Division of Labour

One of the things that is supposedly difficult for couples is the issue of doing housework. For many women, there's the feeling that they are doing it all. And yes, sometimes I feel that way too. But right now, I just feel like neither of us are pulling our weight.

We both work quite stressful jobs, though the things that cause stress are different. We also have different hours - I may be home anywhere between 4 - 8pm depending on whether or not I'm coaching, have meetings, etc. And this Thursday I won't be home until after 10pm due to work. R. tends to get in around 6pm most evenings, but then he goes and sits on the computer as he works on projects that he feels he doesn't have the quiet for at work.

Then there are the sports. I train every Monday night from 8-10pm with a field hockey team. And it's very competitive so I work very hard with it. I come home drenched and exhausted. R. is part of a football team (soccer) and so randomly throughout the week, he may have a game.

And then there's R's home visits. He goes once or twice a week to see his parents for dinner, which takes up most of the evening.

So that means that there are evenings when we just don't hardly see each other no less feel up to doing housework. On the 'free' nights we just want to spend time cooking a good dinner and catching up. But that means that the flat looks like a fright right now.

Tonight I'll get home around 8pm. R will cook dinner as he'll be home earlier. Then I want to do some cleaning. At least straighten up. The major problem is that we never took care of all the extra furniture that moved in with me and with the new extra bedroom. So we have 3 large desks, a corner table, a dining table, two couches and a chair all trying to compete for space with the t.v., ironing board, R's cricket gear & my hockey gear. It's toooo much!

So we've decided that we need to do this all on Sunday. No plans at all. Just organization. And we need to buy a filing cabinet to put our crap in. Right now we have so much paper lying around it's driving me nuts. I'm not a clean freak, but I want my space to look nice NOW!

On an aside...I know we could afford to hire a cleaner once very two weeks so that we didn't have to stress over getting things cleaned...but I'd rather spend that £60+/month on something more fun, such as something for the wedding! We'll see if we can get our acts together. Cause I'd rather have a cleaner than a murder charge on my head...