Am I the only person in this bloody house who can…

I often wonder if Greta looks around at rallies and thinks, ‘yes, this is truly the generation who care about energy use, minimising consumption and saving the planet.’
Outwith her band of acolytes, I see very little evidence of this. Very little as in Do. Not. Give. A. Flying. Fark….

Lots of the above chimes here, with teenage kids. Hot water use is like a contest here.
Also lights.
The after school back door floordrobe just gets grabbed and turfed outside wholesale if it’s there when I get home.

Hot water use is like a contest here.

Fortunately out of our soon to be teenagers, only one takes regular (ie two a day) showers that empty our huge cylinder and in the process is also slowly ruining all the paintwork in the bathroom despite having a powerful Manrose inline fan installed.

Hot water use is like a contest here.

So my offspring aren’t they only ones who have showers for half an hour?

OP – how is the front door closing? Ours reverberates around the close, I swear the whole front wall of our house is moving after ‘closing’ the door…

So my offspring aren’t they only ones who have showers for half an hour?

Nope.

And do yours also close the blind and windows fully, leaving a sauna behind?

…open doors properly

Push the handle down, then pull the door.
Not both at the same time and not in the reverse order

….and don’t get me started on something as nuanced as how to load or unload a dishwasher or washing machine.

I suspect there’s an intersection between this thread and the “The mass of men live lives of quiet desperation ?” one.

Another one nodding here, I put PIRs in the under stairs cupboard, utility room and downstairs toilet only to find everyone suddenly learned how to turn them off.

Overloading cupboards, you should be able to get to stuff without emptying the whole damn thing. I don’t mjnd putting stuff away if it has a place and it’s not a kitchen buckaroo, one more glass and the whole cupboard explodes.

OP – how is the front door closing? Ours reverberates around the close, I swear the whole front wall of our house is moving after ‘closing’ the door…

Yep – the side door has plaster coming away, the bi-folds are the same. Fortunately the most heavily used front door is fixed pretty solidly to the wall so it hasn’t suffered as badly but still is showing signs. But it’s *BANG* – walk to the car – forget something so come back in to get it *BANG* – come back in again for something else – *BANG*.

It has already put paid to one composite door (see my post from last year (I think) where I posted pics up of the last demised door.

Literally all of the above plus:
– Flush the toilet
– Remember to empty coins / tampons etc out of pockets before putting things in the washing machine
– add things to the weekly online supermarket shop days before the final 2 mins when it’s “locked”
– Open the cupboard to see what we actually need before adding it to the online Supermarket shop
– Take keys out of the outside of the front door before closing it / leaving them there all night
– Lock the car
– Not leave valuables on view in the car (phones, iPad, bags full of stuff)
– Put things back (literally everything – in every room – all of the time)
– Not lose keys (car keys, house keys, roof rack keys, bike lock keys)
– Put the bins out
– Not block the drains by treating them as a liquid bin
– Not block the dishwasher by treating it as a liquid bin
– Unblock the sink / shower drains when they are clearly blocked with hair / coffee granules / dog biscuits
– Not repeatedly overspend on the joint account when it’s already in overdraft
– Put phone chargers back when they’ve been moved / “borrowed” / taken to the office
– Sort things correctly for recycling
– Not put food waste in the recycling
– Change a lightbulb
– Remember to turn the hair straighteners off
– Remember not to hang so many bags on door coat hooks that the door only opens half way
– Put fuel in the car / check the tyre pressure / top up the screen wash
– Angle the shutters on the windows so people walking past can’t look in (point down from the outside vs. us looking down / shutters point down from the inside looking out)

Etc etc etc.

Open the cupboard to see what we actually need before adding it to the online Supermarket shop

This can also be distilled further to ‘only buy things you will eat before they go out of date’ or ‘buying healthy food doesn’t make you healthy but eating the ^&*$ing healthy food rather than leaving it to fester at the back of the fridge might do’

Most of this stuff doesn’t bother me these days. But this still really gets on my tits.
Writing import things you need to remember on a random piece of paper and making a fuss when you need it and can’t find it.
Use a dam address book

When people write something other than an address in an address book – it boils my piss.

I’m definitely the only person in my house who knows how a light switch works.

Just thought of another one. How after I cook (rarely but it does happen, tonight for example) is the kitchen tidier than when i start. When my cooks it takes 20 minutes to clear up post eating, the dush washer is right there as is the kitchen bin, how difficult is it yo clear up as you go?

Operation the magic garage, mow the lawn, weed the beds , clean vehicles and bikes……..

– Not block the drains by treating them as a liquid bin

“Why do you keep taking the filter out of the kitchen sink drain?”

