Forum menu
This thread makes me realise how harmonious our home life is.
But, why do you think I've left those Sharpie pens and bags in the drawer next to the freezer? When you were expecting some of last week's chicken stock for the red wine reduction, egg whites, mashed potato or apple sauce aren't really a viable alternative.
This passes for acceptable..
I'm just leaving it..ffs
DrP
Operating a roller blind without ripping the cord out of the mechanism every time
Turning off lights
Understanding that the sink's draining board is for the clean dishes
Using a towel more than once
Returning the electric toothbrush to its charger
Operating kitchen drawers without wrenching the front off
Understanding that clothes drawers obey the laws of physics when it comes to occupying space
Putting the lid back on the toothpaste
Realising that the milk will run out soon
Rinsing out tomato tins once they're empty so they can go in the recycling without having to be scrubbed first
Putting things in cupboards in a way that means the next person to look in the cupboard stands a chance of avoiding concussion and even seeing what might be in there.
I do recognise however that I'm the one with unrealistic expectations of the dishwasher's capabilities. Its a Bosch though, it should better at its core function!
I know I'm going to go downstairs to:
Plates and cups spread thinly over the drainer
dirty cups o the clean drainer
plates on the side by an empty sink bowl
recycling on the worktop above the half full recycling bin
cardboard boxes around the recycling bin
random glasses of water en route to the kitchen.
milk out of the fridge, lid placed on but not closed
3 pairs of shoes in the doorway to the living room.
something behind a door, preventing i from opening more than 1/2 way, as when the door is shut, it looks like a good place to put something, like a bin, or shoes, or an empty box.
grumble, grumble....
Shoes, every day of my life I come home take my shoes off and spend a minute putting everyone else's shoes where they are supposed to go rather than just being a trip hazard
bin and wash rinse / cats dishes, after a weekend away there are catfood plates and wrappers all over utility room
every day of my life I come home take my shoes off and spend a minute putting everyone else’s shoes where they are supposed to go
That's where you're going wrong. They know you'll do it so why should they bother. Throw them* out of the front door instead.
(* - the shoes)
Using my nice* kitchen knives on anything other than
I periodically have to have this conversation with my partner. It's like, she has short-term memory and long-term memory but a complete absence of mid-term memory.
I'll explain, gently and patiently, how long it took me (along with the intervention of a local butcher) to return an edge to a previously sodded Sabatier I acquired from a professional chef, and how a sharp knife is not a great bedfellow with a glass "chopping" board if it in fact wishes to remain anything other than a butter knife with lofty aspirations. And she'll duly go chop stuff on one of the plastic or wooden surfaces instead. For about a year, then one day I'll hear the distinctive 'clack - clack - clack' from the other end of the building again.
It's the same with the bathroom. There are no windows so no natural ventilation. If I had a pound for every time I've had the "close the door; turn off the extractor fan; not have a completely ****ed bathroom: pick any two" conversation I could retire on the proceeds. Then after a few days of her falling off the wagon again she'll come to me, "it smells musty in there," well I wonder why.
Stirring tins of paint with a suitable implement NOT ONE OF MY BEST SCREWDIVERS.
... or the paintbrush itself. Paint should not be all the way up the bristles, let alone a third of the way up the handle.
i bet there’s an identical thread in tne womens chat!
I keep telling my other half, if I say I'm going to put shelves up then I'm going to put shelves up. I haven't forgotten, she doesn't need to keep reminding me every month.
But separating colours from whites for the washing.
It has recently transpired that we have different approaches to doing laundry. I will filter stuff before it goes into the laundry basket, so checking pockets for stuff, turning delicates inside-out, making sure that aren't a gordian knot, etc. She does this (allegedly) between basket and machine.
This came to the fore when she asked me to put the washer on, I gathered up the contents of the Whites bin and set the machine going. Whirr whirr bing! later and I'm faced with a load of pink socks, shirts and towels. The culprit is a red skirt I've never seen before. Has this ever been washed, I asked. "No." Well... why the hell is it in with the whites, then? "Oh, I was going to take it out." Argh!
Soft-close clip-on cabinet hinges
Oooooh! Thank you!
This passes for acceptable..
I see your problem there. You could get a bin twice the size into that gap. 😁
(Why does it have a drawer at the bottom?)
Putting the lid back on the toothpaste
I fixed this (and the middle-squeeze because of course everyone else does) by only ever buying toothpaste in dispenser pumps.
Apologies to DrP I think you might have my daughter somewhere in your home?
Is bath plug full of hair ?
Is kitchen sink full ?
Is draining board like a mixture of jenga/ Tetris/ buckaroo ?
If yes to the above then you may have a visitor!!
