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nancybee_2010

Which household chore do you hate the most?

nancybee_2010
10 years ago

For me, it's ironing! It is so tedious and frustrating, and I only do it when absolutely necessary. My mom ironed all my dad's shirts for work, and she didn't mind it that much.

One task I don't mind is sweeping. I find it relaxing and you get results.

How about you?

Comments (38)

  • Fun2BHere
    10 years ago

    I hate dusting because it's neverending and because I have to use a ladder for the high places and get on my hands and knees for the low places. Our windows stay open year-round, so we are never without dust.

  • ellendi
    10 years ago

    I dislike doing all household chores. I would love to have someone do it for me but DH is uncomfortable with someone cleaning for us. I guess the thought that they could be going through your things.
    I never iron. DH is casual with tees and jeans. I send shirts to the cleaners. My clothes are washed and hung dry. I bring really good clothes to the cleaners,

  • terezosa / terriks
    10 years ago

    I agree with Fun2BHere. Dusting is the worst! Two seconds after you finish you can see it accumulating again. I told my husband I want to hire someone to come in just for the dusting.

    I don't mind ironing much, and my husband does all his own ironing. We have a large closet in our master and have a permanent ironing station set up in there to make it quick and easy to iron things as needed.

  • blfenton
    10 years ago

    As soon as I saw the title the one thing that I thought of was ironing. I don't iron, My husbands shirts go to the cleaners and I go through life wrinkled.

  • anele_gw
    10 years ago

    Organizing/decluttering. I dislike clutter, but I also dislike making decisions. I, personally, have very little, so when I do it, it is mostly for other people (or I involve them, which is tedious and makes them irritated).

    Give me mindless cleaning where everything has its place any day over organizing.

  • Olychick
    10 years ago

    Hands down, vacuuming. I HATE hauling out the vacuum, dragging it around, trying to carry the attachments, pulling too hard and unplugging it, having to move from one plug to another, which always seem to be behind furniture, on and on and on. The best thing I ever did was purchase a Roomba. Sigh...I love that thing.

  • hhireno
    10 years ago

    That's funny Nancybee, I find ironing relaxing and something that shows results while sweeping is annoying. Maybe it's because I need to sweep much more frequently than I have to iron. I send my husband's shirts out so it's just my own things, pillow cases, the part of the top sheet that folds over, and dinner napkins after a dinner party or special dinner. My husband wears a dress shirt 6 days a week and he's tall so it's a lot of fabric, doing those would probably kill any enjoyment I get from ironing.

    I don't mind the the actual sweeping I just don't like that I have to sweep the kitchen so often. Where do all those crumbs come from every day??

    I hate dusting. I hate my regular vacuum but don't mind the stick vac quite as much.

    Here's one of my (many) quirks - I love when the dishwasher is full of dirty dishes and needs to be run. I feel like it shows we had a run of home made meals or we've entertained, both things that are positive to me.

  • kellyeng
    10 years ago

    Dusting is the worst. I even have a housekeeper but I still dust in between her cleaning. Dog hair combined with cobwebs make it a daunting chore.

    Ironing would be my worst but we either have clothes dry cleaned or go wrinkled. I'm pretty good at taking care of laundry quickly so wrinkled clothes isn't a big problem.

  • kswl2
    10 years ago

    I hate all household chores, every single one of them. I don't even have a least favorite....they're all my least favorite. We employ a housekeeper who does It all. And---- She loves to iron!

  • amj0517
    10 years ago

    Another vote for ironing. I don't do it often anymore since all my husband's shirts are wrinkle free. They come out of the dryer with creases in the sleeve. Worth every penny!

    Of the jobs that need to be done, my least favorite is cleaning the wood floors. Ours have a dark finish so they show every drip and crumb. With two young kids and a slobbery dog the floor rarely looks good.

  • gsciencechick
    10 years ago

    Bathrooms! Including Swiffering the tile floors.

