Tide, Cheer, Chores

David and I have cohabitated for what seems like eons now, and we have finally gotten into the groove. When we first moved in together I was a cleaning machine; I cleaned almost every day. Then I would get mad at him for never cleaning, but the truth of the matter was I never gave him a chance to clean, because I thought he couldn’t “do it right.” Now when it comes to doing chores we have determined our weaknesses and strengths and divided the chores up accordingly.

For instances (according to David) I shrink, turn our clothes shades of pink and purple, and somehow lose socks in the process of washing our garments. He claims I do not know how to separate laundry. In my defence I put the clothes in two piles: colors, and whites. Where we have a difference of opinions is in the “color” category. David scrutinizes to see if it has red or blue in it. If the piece of clothing is really dark he does a small load of “really dark” clothes; if the piece of clothing has even a little bit of red in it he washes it with the reds. The man even washes the towels separately! My method is- hey if it has color in it- it must go in the color bin. (Most of the time it works out.) One day I was in the laundry room doing laundry and David came in and told me that I was FIRED! I was escorted out of the room; he actually fired me! He has Laundry-Room-Radar, because if I even walk too close to the laundry room door he yells from up from downstairs, “Amy, what are you doing? Don’t even think about touching the laundry.” One night (while he was away) I took it upon myself to teach Holly how to do the laundry. Holly and I were very pleased with our accomplishments (yes, her white panties did have a slight pinkish tinge to them, but I figure it’s like getting a new pair!) I should stop here and mention my biggest laundry faux pas- I will start a load of laundry and then get distracted and leave the load of wet clothes in the washer for a bit of time; sometimes it has to be re-washed. Well on my laundry mentoring night Holly and I did get distracted and forgot the laundry and when David returned home later that evening he saw our method of “sorting”. To make a long story short: Holly is fired too; until David can teach her to sort properly.

To be fair in place of laundry I took on cleaning the three bathrooms in the house. I don’t mind cleaning bathrooms, because I hired an assistant who loves to clean the bathrooms! Ten year olds are absolutely CRAZY, but I love the free labor. Holly is really good at it too; the only thing that is really tough for her to clean is the bathroom mirror. So if you have been following along carefully I traded in laundry duties for cleaning mirrors, and bathroom inspections; what a deal! Now I am not stupid I know Holly will not always want to clean the bathroom, but by then I am hoping we can afford a cleaning crew.

David vacuums, and I dust. I sweep, but David sweeps up the dirt into the dustpan. (For some reason “dust-panning” was not a skill I got the hang of. I can chase that dirt around for hours.) David and I both share the dishes, but I will admit he does them more than I do, but I clean the counters more than he does. I am a better organizer than he is, so I keep our house clutter free.

Our whole family shares the cleaning duties in our house, and I am so much happier for it. Our house for the most part is kept spotless, but liveable. Our clothes stay in their original color, and size thanks to David’s efforts. Most importantly we come together as a family and make our house our home.