# How about housework?



## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

I hate housework, but because I'm female, I've always been expected to do it. So I do, but badly, and only after a certain amount of neglect. Sitting down with a cup of coffee & a good book always seems much more attractive. 
But it isn't necessarily a gender thing. Taggart is wondrously domesticated because as the only child of working parents, he did have to fend for himself a little. And my father, another Scotsman, was also good in the house; he saw household tasks as something to 'organise'. 

Do you like housework? Which jobs do you like or not mind? Which job do you hate? Are you expected to do tasks & resent that, or shirk them?

Just interested. Thanks in advance for any replies.


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## Jos (Oct 14, 2013)

It's best left to the servants........


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

I'm big on organizing. It's a male/German thing, I guess  I like a tidy place, as in having all things put away with the place looking neat.

I hate housework, as in the cleaning and wiping and dusting, etc. I like to have a spotless place, but chores really get in the way of spending time on the things that actually interest me. Still, I feel physically uncomfortable (!), once my place gets to a certain level of uncleanliness, so I try to give it a good cleaning, top to bottom, every 6-8 weeks or so. Men like to work with tools and I find that I prefer to do just about all of the cleaning with the vacuum cleaner  (I have a canister and an upright model, as well as a hand-held, and I'm regularly searching for just the right one to make my life easier). As a result, the wet cleaning gets neglected some, which causes me considerable grief  I have considered hiring someone to wash the floors and do the bathrooms, but, as soon as I hear the $30-$50 per hour quotes, I manage to pull up my socks and do it within a couple of days.

I don't mind doing laundry: as I always say, "toss it in and push the button." It's relatively painless, except for putting it all away, but I manage to minimize that by wearing the same clothes and using the same towels and sheets that come out of the machine, so I don't need to fold most of them  I don't iron. I find that shaking the clothes and patting them flat before putting them into the dryer makes a big difference.

I enjoy cooking. I think that if I am going to eat it, then it is pleasurable to me. Dishes are another story. I hate doing them. I wish I had a dishwasher, but I'd have to have one installed (costs hundreds of dollars and I would lose one cabinet). I generally use the same dishes a number of times, so as to minimize washing them 

I hate sweeping out the garage, but the treads of the car tires track in a lot of mud and dirt. I do it about twice a year. I also dislike cleaning the interior of the car. It is so difficult to move around inside the vehicle. I vacuum (my favourite household tool) it out about twice annually, so it is pretty clean. The exterior never looks great. I give it a $1 soaping and a $1-$2 rinsing every few weeks. Did I mention that I love driving in a rainstorm: it's a free car wash!


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## Jos (Oct 14, 2013)

However much I like to imagin myself to be of aristocratic descent, I find myself doing housework a lot.

Just got home from my mothers birthday, the dogs have been alone for 4, maybe 5 hours, and that after a long walk in the woods!!
The young had done an amazingly large **** in the hall. So there I went with broom and mop, cleaning the terrazzofloor, dogpiss ruins a terrazzofloor completely if left too long.

I also cook, vacuum, get the trash out, walk the dogs and fix the house, it's a miracle I get to listen to some music 

No complaints though, I only work 2 days a week and my wife runs her own practise, so she works much more and brings in the more serious income. 
Three teenagers are now being drilled to take some of my workload, lots of complaints there.....

Cheers,
Jos


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Jobs I like - tidying paperwork and clearing out things - throwing them away or giving them to a charity shop

Jobs I don't mind - washing; mowing the lawn; washing up or drying dishes; dusting & furniture-polishing; hoovering so long as I don't have to move the furniture...

Jobs I can tolerate - ironing; making the bed; cleaning a sink or toilet

Jobs I loathe - weeding; mopping the kitchen floor; hoovering when I do have to move the furniture.

It's all right so long as I can get started, but the contemplation of it brings on 'anaemia of the will'.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

For the heaviest work, we have someone come in for an afternoon every 3 weeks.

For the rest, my wife and I split the chores:

shopping for food etc: 90% me, 10% together (I take the dog for a walk at the same time)
cooking: 75% me, 25% together (I actually like cooking)
dish washing: 90% me, 10% together (gives me a chance to watch/listen some tv at the same time)
laundry/ironing: 100% my wife
dusting etc: together


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Jos said:


> It's best left to the servants........


That's the truth. We have a housekeeper who does her thing at our home every other week - about 4 hours for $70. She's pretty inexpensive and loyal.

There are many chores I hate doing, the worst being putting away laundry.


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

Jos said:


> However much I like to imagine myself to be of aristocratic descent, I find myself doing housework a lot.
> 
> Just got home from my mothers birthday, the dogs have been alone for 4, maybe 5 hours, and that after a long walk in the woods!!
> The young had done an amazingly large **** in the hall. So there I went with broom and mop, cleaning the terrazzofloor, dogpiss ruins a terrazzofloor completely if left too long.