    I don't know if this counts as a household chore, but changing out the litter in the catboxes is not one of my favorite things either.

    Luckily, we don't need to iron. I don't wear clothes that require ironing for the most part and DH wears Van Heusen wrinkle-free dress shirts for work. They really come out great as long as you take them out of the dryer ASAP.

  • golddust
    10 years ago

    I hate most of it but laundry and putting it away is the worst. I'm guilty of letting my laundry sour. Maybe not many times but for sure I know the smell. I need a wife.

    I don't mind dusting or oiling. I just mind every other thing that makes me do that.

    I need a wife.

  • TxMarti
    10 years ago

    I'm with ellendi, but if I had to choose just one it would be bathrooms.

  • patty_cakes
    10 years ago

    I'm an oddball since I enjoy cleaning, but it's only because I know the end result is a sparkling clean house. I'm the only 'human' in the house, and it's mainly the fur from 2 cats and a dog that keep me busy with vacuuming, swiffering, and doing the floors. Since my son bought me a Mint for Mother's Day, it's definitely taken a lot of the swiffering away on the wood, but I have area rugs I vacuum every other day, as well as 'Bona-ing' the wood once a week.

    I guess if I had to hate one thing it would be washing dirty windows. ;o)

  • Vertise
    10 years ago

    I don't like ironing either. I find it very boring and don't like detailing the hard to reach places. I seem to get no satisfaction from a crisply ironed piece of clothing. Fortunately, I don't have to do it a lot and go through life soft and wrinkled. They seem to fall out okay, lol.

    Cleaning bathtubs and showers is down on the list. Messy and awkward.

    What I really dislike is dusting! It is just never ending. Gets anywhere and everywhere. Just the thought of it is overwhelming. Where to begin, no end.

    Vacuuming is relaxing for me. I kind of enjoy that. Along with wiping counters and a sparkling sink, lol.

  • Annie Deighnaugh
    10 years ago

    Not a fan of any of it, but I enjoy a clean house...so many things like that....don't want the chore, but love the result. So I manage to get into it...I put on peppy music...I try to get cleaning products with a decent fragrance so that helps, and I try to enjoy various aspects...swirling the water in the toilet... the satisfaction of hearing things go through the hose when I vacuum (hoping none of them are earring backs!)...enjoying my tchotchkes as I pick them up to dust them.

    For me, though not a household chore, I most hate doing wood. Cutting it up, splitting it, stacking it, loading it. I'm not a fan of any of it, but I especially dislike splitting it. I think a lot of it has to do with my fear of injury and the noise (we do wear ear plugs and steel tip shoes and leather gloves). But I do enjoy burning it and being toasty all winter long.

  • Olychick
    10 years ago

    Funny Annie, my FAVORITE chore is chopping wood! But I do it with an old fashioned splitting maul, not a machine. Try that! It's great exercise and so satisfying to hear that sound when you hit the sweet spot and the wood cracks apart. I wish we lived closer and I trade you chopping for vacuuming.

  • neetsiepie
    10 years ago

    Does grocery shopping count? I will GLADLY come dust or vacuum or iron at any of your homes if you will go grocery shopping for me.

    I also hate meal planning. I love to cook, but having to decide what to make makes me nuts.

    Also can't stand cleaning cat boxes (I have four to deal with every day). And putting away clean laundry. Oddly, I love to fold clean clothes right out of the dryer, and if things need to be ironed, I get a lot of glee out of that...but putting the stuff away after it's done? Not so much.

    Cleaning the toilets is another I hate. I can never get under the rims or around the bolts good enough to make me satisfied they're clean. Part of that is that I cannot get on my knees, so I have to scrub while bending over and that is not easy to do.

  • caminnc
    10 years ago

    I love a clean house so I do it all, however,

    I hate cleaning the grill, bathrooms and washing dishes.

    I like ironing, vacuuming and dusting.

    Everything else is in-between.

