Question for Domestic Ladies....and one for Pandora :)

[Shoopy]

I don''t consider myself "domestic." I wash clothes because I don''t think those around me would appreciate the smell. I clean dishes because I need to eat off of them every day. And if I had to choose between having a messy home full of insects or having a clean home, I will choose clean home every time

I don''t cook. At all. FI does all the cooking and I''m not ashamed about it either.

 

[packrat]

When I moved in w/a boyfriend years ago, I didn''t know how to do laundry. I had my mom meet me at the laundromat and show me. I took notes. What a dork. I could do basic cooking, and had been doing all other household chores at my parents house for years, and yardwork, that kinda stuff...no clue why I was never shown how to wash clothes. Now I don''t let JD do the laundry b/c he just fills it up w/whatever..whites, darks, everything together.

I used to call JD''s house Castle Grayskull. It went beyond typical bachelor pad to dark realms of..well, I''ll just say it was bad. He had no interest in maintaining even a passing relationship with a vacuum or dust rag or lawnmower. Now, thanks to the narrow eyed glare of his then girlfriend, now wife, we have a lovely home and beautiful landscaping. I do everything I can and he does the things I can''t..like laying brick and installing cupboards. He helped out w/basic chores a lot more before the kids came. Now I''m home more so I do it.

If we''re having a party, he jumps in tho, b/c I can''t get everything spotless in 1 day myself w/the kids.

 

[Octavia]

I''m not really domestic, although I usually love cooking, baking, decorating, knitting, and things like that -- but ONLY if it''s on my own terms. I hate being expected to do things like that, and I also hate to clean. What I''ve found, interestingly, is that I''m actually less domestic since DH and I moved in together because I really don''t like our apartment. I had a beautiful, spacious suburban apartment before, and I took pride in keeping it nice-looking. The kitchen also had a great layout with lots of counter space, making cooking and baking much easier. The place we live in now is a small, cramped city apartment and it always looks cluttered, no matter what I do. So it kind of feels like, why bother? I''m sure it''s just an excuse to justify my dislike of cleaning, but it''s hard to have any drive to clean when I can''t see results no matter what I do. DH also hates to clean, though, so the apartment pretty much lives in a state of disarray. The kitchen is pretty nice by city standards, but it''s not what I''m used to and makes cooking feel like a hassle. It''ll be interesting to see whether I enjoy all this stuff more again once we get a better place.

 

[anchor31]

I guess I could qualify as a domestic lady. Mom got me and my brother and sister to help in the kitchen early and we all became "foodies" who love good food and making good food. So I do enjoy cooking and will do a lot of it with the appropriate kitchen and equipment (I''m kind of difficult to please on that though!). As far as cleaning goes, I don''t enjoy it, but I enjoy mess and dirt even less, so I force myself to clean regularly. DH doesn''t cook much, but he''s a bit of a neat freak, so cleaning duties are usually pretty equal. He usually does the vaccuum cleaning, floor sweeping, cat litter, garbage and recycle, helps with the dishes and his own laundry.

Since I''ve been SAH, however, I do pretty much everything except the cat litter and garbage, so yes, I''ve become very domestic. I even pack his lunch in the morning! DH and I agreed that we would renegociate household chores sharing when our circumstances would change (like when I started my preventive leave), so I know it won''t always be like this. I have to say that DH isn''t doing nothing either, and is pretty much setting up the nursery on his own and doing everything that requires more physical efforts and lifting.