Fragglerocking housework, my rant of the day

[Bubba's Dad]

How many of you do house work? At my house I do it all, pretty much. Well, that is, If I did it all we would have a clean house, I just do not get to it all. It is more proper to say that I am the only one working on it. We have six people here full time, all old enough to help, but yet nothing gets done unless I do it. Is this how it works at your houses, one person cleans, the rest do…nothing?

Now some of you are saying, ask the brats to help. Yah, I try that from time to time with the same results. The four year old runs around in circles (with his underwear on backwards) yelling, the oldest girl runs to here room/cave and locks herself in and the 9 and 10 year old start their stand up routine of, “he isn’t cleaning…Yes I am” It is times like that that make me want to give away the Wii, any one want one?

And the wife, well she is working, sleeping or getting cub scout stuff together ( I despise cub scout stuff) or doing anything that is not cleaning. Well, I didn’t marry her for her domestic cleaning skills so I guess I am not disappointed.

So now that my request for help was answered by fighting running, and everyone being mad at me, I still have the clean up to do. What I can not understand is that everyone in my family are good smart people, yet the mess never bothers them. My family would be fine living in a giant hollowed out dog dropping so long as the internet and cable worked.

Me, well I never considered my self a clean freak, but come on. I need clothes (clean ones) for my #2 job, so I have to do laundry. I need space to work here at home for my #1 job so I have to clean up the messes. And even though I am a guy, even I can see that when both sides of the double sink are stacked with dirty dished, it might be time to run the dish washer. Yes that’s right we have a dish washer, but I am the only one it seems with the mechanical skills to use it.

So that’s my rant for the day, chuck it up to male PMS. If the women in my life can suffer up to three PMS out bursts a month (they are on a 10 day cycle-a biological anomaly I am sure) then I suppose I can vent once in a while. Now I have to get busy washing the dishes and pots and pans from last nights dinner, (that I was not here to eat because I was at #2 job) . Then I will start some laundry and clean the table of again. How many pans dose it take to make fish and rice anyhow? Where is that chocolate, and who hid the pills?

[keyodie]

Haha that's how it is at my house. xD Good luck.

[ladytera]

Aug 27, 2008 11:21:15 GMT -5 Bubba's Dad said:

How many of you do house work? At my house I do it all, pretty much. Well, that is, If I did it all we would have a clean house, I just do not get to it all. It is more proper to say that I am the only one working on it. We have six people here full time, all old enough to help, but yet nothing gets done unless I do it. Is this how it works at your houses, one person cleans, the rest do…nothing?

Now some of you are saying, ask the brats to help. Yah, I try that from time to time with the same results. The four year old runs around in circles (with his underwear on backwards) yelling, the oldest girl runs to here room/cave and locks herself in and the 9 and 10 year old start their stand up routine of, “he isn’t cleaning…Yes I am” It is times like that that make me want to give away the Wii, any one want one?

Well, the four year old is well, four. At least he knows how to put his underwear on, instead of running naked like he did when he was three. And, if you are specific in telling him what you want done, he does do it, usually quite well. The oldest girl, as you call her, babysits on demand, does school, and helps cook dinner as well as doing the dished and folding laundry whenever she's asked. But will definitely run and hide at the first sign of grumpiness. She doesn't like confrontation, never has and never will. But, in fairness, aside from laundry, she doesn't make much of a mess. The lovely 9 and 10 year olds, you're right. But we have to remember that we are the adults, and need to assign specific responsibilities to each of them avoid the bickering, and make them finish despite how aggravating they might be, otherwise they'll keep doing it because they know it works.

And the wife, well she is working, sleeping or getting cub scout stuff together ( I despise cub scout stuff) or doing anything that is not cleaning. Well, I didn’t marry her for her domestic cleaning skills so I guess I am not disappointed.

While you may be right that I don't do as much of the cleaning as you, I do almost all of the cooking, all of the shopping, all of the driving, all of the finances, and most of the organizing of children. So, mostly I think it's a fair trade off, but I'll do my best to assist with some other stuff as well. As to the sleeping, I'm old, I've found I need at least 7 out of every 24 hours, I can't survive on only 3 anymore, at least not more than once a week or so.

So now that my request for help was answered by fighting running, and everyone being mad at me, I still have the clean up to do. What I can not understand is that everyone in my family are good smart people, yet the mess never bothers them. My family would be fine living in a giant hollowed out dog dropping so long as the internet and cable worked.