  • dedtired
    10 years ago

    I hate all of it. Hate, hate, hate. I do it because a dirty house is so stressful. On the other hand, I will do anything in the garden. I love weeding, spreading mulch, etc.

    I suppose anything to do with cleaning my bedroom is what I hate most, as reflected in the condition of my closet.

  • cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
    10 years ago

    Yes, ded, I agree. Right now, I have all my school stuff piled everywhere because I am changing school for next year. I have almost 20 boxes piled in the garage and other stuff was just carried in from the final load and dropped anywhere and everywhere in the kitchen/family room. It is making me so depressed that I can't seem to get anything done. Have set tomorrow as the deadline to get it all out of the way. My new classroom won't be ready for move-in until August 1.

    I think I will go out in the g*d awful heat to garden instead of addressing the elephant.

  • runninginplace
    10 years ago

    Decluttering is my least favorite chore. It just feels impossible; we are empty-ing nesters who still have our young adult offspring in and around. So I'm facing their detritus, plus 20+ years of household accumulation plus a husband who feels it is his moral imperative to keep objects from being discarded...included objects tossed by strangers that he happens to see on his daily route(oy) plus me with some ridiculous sentimental attachments. I can't seem to get a handle on clearing our house and property; it's terribly frustrating and discouraging.

    On the bright side, I finally found a wonderful person who cleans for me every other week. I figured out that she costs us *one hour* of salary for every session. 2 hours/month to pay to have a house in which I don't have to do any household cleaning=best bargain I ever made :).

    Ann

  • chispa
    10 years ago

    Cooking!

  • Bumblebeez SC Zone 7
    10 years ago

    Bathrooms and windows. Everything else is not that unpleasant at all.

  • natesgram
    10 years ago

    I'm not so good at emptying the daily trash. I keep pushing it down, making room for more until there is no more room and it's about to overflow. Then I do take it to the large cans. I don't know why that irks me. If it's smelly I do take it out right away.

    I also hate ironing so Dh's shirts go to the cleaners. I hate cleaning waterspots or soap scum in the shower even though I've switched from bar soap to liquid. I don't like to squeegee shower doors or windows.

    I don't know why somebody hasn't invented a vacuumed duster either.

  • lynninnewmexico
    10 years ago

    Oh gosh, how can I pick just one???

    I hate washing windows most of all, and we have a ton of them: 34 windows, 18 French & glass patio doors to the outside and between rooms and 10 skylights. We hire a company to clean them twice a year, but my two furkids slime up the doors and low windows almost immediately, so I'm constantly rewashing them.

    I also hate vacuuming. Our canister vacuum is a royal pain to lug around and I'm constantly having to cut long hair (from me, DD and our Tibetan Spaniel) off the clogged brush roller. But, thanks to advice here last year, I bought an cordless broom-type vac that makes touch ups actually pleasant. I only wish it didn't run out of power after 20-30 minutes!

    I iron a fresh dress shirt for DH every Sunday thru Thursday night. The 100% cotton ones that wrinkle like crazy. I don't enjoy it, but I sit and watch tv while I iron. TV, at least, makes ironing a lot more bearable.
    Lynn

  • lizzie_grow
    10 years ago

    I think my least favorite chore is grocery buying & bringing them in (2 flights of stairs from garage) & putting them away!! I don't mind any of the others too much. I, like Lynn, iron my husband's dress shirts for work, so that takes some time each week, but I don't mind it too much once I get started.

    I have someone who washes our windows twice/year also, but kitty & granddaughters require lots of touch up, but they're all worth it!! I LOVE my granddaughters so much...one is almost 4 & the other one is 10 (one our daughter's, and one our son's). They truly light up our life.

  • Vertise
    10 years ago

    I don't mind vacuuming at all now that I have a good lightweight Oreck. I hated lugging the other one out and around. The Oreck is a breeze.

    Don't like taking the trash out either! But don't like food debris stored in the house, lol.

