Call me nosy, but in my view few topics are as diverting as the agreements other people make to divvy up chores. Like most things that are truly interesting, it’s a tough topic to broach. It always amazes me that people can drone on and on about what political candidate or stock offering they favor, but good luck finding out just who scrubs the grout in the bathroom.
And yet: people want to know, desperately, and not just people who have organization blogs. People wonder how others negotiate household division of labor. Who does the dishes, who the laundry, and how is this decided? Does the person who objects the least or is bothered the most end up doing the chore? Or are the chores split 50-50 down the middle? Is there a work-outside-the-home/work-inside-the-home ratio?
For us, we’ve found that down-the-middle chore splitting does not work at all, partly because there are chores that one of us passionately cares about while the other could care less, and partly there are things one or the other of us simply isn’t very good at. There are also things that one of us enjoys that the other one hates.
Because it is widely known that People Who Blog Have No Shame, here is my list of who-does-what:
Alpay:
- Clean cat box daily
- Deal with all things financial: bills, checking account, stocks, etc.
- Do dishes 80% of the time
- Do all errands—groceries, hardware, supplies, cat food, etc.
- Deal with the car—oil changes, washing, etc.
- Cook 20% of the time
- Morning chores: feed and water the cats, take out garbage, make tea, water plants
- Sweep 50% of the time
- Clean refrigerator 70% of the time
Anne-Marie:
- Clean bathrooms
- Do laundry—sort, wash, iron, fold, put away
- Do dishes 20% of the time
- Do all project work: paint, supervise construction, clean filters, organize closets and drawers
- Put groceries away
- File
- Do most non-daily work: polish silver, mirrors, and windows, clean baseboards, scrub sinks, mop, polish furniture, clean stove and microwave
- Cook 50% of the time (the rest of the time we go out)
- Make lunches
- Sweep 50% of the time
- Clean refrigerator 30% of the time
