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Original poster

What are your first actions when your dh or dp goes away and you have the house to yourself for a while?

155 replies

Featheryash · 27/04/2023 08:45

I’ll start:

~ turn the setting on the toaster down
~ turn the heating down
~ open all the windows
~ remove all the wierd condiments cluttering up the kitchen counter and put them away properly
~ scrub the kitchen to within an inch of its life
~ clear all the wierd pots of things that he eats on toast out of the fridge and do a grocery order containing all the food I like
~ remove or wash all of his dirty laundry that lies alongside the laundry basket and either wash it or dump it elsewhere depending on how generous I’m feeling
~ steal his pillows 😄

Anyone else?

OP posts:
TeaAndStrumpets · 27/04/2023 22:22

I cook myself any meal I can eat with just a spoon, and eat said meal sitting on the sofa with my feet up, rather than at the dining table. What a rebel!

WandaWonder · 27/04/2023 22:24

I do run around like a mad woman doing basic things for the first 20mins then happily sit like a pig in mud the rest of the time doing what I do best lying back and watching as much tv as I can handle

PappedOot · 27/04/2023 22:28

Groggygymdodger · 27/04/2023 22:18

I genuinely don’t get it. I do what I please all the time. My husband being here doesn’t stop me. How are people living. It’s so disturbing, we have two living rooms, I watch what I wish when I wish, I have a cleaner who cleans, if I didn’t my husband being here or not wouldn’t change a thing. We share 50/50. I eat what I wish when I please. If I wish to open a window I shall. I just don’t get it.

Show quote history

Eh? Many people likely don’t have 2 living rooms and a cleaner. What is so difficult to
not understand about others not doing what they please all of the time?

Groggygymdodger · 27/04/2023 22:37

PappedOot · 27/04/2023 22:28

Eh? Many people likely don’t have 2 living rooms and a cleaner. What is so difficult to
not understand about others not doing what they please all of the time?

Show quote history

So you take it in turns to watch tv. And if you don’t have a cleaner why is it so exciting to clean when he goes. I didn’t always have two living rooms and a cleaner, like most folks I’ve done my time proper skint. I still didn’t air the house, wash his clothes and clean the kitchen like it was some form of exciting thing when he went away.

getafringenotbotox · 27/04/2023 22:45

Blitz the house
Change bed, shower, shave legs and get in a fresh bed with fresh pjs , in a spotless house and read, watch telly and eat crisp and drink tea.

WandaWonder · 27/04/2023 22:48

Groggygymdodger · 27/04/2023 22:18

I genuinely don’t get it. I do what I please all the time. My husband being here doesn’t stop me. How are people living. It’s so disturbing, we have two living rooms, I watch what I wish when I wish, I have a cleaner who cleans, if I didn’t my husband being here or not wouldn’t change a thing. We share 50/50. I eat what I wish when I please. If I wish to open a window I shall. I just don’t get it.

Show quote history

We do what we want too but there is nothing I like more than being home alone and that is nothing to do with my husband or anyone else

It is different to me no matter who the other person is

PromisingYoungWoman · 27/04/2023 22:56

I'd love to see the answers if this was a question aimed at men 😅 think for many "me time" would feature the second the door is shut

Buildingthefuture · 27/04/2023 22:57

Well, I certainly don’t clean! I love my DH dearly but he is a fan of small talk. So, when he’s away I do all the things I would normally do when he’s at home….but I do them quietly. Read my book with no Interruptions, a couple of glasses of wine in peace, watch a tv program without commentary. Make food I like but he hates. It’s lovely for 2-3 days but after that, I’m glad to have the noisy git back 🤣🤣🤣

Groggygymdodger · 27/04/2023 23:01

WandaWonder · 27/04/2023 22:48

We do what we want too but there is nothing I like more than being home alone and that is nothing to do with my husband or anyone else

It is different to me no matter who the other person is

Show quote history

And that, I get, I also like quiet time. It’s just the cleaning when he’s away and washing his clothes I don’t get, or see as some form of treat.

I can’t perceive a bloke saying, my wife is away, so I cleaned, aired the house and washed her clothes, how wonderful.

MadameSzyszkoBohusz · 27/04/2023 23:06

Why do so many of you use your free time for cleaning??! Confused

I get in a hot bath. For hours.

lavenderhaz · 27/04/2023 23:09

Bath
PJ's
Takeaway
Bed
Films
Sleep

I love it when he's away. I could do that anyway if I wanted to but it just feels like a treat when he's gone. I love some me time

notangelinajolie · 27/04/2023 23:13

Put the heating on. Do all the washing, dry it and put it away. Clean sheets. Wash the pots. Clean the kitchen floor. Clean the bathroom. Mop the floors. Hoover. Order curry. Open wine. Watch a Christmas film. Go to bed. Have a lovely lay in. And wake up in the morning to a lovely warm, clean house. Rinse and repeat without all the cleaning. Same. Same.

