Poll: Which household chore do you dislike or put off the most?

[clairecloutier]

For me, it's grocery shopping. I finally went today after delaying for 3 weeks.

My mom: "When do you go grocery shopping these days?" Me: "Only when I can no longer put it off!!"

 

[Prancer]

There is no "All of the above" option .

 

[once_upon]

Anything outdoors because it will trigger respiratory distress/wheezing

 

[clairecloutier]

There is no "All of the above" option .

Right ... I'll have to see if I can add that in!! ETA: Darn, too late to change it!

 

[Jenny]

I hate vacuuming - lugging the thing up and down the stairs and around corners and around furniture, and then when you finally finish, sure enough the first thing you - or someone else - sees is that one spot you missed or couldn't quite reach. Same with dusting - so unsatisfying because it seems like you can never truly do it completely - you always miss something, and it's back before you know it anyway.

I actually like washing dishes. I don't like drying them, but washing them is kinda zen for me. And I LOVE grocery shopping and cooking!

 

[flyingsit]

Dusting and laundry. Luckily my husband does most of the laundry, but I don't think he's ever dusted anything in his life.

 

[snoopy]

Dusting and mopping, both for the same reason. You have to move stuff around to do it right. I'm good with anything I can just get right to, even cleaning toilets.

 

[Spun Silver]

Laundry!!!

I loathe vaccuuming too, but we have hardwood floors with almost no rugs, so that is not a big issue. Thank heavens.

 

[jamesy]

There is no "All of the above" option .

Thank you. There are days I'd like to just burn the house down and start over.

 

[MsZem]

Dusting and cleaning windows. Bah, so dull and annoying. And luckily, several things on this list are irrelevant for me: no garden so no need to mow the lawn or weed anything, and if repairs are needed I call my landlord. I only know how to change lightbulbs.

I like grocery shopping, especially picking produce at the market. In fact I prefer it to most types of shopping.

 

[Spun Silver]

Thank you. There are days I'd like to just burn the house down and start over.

I would seriously move back to an apartment again to eliminate the home maintenance and outdoor chores (even though I like the latter... but they are very time consuming). But we have 8 pets. My best hope is a smaller house and NOT a corner property -- I didnt think of the time and expense entailed in that extra bit of land.

 

[cholla]

Other : cleaning windows

 

[Rob]

I hate vacuuming. I actually like laundry, but I hate ironing.

 

[twinsissv]

Laundry!!!

I loathe vaccuuming too, but we have hardwood floors with almost no rugs, so that is not a big issue. Thank heavens.

I absolutely HATE that vacuum cleaner (it's personal between the two of us)
and my cat hates it even more than I do.

 

[Simone411]

I chose other which is dusting. Vacuuming is easy for me now, and it's sort of fun. I use my wheelchair and my Eureka super lightweight vacuum cleaner. It's bagless and not heavy at all. I go to the area that I wish to vacuum, lock the wheelchair, and start vacuuming. The Eureka also has a long extendable handle. I find it fun because I'm moving all around in the living room and hallway, etc. in that wheelchair.

Dusting I hate the most. I use my wheelchair for that, too, when I need to dust in lower areas because I can't bend over and squat for very long anymore. I use the wheelchair quite a lot for doing anything that would require me to squat for a long time. The rest of the stuff like the laundry isn't that hard now because of the wire basket that I have for my walker. I also have a food tray for my walker which is a blessing because it's hard to hold onto a plate, glass, silverware while using the walker. Washing dishes isn't hard either since I now can hold on to the counters, etc. to move around. Things like counters and rails are very sturdy.

Of course, I can't mow the lawn. I have a man that does landscaping, mowing, hedging and weed eating for living to it do it for me. I also have a friend that does house cleaning for a living. She comes about every two weeks and does the chores I can't do like cleaning the windows and changing the bedsheets, etc. for me.

It's really true what the home health nurse told me when I first came home. She came for the first month after I got home. She said that I would figure out new ways to do things, and she was right. It was sort of like trial and error, but I've figured out how to do several things.

Oh, and I love grocery shopping because I'm finally used to using their scooters! It's really fun to go down the isles and go around the corners! LOL! I do go slow even though I'm tempted to race down the isles.

 

[TheGirlCanSkate]

I hate doing any of it if someone is home. I hate working and having someone come through and walk on a wet floor or having them watching me work. Hate it! I like to be alone, blare music and clean and dance. I don't like when my husband tries to help or comments on how I do it. So i just leave the laundry, vacuuming, floor cleaning and bathrooms to him.

 

[Spun Silver]

Other : cleaning windows

I always remember what an old, old friend of mine told me years ago. She said, "There are two ways to clean windows. One is, hire a company to do it. The other is, just dont do it." Now I have the inside-opening type but I can never remember how they work so I stick with the second option. It is starting to get gross though so I may have to go with the loathsome third option of figuring out how to do it myself. I dont have my friend's excuse of living in a 16th floor apartment.

 

[Kasey]

Cleaning kitty boxes! I don't put it off, but I really dislike it. I need to teach them to use the toilet! (and flush!)

 

[gkelly]

Well my condo is just going to replace all the windows next month, so then they'll be clean for a while and it can wait a few years to replace them again.

I hated vacuuming because my apartment is such an obstacle course and I had no technique for pushing a heavy upright vacuum around the carpet. So I would just use the hose, which required leaning over close to the floor and then the blood would rush to my head and I'd breathe in dust and get an allergy attack. And I could never figure out how to install new bags.