On another site (doggie), somebody said a wet/dry vacuum and a carpet shampooer are essential tools for dog owners, especially as the dogs get older.



Jos said:


> Three teenagers are now being drilled to take some of my workload, lots of complaints there.....
> 
> Cheers,
> Jos


Far too late! They should have been made to realise by now that housework is *FUN*. Then they'll be looking out for it. It's a bit like training a dog, they'll do the craziest things if you a) give them a simple reward and b) convince them it's fun.



brotagonist said:


> I'm big on organizing. It's a male/German thing, I guess  I like a tidy place, as in having all things put away with the place looking neat.


Nothing German about it, just a genuine male sense of order. I reckon it's going to take me a couple of days to get the kitchen back into order after Ingélou has been "putting things away" - totally haphazard. 

I was raised doing chores. It was completely natural and I thought nothing of it. I could plan and cook a weeks meals and organise a shopping list round it. It seemed simple. Ingélou describes it as rather like Queeg rolling his steel balls - totally obsessive and controlling. But I'm with @brotagonist - I like a neat well ordered place.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Ingélou said:


> I hate housework, but because I'm female, I've always been expected to do it. So I do, but badly, and only after a certain amount of neglect. Sitting down with a cup of coffee & a good book always seems much more attractive.
> But it isn't necessarily a gender thing. Taggart is wondrously domesticated because as the only child of working parents, he did have to fend for himself a little. And my father, another Scotsman, was also good in the house; he saw household tasks as something to 'organise'.
> 
> Do you like housework? Which jobs do you like or not mind? Which job do you hate? Are you expected to do tasks & resent that, or shirk them?
> ...


To quote John McEnroe: You CANNOT be serious!!! :tiphat:


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Taggart's Mum was an infant teacher and she brought him up to be handy round the house. I remember when we were first married, he took me to his parents' house in Mossend near Glasgow & took me round all his childhood haunts, including 'the sandy', a swing-park built on the site of an old pithead. He had an illicit go on the swings and roundabouts and ripped his trousers. That evening I sat in his parents' lounge sewing, and his mother stared at me. 'Why are you mending that zip - he can perfectly well do that himself,' she observed. :lol:


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

So far it seems that the men on TC are handy round the house - bucking the stereotype of the dreamy unrealistic classical music fan. If that is the case, I wonder if it's something to do with liking beauty and order in one's surroundings?


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Ingélou said:


> Taggart's Mum was an infant teacher....


:lol: What must be a standard two-word combo there reads like a very funny grammatical error 'the other side of the pond.'

As per the OP? Who the hell LOVES cleaning, housework and all the related chores? :tiphat:


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

Another interesting thought, when Ingélou and I met at a student camp, it was interesting to note that all the men could cook but very few of the women. 

I am not going to speculate on the reasons.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

PetrB said:


> As per the OP? Who the hell LOVES cleaning, housework and all the related chores? :tiphat:


Believe it or not, I've known a few women who claim that they *do* - my own mother for one. 
I agree, it's puzzling.


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## ProudSquire (Nov 30, 2011)

I don't really mind housework, I like cleaning and having things all tidy and orderly. I am very particular about doing my own laundry, I don't like others doing it for me.:tiphat:


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

One of my friends at university was a girl who'd grown up in a household that employed servants. As a result, she had very high standards as regards cleaning, tidying, and laundry, and worked very hard to make sure they were maintained.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I hate housework. 

In fact, I think I'm allergic to it. 

But it still gets done. 

Eventually. :trp:


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## mirepoix (Feb 1, 2014)

I grew up in an environment where the women were not only expected to take care of the cooking and cleaning, but that there would be hell to pay if they didn't do it as required. And any man who took an interest in such matters was considered a _poof_. Even as a child I could see that was wrong and as a result I've always been happy to be responsible for that stuff. However there are exceptions -

Shopping for food is something we try to do together because we enjoy it.
We send the laundry out and it comes back all washed and ironed. 
Once a week someone comes to clean the windows. 
Kitchen cleaning - me. Or more exactly, me being Fred Astaire performing a kitchen cleaning dance routine including shadow boxing against the freezer.
Shower cleaning - Catwoman. And that's only fair because she spends hours in there at a time. She's also responsible for dusting in all the high places I can't easily reach. And generally although it stereotypes her she's great at making this place into a home.


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## BaronScarpia (Apr 2, 2014)

Jos said:


> It's best left to the servants........


I second that. Now where did Jenkins go? He has slipper velvet to re-crush!


