here to fix most of the current group of posters' houses.... so maybe "tips" (mine or any other writers') are not actually the answer needed?

~Susan