Thursday, July 08, 2010

The Bane of Household Chores

I meant to write this post on Monday, but things got a little busy.

One of the conditions of my current daily ensconcement at mom and dad's to study is that I help out around the house as needed.

For the first time in years, I have scheduled weekly chores.  The major one on this list is vacuuming.  Each and every Monday I vacuum the main floor of the house.  It's done on Mondays because Mom doesn't have clients on Mondays, and uses that day to clean up the house so that it's tidy when her clients show up for the remainder of the week.

I hate vacuuming. 

I hated it when I was 15 and it was the chore that rotated to me once every 3 weeks, and I hate it now.

It's awkward, time consuming, and nit-picky.  In mom and dad's house you have to move furniture, watch out for walls and corners and baseboards, and shake out and move area rugs.  I always end up hot and sweaty, and generally count it as my exercise for the day.

I have some strong opinions on the subject.

First, the whole main floor is either hardwood or tile.  Why are we still vacuuming?  Sweeping is so much less annoying a task.  Even mopping is preferable.

Second, if you're going to have a vacuum, and insist on using it to clean the hardwood in the nicely (and relatively recently) renovated main floor of the house, and you're concerned about said vacuum bumping into walls and corners and nicking the paint, why is said vacuum a canister vac on wheels with a long house trailing from the front, and a long power cord trailing from the back?  A device that is completely unable to be effectively maneuvered.  If one really must vacuum (anything really, but especially a particularly sensitive, newly renovated environment), then I'm telling you, an upright vacuum where I control everything except the power cord is the way to go.

My mom was shocked when she discovered that I hate vacuuming.  I didn't tell her initially.  She sort of stumbled upon the news.  Her words were, "but wouldn't you rather vacuum than clean a bathroom?"  No.  I'd rather scrub toilets.  Really.

Vacuuming, you see, is the bane of household chores in my opinion.

What household chore is the one you find particularly detestable?

6 comments:

shallowfrozenwater said...

there are so many that i don't enjoy at all ... and all of them are MY job to do.

washing the dishes
sweeping up
toilets
poo patrol in the dog run

i suppose those are the worst and since you're asking me to pick one then i'll just say that the daily washup is pretty labourious.

kirsten said...

Dusting is evil. Dusting ... just makes my skin crawl.

I'm with you on the vacuuming too, but it's not the worst for me. Stupid dust!!

Gimme a toilet any day, too!!

Lisa said...

both of your lists made me laugh! thanks for playing along :)

Anonymous said...

Laundry. It never ends. Hate it, hate it, hate it. i also can't stand scrubbin' toilets... it's too much for my slight OCD ways.

Christine said...

Cleaning the bathroom! I despise every aspect of bathroom cleaning, not just the toilet (which is obviously the worst of the worst). I would take vacuuming and dusting over cleaning the bathroom any day!

Lisa said...

Wow! Apparently hated household chores is a hot topic! Who knew??? :) loving reading all the differing opinions!