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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask how much you could do round the house at 21?

160 replies

StupidMistakes · 08/12/2013 23:05

Did you
*Know how to use the washing machine?
*know where the fuses were?
*Know how to reset the boiler?
*know water has to be paid for?
*Know how to wash up?

Three of the above things are acceptable not to know but seriously my flat mate at 21 didn't know how to use a washing machine, where the powder went or the difference between fabric softner and washing powder!!!

OP posts:
ChippingInLovesChristmasLights · 08/12/2013 23:48

By the time I was 14 I was doing most of the family washing & ironing, preparing the family dinner in the week & a large chunk of the housework. I left home at 17 (not because of that I hasten to add Grin) and so could do all of those things & more. I could change a fuse & plug before secondary school as well as doing the dishes!

SinisterSal · 08/12/2013 23:51

I wouldn't be in a rush to teach flatmate how to work the boiler, sounds like the sort that would have it on day and night for convenience without thinking of the bill

SinisterSal · 08/12/2013 23:54

God the sexism would drive me up the wall StupidMistakes ! time for a rota.
How often do 'manly' Hmm jobs need doing in a rented flat? Landlord takes care of any maintenance stuff. They are trying to take you for a mug

Rosencrantz · 08/12/2013 23:55

I don't think it's it age, it's who you live with.

If you live alone, you have to know those things.

If you live with people who look after you you don't. Simple really.

youaremychocolatecake · 09/12/2013 00:00

I knew how to use a washing machine.. Still don't know how to change a fuse or reset the boiler and I'm 31 now. Sad

Original poster
StupidMistakes · 09/12/2013 00:03

He's sweet tho and does buy me chocolate and leave it in my cupboard for me. I thought boilers n fuse boxes were "manly" territory.

we are on prepayment meters so cant go mad on the boiler and if I notice my room getting too warm I just go turn it off at the boiler and smile smugly when they complain their rooms are freezing and mine isn't cos I seem to have not only the biggest room but the warmest

OP posts:
weirdbird · 09/12/2013 00:05

All of them, was married by 21, but had been working and living independently since 18.

ElephantsAndMiasmas · 09/12/2013 00:12

So are these your housemates you're talking about? Not relatives? I beg you, do not take their shit. When I lived in the same set-up, I told them that their bathroom was fucking disgusting (it really, really was) and I was happy to keep it clean - basically because otherwise I wouldn't have been able to stand washing in it. But the flipside of the deal was that they would do the cleaning rest of the house. It actually worked quite well because it struck them as "fair" I think. Try something like that? Do not just do it for them.

Any sexist crap and I can recommend the line "your penis isn't so big it's going to get in the way when you wash up".

ElephantsAndMiasmas · 09/12/2013 00:12

Oh and all except the boiler as we didn't have one.

PigletJohn · 09/12/2013 00:39

all of it, of course, and give CPR and put people into recovery position , change a tyre, a cylinder head gasket; brake pads and shoes, spark plugs; open champagne bottles, make proper coffe, prepare and read a balance sheet. Had done all these well before age 21.

Oddly I didn't learn to carve a joint until I had my own house.

Tikkamasala · 09/12/2013 00:43

Yes I did, I moved out at 18 and would find it a bit odd if a 21 year old was that clueless especially "not knowing how to wash up", the mind boggles

LondonOx · 09/12/2013 00:43

I'm 21 now and I can do most of those things

  • Know how to use the washing machine? - Have been doing my own washing since I was about 12/13
  • Know where the fuses were? - In my parents house I know where they are, in my student house I know where they are but couldn't reach them without a ladder but I wouldn't know how to actually change a fuse if it required more than just flipping it back up.
  • Know how to reset the boiler? - Reset yes, repressurise no.
  • Know water has to be paid for? - Yes though I'm not sure how exactly it is charged.
*Know how to wash up? - Yeah, but then we've never had a dish washer.

