Housework and working full time.

A cleaner. £20 a week means I don't have to do any Huge amounts of cleaning and there is nothing nicer than coming home in a Friday to a spotless house

A husband who works overseas? I have so much time that I even do all the gardening in the evenings too but I guess that's not very helpful. I would go with Mini's suggestion...

I feel the same. I would get a cleaner too, but H2B insists we can manage (which, like you, we can't!) My ex-foster sister cleans for my Mum, but I don't know if I want someone I know so well doing our cleaning!

x

We try to keep on top of things by doing a little bit each day. Boyo has recently got a new job which means he is out 10 to 11 hours a day 5 days a week, I have been used to him working two days a week and having most things done...ie cleaning, shopping, cooking and so I am having to adapt to doing more again. Having said that I have (in jest sort of) mentioned a cleaner but as we have had to get a dog walker he is begrudging spending any more money...

I would try to do things as you go along so you don't have a mountain to tackle all at once, do you prefer (or hate less) any jobs more than others and then you can split them between you?

Cleaner cleaner cleaner! Best £20 I spend. I would almost rather go without wine and have my house cleaned! It just takes that extra pressure off. Me and OH both work full time, 1 in 4 weekends as well including nights. Well worth it!

We just get by. I do the washing on one of my days off and H2B does the washing up a couple times a week. We pick up after ourselves (magazines that have been left lying around, items of clothing etc) on a Sunday usually but we are lax on most other chores. Ironing is done 2mins before wearing the item in question. It helps that we're generally not very tidy people!

Tbh, I don't know. I feel like all I do is go to work and clean the house.

OH does nothing in the house, no cleaning, washing or cooking although he will on occasion cook dinner (maybe twice a month) and occasionally clean the kitchen after dinner. I've said about getting a cleaner for a couple of hours a week to help me out but OH thinks it's a waste of money, although he won't help me out more, and I don't really have a spare £80 a month which wouldn't be better spent on something else if I did. Even more annoyingly is that he can afford it as he earns a considerable amount more a month than I do but he won't pay it as he thinks I'm making a fuss over nothing & me asking for help or a cleaner just causes an argument... Oh and I've tried going on strike but the house becomes a mess and he will literally leave dirty cups or glasses and other things lying around for days/weeks.

As you can prob tell, it pees me off no end, hence my little rant. But as I'm in the same boat as you I can't really help other than suggest getting a cleaner for a couple of hours a week if that's an option?

Just discussed this with H2B thanks to this thread! We are both messy people. We have now decided that after the wedding, we will get a cleaner lol!

x

I hate doing it all in one go so I try to keep on top of it by doing a task a day. Otherwise I end up doing the house from top to bottom on my day off and it's boring and exhausting. MF is pretty good and will clean the bathroom or kitchen without too much nagging from me.... Give it a few years I suppose! ?

I'm recovering from a c-section so we have a cleaner & it's amazing.

Cant justify it when I'm on my feet again & on maternity pay. I am hoping to go back part time but am still considering a cleaner every other week & just keeping on top of things inbetween times.

Onw house rule which really helps is never leaving a room empty handed - ie cups, washing baskets etc. Everytime we go up the stairs our hands are full!

Life is too short to spend precious time off cleaning - I want to enjoy wkends as a family. I doubt OH will moan too much as it means he will have to do even less!

OH does the dishes everyday, so it is not a massive job when he does it. I clean the floors a couple times a week, takes 20 mins on my day off, while my little one is munching his lunch. Once a week I will have the washing machine on all day and just wash everything!!

I just spread the chores over the week, changing the bed only takes about 15 mins once a week. Cleaning the loo, about 5 mins every other day.

We don't iron. I only crack it out for my work shirts, other than that, ironing is non-existent in our house.

We just clean as we go, and keeping on top of it means it is no so much of a long chore. However, if we have had a particularly busy week then the cleaning will sleep. So when I have a day off, I just go for it. I turn on my iPod and just go for it. It is amazing how much you can get done in a couple hours of manic cleaning!!!

How about doing tasks together? Like washing and drying the dishes, hanging up/putting away the laundry, one of you hoover, one of you mop. If you do it together you can still enjoy each others company, and the task is halved!!!

After we got married then l convinced Mr Erin to get a cleaner. We both work a lot and between early starts, long days and sometimes working 6hours a week then l don't have time to keep on top of it. Mr Erin isn't the most motivated and his standards are low. The original cleaner was lame and l have sacked her. Hopefully the new one will be better.

Thank you so much ladies for all of the replies.

AlmostMrsCWB I'm so glad it's not me and that you've now decided to get a cleaner I hope it helps you feel more comfy in your home.

*Pugsley* I am gob smacked, this is 2014, right? I would get soooo angry if my fiancee never did anything. We both work full time, therefore we both cook and do housework. If I was on maternity or only worked part-time, fair play, but, wow. Yours should definitely pay towards a cleaner imho!

