Mental Meanderings

Housework - neverending

I'm one of those normal people who hate housework. I particularly hate washing dishes, the idea of that food and grime etc. all over my hands makes me shudder but wearing gloves is inconvenient so I just deal with the filth.

I don't mind doing laundry so much because in my house it's a case of sort the clothes, put a load in the machine, add powder and press the buttons to get it started. I have a machine that has a soak cycle so you program it for a heavy soak and it fills up, agitates, soaks for an hour, agitates wash cycle, rinse, spin and turns off. Then it's a case of rotating, wet clothes into the tumble drying, dirty cloths in the machine. By the time the soak cycle on the machine is finished for the second load the first load has had an hour and a half in the dryer and is ready to be put away. This works for me. I rarely hang anything out on the washing line because I don't like the outside. In Summer it is too hot to stand out there putting washing on the line and in Autumn, Winter and Spring the weather is too unreliable to expect it to stay dry. (yep copout, basically I just don't do washing lines lol)

But still, with so simple a laundry routine it piles up. It's amazing how many clothes kids go through. I mean each morning on goes the school uniform for Kaylie, a set of clothes for me and Josh. After school the uniform comes off and depending if she stayed dry during the day there could be two or three of these that end up in the wash. Play clothes go on Kaylie, Josh may or may not have needed a change of clothes during the day. Dinner at six usually means both kids sets of clothes in the wash and bathtime. Pajama's then PJ's in the wash in the morning and start all over again. Kids wear a lot of clothes. At least while they are as young as my two are.

Then there are sheets, towels, pillows and doona's. Kaylie is unreliable for staying dry at night. She generally wears pullups to bed which are like diapers but designed for toilet trained kids because they can be take up and down like undies when they go to the toilet. But this doesn't guarentee the bed will be dry in the morning. And I've got a dog. I paid $300 to have him spayed hoping to stop him scenting on everything. It didn't work. So unless I remember to keep all three bedroom doors closed I'll likely find out just as I'm putting kids or myself to bed that the dog has struck and I need to strip and remake the bed.

It's not just laundry either with kids. TOYS!!! You don't realise how many toys kids have until they are spread across the living room, both kids bedrooms, the hallway and kitchen. Usually I try to restrict Josh's toys to the living room and Kaylie's toys to her room but there are so many of them. Every few months I get in there with a garbage bag and we do a toys for charity sort. All the toys they haven't played with for the last couple of months go in the bag. Usually this means a bag full for charity (donation to the Salvation Army stores etc.) every couple of months. I don't buy the toys either, family give my kids toys. For birthdays and Christmas I'll usually get them both something big (last year it was a trampoline, year before a swing set) and one toy each then perhaps clothes or books etc. But my family each give them toys and last birthday Paul went crazy on toys to compensate for him not being around much.

So, doing laundry and picking up toys all day long. Then there are dishes. It's not so bad with just the three of us. Breakfast usually consists of two bowls, three spoons and sometimes a measuring jug and/or frypan. Two knifes and a plate for lunch. Three plates, two forks, two knives, a spoon and various pots, pans etc. for dinner. Some nights there is too much chaos after dinner getting kids to bed etc. that I don't have a chance to do the dishes and in the morning I never do dishes until at least 10AM because the sun shines directly on that window causing blindness. But it manages to pile up, dishes breed, I swear it.

Then there are the general chores you have to do, toilets, laundry rooms, bathrooms, vacuuming, mopping, windows, dusting. It just repeats over and over and over again. Why can't a house stay clean after you've cleaned it? It's not like we do anything special to make it dirty. Dust gathers, moisture and heat etc. sand and grass clippings trailed into the house, a dog doesn't help. It's endless.

On my list of "when I'm rich" goes the house keeper. Someday none of this stupid house work will be my problem. Imagine a life when someone else does it all for you? I can just raise and enjoy my kids and my hobbies and leave everything else to the house keeper. *drifts off to enjoy fantasy land for a while longer*