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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Wheelie Bin Princesses

544 replies

reallifegetsintheway2 · 03/09/2021 16:07

In my naice middle class area, there are multiple able bodied wheelie bin princesses who think that putting out the bins is a 'blue' job i.e. male (obviously if in male / female relationship). Worst still is those princesses who either walk past them when they return home in the car or with the pram / kids from school and wait for their (male) partner to bring them in. I admit they annoy me more. For reference, I do both, as does DH, and I am female.
Yabnu - it is a gender neutral job
Yabu - get a life, reallife

OP posts:
MsWalterMitty · 03/09/2021 20:26

[quote BastardMonkfish]@MsWalterMitty it's not really weird, most of us have been raised by parents and grandparents who would have split jobs around the house according to gender roles. The 1950s were not that long ago. And some of the reasons for the gender divide are perfectly valid; DH is bigger and stronger physically than me so it's easier for him to lift the big petrol hedge cutter to trim the hedges. If you're at home looking after young children (a position much more women than men will be in) you can't really head into the garden for a couple of hours to cut the grass, you wouldn't hear your baby crying. I could go on but I can't be bothered because everyone knows all of this anyway. [/quote]
I’ve always done those jobs due to DHs back problems. I always waited until he got home, or the weekend to do it.

It is even more weird to use 1950s homemaking norms as a reason to still be doing those things.

MsWalterMitty · 03/09/2021 20:28

Must have some serious cases of the trots in that house, if the loo needs cleaning twice a day. Ours gets done twice a week!

Sane here, but everyone... including the 7yr old is responsible for getting rid of their short stains

Yesitsbess · 03/09/2021 20:33

@LaBellina

Reminds me of that time that (female) movies stars had a clausule in their contracts with the studios that said under no circumstances were they allowed to take the bins out as they might get papped and it would spoil their carefully cultivated glamorous public image.
An acquaintance of mine is on the telly, she now has this in her contract because she got papped taking her bins out in a dressing gown.

I may have taken the piss out of her quite a bit...

TractorAndHeadphones · 03/09/2021 20:36

[quote BastardMonkfish]@MsWalterMitty it's not really weird, most of us have been raised by parents and grandparents who would have split jobs around the house according to gender roles. The 1950s were not that long ago. And some of the reasons for the gender divide are perfectly valid; DH is bigger and stronger physically than me so it's easier for him to lift the big petrol hedge cutter to trim the hedges. If you're at home looking after young children (a position much more women than men will be in) you can't really head into the garden for a couple of hours to cut the grass, you wouldn't hear your baby crying. I could go on but I can't be bothered because everyone knows all of this anyway. [/quote]
The 1950’s divide however also left the working man with weekly tasks and the woman with the daily.
My Dh does bins but also laundry
None of us dust and tidy because we don’t give a shit. Only hoover (him) 😍

Pinkandwhitewafer · 03/09/2021 20:36

In my house all the shit jobs are "blue jobs". anything i dont want to do = "blue job". usually they involve things that smell. cleaning up after the dog, emptying the bins, jet washing shit. all "blue" jobs. but i dont use those words and have just avoided them over time so they have become his job while i do the nicer ones like ironing.

InsanityOf2020 · 03/09/2021 20:38

I walk by my bins but because its my son's job. I am trying to teach him responsibilities and they have been known to be left out for three days before now as i try to convince him its his job and hes got to do it and ignoring it doesn't mean someone else will do it for him. Fortunately the neighbourhood understands my plight. If my son isnt here i do them

Purplepeoniesdroppingpetals · 03/09/2021 20:51

Dh takes the bins out…he also knows how to work the iron (I don’t) and cleans; I clean and do all the cooking. I just don’t like bin juice and he doesn’t care.

Purplepeoniesdroppingpetals · 03/09/2021 20:52

Oh and he won’t clean up cat sick as it’s ‘my job’, so I ask him to kill all mosquitos - division of labour.

