How do you cope with the fact that housework is an incessant cycle that stops only when you die?

[RelentlessSylvia]

I wash clothes, I dry clothes, I sort clothes, I fold clothes, (I don't iron clothes - don't judge me), I put clothes away then I wash clothes, I dry clothes, I sort clothes...

Same with dishes. Same with vacuuming, sweeping, mopping, cleaning bathrooms, scrubbing toilets, cleaning the kitchen, wiping surfaces, tidying, buying groceries.

Most of the time I just get on with it cheerfully but sometimes I get struck by an overwhelming sense of futility. It's a Sysephian (I can't spell that) task. I can't afford a cleaner. How do you cope with the numbing sense that housework is a huge waste of life??

Ugh . I hate housework. I'm always way behind with it and wish I could be one of those clean freaks that love it, but nope. I just bang my head against the wall now and then and pretend that nothing needs done.

I do as little of it as possible.

I feel your pain. Live alone, nakedly and eat takeaway 😑

Make sure everyone in your household does their share. Spread the burden.

And do as little as possible!

Ignore it. Do as little as physically possible. Get DH to do it. Put music on loud and dance around while I'm doing it.

I remember when my eldest was born and feeling similar about the never ending feeds, changes, sterilising bottles etc. My dad told me to 'focus on the shovel, not the massive pile of shit'. So just focus on the one thing that needs done then and there.

Podcasts and radio, I find my mind is on that rather than the housework.

Streamline everything you can, enlist help of children, husband etc establish a great routine.

I have been a sahm for 14 years. Housework is mind numbingly dull.

By not thinking about it. I do enough to keep Kim and Aggie away, but the only thing I do every day is washing up. Everything else is when I feel like it or really notice it needs doing.

I got a cleaner.

my kids are disabled, DH works long hours, it falls to me. Podcasts is a great idea though.

I do as little of it as possible too, more often than not my clothes never make it to the drawers as I don't mind the washing and drying bit, I've got machines to do that for me, even folding out of the dryer isn't too bad as everything is lovely and warm and soft and smells delicious so it's actually quite nice, especially in winter.

But I loathe putting them away. So they sit there for days waiting to be put away/worn.

Floors don't get done until I can see/feel the bits underfoot and the feeling of that is more unpleasant than running a hoover around.

Dishes only get done so the kitchen doesn't stink.

The relentlessness of it does get a bit depressing sometimes though. I really wish stuff would just stay clean so I didn't have to repeat the same tasks over and over ad infinitum

By realising life is too short and a bit of mess or clutter never hurt anyone.

Oh and not ironing is a perfectly valid option.indont even own an iron.

I do own an iron but I have no idea where it currently is!

I agree it's so frustrating. I enjoy having a clean home but then the next day that clean shine has gone and the cycle starts again. Same with food shopping, do a big shop and fill the fridge etc... then suddenly food is running low and another shop nerds doing.
My goal is to get rid of all the clutter because that makes all the cleaning take a lot longer.

I have a cleaner.

I also have children whose job it is to put laundry away, take the bins out and empty the dishwasher. I also do as little as I can get away with and think that people who are spending hours a day cleaning are barking mad.

I try not to think about it.

I used to try and make it a zen thing to do after work but it's soooo boring.

I don't own anything that needs ironing any more, but basic cleaning and cooking....ugh...

I have very little clutter, so very little mess, this makes it so much easier to clean. I have more storage than stuff. My kids don’t have mountains or toys or clothes and the toys they do have are kept in the playroom, no toys or craft downstairs. I don’t buy new things before I have cleared out old things. I have a dishwasher so that takes care of most kitchen mess. I spend half an hour a day focusing on cleaning one thing, so maybe hoovering one day, bathrooms the next, kitchen the next and then doors, dusting and skirting boards the following.

I second the radio idea, I clean my bathrooms on Saturday mornings to Graham Norton, cheers me up while I’ve got my hand down the loo! And I prop my phone up on the ironing board and watch iPlayer etc. Little and often as well, but yes it’s boring.

Do you do paid work?

I feel your pain OP. Friday is my cleaning day and I am reading this while gearing up to clean the bathroom. I hate cleaning and I hate mess. Luckily, I hate mess slightly more, so cleaning wins. I fantasise about getting a cleaner..

The only way I manage it is to start early (if I delay, it never happens). I divide it into hour long sessions with a 30 minute break between each. One cleaning day and then I don't do much during the the week - apart from washing up and laundry, of course

Don't do it

As I was once told:
Cleaning the house with children around is like trying to clear the pavement while the snow's still falling.

@TruckingOnAndOn I don't do paid work, I'm a carer for my disabled kids. Why do you ask?

I loathe cleaning. So I don’t do it (other than minimum of maintenance) and have a cleaner instead. Otherwise I would probably live in squalor!

Yeah it's relentless shit.

Do you do paid work?

^^
What's this, 1872?

I feel the same anxiety of it never ending and try and chill out and leave it for ages but it gets so gross that I can’t handle it! More annoyingly people with really clean houses tell me there’s more important things in life but clearly they clean. And my other half never can see it needs doing. Not til I made him sweep the bathroom floor once and he looked in the dustpan I. Disbelieve that all that mess and hair had been on our floor.