In the early days of living together, my husband and I used to share the housework. It was pretty much a 50:50 split each week. Then it moved to alternating weeks of responsibility. What ended up happening, is that I, true to my word would do all of the cleaning on my weeks while hubby relaxed, but when it was his turn, something would invariably 'come up'. Events, sports, couch time, etc. This lack of responsibility on his part was driving a wedge in our relationship.
When I was growing up, my mother kept the world's cleanest house. It didn't help that I was allergic to practically everything and the mere mention of the word 'dust' would make me break out in hives and unsightly excema. But mom went to every effort to keep everything spotless, so when I grew up and moved out, I'd just do the same - how hard could it be?
Damn near impossible.
Now I'm not saying my husband is a messy person, but I will say that we have different thresholds for dirt. And I prefer to see clear space, not clutter, on the countertop, coffee table, office desk, bathroom floor, etc. We are just two people, 2.5 if you count his daughter, surely we couldn't make that much of a mess? But we do. Once the house is clean, we both enjoy it for a couple of hours on Saturday afternoon, but by the time the laundry is done on Sunday afternoon, and the groceries need to be put away, then we have a hard week at work, who wants to clean - it's the thankless task. As Melanie Durrant, Canadian singer put it.
Housework makes me sick, I'm so sure of it
It's like I'm allergic
You have to admit - it's like a punishment
There's no end to it
Why is this important? Because the truth is, for many couples, even though she works as hard as he does at the office or wherever, often the woman in the relationship does more of the household chores. According to one Labor Department study, employed women averaged about an hour more per day on housework than did employed men. Is this fair? Nope. But for some of us, it is how it is.
So how does the modern, career-focused woman cope? Outsource.
We first decided to get a cleaner when we were discussing the age old division of labour battle with some friends. They mentioned their simple solution and we were hooked. The finances worked out for us and we decided it would be something to explore. It was one of the best decisions we've made, though I had to cope through some anxiety and inadequacy issues around telling my very own 'supermom'. It felt like a failure somehow. When I finally got around to telling mom about the cleaner, she said: Good for you, I wish I'd done that when you kids were small! I'd have saved myself hours of scrubbing.
But will it work for you? First you'll have to calculate the value of your time. This might help you determine if it is worthwhile to invest in a cleaner. If it is, I say do it!
I've never regretted the decision or the dollars spent.
When I was growing up, my mother kept the world's cleanest house. It didn't help that I was allergic to practically everything and the mere mention of the word 'dust' would make me break out in hives and unsightly excema. But mom went to every effort to keep everything spotless, so when I grew up and moved out, I'd just do the same - how hard could it be?
Damn near impossible.
Now I'm not saying my husband is a messy person, but I will say that we have different thresholds for dirt. And I prefer to see clear space, not clutter, on the countertop, coffee table, office desk, bathroom floor, etc. We are just two people, 2.5 if you count his daughter, surely we couldn't make that much of a mess? But we do. Once the house is clean, we both enjoy it for a couple of hours on Saturday afternoon, but by the time the laundry is done on Sunday afternoon, and the groceries need to be put away, then we have a hard week at work, who wants to clean - it's the thankless task. As Melanie Durrant, Canadian singer put it.
Housework makes me sick, I'm so sure of it
It's like I'm allergic
You have to admit - it's like a punishment
There's no end to it
Why is this important? Because the truth is, for many couples, even though she works as hard as he does at the office or wherever, often the woman in the relationship does more of the household chores. According to one Labor Department study, employed women averaged about an hour more per day on housework than did employed men. Is this fair? Nope. But for some of us, it is how it is.
So how does the modern, career-focused woman cope? Outsource.
We first decided to get a cleaner when we were discussing the age old division of labour battle with some friends. They mentioned their simple solution and we were hooked. The finances worked out for us and we decided it would be something to explore. It was one of the best decisions we've made, though I had to cope through some anxiety and inadequacy issues around telling my very own 'supermom'. It felt like a failure somehow. When I finally got around to telling mom about the cleaner, she said: Good for you, I wish I'd done that when you kids were small! I'd have saved myself hours of scrubbing.
But will it work for you? First you'll have to calculate the value of your time. This might help you determine if it is worthwhile to invest in a cleaner. If it is, I say do it!
I've never regretted the decision or the dollars spent.
No comments:
Post a Comment