BewareTheBeardedDragon · 03/09/2021 21:09

I'm a single female, I do all jobs in my house and I will walk past bins and ignore them if I cba, or don't have time to take them in immediately. Can't say I could get in any way excited or even vaguely interested in how my neighbours do it. The only thing that pees me off is when the bin people leave the empty bin right in front of the bloody car, or in the middle of the drive if I'm out and then I have no choice but to deal with them in order to get either off or on the drive. 😳

GoWalkabout · 03/09/2021 21:35

I nearly bought them in - trying to be helpful - before they had been collected and just after dh put them out. Its definitely more his job than mine. He does all the washing too if that puts you at ease?

LimitIsUp · 03/09/2021 22:56

I put the bins out as the bin men come at 7 am & dh would forget, necessitating a trip to the tip with a fortnights bin bags. I also bring them in because I am paranoid that someone will dump their rubbish in them (dh doesn't give a toss)

Pottedpalm · 03/09/2021 23:05

@TenPenceMix

YANBU it's weird that people walk past their own bin... it's hardly a difficult task is it? Regardless of whose chore it is!
Or walk past their own laundry basket , washing machine, dishwasher.. I do the washing, ironing, most of the cleaning. DH dies bins, mowing, diy, digging, car cleaning, fuelling and maintenance and all the household admin. I walk past the bins and the mower. It works for us.
TheRebelle · 03/09/2021 23:12

I never think about the bins, I couldn’t give a shit if I walk past an empty bin, why do you care?

In our house I do all the cooking because while DH does try he just is not as good a cook as I am and he deals with all bins because I don’t want to, everything else is equal, is that alright with you?

Ireolu · 03/09/2021 23:15

We both do the bins here. Next door just the husband does them. Have never seen the wife take them out or pull them in. I find it weird but it's none of my business.

Blueeilidh · 03/09/2021 23:18

Of course it is a gender neutral job but also get a life. I also walk post them sometimes because it isn't convenient to move them at that time, not because I expect my make husband to do it instead.

justjuggling · 03/09/2021 23:46

Putting the bins out was pretty much the only job my exH did around the house and one of the very few things I miss about being married to him.

wheresmymojo · 03/09/2021 23:50

I don't do the bins because it's gross and if I can get someone, anyone, else to do it I will.

That someone is DH because he's the only person I live with.

If I could train my cats to do it I would.

I do DIY, etc.

Mincingfuckdragon · 03/09/2021 23:51

I leave it for my husband. Because we (try to) share jobs, and that one's his. He also does all the laundry, and I do all of the maintenance jobs and gardening. It's not because it's a 'blue' job, it's because it's an easy one that requires no special skill and he know how to do it.

I think you really, really need to stop overthinking, OP. It cannot be good for you.

Moraxella · 04/09/2021 00:20

Ahh I hope you aren’t my neighbour, I put the bins out on time without fail but I also leave them out for days when they’ve been emptied, regularly pushing the pram past them 😒

Mustreadabook · 04/09/2021 00:37

If you are returning with kids/baby in tow it’s hardly the ideal time to stop and move bins around!

TurnTowardsTheSun · 04/09/2021 00:43

How much spare time do you have on your hands to be staring out of windows at who is taking bins in and out of neighbours' gardens. Confused Get a life!

Auntienumber8 · 04/09/2021 00:58

I have a hidden disability so cannot lift or pull anything even remotely heavy or large. Last time I picked up a full laundry basket I was flat on my back for three days in agony. Thanks for the judgement.

WheelieBinPrincess · 04/09/2021 01:02

Thanks for the new username OP 😂

Snugglybuggly · 04/09/2021 01:12

Man's job innit

MissTrip82 · 04/09/2021 01:18

@Auntienumber8

I have a hidden disability so cannot lift or pull anything even remotely heavy or large. Last time I picked up a full laundry basket I was flat on my back for three days in agony. Thanks for the judgement.
I mean this is a but hysterical isn’t it?

You were really thinking that the OP thought that people with disabilities of a nature that made moving the bins painful or even impossible should do it?

Really?

Presumably there are just as many men as women who have a physical reason they can’t move bins. And presumably, in their homes, someone else does it.

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