Diary of a Middle-aged Woman

02/11/07 - My Husband's Laundry & Other Chores

Yesterday morning I changed my Saturday routine - slightly. You see, my mother called me on Friday and said that she didn't any groceries this week. Well, that just opened up my whole Saturday morning! I decided to do some household chores before I headed out to do my grocery shopping.

Below is a list of some mundane chores that we do every Saturday. I think you'll find it's really a comparison of my way of cleaning and my husband's way. I think you'll also see how obsessive compulsive I am about things. You'll begin to feel sorry for my husband.

This is what I came up with so far:

THE LAUNDRY
My husband usually does his own laundry. This week, since I had the time, I did it for him. As I was putting his clothes into the washer machine, I was careful how I touched them. I'm talking about his underwear and socks specifically. I made sure that I pulled the underwear out of the laundry basket by the waistband, and the socks by the top and not the foot area.

I have a "thing" about touching someone else's underwear and socks. It doesn't bother me to touch my daughter's, but my husband's? Well that is a whole new world. For some reason, I can't bring myself to just reach into the laundry basket and grab a handful of clothes. If I do accidentally touch them, I hear myself saying, "EEEW!" outloud. I wish I wasn't this way, but, somewhere in my early develop I acquired this aversion to other people's underwear and socks.

THE LITTERBOX
I "scoop the poop" every morning and am always amazed at how "full" it is from one cat. She buries her stuff well, so I end-up really scraping the bottom of the box. I don't have a problem doing this because I tell myself to pretend I am panning for gold. Weird huh? That way, I do a full search of the litter and make sure I get every Litter Critter there is. I then sprinkle some litterbox deodorizer in the box and it is all ready for the day. The cat stands beside me while I do this as if to supervise me.

When my husband does this chore, he complains constantly. "What's that cat been eating?" "Look at the size of these clumps!" "My God! I keep finding more and more! When will it end?" How dramatic! The cat doesn't even bother to supervise him. She just watches from a safe distance.

DUSTING
My husband usually does all the dusting that needs to be done. Afterall, he doesn't do the food shopping and yardwork is still a couple of weeks away, so he has the time. I know I am lucky to have a husband who helps out with household chores, but at the same time I have to wonder what takes him so long? I secretly timed him one Saturday and was amazed that it took him two hours to dust our downstairs. He takes "breaks" when he dusts! Dusting is not that strenuous, and it's not like we have wall to wall wood in my home. When I dust it takes me about an hour and I dust things that he doesn't - like lampshades, baseboards and windowsills. I just keep my mouth shut and tell myself that I am lucky he does it at all.

FOLDING BATHROOM TOWELS
For some reason, folding towels doesn't bother me. It is mindless and repetitive, so maybe that has something to do with it. But, I do have a system in place for my towels. When I put the towels away, I make sure to take the towels that are in the closet out, and put them on top of the clean ones. I like to rotate them so they all get equal use. I also like to make sure to put towels of the same color together on the shelf. (By the way, I do all of this with my underwear too. I know, I know - I am anal retentive!)

My husband does this chore completely different. He folds them any old way and just shoves them on the shelf. Later, I end up rearranging everything to my satisfaction.

As I read through this, I have to wonder why I just can't leave well enough alone. I mean he does the job - he gets it done. I have come to realize over these past fourteen (almost fifteen) years of marriage that my husband is a good maintenance cleaner. He can do quick touch-ups and make things look presentable. However, I am a "Mrs. Clean". I do the more thorough cleaning and organizing.

The funny thing is, my husband thinks he is the better 'cleaner' than me! I often thought it would be nice to have some kind of reality show come to my house and watch the way we both clean. Then they could let the viewers vote on who's better. I know I would win.

Don't worry. I don't complain to my husband about his cleaning. I just let him do his thing. I don't want to mess up a good thing. Like I said, I know that I am lucky that he does household chores at all. So, I just keep my mouth shut and secretly go back and rearrange things.

You'll have to excuse me for now. I just opened the kitchen towel drawer and it is in total disarray. (Guess who put the kitchen towels away yesterday.) I really need to fix that now so, I gotta run!

Have a GREAT Sunday!