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Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Chores I don't do

Billy has a new job, and I'm already thinking about the ways I can spend our extra cash. Really, I am quite frugal, but I am in desperate need of a cleaning lady. It is impossible to clean and watch 3 babies. I can barely keep the laundry and dishes done, much less scrub toilets, mop floors, etc. After the kids go to sleep at night, Billy and I run around trying to get everything around the house done, but there's never enough time.

It made me think of the different errands for which we are each responsible. I started to reflect on the things I simply don't do and always just leave up to Billy. Some things make sense, but some are very random.

The trash. I NEVER handle it at all. I don't empty it. I don't take it out. I don't drag the bins to the curb. Trash is his thing. It could be overflowing, and I still wouldn't do a thing about it...doesn't matter.

The mail. I don't get it out of the mailbox, and when there is outgoing mail, I don't put it in the mailbox. I simply leave it on the table by our front door, and he takes it out. The other day I asked him to mail a letter for me, and he asked if I wanted him to put it in the same mailbox that I drive right by when I leave in the mornings-smart ass. I replied, "Yep, that's the one."

The trash is pretty self-explanatory; it's gross, and I don't want to handle it. However, the mail is random. I don't know why I don't deal with it, but I just never really have. When Billy traveled every once in a while, and we were living at the condo, he would come home and ask where the mail was. I would say, "I don't do mail."

Checking phone messages on the home phone. When we had voicemail, the dial tone would indicate we had messages, but I never checked them. Now, we have an old-fashioned answering machine. We're totally retro. When the light flashes to show messages, I just ignore it. I do check my cell messages, but the home phone is all Billy's responsibility. Again, it's random, but I don't do it.

Scrubbing the shower. This one I don't do because Billy is so much better at it than me. He is a scrubbing machine. He gets in the tub and washes away every last millimeter of soap scum, mildew, etc. I think it's very fulfilling for him. When he's done, he asks, "Did you see how clean the shower is?" How can I take that feeling of accomplishment away from him? ;) When I clean the shower, I let the scrubbing bubbles do the work, and I give it a half-ass once over. Then, Billy always comes in and cleans after me anyway so why duplicate our efforts.

Vacuuming is one I surrendered when I was pregnant, because my doctor said it was especially hard on the body (the bending over, the pushing, etc.). Well, I never took it back up after the pregnancy. Billy is now Vice President in Charge of Vacuuming. He's good at that too, when he has time to do it. He starts with the big vacuum on all large surfaces. Then, he uses the attachments on the furniture and the stairs. He uses our hand vac to get into tight spaces. He cleans out the vacuum filter. When Billy takes on a chore, he gives it his all. Maybe he can take over all household responsibilities? He's probably reading this now and thinking that he should stop doing things so well, or he'll get more to do.

Cleaning the hair off the drain in the tub. At the condo, every couple of weeks, the shower would stop draining well, and I would end up with water up to my ankles after a shower. Then, I would let Billy know that it was time for him to clean out the drain. He would have to dig in with a hanger and fish out clumps of my hair.

A little bit after having the babies, my hair started falling out big time. The house has a different type of drain that catches most of the hair before it heads down the pipe. After a shower, I would leave the equivalent to a wig sitting on the drain. Billy would then complain about the "rat that died on the drained." Thankfully, that hair loss has slowed down, and now I'm back to just losing about a little mouse's worth of hair after a shower, which I still leave for him to clean up.

1 comment:

kmehawkeye said...

john and I both enjoyed this. Is there any husband that DOESN"T have trash duty? I don't even know what days it comes!

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