You are here: Home / Who does the laundry in your household? / life, etc / Who does the laundry in your household?

Who does the laundry in your household?

October 26, 2009 by Cassandra Rae · View Comments 

I really do want to know who does the laundry in your household.  Seriously.

Traditionally running the household and things like laundry were 100% woman’s work.  Well, today us chicks are out there running our own businesses!  How many of the men in your life can say the same thing?

So here’s what I want you to do:

  1. Let us know who you live with and who does the laundry in your household by posting it as a comment below
  2. Ask yourself if it is the best, most effective, AND fair way to go.

Here’s my answer:

I live with The Hubs and The Girl (my 16 year old daughter.)  We all are responsible for our own laundry.  In other words, I only do my wash and no one else’s.  The Hubs works full-time, The Girl is a high school student, and me, well I run my own business!  I used to do both The Hubs and my laundry.  I felt obligated to because I work out of my home office and don’t make as much money as he does.  But, ultimately it pissed me off that I was working my ass off and still had to be responsible for his wash.  So we changed our agreement.  And as far as I know, The Hubs doesn’t mind doing his own laundry.  In fact, he just put in a load as I was typing!

Who does the laundry in your household?

Related posts:

  1. Coming Back to the FOCUS Are you too busy to get anything done? You've gotta read this article by an...
  2. What are you doing to create the life of your dreams? Ya can't build a rockin' biz without being willing to put yourself out there...right where...
  3. Need vs. Want Learn how to live on a smaller budget....
  4. From Stressed to Centered in 4 Seconds My life and schedule has somewhat imploded over the last couple of weeks: I have...

Filed under life, etc · Tagged with , , ,

  • Tasha
    Ran across this after getting annoyed with a commercial about laundry detergent strictly targeted toward women. Ugh. Anyway, in my house my fiancee does the laundry, for both of us and his four kids (10, 8, 5, 2) from his previous marriage. I work longer hours, so he says he's just making up the slack. He also does the dishes, and I do the cooking. Other chores are just split (tho I admit he does the lion's share), with his kids pitching in too. It works great for us!
  • Oh that's awesome Tasha! The most important part is taking the time to consider what works best for you and your family as opposed to defaulting to the woman does the household chores. I know that was my old habit, but I'm so glad I have a husband that's smart enough to make me stop and think about it.
  • I live with my husband, and 3 year old daughter. I do all the laundry in the house. I also run my own business, but I do have more time at home than he does. I get a little tired of it, so I ask for his help in folding (then I get annoyed because he is a really slow and meticulous folder!). I must be really hard to please :)
  • I see what you mean, Tanya. As your family grows you might want to consider hiring a housekeeper that also does the laundry. I talked to one FEMpreneur who has the housekeeper come in every Friday and when she comes home from work for the weekend her house is clean and her clothes are too! Suh-weet!
  • My husband and I each do our own as well, although I sometimes throw a few things of his in with mine or one of us will fold the other's if it's waiting in the dryer. I'm sure when we have kids it will be split much the same way; we tend to treat most housework this way - if it needs to be done, one of just does it. The individual laundry thing is mostly out of preference for, you know, sorting the colors and the whites, than fairness; I won't let him near my stuff after he put my cashmere sweater in the dryer. I'
  • You are are very smart woman to recognize that this will change when you have kids. It'll be interesting to see how the workload shifts and changes. Keep us posted.

    p.s. I'm talking as if you are already pregos! Are you expecting?
  • kristianm
    I take my personal items, household and my boyfriends shirts to the laundry mat 3 blocks away. I hand wash all my delicates. He takes his jeans, socks and underwear and our dark wash clothes and hand towels to wash and fold at the same laundry.

    He is 6'4" and his jeans weigh a ton and take forever to dry. If he takes care of that stuff I don't mind giving his shirts the delicate care wash and fold will not. I like doing laundry. But it is a lot of work dragging it up the street. Because of having to use a laundry mat and very limited closet and storage space in our apartment we have very edited wardrobes and limited household linens.
  • Oh wow...I hadn't even factored in not having the facilities at home! This brings up a whole new scenario. Thanks Kristian
  • I live with a roommate, and we both do our own wash except when a load isn't big enough, then we share.

    When I lived with my ex-husband he washed the clothes in exchange for me taking the bills back. I paid the bills a chore he hated, and he did the laundry. At some point we compromised again, and I folded when he washed... which is fine for me. I like folding.

    He and I sat down and worked out an equitable chore list, and would/could trade them out as needed. It worked out really well for us. It is one of the things that worked really well for us. My first husband was the same w/ regard to chores & who made meals. As long as everyone feels like it's fair, that's all that matters.
  • Thank you so much for weighing in on this topic, Summer. I love the trade-offs and agreements. And yup, you are so right: all that matters is if everyone feels it's fair.
blog comments powered by Disqus