It seems that each week my husband and I dirty the house, and then Saturday and Sunday comes along and I am left with a mess. That mess is very overwhelming, and many times I am left scrambling to clean. It’s not so bad in the winter weather when I am stuck inside anyway, but now that the weather is getting warmer and my neighborhood pool calls to me…I was looking for a way to make it all seem like less of a BIG job. So here is what I came up with. A chore list. Basically the idea around it is, that if I do one or two houshold chores a day during the week, the house will remain clean, and by the time Saturday rolls around I can just straighten up the areas that guests may see and be on my way!

I don’t have a very large house. We have a townhouse. The downstairs consists of a living room (which really isn’t one), a 1/2 bathroom, a family area, a small kitchen and small dining area. The upstairs has 2 bedrooms and a full bath. The idea of the order of this list, will be that by the time Friday comes around, I could easily have people come to our house and not have to scramble around like an idiot to clean it…or to have surprise guests come only to wonder how my husband has such an awful wife who keeps the house so messy!

So where’s what I came up with:

• Monday: Clean Kitchen, Straighten and Vacuum the Downstairs: Here, I am figuring the weekend has probably left me with some clutter. This allows me to get it all cleared up without taking too much time.
• Tuesday: Clean Upstairs Bathroom and the bedrooms
• Wednesday: Steam Mop the floors: All of my floors are carpeted except for a small tiled entry way, the 2 bathrooms and the kitchen. The bathrooms and kitchen are linoleum, so the steam mop is perfect.
• Thursday: Dust Downstairs
• Friday: Run Rosie (our Roomba), clean Downstairs bathroom, Straighten downstairs

At this point we are working with trial and error with the schedule, but I figure each day will take about 30-45 minutes to get the job done. Plus this leaves my Saturday’s and Sunday’s to relax and enjoy myself! Doesn’t sound so overwhelming now does it?

So for those of you that wait all week to do a top to bottom houseclean…why not give this idea a try? It might make your week go a little smoother, and not make you cringe at the idea of cleaning the ENTIRE house! It’s time to rock the old school CHORE LIST!

The Perfect Man

I believe this picture says it all. I am not sure men get the idea that women really are not that difficult to understand. We want love and affection, and to be appreciated…and maybe, just maybe to come home to dinner on the table, laundry done and a clean house that her husband took the time and energy to clean. And all of this done…without being asked!

Ok, ok I am living in a fantasy world. This man doesn’t exist, I got carried away, so let’s go back to the main point and that is to tell our men that we will do what we can around the house, but sometimes there are just some jobs that they are going to have to do to pitch in.

Man Jobs

I never thought I’d be this type of woman, but in my household I take on most of the household duties. Those being cleaning, laundry, cooking, dry cleaning, grocery shopping…OK well pretty much everything that needs to be done around the house. I don’t mind doing most of these jobs since I work from home, and some of them are just easy for me to get done with some of the extra time I have. Now that being said there are some jobs that I just refuse to do. I don’t care how dirty it gets, or how annoying it is, I just won’t do them because “it’s a man job!” My mom will sometimes complain when she has to take the garbage out, or carry the water bottle in to put on the cooler. My response is just don’t do it…”it’s a man job”. If you start to do those jobs for them, they will just let you. Don’t give in!

I truly believe that a man just isn’t wired to notice the small things. Men are big thinkers; they like to see the big pictures. They don’t notice when the garbage can is full and they don’t notice when the water cooler needs more water (though I wish they did).  I am not sure why they are wired differently but I honestly don’t believe it’s malicious. What I do know is, is that I will not be helping with the very few jobs that my husband is responsible for. It’s a short list but here it is.

Jobs My Husband Does

1. Take out the Garbage to the can, and then on garbage days to the street. (if I am lucky the can returns back to the house after!)
2. Carry heavy things (i.e. water bottles and luggage) I certainly was not built for heavy lifting. I am a wuss, so it’s his job to carry.
3. Mowing the lawn: Although I do not have to worry about this at this point in my life I am a true believer that the man mows the lawn. I don’t care how high that grass gets I will not do it.

Huh, now that I see this list it is ridiculously short, but I only listed jobs that I refuse to do. I must give my husband credit, he does take care of anything electronic and deals with all customer service people on the phone (I tend to start yelling at these poor people rather quickly).

He supports me in other ways, but household chores??? He leaves those jobs to me. Maybe someday I’ll come home and find him vacuuming on his own, but I won’t hold my breath.

So what jobs do you consider to be “man jobs”. Who does what around the house? In a world where men and woman both work outside the home more often than not, how do you split things up?