Send her back if/when washing and drying is done
Ps Your lights will be on
Soft-close clip-on cabinet hinges
... I've just bought a pair to try. If it works I'm going to redo the entire kitchen. Thanks again.
So I'll add my couple of my pet peeves
- before you start washing up, put away the stuff on the drying rack that is dry.
- you don't need to scrub out the jam jar that is going to recycling, a light rise is more than enough
- shoes need to go on the shoe rack, not randomly left all over the hall (shoe rack is in the hall)
On the other hand, we have all got to an advanced stage with filling and emptying the dishwasher. So progress has been made
I've got a friend like that... Never knows where his keys are when leaving the house..
I couldn't cope with that kind of stress and faff of playing hunt the keys at least once daily. I always know where my keys are.
Nice, TY.
I already bought those little bump pad things a couple of years ago. They made very little difference, cupboard doors now go 'bang' instead of 'crack'.
My OH is setting up as an at-home childminder and she's got a list of stuff to do including childproofing accessible cupboards. If anyone knows of a single product which is both a soft-close and a childlock, I'll be your friend.
glass “chopping” board
why In the name of all that is holy would you allow one of those monstrosities in your home? This is at least one thing that she and I agree on. Wood or plastic only. I just need to reinforce that the plastic board, and only the plastic board, is for raw meat.
emptying the cordless vacuum, current mrs b seems to think its self emptying
Soft-close clip-on cabinet hinges
… I’ve just bought a pair to try. If it works I’m going to redo the entire kitchen. Thanks again.
My pleasure. The only problem is, you then need to do all the wardrobes as well (trust me) as you get used to being able to slam any cabinet door and not worry about it, and you get caught out by the one you didn’t do…
Same applies to soft-close toilet seats.
Drying up.
If there's not enough space on the draining board then you start doing some washing up, not building a breakable tower of babel with your favorite bowls.
why In the name of all that is holy would you allow one of those monstrosities in your home?
I'll take a photo and you'll see. But variously,
1) It was a present from her,
2) It's hellishly cool, and
3) It's really useful for stuff other than chopping. I rolled dumplings out on it yesterday.
emptying the cordless vacuum, current mrs b seems to think its self emptying
On merging two households, we ended up with two cordless Dysons (I know, I know). We donated one to The Girl.
Fast forward a few months, my partner complains that The Girl's house is a tip and hasn't been hoovered in weeks because they don't have a vacuum cleaner. "Wait, what?" I enquired, "But we gave them your Dyson?" It doesn't work, I'm told. Well... why has no-one said anything, bring it here and I'll take a look at it.
Got it back, I emptied it, it now works fine. 🤷♂️
We have cupboards. They have doors to hide the contents. They even have soft close hinges. Apprently they have to be left open by at least 10cm.
Dishwasher part 2. Apprently i have to fix it this weekend as its not cleaning properly. I didn’t get a chance to restack it last night before the half empty dishwasher was put on, well it Would have been half empty if i had restacked it.
If I've learned one thing from this thread, it's that I'm never buying a dishwasher.
Cordless shitting vacuum cleaner!
Ours doesn't get emptied by anyone but me. I'm fine with this. However, should someone else be using it (who doesn't have emptying privileges) and the crap passes the MAX line then they should stop.
Do they? DO THEY? DO THEY ****!
Then I have to take the damn thing apart to try and remove the "dust sausage" that is gumming up its inner workings. Whilst being tutted at because the cordless vac that I bought is "rubbish".
If I’ve learned one thing from this thread, it’s that I’m never buying a dishwasher
You're approaching this all wrong. The thing to learn is to live alone.
The thing I've learned from this thread is a lot of you have a high tolerance threshold for laziness and what seems like willful ignorance, either that or I have a low threshold...
Cordless shitting vacuum cleaner!
Ours doesn’t get emptied by anyone but me. I’m fine with this
Emptied? Noah. And definitely nobody cleans the filter. And then wonders why it won't work and that flashing light is on.To add a new source of annoyance - nobody else is able to contact any sort of tradesperson or repair facility, including, but not limited to, plumber, electrician, car repair person of any description, heating engineer, decorator, tiler, roofer etc etc etc.
Plus - making coffee. Yes I am a bit particular about how I like it made, but just ONCE I'd be prepared to put up with a sub-optimal cup if it meant that I could stay in bed for a bit in the morning.
- Cutting bread well.
- Fixing bikes.
- Putting my DIY tools away.
- Using the multiple paint tin keys - not one of my screwdrivers to open paint tins.
- Putting tea bags in the bin - I don’t even drink tea!
- Putting cooking utensils, crockery roasting tins and pans away - after washing.
