Housework

cloudatlas

Can anyone in the history of human kind ever have a rational conversation about housework without flying off the handle. If so I would like to meet them.

I agreed that we should have a timetable for housework in fact it was my idea after one person in particular started getting annoyed with the state of the place but I wanted to discuss what form the timetable would take. There is one person who I will admit was doing the majority of the tasks but they said nothing and their anger has built up to such an extent that you can't even discuss how things should be done.

I thought we should do a rota for example where one person does the hoovering, the other person does the bathroom, the other the weeding, the other cleans fridge oven and etc., as a weekly rota of some shape or form and then the next week the tasks change and you are doing a different one.

But what has transpired is there is a list of tasks and a weekly template and people have to pick a task and then sign the list to say they did that task that they picked. There is no rhyme or reason or logic to it. The problem with this is I think some tasks are more desirable than others i.e. nobody will want to do the bathroom. I would consider half an hour of cleaning the bathroom not equal to 10 minutes of taking out the trash and cleaning the fridge. Also I don't have a clue how much I should do because it's a blank canvas. I want to plan my cleaning. Okay Saturday I will clean the bathroom. Thursday night is my night to mop the floor. Something disciplined.

Can anybody with experience of timetabling household duties tell me what works the most effectively.

catallus

cloudatlas wrote: »

I want to plan my cleaning.

You can't plan cleaning! It takes all the fun out of it!

miss no stars

cloudatlas wrote: »

Can anyone in the history of human kind ever have a rational conversation about housework without flying off the handle. If so I would like to meet them.

I agreed that we should have a timetable for housework in fact it was my idea after one person in particular started getting annoyed with the state of the place but I wanted to discuss what form the timetable would take. There is one person who I will admit was doing the majority of the tasks but they said nothing and their anger has built up to such an extent that you can't even discuss how things should be done.

I thought we should do a rota for example where one person does the hoovering, the other person does the bathroom, the other the weeding, the other cleans fridge oven and etc., as a weekly rota of some shape or form and then the next week the tasks change and you are doing a different one.

But what has transpired is there is a list of tasks and a weekly template and people have to pick a task and then sign the list to say they did that task that they picked. There is no rhyme or reason or logic to it. The problem with this is I think some tasks are more desirable than others i.e. nobody will want to do the bathroom. I would consider half an hour of cleaning the bathroom not equal to 10 minutes of taking out the trash and cleaning the fridge. Also I don't have a clue how much I should do because it's a blank canvas. I want to plan my cleaning. Okay Saturday I will clean the bathroom. Thursday night is my night to mop the floor. Something disciplined.

Can anybody with experience of timetabling household duties tell me what works the most effectively.

What you're doing doesn't work.

The whole point is that it's supposed to be fair. Letting people pick what they do isn't because someone's gonna get landed with harder stuff than others.

I'd be inclined to have 2 groups of chores - day to day and big chores. So person A is responsible for making sure worktops don't get left covered in crumbs, put the bins out, sweep the kitchen floor. Person B does the big stuff - cleans the bathrooms, gives the kitchen a bit of a deep clean, dusts, vacuums and mops the floors in communal areas once in the week.
Persons C and D are off chores for the week.

Then the next week person A does the big stuff, person D does the small day to day stuff and B and C are off.

If you leave it the way it is it'll just go back to the same people doing all the work all the time.

We did a chart of task and week

Week 1:
Task A person A
Task B person B
Task C person C
Week 2
Task A person C
Task B person A
Task C person B

etc
if it was light duties, then for one week you'd be on the light duties and next week you'd be on to whatever else and it would all balance out

cloudatlas

LoL just went down stairs the easiest tasks are gone already, so I spent 1 hour wiping down kitchen surfaces etc, hoovering and taking out the bins.

Let the toilet cleaning avoidance games begin. May the odds be ever in your favour!

miss no stars

Look, it doesn't matter how exactly it's divided up, but there needs to be some sort of more formal rota in place to make sure everyone has a fair workload and isn't always doing the same stuff.

catallus

How many people are in the house OP?

Just get a cleaner in twice a month and split the cost.

A good cleaner will clean the house top to bottom for €50.

pwurple

People need to clean as they go... Wipe counters and tables if they use them.

For big jobs (oven, mopping etc) get a cleaner. Saved my marriage.