I would like to say its at least in part the fault of the parents not your flat mates i.e. their mothers/fathers doing their own laundry and never having showed them (saying that I've never used fabric softner so wouldn't know what to do with it)

In my flat I do all the admin (for the eight of us) and being honest do most of the general organising too, but when I prod the boys that live with me they will go and clean the bathroom/take the bins out/hoover/disassemble things and generally help out, it just takes nagging.

grumpyoldbat · 09/12/2013 00:44

I could do lots of things by the time I was 21. My dad worked long hours when I was a child and my mum was regularly drunk and incapable. I had to teach myself to do a lot of things before I was 10.

However when I was 21 we didn't have a boiler, just a fire in the living room (I could manage that though). We didn't have separate water bills either, no water meter. We still don't have separate water bills, there's a flat charge attached to our council tax bill. I do now about water meters though.

Linnet · 09/12/2013 00:48

I did all those things, I lived on my own from 17 and dh and I had a baby by the time I was 21.

Popscene88 · 09/12/2013 00:49

Yep, at 21 was living with DP and his 6 other male housemates. Good times it was filthy

In my own, personal experience it does seem to be mostly boys who arrive at their own house with no clue. When I moved into halls at uni I had a clueless but very attractive flatmate and I used to wash and change his bedsheets, show how to work an oven and tidy his room for a bit...to my shame.

FriendlyElephant · 09/12/2013 00:50

I would expect someone to know most of these things by the time they move out, even if they were never taught at home. I washed dishes when I lived with my parents and I was taught about the fuse box because I had a dodgy light fitting in my bedroom that kept tripping, but I never used the washer. Yet when I got one of my own I figured it out very quickly.

babiesmakemecrazy · 09/12/2013 04:18

I moved out when I was 16 and DP was 18. Were now 19 and 21. We can do all that. It's shocking the rubbish like algebra you learn in school but not things you need like how to pay bills, use washing machine, set things up etc. I'm glad I moved out at a young age and did it all myself. Although sometimes I haven't to remind myself that I'm not 30!

AdoraBell · 09/12/2013 04:26

Yes To all of them. And I used To change fuses before the plus got all elf & safetyfied.

AdoraBell · 09/12/2013 04:40

Plugs not plus. Xmas Blush

BobaFettTheHalls · 09/12/2013 04:48

I would expect an 11 year old to know all of that ^

Although knowing women who drive and can't check oil/water levels and can't do anything tyre related it doesn't surprise me there are men who still won't do household-y stuff.

NCISaddict · 09/12/2013 05:54

I can't cahnge a fuse now and I'm 48 but i can reset the trip switch, just never had a fuse box where you can change a fuse. Could do everything else by 21 and can even check oil/water levels, not that I do very often. Blush just like i know how to change a tyre but I call out the AA.

dashoflime · 09/12/2013 06:02

At 21, I was living in a squat and had been homeless for 5 years:

  1. Know how to use the washing machine?
The ones in the laundrette- yes.
  1. know where the fuses were?- Oooh yes. Very good at fuse boxes Wink
  1. Know how to reset the boiler?- yep, several different models. We were moving every 2 to 3 months at some points.
  1. know water has to be paid for?- Ah hahahaha! no.
  1. Know how to wash up?- yes.

By contrast i once had a boyfriend who couldn't work a potato peeler at 36!

differentnameforthis · 09/12/2013 06:02

Yes
Yes & could change them (we are talking wire fuses..)
Didn't have one
Yes
Yes

I left home at 18, but could do all this before that. Apart from my dad, I was the only one who could change fuses.

ipswichwitch · 09/12/2013 06:12

Yes to all - left home at 18, but I could still do these things before I went as my DM thought she'd be irresponsible releasing me into the wild unable to do the basics!

Our chemistry teacher took it upon himself to teach us all about changing fuses and plugs when we were 11 - said it'd be way more useful than some of the crap he had to teach us!

ettiketti · 09/12/2013 06:17

Wouldn't have had a clue about the boiler at 21, but that was 23 years ago, they were practically coal firing the heating back then.
I was running several pubs with my then partner though so could change a barrel!

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