How do you divide up the household work?

Stifler's - posted on 07/13/2011

He has his jobs, I have my jobs and we have jobs we both have to do. I do housework and stuff, he mows the lawn, washes cars, but occasionally he helps with dishes, laundry and vacuuming if I need help and we both put the kids to bed and feed them.

Tah - posted on 07/12/2011

o shoot...thought i posted..okay..well my husband likes to clean...i mean will turn on the music, kick me and the kids out...send us to the park, for ice cream whatever..and clean, get on his hands and knees and clean the carpet....do all three bathrooms, all 4 bedrooms everything..now daily the kids have chores..one sweeps and mops the floor(kitchen and front entryway) and does the counters, the other lloads and unloads dishwasher. Very seldom do i wash my 14 year olds clothes..he can do that himself because i taught him and he does it well..my 9 year old is learning and will do it, but i do occasionally do hers...my husband's, rylans and mines, both the husband and i do it..if the laundry basket is approaching full or he or I need something specific cleaned, ill throw the rest in with it...i oversee the daily tidy. the play area being cleaned, clothes up off the bedroom floors etc so that husband doesn't come in and the piles of clothes etc greet him...whether i work that month or not, he says it's job being a student and caring for the household, keeping bills straight, appts, studying, carting kids to and from, so he always helps...i do the majority of the cooking, he will cook if im extra tired or if we want one of his special dishes like turkey ranch burgers which he makes from scratch or his chili, but at least 5 days a week i cook...he will do one and then i wing it the day he has duty...like leftovers etc....i think that covered it..

Vicki - posted on 07/11/2011

oh and am also trying to not have him do too much since he is home for such a short time I really do want him to be able to spend as much time with the babies as possible. bonding and fathering I've come to realize (slowly and painfully) is more valuable in the long run than sweeping before mopping. of course I do suck at cooking and he is great at it so I'll leave that to him. maybe.

Vicki - posted on 07/11/2011

ok I can't even get past reading laura's before posting that we need to kick her out of here. she has too much help. ah but I jest...mommying is never easy. we can always use more hands...as for me...well I do everything obviously since he only gets to come home for a few days each month. when he is home I've been trying to work on giving him spac to do stuff without my freaking that it isn't part of my anal routine. and while I am getting better at it I still end up redoing what he's done (cleaning after he cleans) but if I'm not too bitchy he tries. so giving credit there. haha kaleigh wash glass and drink juice and say did dishes. yup. kinda like emanuele mopping the floor without sweeping first.

and btw...bye bye amy. we know aaron does tons. then again you are a moderator and you do kinda live in the pioneer days so I guess that is kinda a lot of work. I truly do hope you never find a butter churner at a garage sale...now on to read the rest...

Billie - posted on 07/11/2011

I actually miss ragging on my husband to take the trash out, LOL. Right now I have to handle everything by myself. We don't have any family that cares enough to come and help for a while and all of our friends have been moved to different bases. I miss him giving me that look like, "What? I don't remember you asking me to do that."

Amy - posted on 07/11/2011

We all kinda help each other. Kids set table/clear it. Clean own rooms and playroom. We all stack firewood and work in garden. kids even help us can and freeze. [ages 2 and 4]. I am pretty lucky that my husband helps a lot. Helps with supper [especially since I'm nursing a new baby again], helps with dishes, helps with kids' baths and bed.

It seems to work. I have a time of day I usually toss kids out in backyard to play so i can mop floors. Daughter likes to help fold laundry and hang on line. Son likes to put the detergent in and start machines.

I'd like to say garbage is husband's job, but he forgets when it's tuesday and i have to take it out to curb quite often. But at least he knew i did/he did and got one of those things with wheels on it to make it easier on us all.

I just don't split firewood. I stack and haul, but don't split. I'm too tiny. :) And he doesn't fold laundry. He'll wash it all for me, but hates folding. It works most the time.

Constance - posted on 07/11/2011

I determine what needs to be do and hand out the lists. If they are old enough for that chore they do it. I rotate the chores everyday. Saves with fightting.

Kaleigh - posted on 07/11/2011

Okay yes generally Nicks deal is garbage detail and mine is laundry, we both argue we do dishes but my hands are the only pruny ones so there you have it. He cooks which is awesome, I can cook but he actually gets some strange enjoyment out of it and since hes better at it than me I let him have that one ;) I dunno the day to day stuff is me but he helps a lot, I tend to start chores and then have to feed beth so he sometimes steps in and finishes up whatever I was doing. When it comes to the kids its pretty much half and half I bath beth he bathes aiden, I change and feed her he changes and feeds him, quite the little team we've got going on his days off, when he's working though I step up my game. As for doctors appointments and such I manage those on my own, he handles our finances and we report back to eachother to keep everyone in the loop.

Recently though things have been kind of crazy and nicks been slacking, hence the horomonal rampage. It's okay we're back on track now :)

Laura Zoey - posted on 07/11/2011

We split it up, matt usually cooks and does dishes and garbage, I do laundry and vacuuming and general tidying.
H cleans up the dog poop and cleans the cat box. As for the kids, I breastfeed Fierna, I do diapers, I do baths, I put Eric to sleep and co sleep with Fierna. Matt plays with Eric, feeds Eric about half the time, and holds Fierna whenever he can so I'm free to do other stuff.
He does plenty to help in the house :) and he also has a job and college while I stay home so that balances it out alot.

Kaleigh - posted on 07/10/2011

Okay I'll respond to this when I'm not fuming about Nick and the 'grand' list of things he hasn't bothered to do (and expects me to deal with now that hes left it) and things hes done half assed so he can use that next time I ask for help oh I did dishes, you washed one cup and then drank juice out of it and put it back on the counter dirty, how is that doing dishes?

So once the airconditioner actually is put in (like it hasn't been a month of talk and him swearing all today that he'll put it in in a minute) and the garbage is all out (this weeks AND last weeks) then maybe I'll be able to approach this subject without such outright hostility.

Billie - posted on 07/10/2011

When my husband is home we discuss what needs to be done and what each of us really don't want to do, but what we wouldn't mind doing. That's how we decide who does what, LOL. He always chooses dishes over laundry, gotta love it!