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

I'm pretty bad at keeping my space tidy. Laundry is annoying. Dishes/pans are doable. Making bed is doable. Keeping my work space and piano clear is impossible.


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

I live on my own for now, so I get to do all my housework on my own too. I don't really enjoy doing it (well, most of it), but I really love to see my place neat and clean. Besides, in life ther are things that one enjoys and things that one simply does because they need to be done and there is nobody around to do them for me.

Things I love: doing laundry, ironing, cooking (it is usually something simple though). I don't own a car, only a bicycle that I ride to work when the weather is good, and I try to keep that spotless too.
Things I am indifferent to, but do anyway: dusting, vacuuming, mopping up the floors, making my bed (it only takes 30 seconds each morning anyway), shopping for food and other supplies.
Things I hate: taking out the trash and doing dishes, especially when it is guests that have used them. For some reason I have an aversion to cleaning up other people's food.


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

I prefer chaos. It helps me think. I do help maintain an orderly kitchen, but just barely.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

SiegendesLicht said:


> I live on my own for now, so I get to do all my housework on my own too. I don't really enjoy doing it (well, most of it), but I really love to see my place neat and clean. Besides, in life ther are things that one enjoys and things that one simply does because they need to be done and there is nobody around to do them for me.
> 
> Things I love: doing laundry, ironing, cooking (it is usually something simple though). I don't own a car, only a bicycle that I ride to work when the weather is good, and I try to keep that spotless too.
> Things I am indifferent to, but do anyway: dusting, vacuuming, mopping up the floors, making my bed (it only takes 30 seconds each morning anyway), shopping for food and other supplies.
> Things I hate: taking out the trash and doing dishes, especially when it is guests that have used them. For some reason I have an aversion to cleaning up other people's food.


Simple solution - don't invite them to your home.


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## Pyotr (Feb 26, 2013)

My wife does most of the cleaning but I pitch in now and again usually vacuuming the floor. The only requirement of me is that I be out of the house when she’s cleaning, so I make myself scarce and usually golf or to the LA Fitness.
I do the “man” stuff like mow the lawn and take out the trash.


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## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

Ingélou said:


> I hate housework, but because I'm female, I've always been expected to do it. So I do, but badly, and only after a certain amount of neglect. Sitting down with a cup of coffee & a good book always seems much more attractive.
> But it isn't necessarily a gender thing. Taggart is wondrously domesticated because as the only child of working parents, he did have to fend for himself a little. And my father, another Scotsman, was also good in the house; he saw household tasks as something to 'organise'.
> 
> Do you like housework? Which jobs do you like or not mind? Which job do you hate? Are you expected to do tasks & resent that, or shirk them?
> ...


My enjoyment of housework is slightly below that of having inflamed rectal abcesses and slightly above that of having a root canal.
Yes, my wife makes me do some.


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

I have my staff do the housework
View attachment 53493


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

I loathed homework back in high school. It was such a low effect on my grade, and it took me so long, that I didn't think it was worth it. I just didn't do a lot of it, but still got good enough grades.

Now in college, all my homework is reading, so I just skim it over if I really have to talk about it in class.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Skim-reading 'housework' as 'homework' - right!


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## drpraetorus (Aug 9, 2012)

Cleaning the loo I will not do.
Washing the dishes is for the fishes. 

Furniture must not be allowed to float away,
My job in the house is to lay on the couch,
so on the floor it will stay.


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

I hate it (especially washing the dishes, jeez, yuck). But I also love to have a clean place, so I do it.


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

Ingélou said:


> So far it seems that the men on TC are handy round the house - bucking the stereotype of the dreamy unrealistic classical music fan. If that is the case, I wonder if it's something to do with liking beauty and order in one's surroundings?


What?  A woman believes what a man on the internet tells her?????? :lol:


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

Taggart said:


> Another interesting thought, when Ingélou and I met at a student camp, it was interesting to note that all the men could cook but very few of the women.
> 
> I am not going to speculate on the reasons.


I learnt to cook because my Mum's cooking was awful!

BTW, today is 'International Food Day' - yawn!


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

We have a deal at Hermit Towers - Mrs H doesn't have to hear Maria Callas and in exchange the hoover isn't switched on when I'm in the house

I admit (with great shame, I hasten to add) that I do nothing that I am not compelled to do (and you CAN believe that!)


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## Badinerie (May 3, 2008)

I dont mind housework, whilst not actively enjoying it. I dont work. Im a Carer for my wife (If the social ask!) who has cerebral palsy. I do the housework. We have a teenage daughter or a rhinoceros, Im not always sure which, so much of my time is spend on domestic issues.
I was brought up in a mostly female family and was taught that housework _wasn't_ illegal for men. It stood me in good stead when I was single and living in my own place. It used to impress the pants off prospective girlfriends, though one or two of them were convinced I was gay. Go figure!


