Allocating housework amongst family - does this work for anyone?

1sttimer_2

gooismeid, I can see that we have plenty in common, except DD2 is almost 22! DD1 lives away from home and is so tidy, I'm not even sure she from the same family!

I don't even go into dd2's bedroom - If she want's to sleep in a room like that, then that's her problem (She is going on a gap year soon so I'll make sure it's cleared out then - she most probably won't have anything left when she gets back!)

My MIL was such a tidy person that she's whisk away your plate almost before you'd finished your meal and if you stood up from the chair to go to the toilet or whatever, the covers were straightened out by the time you got back! Having said that she most probably did everything for OH so he isn't aware of what needs to be done!

I will have to crack the whip again or else leave them to it and go visit my
DD1!

black-saturn

My children take daily turns to look after the dog. It was them who begged me for it so they agreed to look after it. They feed and water her, shovel the doo doo up from the garden and walk her (not on their own though). They are in charge of keeping their room tidy and they occasionally help me with light housework like dusting and washing up (but they have to be asked first). I do all the rest of it.

Debt_Free_Chick

Split the cleaning away from the cooking. Give the cleaning to others and keep the cooking.

When they fail to clean, the cook just stops cooking. That'll soon focus their minds :rotfl:


p.s. you just cook something for yourself, so you don't suffer

Wickedkitten

My mum started me off tidying when I was 3 so I really don't like being untidy. It doesn't bother the OH at all though. I've found its a lot less stressful to just do it myself.

Lillibet_2

My Hubby is in charge of teh floors...all vaccuming, washing, sweeping etc. It gets done only after I have reminded him every day for a week. I don't give in and do it myself but it bugs the hell out of me. It's the one thing he is solely responsible for. He'll help me change the bed, we have a super-kingsize & this really is a 2 person job especially when one of you is only 5'2":o
He claims he can't do anything like dusting due to be being asthmatic...:rotfl:but fortunately I don't mind doing this anyway. Washing up, of which he creates simply piles, will sit for days until I do it or we run out of stuff. During the day I can keep the sink clear, as soon as he comes home it's always got several things in it:mad: Dryign up, or even clearing the dry draining rack, is an unknown concept to him. I don't mind doing it but as I don't create most of it I would appreacte not seeing a dirty pile in the sink every time I go into the kitchen! I don't even mind doing the laundry, but I do object to him not lifitng a finger torwards it then moaning if something he needs hasn't been washed.
As I am now at home full time I expect to do the majortiy of it anyway but to be honest the balance hasn't changed because I am at home, it was like this before, but the thing I most object to is MESS....why in the hell can't he tidy up after himself??????

Ajax18

When I grew up with my parents we had a strict rotar scheme. My mum was very strict in enforcing it, and I am quite thankful for that as I now do not find it difficult at all to keep the flat tidy and clean.

We were three kids and us and my mum rotated with the washing up every week. One week it was me, then my sister, then my brother and then my mum. That way you do one week of washing up but then get a three week break! Was totally fair I thought. The only thing that annoyed me was that my dad simply refused to do any washing up becaus his "work" was too stressful. Mind you, he worked from home and I often caught him watching tv in his "office".

When it came to cleaning the car and mowing the grass in the garden or painting garden fences etc, those were pocket money jobs. I mowed the grass once a week and in return my parents paid for my piano lessons which I thought was a fair deal. If I wanted to go to the cinema with my friends but didn't have any pocket money left my parents told me that they would pay for it if I cleaned the car in return...

Everyone of us had to make their own bed every morning and were responsible for vacuum cleaning their own room. Me and my sister shared a bathroom, so one week she had to clean it (our cleaning day was Saturday) and the other week I had to clean it. That way you don't have to do it all the time, but it rotates and everyone gets some time of...

Window cleaning and vacuuming were jobs that my mum did, but if we were around we had to help her. I think I helped quite a lot. My mum was very strict in enforcing a cleaning routine. She would nag as long as it took until we finally did our tasks... If nothing worked she threatened with telling my dad. That would always get us going

I am very lucky as I found a wonderful boyfriend who does as much as me in the household. Our rule is that whoever cooks, does not have to do the washing up. So it switches depending on who cooked. We clean the flat once a week and do it on the weekend so that we can both do it at the same time...

pickledtink

The beloved offspring does his own washing and ironing, except for towels which he uses in vast numbers but appears to think the fairies wash.
He tidies ( ahem) his own room.
He'll wash up or sweep the kitchen once in a while ( usually when he needs to borrow some money) and maybe rinse the odd mug out. In his view this means he does 'all the washing up every day' and is an overworked house slave. He's probably cleaned the toilet about 4 times in his entire life under extreme duress.
He doesn't mind doing anything which means getting to play with the drill, sander etc but not for very long and rarely ever long enough to actually finish any job!

Anastacia

I find a mixture of bribery & threats works quite well. If you dont help out when asked & tidy your room then no pocket money. OH doesnt do any housework, although he may think he does. He does do all the DIY though, the cars, the nasty stuff (drain & plumbing related). and anything broken, so its pretty much even overall. Sometimes he cooks & barbies etc he always preps and cooks. (I love barbies - everyday would be good)

On the same subject, I asked the kids last week if they would like to never tidy up again & was greeted with great enthusiam until i explained that it was because we were going to learn to be tidy, and then we'd never need to tidy up. We are going to try it when we get back from hols for 2 months and see if we can break some nasty habits. Mine as well as everyone elses - i find that i keep chosing to watch dross tv instead of work around the house. I never used to so its just another bad habit.

Goodluck anyhow

Anastacia

Gingham_Ribbon

Mine is 2, so he doesn't do anything yet. Except:

Help clear the dinner dishes, tidy up his toys, help make pizza/spread sandwiches/bake, crack and mix the eggs, 'wash' the windows, water the plants etc etc.

I know it's no use to people with older children, and I have no idea whether he will rebel against all this later, but my theory is that it's worth the effort now because good habits are just as hard to break as bad ones.

By the way, everything takes 3 times as long as it would if I did it myself, but soon I can pass him jobs of his very own and it won't take me any time at all so the pay off for me as well as him should be worth it. (eg when he wiped the dinner table the other day he got more water over him and the floor than anywhere else, but he tried and it was fun and next time I'll remember to help him squeeze out the cloth!)

SusanCarter

I think different things work for different people and different jobs. I don't like washing up but can manage it if there's just a little bit to do. On the other hand my husband would use very single item and then wash everything in one go. The trouble with his system was that either I had to do it all to stop it building up or he had to do it all because it built up into a mound I couldn't face. Also I would end up unable to cook because of lack of dishes/space. The solution we came up with was that I do it sometime during the day before he gets home from work and then he does it in the evening after dinner. He ends up with a bigger load but it means I have nice washing up water left over to clean other things in the kitchen (wipe work tops etc) which he would never think of doing anyway. Because we alternate, we find we feel obliged to do it on our turn because otherwise it is not fair on the other person so we've found it works out well for us.

For other jobs I don't like, I say things like, "Can you do the [job I don't like] while I do the [job he doesn't like]?"