Poll for retired men- housecleaning

[F4mandolin]

I'm much better at things that don't require finesse. Splitting wood, mowing, digging ditches, shoveling snow. I have been pretty well banned from painting......anything. My quality standards are a LOT lower than hers, but I kick butt at chores that require sweating.

[MRG]

I took over cooking, we actually split it as often as not. I also was running the vacuum, before this vertigo set in. I'm still doing the grocery shopping, it's absolutely the worst thing in my life.

An hour in the grocery store, I'm wiped out for two days. It's like a bad LSD trip, with the shelves and items moving up, down, sideways, and vibrating. I keep wating to see evil clowns, or dragons pop up. That hasn't happened yet. Maybe it's all a 40 year old flashback
MRG

[FinanceDude]

No way I could get away with a housekeeper if I retired and she still worked...........heck I can't getaway with one now.........

[braumeister]

DW thinks I do a crummy job of housecleaning compared to her, and she's right. So I stay out of cleaning and laundry.

OTOH, I've done all the shopping and cooking for many years, because I enjoy it and she doesn't. I also do all the household maintenance, inside and outside.

Overall, a pretty traditional mix of duties, I think.

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FinanceDude No way I could get away with a housekeeper if I retired and she still worked...........heck I can't getaway with one now.........

No way would that work here either. DW spends all day cleaning the house if she even thinks someone might be stopping in.

If we hired someone to clean there would be no need to because DW would clean everything first so she wouldn't be seen as sloppy/lazy, therefore eliminating the need for a house cleaner.

[45th Birthday]

We have people who come in every week to clean. Much better that way for all concerned. Wife does most of the cooking, but I help plan meals and sometimes help cook. We eat out a fair bit, so that is kind of my contribution. I will do some laundry (like hunting and exercise clothes); cleaning people do sheets and towels. What doesn't go to the dry cleaner, wife usually does. We are away separately for various things a fair bit. When I'm home by myself, I usually do more house chores, but not much more than cleaning up the kitchen. Everything outside (snow, lawn, pool) is done by others. My time is better spent managing money and staying healthy.

[kcowan]

When we both retired in 2002, we went over all the expenses to see what could be reduced. We kept the cleaning lady who also irons. It has been the best expense of all.

As we have gotten older, we have also acquired handymen to do certain chores.

Plus we go out to eat a few times a week to lighten that load.

[Tom52]

On average I probably do 25%-30% of the housework including such things as cleaning up the kitchen after meals, taking out the trash, and occasionally cleaning the bathrooms. I also do some laundry and help quite a bit with the cooking. Now that we are both retired we both do the shopping.

While I may not do as much housework as DW I contribute more than she does in other areas. I do nearly 100% of the lawnmowing and snow shoveling. I also change oil and do routine maintenance of both vehicles and lawn equipment. I do all home repairs and maintenance because DW is not very mechanically inclined. I also handle all finances and investments even thou I wish she would take some of that over.

I believe that overall we both contribute about equally to the cleaning, maintenance, and running of the household.