“It keeps getting full of crap.”

“… what do you think it’s for?”

after I cook … is the kitchen tidier than when i start.

I learned that one the hard way with my ex. “You cook, I’ll clean” (and vice versa). I can do a three course meal and be left with a dirty pan and a couple of implements; she could make cornflakes and use every piece of crockery in the building.

Feels like that in our house at times, also feel like I’m the only one to:

Put the bins out.

Clean the filters on the washing machine, dryer and dishwasher.

Maintain the cars or bikes.

Mow the grass.

Lift something heavy.

And others ……

My Father was a great one for ” How long is this box/slippers/object, going to sit in the middle of the bloody floor ??” as he steps over it for the 2nd or 3rd time, rather than pick it up himself 😆

One of my most important jobs as a kid was being the TV channel changer.

as he steps over it for the 2nd or 3rd time, rather than pick it up himself

Because the first time he picks it up, he’ll be doing it for ever more.

This is the trap my partner fell into. Her: “well, if I won’t do it, no-one will.” Her kids: “cool!”

Put the new food at the back of the fridge shelf not the front.

Pick things off the floor instead of walking past and saying, “There’s a what ever on the floor”

If a drawer or cupboard doesn’t shut you don’t just push the drawer or door harder.

Reading this has been like therapy….

Reading this has been like therapy….

Reading this has been like PTSD.

Pick things off the floor instead of walking past and saying, “There’s a what ever on the floor”

I got told off for threatening to defenestrate such things.

I know that OCD is a very real and debilitating illness, but some of my habits are past the “just being tidy” stage and it bothers me when things aren’t where they should be. My wife accommodates my “tidiness” but Boy1 has taken Sith levels of lessons in how to push my buttons.

My Shed and tools are my little sanctuary, he is like the spawn of Satan and will unthinkingly move stuff or not put things back out of spite. His work bench has levels of strata of tools, model parts, cutlery, crockery, dirty washing, receipts, instructions, bank cards, post, packaging, etc. I found a half eaten chocolate bar under layers of shite with a best before date of 2014 last week.

OK, back to the list.

Next door are door slammers, we’re a semi detached, every time they slam the front door the whole front of the house shakes.

Lights switches actually have an off function!

Laundry is in balls, half inside out, pockets full of detritus.

I’m the only person who can clean the tumble dryer filter. It happens as if by magic.

Arrrrgghhh!

Also combined with leaving important items (keys, phone, wallet) in said clothes.

Ah, that’s what ‘Find My’ and AirTags are for! I actually bought a couple of AirTags because I was in the habit of coming home from work and Joey starting a conversation, so I’d but my car keys down while distracted and then be running around frantically trying to find them to go to work the next morning, then be forced to grab the spare key hanging just inside the front door. Then search all through pockets and on items of furniture to find my main set.

Now I’m on my own, I’ve not mislaid my keys…

…and I’d much rather be distracted when arriving home from work, as well. ☹️

The other one is attached to my wallet, which got left inside one of roughly 1000 or so cars once when it slipped out of my pocket. Not wanting to have to search for that again, very stressful thinking of having to replace cards, licence etc; also, these days a replacement car key can cost £250-350!

So much of what has been posted above rings true for me too….

I am finding myself just tidying up after other people more and more, but I don’t know how to address it. The issue is that the individual “offences” in themselves are very small – but in aggregate are significant. You how do you address them without sounding like a petty bastard?

“Could you put the lid back on the squash bottle and put it back in the cupboard after you have used it?”

“When you’ve finished using the tea-towel, could you hang it up so it dries, instead if (inexplicably) carefully folding it up and leaving it flat on the worktop?”

“This kitchen item has lived in this cupboard for the past 7 years….. why have you suddenly started putting it in different cupboards every time you put it away?”

and the most irritating one:

“why do you put items for recycling on the worktop next to the recycling bins, rather than in the actual bins themselves? They are literally 30cm away”

At the moment, my strategy is dramatically moving/binning/slamming offending article whilst swearing under my breath – but this is proving too subtle. Anyone have any tips about how to address these things with the perpetrator without appearing to be a petty bastard?

Write them a list of their inadequacies, put it on the fridge and never ever mention it.

I’m half serious, because whenever I mention these kind of things I get stared at as I’m Basil Fawlty having a fit. Then a list of all my faults gets reeled off … and I guess that’s the point, we’re all irritating little **** in some way or other so maybe just put up with it.

Write them a list of their inadequacies, put it on the fridge and never ever mention it.

I LIKE IT – I’ll let you know how I get on

another +1 to everything on this list and it being an oddball mix of therapy and PTSD to read.

