To divide up household chores on a room by room basis?

[KindleFancy]

In a nutshell, we're struggling to stay on top of things in the house lately.

We both work (I work 32 hours, dh 50) and have two dc who go to a cm two nights a week.

We've found ourselves getting grumpy with each other recently. Dh will work a 3pm - 12 shift. I'll get home with the dc at 6 and the breakfast dishes are still waiting and i'm thinking 'WTF did he do all day?' On the one week day I finish early, I get home at 3.30 with the dc. Dh will get in at 8.30 and is probably thinking 'The dinner dishes are still there. WTF has she done all night?'. You (hopefully) get the picture.

So we've discussed breaking the house up into rooms. He gets the kitchen, hallway and our bedroom. I get the lounge, stairs and landing and bathroom. The kids do their room, with assistance from both of us. He is responsible for ALL clothes washing and drying. I'm responsible for ALL hanging/sorting/folding away.

On first thought I thought it seemed a bit too disjointed and student-y. But the more I think about it, it sounds like bliss to be able to, in all clear conscience, step over any mess in our room for instance, knowing it's not my responsibility.It seems more manageable to know I have specified areas to keep clean and tidy iyswim? And he thinks the same.

Has anyone done this? And does it work?

Sounds awesome. But I am an anal retentive about tidiness so I couldn't just tread over any mess.

In our house I guess it would work that whoever was home would do what needed to be done.

But your shift patterns probably means that you need to try something different to make it work, so why not? In fact, good luck and let us know how you get on!

Yes, it is a good way of doing it.

However a couple of things: you do need to be able to say specific things like "DH I'm running low on shirts, do you think you can make sure to get some through by tomorrow?" or "There's a smell coming from the sink, do you think you can sort it?" without saying more general things like "You always leave the washing too late/I don't like the way you've done this/you should be using this kind of cloth" Rule of thumb - it's OK to request/comment on something if it's negatively affecting you, if it's just not done to your standards, or you think he's making something harder for himself, let it go.

The other thing is, work out what the protocol is when you find something in the lounge which belongs in the bedroom, or vice versa. Does the bedroom or the lounge person take it back? Does the person taking it back put it away properly or just dump it? etc.

And of course everyone still has to generally clear up after themselves, not take the piss just because it's not their area if that makes sense.