Petty Vents

[CarolPa]

We were both posting at the same time-----so you say that the majority of young(er) households (where both work full time away from home) do share the housework---- all of it? That would be fantastic.

I can only speak about people I know. I can't say it's the majority. I recall when I was still working, from what the young married women had to say, they would not stand for working 8 hours a day and then going home and having to do everything at home while hubby sat there flipping the remote! DH retired before me. He had dinner ready when I walked in the door. He vacuums twice a week, mops the floors, and does some laundry, still after I retired. Plus does all the yard work and takes care of the car. And the dog. LOL All while I play around on the computer.

My son gets home before his wife. Picks up the child, feeds him, gets dinner started. Pitches in with bathing the child and putting him to bed. I have often seen him vacuuming while his wife was doing laundry, or vice versa. He did this stuff at home, because Mom was a working mother and everyone had to pitch in. A lot of the other younger couples I know are their friends, and the situations are similar. The younger women don't stand for that crap! LOL

 

[Sprout]

Usually, DH does less housework than I do, but he also works more hours outside the home than I do. I work part time when he is home for the most part (we wanted one of us to be with our kids as much as possible), so he takes care of our kids when I'm not here and we both care for them when we're both here. He works second shift, so he ends up making them breakfast and lunch when I work. Granted, he doesn't cook much, but he prepares food, cleans up when he's here. He changed diapers from day one. I know a fair number of stay-at-home moms and most of their husbands help out at home too. If Mom is still working when Dad gets home from work, Dad starts helping until they can both relax. I do know families where the male barely picks up after himself, let alone help with actual cleaning, but of the people I know, those families are rare. Fairly often I do still see a more classic division in which responsibilities are whose primarily, with men focusing first on outdoor work, maintenance, taking garbage out, etc and women focusing fist on cleaning, organizing and child rearing, but even there usually one helps the other once they're done.

This pregnancy was rough physically for the first half and emotionally and physically for the second and I can honestly say, in the past 8 months DH has done as much if not more around the house than I have. I'm more efficient and more detailed than he is, but he puts in the time, even though he works over twice the hours at his job than I do.

 

[Dawgluver]

Baby Bro does all the cooking, cleaning, and housework, along with his full time job. His wife has a part-time business, and doesn't have time to do much else. They both dote on their children.

I do all the cooking and cleaning, even when we both worked full time, but only because I prefer the way I cook, clean, load the dishwasher and do laundry to the way DH would do it. He can mow the lawn.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Shrek washes the dishes and vacuums, I do the rest. He does those two jobs because he kept running himself out of dishes and I would let them stack up. Why should i wash dishes that I didn't get dirty? And he has always vacuumed, he has a lower tolerance for messy floors than i do.

 

[Addie]

Other than when he was injured, husband #1 went to work to earn the paycheck and I stayed home with the kids and spent it. You typical European attitude for the 50's. When he was home, he did all the cleaning, diaper changing, etc. Never complained, and neither did I. As far as I could see, he was doing a good job. He did discover that taking care of a home and four small children, is not an easy job.

 

[Addie]

Spike went to Staples yesterday to pick up two small items for me . The receipt is more than 1.5 feet long. There goes a whole patch of very healthy trees.

 

[bakechef]

Shrek washes the dishes and vacuums, I do the rest. He does those two jobs because he kept running himself out of dishes and I would let them stack up. Why should i wash dishes that I didn't get dirty? And he has always vacuumed, he has a lower tolerance for messy floors than i do.

I actually like to vacuum, but Rob does the majority of the vacuuming. Rob is some kind of wizard at loading the dishwasher, I've never seen anyone get so much in there and still have the dishes get clean! With that said, I have to prod him a bit to load and unload the dishwasher. I've seen him organize the dirty dishes in the sink (plates stacked according to size and silverware in cups)

 

[Addie]

I actually like to vacuum, but Rob does the majority of the vacuuming. Rob is some kind of wizard at loading the dishwasher, I've never seen anyone get so much in there and still have the dishes get clean! With that said, I have to prod him a bit to load and unload the dishwasher. I've seen him organize the dirty dishes in the sink (plates stacked according to size and silverware in cups)

I was looking at the iRobot vacuums. I have my heart set on one. I know I can save up for a mid priced one in just a couple of months. I simply cannot vacuum since my open heart surgery. I have only one room to vacuum, but it is the main room. My only concern is the cost of the upkeep of the machine.

I stack my dirty dishes on the counter after rinsing them. Living alone and making full use of paper bowls and plates, I have most dirty pans and silverware.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

When Shrek retired, he stopped doing anything...that was when I let the dishes stack up. He started washing the dishes that he used during the day while I was sleeping, but got it into his head that it reverted to me on my days off. I quickly told him that was his NOW job. I don't complain about doing everything else except, he wants to use the biggest trash bags in the house and I can't lift them over my head into the dumpster.

 

[Dawgluver]

I was looking at the iRobot vacuums. I have my heart set on one. I know I can save up for a mid priced one in just a couple of months. I simply cannot vacuum since my open heart surgery. I have only one room to vacuum, but it is the main room. My only concern is the cost of the upkeep of the machine.

I stack my dirty dishes on the counter after rinsing them. Living alone and making full use of paper bowls and plates, I have most dirty pans and silverware.

Drat. I'd just gotten Mom a brand new Roomba a couple months before she died. I ended up giving it to DH's brother, don't think he's appreciating it.

 

[Addie]

Drat. I'd just gotten Mom a brand new Roomba a couple months before she died. I ended up giving it to DH's brother, don't think he's appreciating it.

When you have open heart surgery, they saw your sternum bone in half. That bone NEVER heals back together. So sweeping and vacuuming are painful to do. As a result my kids have to do it for me. When they are in the mood.

My girlfriend in Atlanta got one when they first came out. She named it "Big Daddy!" I already have a name picked out if and when I ever get one. "Little Buddy!"

 

[Somebunny]

Love my Roomba! Addie, not sure what you mean by "upkeep" of the machine. Mine has been running 5 days a week vacuuming at least 2000 sq ft., since I got it (Christmas 2012). I have yet to even change the edge brushes (it comes with extras). Just dump the dust collector every few days and clean the brushes periodically(I've done it once) Mind you, it is only cleaning hardwood and tile right now, but the first year I did have a 5x7 area rug in the living room (still no issues). The biggest issue is that you must keep small items off the floor. Sometimes it bumps things a little hard
(I have a telephone table with a shelf about 8 inches off the floor, I had a "yellow pages" book on that shelf it got bumped off and run over a few times several pages were partially "eaten", lol! We have Ekornes Stressless chairs with foot stools, we move the foot stools up on to the chairs every couple of days, so "Rosie" can vacuum under them (we often eat in the LR "gasp"!
"Rosie's" home.

 

[Addie]

When Shrek retired, he stopped doing anything...that was when I let the dishes stack up. He started washing the dishes that he used during the day while I was sleeping, but got it into his head that it reverted to me on my days off. I quickly told him that was his NOW job. I don't complain about doing everything else except, he wants to use the biggest trash bags in the house and I can't lift them over my head into the dumpster.

As small as my place is, I have five waste baskets. One by the computer, one by my bed, one in the bathroom and two in the kitchen. The two in the kitchen are right beside the two counters I use mostly for prep work. Just slide it off right into the basket. They are the perfect size and designed for the plastic bags from the grocery store. They even have a tabs that stick up to put the bag handles over. When one is full, I just tie up the handles and put it in a large green bag. Then when that is almost full, I take it to the trash room. There are large barrels there and I do have to lift them. The Pirate has a habit of filling that bag until it is heavy. When he does that, I make him take it to the trash room. Having a scooter is a big help. I just whiz down the hall dragging the big bag beside me.

Four of the baskets are just plain white. I have been after Spike to pick me up a couple of rolls of Contact Paper so I can cover them. Right now my face is blue from holding my breath.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

AAArgh...Shrek cleaned out the fridge two days ago...he dumped everything in the kitchen trash. He didn't take it out...guess what I am smelling from 10' away.

 

[Addie]

AAArgh...Shrek cleaned out the fridge two days ago...he dumped everything in the kitchen trash. He didn't take it out...guess what I am smelling from 10' away.

Does the urge to lovingly strangle get stronger of some days?

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Does the urge to lovingly strangle get stronger of some days?

I was thinking "pillow therapy" I no longer have the strength in my hands.

 

[cave76]

he wants to use the biggest trash bags in the house and I can't lift them over my head into the dumpster.

While living at the ranch my then husband had to take all our food garbage and stuff that wouldn't degrade eventually, like plastic, metals etc, to the dump in the ranch truck. Because there'd been a large-ish land slide not too far from the houses on the ranch the owner wanted wood, papers et al. thrown down into that chasm. I wonder just how filled up it's gotten so far and what that will look like in a 1000 years!

To pack more into the large-ish trash container in the house, he would stomp on the contents (covering it with a plastic bag or something) so that there was a large and HEAVY collection of garbage in the bag---- I could hardly lift it---and I was a lot younger and healthier then!

Plus there was an Eau de Garbage in the kitchen at times. Sigh.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I just took some trash out, the top of the dumpster is at chin level to me. I just cannot lift things that are 40-50 lbs up to shoulder height anymore without pain.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

I have a vanity-size waste basket under our sink that uses plastic grocery store bags, but it doesn't have tabs for the bunny ears on the bags. Doesn't matter, most of the bags are just tall enough to fold over the edge of the basket a bit. That's where I put all my stinky kitchen garbage. Depending on what I've made that day Himself takes the bag out ever day or two. We also have a large kitchen waste basket at the end of the counter. That's where all the "dry" garbage goes - and that bag comes out only every-other week on our trash collection days.

We have to contract for our own trash hauler out here in the sticks. We have the options of pick-up either every week or, for a slightly lower cost, every other week. Two wheeled carts, one for garbage and one for recyclables, each about 96 gallons. We take the garbage one out every pick-up, but it is rarely even half full. I wonder how sparse our garbage would be if I got around to composting. Sometimes we don't need to take the recyclables out for two or even three pick-up cycles. We just don't generate much trash! Meanwhile, the couple across the street get a weekly pick-up and sometimes the lid on the garbage one is slightly ajar. Their cart must be full of empty pizza boxes.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Shrek thinks the bigger the trash can, the less he has to wander it outside...except I am the one doing the wandering.