I think after Christmas we will look at getting a cleaner. Stlll trying to save money for the wedding right now and we'll need the extra cash at Christmas, so we'll look in the New Year. Thanks guys xx

We still haven't got it sorted satisfactorily after 5 years living together (3 years married), but we have managed to improve the situation. If we have people coming round, or if I'm working over the weekend, I will divide up jobs and he will usually do what is allocated to him, but he cannot/will not see when stuff needs doing on a more ad hoc basis e.g. laundry, changing beds, cleaning the cooker top. If I ask, he will do it, though sometimes not for days. But what really bothers me is the untidyness! Stuff gets put down everywhere and then he can't remember where it is, and makes even more mess trying to find things. Still need to get on top of that. And we will be getting a cleaner at some point.

It's not really an issue for us. We both work full time but we live in a tiny 1 bed house. OH does the dusting and hoovering and cleans the bathroom once a week at the weekend and we both do the washing and washing up during the week. I don't iron anything and OH used to iron shirts for work but since he's changed jobs he doesn't wear shirts much anymore. Since he's started working shifts though if he's at work at the weekend I have to do the cleaning myself. I'm very lucky to have such a clean and tidy hubby.

I really struggle with it and would love to get a cleaner but H doesn't like the idea of a stranger in the flat with access to all of our things/paperwork etc.

Presumably you still need to tidy up before the cleaner comes?

We both do it on a Saturday/Sunday morning. Because we share the housework, it only takes an hour.

Ironing, I do in the evening because I'm weird and actually like ironing.

We are both creatures of habit and very tidy luckily as we have a 3 storey townhouse and both work full time. We do one full clean on a Tuesday evening which takes about an hour, OH does bathrooms, I do dusting and hoovering. The kitchen gets cleaned each time we use it anyway. The living room is more hard work as the rats live in there!

I do the washing on a Friday evening or Saturday morning, food shopping is delivered Saturday morning, beds are changed every other Monday evening.

Of course at the moment I am playing the pregnancy card so OH is doing more than his fair share of the above! I would love a cleaner, only because I hate spending time doing housework but I love a clean tidy house.

My thoughts exactly! I don't understand why some men refuse to do housework, surely they live in the house, make a mess and should be cleaning things. Isn't it rather lazy and selfish? Mr Erin isn't great which isn't helped by him Mum waiting on him hand on foot as a child / teenager. After 9 years together then eventually l think he realises he needs to do his fair share so l don't get annoyed especially as l am quite busy at work and doing lots of hours.

We do our cleaning on a Friday evening after work. It does seem like a hassle and I dread doing it, but then it only takes about an hour with the two of us doing it. If H wouldn't do his fair share I would insist on a cleaner I think. H does the cooking and cleans the Kitchen at the same time and I do every other room in the house, which doesn't sound all that fair but he is a much more thorough cleaner than me so it takes him longer to do one room than it takes me to do our bedroom, dining room, living room, bathroom and two sets of landing and stairs. I sometimes get a bit resentful about this, but then he often does other little bits, like cleaning the shower in detail at other points during the weekend so I don't mind too much. After we have finished the cleaning the weekend begins, which makes the cleaning bearable.

This is pretty much us except he does the food shop too and cuts the grass.

In all honesty I couldn't put up with him not doing anything. I hate doing the jobs I do now let alone everything else!

When I was working further away and out of the house for 12 hours a day I did toy with getting a cleaner but now i'm more local and get home at a reasonable time I don't mind so much

This is how I feel, although I hate cleaning I really can't justify a cleaner to myself, let alone H, who I think is worried about what his family would think if we got one. If I worked longer hours though, or had a long commute I would be getting one like a shot.

I do the majority of ours, I have to do most of it as OH cant do certain things, so its left with me to do all the gardening, food shopping, and most of the housework. Sometimes I dont mind, sometimes I have a major ragh and curse his name for not even putting his clothes away! it drives me crackers sometimes when he doesnt do the stuff he can actually do, like put washing on, or his clothes away, but its not consistant like sometimes he'll do that, sort the dishwasher and clean the kitchen and bathrooms - its funny tho cus he'll tell me 'oh ive cleaned the bathroom' bless! i dont announce everything I do...maybe I'll start! We both work full time, but he does longer hours, and has a longer drive to work and I was all 'oh im only 5 minutes away from work now, I'll still get up early, do chores, then go to work tra la laa' but in reality that extra half hour in bed habit is seriously hard to break! but because of that I generally think me doing a bit more makes our division of time fairer. Plus we share the cooking evenly. I do think e may have split up if it wasnt for getting a dishwasher though haha!

And he occassionally mentions getting a cleaner when we've stopped haemorrhaging money on DIY, I'm resistant cus I think we should save the money, but actually I think I'll quickly come round! especially if they iron as well!

Haha l would love to work 6 hours a week. Working 6 hours a day wouldn't be bad either. I meant to write 60 -my fat fingers must have deleted the 0 as they have a life of their own!