Me, well I never considered my self a clean freak, but come on. I need clothes (clean ones) for my #2 job, so I have to do laundry. I need space to work here at home for my #1 job so I have to clean up the messes. And even though I am a guy, even I can see that when both sides of the double sink are stacked with dirty dished, it might be time to run the dish washer. Yes that’s right we have a dish washer, but I am the only one it seems with the mechanical skills to use it.

I despise living in a mess, but when I'm not the one who's been doing the cleaning, I'm not going to have the audacity to bitch about the mess. Kids are kids, and messes don't mean much to them. I'm not a kid, and the mess drives me nuts, but I suppress that when I don't have the time to do anything about it.

So that’s my rant for the day, chuck it up to male PMS. If the women in my life can suffer up to three PMS out bursts a month (they are on a 10 day cycle-a biological anomaly I am sure) then I suppose I can vent once in a while. Now I have to get busy washing the dishes and pots and pans from last nights dinner, (that I was not here to eat because I was at #2 job) . Then I will start some laundry and clean the table of again. How many pans dose it take to make fish and rice anyhow? Where is that chocolate, and who hid the pills?

BTW, you did eat dinner that night, just not at the same time. I saved it and put it in the fridge, in a covered dish so that you wouldn't have to starve when you got home, after I stopped working to come and pick you up. And this woman in your life rarely sufferes one PMS outburst in a month, but we'll still let you have your hormonal tantrums now and then. I ate the last of the pills, and I'll only share my chocolate if you ask me nicely.

Now that my counter rant is done, to the rest of you just starting out. If you still live with your parents, and they actually manage to keep a half way clean house, take the opportunity to learn how from their example. One of my greatest regrets from my younger days is that I didn't pay attention when my mom tried to teach me the techniques for cleaning as I go through the day. Put things away when you're done with them, clear the dishwasher when it's clean, and then load it as the dishes get dirty instead of letting them pile up, put trash in the trash instead of on the table or counter, junk mail, wrappers, boxes from macaroni and cheese, you know, the stuff you forget to put away when you're in the midst of doing something else. Have hampers, and use them. Once they fill up, run the laundry. Simple easy things that make you clean a little all the time, but save you from having to spend a solid week cleaning in order not to be embarrassed when you have company coming.

One last thought, have you ever noticed that flat surfaces are the fertile fields, and messes grow on them like weeds. The single thing you place upon the lovely, clean kitchen table, perhaps your wallet or car keys, is the seed and suddenly your table is covered in a choking weed garden of junk mail, notebooks, used plates, food boxes that didn't get put back in the cupboard, books, school papers, and god knows what else until it is overflowing and falling off the edges, or it is stacked in artistic and precariously balanced piles that would win prizes at the best abstract art contests, or perhaps engineering. I've always wondered about this phenomenon. Someone ought to do a study.

LT

[keyodie]

Oh, and another phenomenon people should study. Why are people so afraid to put a new roll of toilet paper on the designated whatever you call it?

And yeah, messiness usually doesn't bother me but I go through these phases where I realize how dirty everything is and start freaking out at the dirtiness. And then I start cleaning everything. xD

[Hravan]

I love mess! I feel happier when things are messy, it's easier to find stuff..

I do help with the dishes, I avoid washing them as much as possible as I have major problems with left-over food and dirty plates (Hravan has phobia of spit and mouths and germs... ewwww...) but I dry them and put them away and when we do use the dishwasher (only after big meal) I help unload it.
I don't usually vacuum or clean the walls and floors unless I'm asked to because my sister likes doing it but I'm usually the dog poo picker-uper in the garden and drying paws off and walking them etc so it's all fair....

But as for our bedrooms.... They're pretty small. Looking at my room now, I have approx 1.5 feet by 5 feet of floor space which is the passage between my bed and my boxes to the door and most of that is littered with clothes because I have nowhere to put worn clothes that don't need washing yet (not putting them in with clean clothes) and stuff I need for college during the week.... I do have 3 massive boxes full of work but there's no organisation to them so it's easier to just keep the stuff on the floor...
As a result... my room is a tip.... and no I can't organise it or tidy it because it just confuses me... I know where I can find everything even though it looks a mess but when I try to tidy, stuff just gets put willy-nilly because there isn't the space for it.... Plus the main thing my dyslexia affects is my organisation...

Also, my bedroom tidy scares me.... I can't sleep in it as it feels too clean and clinical... *shudders*