Though I am extremely terrible at them, I do fully understand that doing chores around the house can take a load off my wife’s mind. She appreciates when I do chores, like washing dishes or laundry, and I enjoy doing them for her. Doing chores for your spouse can completely change a bad or stressful day into a relaxing evening.
Dishes
My wife enjoys being able to come home to a clean house. Not only clean floors, but not cluttered. I tend to get a lot of stuff out because I like to do projects and cook. At times, we end up without any silverware and a sink full of pots and pans. This is when I know for sure that it is time to do some dishes.
Keeping the dishes under control helps to keep our house clean, and our kitchen uncluttered. It can be hard to do anything in the kitchen when the countertop has been overtaken by grimy dinnerware. So, I try to keep them under control so that my wife doesn’t feel that she needs to do them. Not that she can’t do them, but I don’t want her to feel obligated to do them when she is busy studying.
We have an under counter dishwasher, so loading it and starting it is not a big deal. I usually do at least one load per week to try to maintain them. I cook nearly everyday, which definitely makes them compound faster than if we dined out more often. If you don’t have a powered dishwasher, it is good to find ways to be efficient at washing so that you have more time to spend with your spouse.
Laundry
When we moved into our house we brought a new washer and dryer with us. We bought them for a couple main purposes.
- Save time
- Save money
- Ease of use
Having a washer and dryer has saved us a lot of time and been fortunate enough to have a space that allows us to have our own machines. We tend to start a load when we are going to leave and will return later, after going to a park, and switch the clothes to the dryer. We are able to spend more time together as a result to not needing to leave our home to wash and dry our clothes.
I put save money on the list because we save money on each load that we run. That being said, we did have to buy the machines and they are not giving them away. At about $1,200 for the pair, it would take a lot of washing clothes at $10 per run. If it were 1 load per week it would take just over two years before breaking even on the machine purchase cost. We have had them for over two years as of now, so we are now in the black.
Ease of use is a given. We don’t have to pack up all our dirty clothes and travel to a laundromat. There are things that wash better at a laundromat due to their large washers, but we usually manage doing everything at our house.
Cleaning Floors
This is probably the chore that I do best. I don’t do it very often, but when I do I am world class. I tend to leave picking up random items to my wife and I will vacuum the house. I prefer to use hot rod type vacuum cleaners, but the ole broom and dust pan also does a decent job.
I tend to sweep our kitchen with a broom before wet washing the floors. Food tends to wreak havoc on the floors and will need to be cleaned wet instead of just sweeping. I don’t do this a lot, but should because the floor surface is so much nicer afterward.
The Takeaway
My main point is that when I do chores it lessens the stress on my wife. She can work on schoolwork or come home from the hospital and doesn’t have to feel like she needs to do a bunch of work. She tends to feel stressed when things are cluttered at home, so keeping the home tidy keeps her calm. I don’t have a tendency to keep things organized, but have been working on it. I have been working on it with our home furnishings and have been trying to be more organized with my tools and recreational gear. It will take time, but maybe someday I will finally be trained.