Can i add

1/ Recycling – our recycling bins are out the front door so we have a small box where things can go to avoid a trip every time. Can no-one else see this is overflowing and empty it; it’s like a game of Jenga where the yogurt cartons and toilet roll tubes and milk cartons get piled ever higher, but as long as you can get it to balance it still counts as ‘in’ So in the end I have to do it but carrying this precipitous pile of post-consumerism results in in toppling over and me cleaning up both the items, but also any dregs left in them from the hall floor as well.

2/ The non-recycling ‘black bag’ bin. Because most stuff is now recycled this only needs doing about once a week. But that’s still too onerous, so same as (1) if you can get it in and still close the lid then it counts. I swear the density of stuff at the bottom is enough that artificial diamonds have started to form. Plus, it wedges into the bottom of the bin, so that no matter what heavy duty bag is used it has to be pulled out with ultimate care to avoid it tearing. No care is enough obviously, so when I finally give in, it splits and inevitably ends with me cleaning up both the items, but also any dregs from the floor as well.

3/ WRT leaving thing in their proper place. Before kids, when I had money, I bought her diamond earrlng studs for a significant birthday. She’d take them off at night, leave them on a windowsill next to the settee, and the cat would have a shiny £1000 plaything to pat off the sill and around the floor. The number of times she would call out the next morning ‘have you seen my earrings!!’ leading to another search under all the furniture to see where they’d been batted before the cat gave up.

Am I the only person in the street that takes in the tide of Amazon deliveries. My house is like a holding station for the neighbors.

Ran a training session for the wife and three daughters on how turn turn lights off – unsurprisingly was met with “you are so sad” looks

Realised i was on my own with this stuff when I asked for help to clear out rats from the compost bin – no help was forthcoming – even offered them shovels to form a screening position…..just me then.

Drac,don’t be too hard on Oscar

😂

Get Marmite out of the jar without dribbling it all round the thread and the rest of the jar

I didn’t think this was physically possible 🤔 I’m the only one in the house who eats marmite and I can’t do it.

plastic bags and random notes are my bugbear. Our house is full of them. Often it’s a big plastic bag with one thing in it left for weeks. My wife loves a plastic bag but I’m not brave enough to raise it as a potential issue as I’m fairly sure I’d end up in a bag. So I just quietly empty them and put them in the cupboard with all the others.

Catch spiders and daddy long legs. I usually get the call about 90 seconds after sitting down with a cup of tea to watch my 4min 37sec allocation of what ever is on TV.

When I realised that my cleanliness standards are mine, and not other peoples (and trying to force them to meet, and mostly fail to meet my standards was driving everyone insane) and took ownership of the fact that I seemed to be alone in thinking that some otherwise dull house chores needed to be done on a regular basis; my life became immeasurably calmer. I’m often last to bed and first to rise, so loading the dishwasher (for example) to my liking and then unloading it in the morning and putting away – how I like it, sort of became a small act of rebellion. “despite you people’s best efforts, there will be be clean plates”

If you’re thinking; “But why should I be the only person that does this?” The answer is; you’re the one that getting wound up by it, no-one else, why are expecting other people to do what you want when it’s in your power to make it happen? If you’re still whining about it, then you’re being childish. Stop it.

But still: Get a cleaner.

Edit: Oh, and if you’re thinking, if I didn’t live with all these slobs, my house would be an oasis of calm and tidiness, It’d still be you doing all the chores…

1/ Recycling – our recycling bins are out the front door so we have a small box where things can go to avoid a trip every time. Can no-one else see this is overflowing and empty it; it’s like a game of Jenga where the yogurt cartons and toilet roll tubes and milk cartons get piled ever higher, but as long as you can get it to balance it still counts as ‘in’

Not recycling, but washing up.
In my first student flat, one of my flatmates came equipped with a 7-piece dinner set. The result was that after using a plate or mug, he’d simply put it in the sink and leave it there as he had any number of clean ones to use later. He’d carry on doing this until it go to the point where he was wedging (with some difficulty) the last plates into the sink underneath the taps. At no point did the idea of emptying the sink, putting everything into a pile and then doing the washing up occur to him.

Eventually, 2 of us pulled out all the crap in the sink, sorted out his stuff (which was about 80% of the contents of the sink) and then went and dumped it on his bed. That threat remained for the rest of our time in the flat, he got very good at judging to the last teaspoon what height in the sink would trigger this. Still didn’t do the **** washing up though.

My approach here is, it it’s in the laundry basket then it’s ready to be laundered

don’t be daft. In my house the laundry basket is the alternative to putting clothes away.
“x20 unworn hoodies on the floordrobe and dad is telling me to tidy up? Sod it, in the basket they go. “