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

When I go to visit my man, he never allows me to get anywhere near housework except for making tea and taking clothes to the laundry which we do together, but if we get married I will consider it a sort of honorable duty to take good care of the place where my family lives.


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

Whoops. See, I just skim!

And housework is ok, it's just tedious. If I have music on in the backround, it's no so bad.


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## Lunasong (Mar 15, 2011)

I do not like housework but I get up at 4 AM every morning and do a little bit before I go to work. I have a routine...
Monday - kitchen and sweep
Tuesday - vacuum furniture and dust
Wed - vacuum carpets and clean kitty litter
Thursday - bathrooms
Friday -grocery shopping (in the evening)
Weekends - change sheets, towels, laundry, ironing, vacuum carpets, and change kitty litter.

Before I started this I spent way too much time on the weekends doing chores. I start work by 6AM every workday and get off at 7PM so I treasure every spare minute I get.


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

mirepoix said:


> I grew up in an environment where the women were not only expected to take care of the cooking and cleaning, but that there would be hell to pay if they didn't do it as required. And any man who took an interest in such matters was considered a _poof_. Even as a child I could see that was wrong and as a result I've always been happy to be responsible for that stuff. However there are exceptions -
> 
> Shopping for food is something we try to do together because we enjoy it.
> We send the laundry out and it comes back all washed and ironed.
> ...


mirepoix, I enjoyed all the posts, but yours surprised me the most. From your previous posts on a coupla threads, I couldn't envision your wife doing anything domestic. I thought she'd be shopping or relaxing in a spa or sauna. Give 'er a big hug or other for me.

Me. Sewing, alterations, fine-cleaning, most handyman stuff...don't do. Electric dishwasher takes care of another detestable chore.

I don't mind shopping. Those teasing ****s that stroll down the aisles ease the pain of that.

Dealing with garbage can get smelly and boring.

My wife and I could use an advanced robot, is what I'm trying to say. Good non-complaining free help is so hard to find these days.


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

Lunasong said:


> I do not like housework but I get up at 4 AM every morning and do a little bit before I go to work. I have a routine...
> Monday - kitchen and sweep
> Tuesday - vacuum furniture and dust
> Wed - vacuum carpets and clean kitty litter
> ...


When can you start?


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

SiegendesLicht said:


> When I go to visit my man, he never allows me to get anywhere near housework except for making tea and taking clothes to the laundry which we do together, but if we get married I will consider it a sort of honorable duty to take good care of the place where my family lives.


You'll do just fine.


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

Vaneyes said:


> You'll do just fine.


.... but leave the light sabre outside, please! :lol:


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

Vaneyes said:


> When can you start?


What about the "I start rattling around the house at 4am" bit? Do you *really* want that?  (and she has a cat!)


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## mirepoix (Feb 1, 2014)

Vaneyes said:


> mirepoix, I enjoyed all the posts, but yours surprised me the most. From your previous posts on a coupla threads, I couldn't envision your wife doing anything domestic. I thought she'd be shopping or relaxing in a spa or sauna. Give 'er a big hug or other for me.


A hug? Huh, why is it that _she's_ the one always offered a hug, but_ I _never get offered a hug? But sure, I'll pass on a hug or other on your behalf...
(And I've probably given the wrong impression of her. She's from the opposite side of the tracks to me, but she's relatively unspoiled. At work she gets pampered enough and so is happy to play her part in making our home. And she doesn't need a spa because she gets hours of enjoyment chasing after rolled up balls of wool or batting scrunched-up pieces of paper I throw for her.)


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## Pyotr (Feb 26, 2013)

senza sordino said:


> I have my staff do the housework
> View attachment 53493


When there's an opening on your staff, who interviews the prospective candidates for the position, you or your wife?


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

Pyotr said:


> When there's an opening on your staff, who interviews the prospective candidates for the position, you or your wife?


I leave such trivial matters to my chief of staff.


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## TurnaboutVox (Sep 22, 2013)

As a younger teenager I used to earn pocket money by cleaning and shopping for my mum. I have even worked 'professionally' at cleaning, dish- and pot-washing (in a hotel kitchen, where I worked for my first three summers after leaving school and between University terms) - money for hi-fi and LP's, amongst other things).

As a result I've never minded cleaning a kitchen. Ironing and bed-making are beyond my pay-grade, though. Mrs. Vox is an inveterate house-worker and although she would deny it, she lets off steam by cleaning.

My daughter in London is _intensely_ relaxed about housework, so the house she shares with three other young women is more like some (of the tidier) lads' student flats I've seen. My son is usually willing to carry out orders. I shudder to think what his place will be like when he leaves home.


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