  • lizzie_grow
    10 years ago

    I love my Oreck, too. It doesn't have attachments, though...does yours, Snookums? I have a canister that has attachments, but don't like it as well as the Oreck. Also love love love our stick vacuum!

  • chickadee2_gw
    10 years ago

    I hate cleaning out and wiping down the shelves in the refrigerator. My cleaning woman hates the job too and has her husband do theirs, so I don't feel I can ask her to do mine. I'll break the job up and do one section at a time, so I don't have to empty it all in one day. I can tolerate the chore better that way

  • tishtoshnm Zone 6/NM
    10 years ago

    My least favorite is probably budgeting and paying the bills. After that, dusting is probably next. In our rural, dry, dusty location with the windows open all the time, it is rather pointless and I have to ask myself why I bother. After that is probably dishes because they never end. While standing at the sink working on them, the kids are using more. If I get them all done before bed, kids will wake up before me and have used more too.

  • luckygal
    10 years ago

    I really don't "hate" any household chores, I "despise" ALL of them! LOL The only reason I lift a finger in my house is that I hate a dirty cluttered house more. I do pay someone to vacuum regularly and clean windows occasionally.

    Easier to say which household chores I dislike the least! I don't mind loading the DW but have to force myself to unload it. I don't mind washing clothes but hate ironing and iron very little by choosing clothing that doesn't need it. Love the new fabrics that hang to dry or dry flat without wrinkles and also the current crinkled look!

    I'm sure I was a princess in my last life. :D

  • tinam61
    10 years ago

    Lynn (and others) you will laugh, but I don't believe I have ever washed a window in my married life. I don't remember washing any. My husband has always done that - inside and out. Maybe like luckygal I was a princess - or still am.

  • 3katz4me
    10 years ago

    I don't like any of it but if budgeting and paying bills is a household chore I actually do like doing that. I think of household chores as cleaning. I pay someone to do just about everything at home - not laundry. DH and I both do laundry and I don't mind that. I rarely iron anything.

    We have a weekend lake place and I do all my own house work there - where I happen to be on "vacation" this week. I've spent nearly two full days doing all that stuff I despise. Vacuuming, dusting, cleaning bathrooms, cleaning carpet stains, washing windows, plus grocery shopping for holiday entertaining, laundry and some yard work. At least I'm getting some exercise plus I get to do it in a great setting. And I'm all done now except for cooking and entertaining guests and I like that part.

  • PRO
    acdesignsky
    10 years ago

    I don't mind shopping or cooking, but I hate planning the meals and snacks for the family. I have been in such a food rut now. Even the foodie blogs don't inspire me. Left to my own devices right now, I would eat nothing but watermelon, grilled chicken, feta, and the occasional brownie. Too bad my family desires a slightly different life.
    I also hate cleaning out the fridge and cleaning 2k sf of hardwood. Mainly because I stink at it. I often forget to clean showers and toilets for much longer than I will admit here.
    We had a biweekly house cleaning service for a while. She was just ok, but still a million times better than I.

  • Vertise
    10 years ago

    I used to dislike cleaning the refrigerator too. It didn't get done very often, to say the least! Now that I have a counter depth, freezer bottom, it is so easy to see what's in there. I still don't clean it. It is always in great shape because I spot, do a shelf, toss a little at a time. It is never a chore or behind this way. And I always love my frig!

  • busybee3
    10 years ago

    i'm in the hate most of it category too!

    i am abit of a clutter bug, so the cleaning process takes me alot longer than it really should-- if i just kept everything all picked up all the time, maybe it wouldn't be so bad!!

    i guess doing laundry(i fold right out of the dryer too) and cooking are my favorite chores... i also like grocery shopping!

  • nancybee_2010
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I don't like cleaning the refrigerator either!

    One time my son spilled a half gallon of orange juice all over the inside and down the back (it was on the top shelf). That was quite the refrigerator cleaning.

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