QueefQueen80s · 27/04/2023 23:16

@Groggygymdodger I don't get it either. I eat what I want, watch what I want, open the window, game in my pyjamas.. If I want toast for tea I'll have it.
I love the peace. But everything else I do the same. Can't imagine not being able to relax in my own home.

Custardbanana · 27/04/2023 23:18

Use his beard trimmer to tidy up downstairs.

SleepingStandingUp · 27/04/2023 23:22

PappedOot · 27/04/2023 22:28

Eh? Many people likely don’t have 2 living rooms and a cleaner. What is so difficult to
not understand about others not doing what they please all of the time?

Show quote history

I def don't have two living rooms and a cleaner but I too am perplexed by the idea that when DH is away, people can finally clean the house, or that they me er get a say in what to watch when their partner is home etc. It's like living with them is a burden to be endured.

Personally when DH is away this weekend I'll be running around after 3 kids doing twice as much as normal cos there's only me, Inc doing the early wake ups, the bedtimes and the overnight wakes

FinallyFoundIt · 27/04/2023 23:23

I don't clean when my DH goes away, but I imagine people do it because once it's clean it STAYS CLEAN.

Actually, having thought about it, I do a bit of a deeper clean of the kitchen, but not much. I don't bother when he's here because there will be crumbs within seconds, which he eventually cleans up, and buggered if I'm going to clean up after him. But to clean and it stays clean - that's satisfying.

Arewehumanorarewecupboards · 27/04/2023 23:24

The tv goes off the moment that he leaves and I put the remote in a drawer. I love silence.

I also tidy because I keep it clean, I love it.

We both work away quite often but when I leave he does much the same as when I’m at home (so he says), crap tv until the early hours, eats crap, makes a mess.

LouBaloo · 27/04/2023 23:25

I used to love starfishing in the bed, not tripping over his work boots at the front door when I was leaving for work in the morning or his habit of kissing me before he left for work when it used to waken me up. Suddenly, one day he’d gone and I remembered every single thing that I used to do when he wasn’t here. They’re bitter sweet memories now and very fond ones.

I married again after his death and I can honestly say there’s nothing I do when DH2 is away that I don’t do when he’s here.

BellaTheDarkOverlord · 27/04/2023 23:26

Get treats in like cake, pringles, diet coke, biscuits I can binge on. Tidy house as it'll stay tidy whilst he's away. Watch scary movies whilst in bed late into night, he doesn't like scary movies. Spend the.night listening for ghosts or someone trying to break in due to watching scary movies late at night...

Arewehumanorarewecupboards · 27/04/2023 23:26

MadameSzyszkoBohusz · 27/04/2023 23:06

Why do so many of you use your free time for cleaning??! Confused

I get in a hot bath. For hours.

I clean whether Dh is here or not but it stays clean when he’s not here.

RosesAndHellebores · 27/04/2023 23:30

I leave the bedroom door open and let the cats sleep on the bed.

If dd's in and we are on our own, we have baked camembert, crusty bread, salamis, cornichons and olives for supper.

bideyinn · 27/04/2023 23:31

Put the pans in the dishwasher (if I use them-unlikely!)
Cook no meals (see above)
Open bedroom window
Watch utter trash on TV, in bed, with wine and snacks

Mindovermatter247 · 27/04/2023 23:41

I can have the whole bed to myself & I can keep the light on as long as I like at night…. 🙃

TaraRhu · 27/04/2023 23:46

For one evening: heating up, large glass of wine, pick n mix, total rubbish on tv

For a whole day/ night: clear out all the piles of clutter he doesn't seem to notice until I threaten to chuck them out. Then I'd have a midday bath followed by a snooze. Long FaceTime with a friend abroad. Read a book in bed with a hot water bottle.

Original poster
Featheryash · 27/04/2023 23:48

Groggygymdodger · 27/04/2023 22:37

So you take it in turns to watch tv. And if you don’t have a cleaner why is it so exciting to clean when he goes. I didn’t always have two living rooms and a cleaner, like most folks I’ve done my time proper skint. I still didn’t air the house, wash his clothes and clean the kitchen like it was some form of exciting thing when he went away.

Show quote history

I don’t think any of us are saying it’s an exciting thing to air the house and clean while he’s away; it’s more like a sort of ritualistic cleansing, after which you feel the house is solely yours for a while, totally under your own control.

OP posts: