Sharing Chores

Miriel at seeking Solomon wrote an interesting post on how she and her husband divvy up the housework and chores. While our system is understandably quite different than theirs it seems to work for us. It should be noted that neither of us are super neat or tidy people. We are also older with more established routines, which had an impact on our melding of households.

Chores that I always do:

• lawn mowing (We like to joke that I have to do this because otherwise my husband would cut down all of the MANY trees in the yard. I will concede that it is a pain in the butt to mow around them all, but it's worth it to me to have them.)
• yard work like picking up downed branches and dealing with leaves in the fall
• vacuuming
• dusting
• mopping (although this occurs so rarely I'm not sure I should get "credit" for it)
• dish washing 
• loading & unloading the dishwasher (He would be happy to help load, but I'm particular about this and prefer to have complete control. However, I hate unloading and would be happy if he wanted to help with that.)

Chores that he always does:

• cooking (Yes, he cooks each & every meal that we eat at home. He enjoys cooking and used to work in an Italian restaurant. I have NO interest in cooking. None.)
• cleaning the shower (I can NOT interact with bleach products in any kind of prolonged way, so that task falls to him.)
• shoveling snow 

Chores that we both do:

• We each do our own laundry, which we keep in separate baskets and do on different days. 
• I usually prep the garbage and recyclables, and he usually takes them down to the curb.
• When it comes to cleaning the rest of the bathrooms, it varies. Whoever decides it needs to be done, does it. We do not keep a cleaning schedule.
• We grocery shop together, typically on Sundays.

I'm sure I'm forgetting certain items, but this presents a pretty full picture. He works many more hours per week than I do between his regular full-time job and jobs he does on the side (usually after work every day and all day on Saturdays). So I am home more than him and try to contribute by taking care of things that need to be done at home. That said, he does not expect me to do these things and if I feel like skipping something I do. We are very relaxed about keeping house and we both feel like there are much more important things in life. I think we do a pretty good job of being easy-going about the chores and have found a balance that works for us.

Every relationship is different and each person contributes in their own way. Do you struggle to find balance or has it come easily for you and your partner, as it has for us?