Recently I bought a lighter vacuum with a hose I can control from an upright or more-upright posture, so it's less of a problem but still not my favorite chore. Also there is no bag so I don't look forward to emptying it when it gets full of dust etc.

I have to do laundry so I can have clean clothes, and I like grocery shopping, so I do those about once a week. I live alone so I can run the dishwasher about once a week and it's not a heinous chore. I'll sweep the kitchen floor and wipe the counters fairly often, but really mopping to get off stuck-on stains, or the same on the bathroom floors and fixtures, is more of a big deal and I often put it off longer than I should.

 

[Spun Silver]

I absolutely HATE that vacuum cleaner (it's personal between the two of us)
and my cat hates it even more than I do.

When I do rarely have to vacuum (between the biweekly cleaner visits or when we dont have outside cleaners), I found that a super lightweight stick vac from Walmarts made it vastly less onerous. It works great on hardwood floors, not well on rugs though. It only cost $15 so I got one for each floor. It's just really light and easy to grab, has a long cord, and can be configured three different ways for flat areas, corners, and furniture.

@gkelly, do you live on takeout or just cook once a week or have a ton of dishes? How do you manage to use the DW just once a week?? I run it almost every day, but often on a very short cycle. We rarely do takeout and I sort of like to cook. (Love hate relationship with cooking due to the time involved.)

 

[skatemommy]

The grocery store is on my way to and from the rink and work. I go there just about every day. I quit balancing my checkbook, just look on the computer to see if I am close. I hate picking up sticks in the yard; it is neverending. At least with laundry there is a end!

 

[Spun Silver]

I hate doing any of it if someone is home. I hate working and having someone come through and walk on a wet floor or having them watching me work. Hate it! I like to be alone, blare music and clean and dance. I don't like when my husband tries to help or comments on how I do it. So i just leave the laundry, vacuuming, floor cleaning and bathrooms to him.

This sounds admirable. I read an article that argued one big reason why women do more housework is that they are too critical of the way their husbands do it, so the husbands back out or the wives push them out. The writer advised women to delegate and loosen up about how the delegated tasks are done. Sounds like you are doing just that.

I cant quite manage it. My husband doesnt see dirt, so I have to clean up after he cleans up. This summer I WANT to delegate watering the garden to him, partly because he needs to get off his duff and in the fresh air. But if he is lazy about it and my hydrangeas or heirloom tomatoes start dying, there's no way I wont rush in to save them.

 

[quartz]

The husband does the windows, and my son helps with lawn mowing, litterboxes, garbage, recycling and compost gathering and vacuuming. I do the kitchen, bathrooms, laundry and vacuuming.
Dusting means blowing stuff onto the floor before I vacuum.
Grocery shopping sucks because it's so expensive. Three days pay is gone in 10 minutes.

I like washing dishes, and reorganizing.

 

[taf2002]

I don't mind cleaning the kitchen but I hate cleaning the bathroom. My husband used to do it when we both worked but he's not able to anymore. Yuck!

My husband doesnt see dirt, so I have to clean up after he cleans up.

My husband doesn't see dirt on the floor or carpet. He used to do a pretty good job vacuuming only because he would go over the entire carpet. But as far as mopping or sweeping the floor forget it.

 

[LilJen]

Dishes. They NEVER GO AWAY. I can do a whole sink full, and suddenly there are MORE. Drives me nuts.

I get past dusting simply by not doing it. It makes me sneeze, so I don't bother and I never really think about it. Occasionally I'll get dd or dh to do it, if it occurs to me.

 

[Cachoo]

Mom's toilet. I won't say more except it is worth it to me to splurge on a house keeper a couple of times a month for that room alone. I'm ok with everything else even though it all gets tedious.

 

[Prancer]

Dishes. They NEVER GO AWAY. I can do a whole sink full, and suddenly there are MORE. Drives me nuts.

But that's the problem with all housework. Everything you do is temporary; as soon as you finish with something, you can already start planning when you are going to do it again.

I just swept the kitchen floor. I did it while the dog was outside because the dog attacks the broom. I let the dog in. The kitchen floor needs to be swept again.

 

[LilJen]

But that's the problem with all housework. Everything you do is temporary; as soon as you finish with something, you can already start planning when you are going to do it again.

I just swept the kitchen floor. I did it while the dog was outside because the dog attacks the broom. I let the dog in. The kitchen floor needs to be swept again.

Yes, but for me the dishes are what I am least able to ignore. When you can't get to the faucet for some water, well. . . you have to at least move some dishes out of the way. I can ignore the dirty carpet, the dust, the grungy bathroom for much longer. But I agree with you that the most annoying thing about housework is that it needs to be done over and over and over and over ad nauseam.

 

[Prancer]

Yes, but for me the dishes are what I am least able to ignore. When you can't get to the faucet for some water, well. . . you have to at least move some dishes out of the way.

Yes, I always tell my husband that when I am sick, the worst thing is having to come downstairs to a pile of dishes in the sink in the morning. Does no one else know how to load the dishwasher?

 

[gkelly]

@gkelly, do you live on takeout or just cook once a week or have a ton of dishes? How do you manage to use the DW just once a week??

I don't do a lot of cooking from scratch, just for me. I eat frozen or other prepared food, maybe sandwich or cereal, or ravioli and/or vegetables grilled on a George Foreman grill, or salad. It doesn't use a lot of dishes.

And I usually have breakfast and lunch at my office.