Dr J +1
he crap passes the MAX line then they should stop.
Do they? DO THEY? DO THEY ****!
I can literally hear it from the other end of the house. You know like when a pensioner is reversing out of a parking space in a VW Up!, barely moving yet with the throttle to the floor and the clutch sending a second-class letter to biting point, and you think "messiah on a velociraptor, does no-one other than me have any mechanical sympathy?!"
The thing to learn is to live alone.
you still get to do all the chores. .Frankly if you've got to the position where you have to fill a dishwasher "a certain way" then STFU about the fact that all the other adults in the house don't want to go near it, you weirdo.
Plan and execute a snap ambush.
When the end of days dawns I'm going to be doing some heavy lifting in our house.
Opening a packet of something - anything - with scissors, rather than tearing it with your teeth.
Our house has a place for everything and everything has a place. E.g sellotape is in the greeting cards and paper wrap drawer with pens and parcel scissors
Is that in the wrapping room? 😉
Erm , you do know self closing drawers are an actual thing?,
Ok , so you have to get the drawer to within roughly 5in.and the fancy smanshy auto mechanism does the rest.. silently. All the way closed , not sticking out just far enough so you catch your hip on it.
And iirc they do not allow the flick - slam manoeuvre favoured by those whose work demands a 0530 alarm, along with the associated..Well I'm up so everyone else can be as well
Emptying the lint trap on the tumble dryer is not something that occurs to anyone else.
My OH is setting up as an at-home childminder and she’s got a list of stuff to do including childproofing accessible cupboards. If anyone knows of a single product which is both a soft-close and a childlock, I’ll be your friend.
Grenade pin on a string? Tough love but effective.
More importantly there was an earlier reference to 'squeezing the tea bag'. Well really why don't I just inject tannins into a major artery? Tea bag squeezers are second in line for the scorpion pit just behind oxygen thieves who on exiting a lift immediately go full 'human statue'.
Frankly if you’ve got to the position where you have to fill a dishwasher “a certain way” then STFU about the fact that all the other adults in the house don’t want to go near it, you weirdo
This. As far as I’m concerned, as long as you don’t stop the spinning thing rotating and everything comes out clean without pools of water, it doesn’t matter if it looks like it’s loaded by an angry baggage handler.
It's priorities innit.
I might leave the odd empty bog roll on the side but she "always" puts the kitchen knives in the dishwasher no matter how many times I mention not to....and why...because they don't hold any priority or value to her. Same as sharpening them....happy to use nice sharp knives but if it meant sharpening them herself she would just as likely hack away with an old butter knife....again because it has no real value to her.
Drying up.If there’s not enough space on the draining board then you start doing some washing up, not building a breakable tower of babel with your favorite bowls.
One of my housemates in first year of uni used to do this but with washing up instead of drying up. He had been presented with a 6-set of plates, bowls and cutlery by his parents, the result being that he'd use one then drop it into the sink. Next day he'd use a clean one, repeat. Eventually it'd get to the point that he'd be forcing his dirty plates into the sink, bending the tap in the process in order to squeeze just one more dish in there.
Eventually, someone else would do the washing up.
In the end we sorted out all his dirty crockery and dumped it on his bed one day when he left his door unlocked. Put it this way, it didn't make the bed any dirtier than it already was. 🤢🤢🤢
We have a small utility/cloak room it’s 5 metres from the front door across the hallway. Seems extremely difficult for the other members of the family to get there without leaving shoes, coats and bags strewn across the hallway! Then they go to the kitchen to take the last bag of crisps only to put the multipack bag back empty!!!
One of my housemates in first year of uni used to do this but with washing up instead of drying up. He had been presented with a 6-set of plates, bowls and cutlery by his parents, the result being that he’d use one then drop it into the sink. Next day he’d use a clean one, repeat. Eventually it’d get to the point that he’d be forcing his dirty plates into the sink, bending the tap in the process in order to squeeze just one more dish in there.
My second year daughter is 3 weeks into the shared house and is already fed up with ^ sort of thing. And all the rest, empty bog roll tubes, bins with stuff pushed in that's approaching the density where nuclear fusion starting is a possibility, etc. She's just been ranting on the family chat on whatsapp about it.
I just raised a figurative eyebrow on the app and welcomed her to my world.
Since when my wife has emptied the recycling jenga and has now done a load of washing.
It'll last a week and then we'll go back to normal 😉
Adding things to the shopping list after taking/using the last one. Toothpaste, sellotape, printer paper...
As a practical type of person and the father of the house, I think the wife and kids deliberately don't even attempt doing things as they know that I'll bloody do them.
Are we limited to housework in this topic or can I just list any random shit I can do that others can't?