Wheelie Bin Princesses

[reallifegetsintheway2]

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

I'm definitely a princess.
My DH does all the bins. I do everything else. It's his one and only domestic chore.

My DH does the regular/routine chores e.g. cooking every day, doing the food shop twice a week on the same day each week, putting out the bins on the same day each week.

I do the spontaneous chores, washing, ironing, finances, bill paying etc.

So he's a routine fiend and I'm a laid back loafer. That's why he puts the bins out.

Oh but he does the cooking and food shop and they're 'pink' jobs. And I do the finances and bills and that's a 'blue' job.

Or we just share chores according to what suits us.

my neighbours would not know as I have a hidden disability it does not stop me working but he does it to stop me being in pain as he gets petrol for me for the same reason

He does the bins, I clean the toilets…call me a princess I’m don’t give a rats arse

That's DS2's job. I'm a Princess Mum

I love alone (female) so have to do my own bins. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I also have a mobility disability which you might not immediately notice about me, which means it can be pretty tough for me to pull/push bins when I’m having a bad day. Sometimes my retired mum comes past and does mine. I’m sure I’m judged by the neighbours for this.

I also live next door (small blocks of flats) to a bin wanker. He must watch for them being collected, as he’s straight oit to bring them in, as soon as they’ve been collected, as I noticed whilst working from home.
He once came to my fort to shout at me (yes - shout!) that I left my bin out for ‘hours’ after it was collected. Y’know, when I’m at work, and there’s no-one in the house to bring it in.... I just have to shake my head at his small life. He also has a favourite parking space, and tells people when/where they can walk their dogs. He’s a delight.

Fort? Door.... 🤦🏻‍♀️

I'm a single parent, but even when my ex was here, he rarely put the bins out. He rarely did anything useful to be fair.

For every "wheelie bin peincess" there will be a "hoover toilet mop cooking shopping duster baby laundry prince"

our bins are weirdly heavy and even when empty we have to lift them to head height to get them over a narrow area where the bikes are stored. I genuinely don't have the upper body strength or long arms to lift them without clasping them to my bosom while DH can move them at arms length and not get bin juice on him.

Perhaps we should be asking why bin sizing is "default male" (Read invisible women if you haven't already)?

Perhaps we should be asking why bin sizing is "default male" (Read invisible women if you haven't already)?

Maybe so they’re big enough to fit a household full of rubbish in?

Perhaps we should be asking why bin sizing is "default male" (Read invisible women if you haven't already)?

In this case it's probably genuinely functional, our recycling bins are a more easily managed size but wouldn't hold enough for general or garden waste.

I'm a small 60yo with a tight side alley to negotiate - I can do ours. So I think this is more of an ability than a sex issue though of course a large person with a particular mobility issue may be able to manage for longer than a small person with the same condition could so they're related.

Of course they have to be a good size. But households can be one person to about twelve! A refuse lorry designer chose exactly what size is big enough and not too big, how the wheels work, etc. And it'll be culturally due to what "feels right" for someone to lift... human size is male size. I'm not going to die in a ditch over this one because bins are a mild example of this, there are far more egregious ones!
but it is a thing, honestly.

@blubberball

I'm a single parent, but even when my ex was here, he rarely put the bins out. He rarely did anything useful to be fair.

One memory I have which then became part of me acknowledging ex was an arse was that my neighbour commented that it was always me putting out the bins, often with my tiny baby in one arm.

Well my OH walks passed the wash basket and doesn't do a wash so I don't see the problem with them walking passed the bins. That being said I usually do bring them in to the side gate if I am passing, but that's because the drive is narrow so when his car is home it's tricky, but I am not bringing them in past the gate, I do 99.9% of the house chores he cam F off if he thinks I am doing that, he only empties the kitchen bin half the time and never replaces the bag much to my annoyance. I am with the princesses on this one.

@MrsBumm

our bins are weirdly heavy and even when empty we have to lift them to head height to get them over a narrow area where the bikes are stored. I genuinely don't have the upper body strength or long arms to lift them without clasping them to my bosom while DH can move them at arms length and not get bin juice on him.

Perhaps we should be asking why bin sizing is "default male" (Read invisible women if you haven't already)?

Am pretty sure they are not intended to be lifted this way. Most households are permitted to leave their bins in the front if they can't be left at the back. Don't make this a feminist issue!

@GintyMcGinty

How do you even notice something like this?

I have no idea which of my neighbours puts the bin out. I have never paid any attention / can't remember.

FWIW - sometimes I put them out, sometimes DH does.

Same, I honestly couldn’t say who does it in our street and who doesn’t. Like it matters anyway.

And it'll be culturally due to what "feels right" for someone to lift...

Wheelie bins aren’t supposed to be lifted, the clue is in the name….

My mum has an extra small bin because she cant easily manage a big one and she lives alone. 90% of the time I’d be fine with a small bin even though there are 6 of us because we have recycling and garden waste too but I cba to organise it with the council as I can pull the bin, even if full, I just don’t and don’t feel the need to prove to random neighbours that I do the visible, outdoor jobs as if it’s a feminist act.
I drive through an estate in a different LA a few days ago and they all had small bins. They were old houses but new bins.

It isn't a feminist issue per se it's a design issue which often intersects with ideas of what's normal

And yes, they aren't designed to be lifted ideally, but often are, by the bin people, to fit them into the lorry when the lifting thing doesn't work.

So depressing to have the "don't make things into a feminist issue" comments. Why would it be so bad if things were noticed as being relevant to power generally in society? Some people just can't bear to think about underlying structures & take it all personally.

Wow.

My DH does the bins, cooking, shopping and gardening, I do the cleaning, washing, ironing and sort finances/paperwork. Works for us, neither of us are Prince or princess like and we are happy with split of chores. I think OP you must have a lot of time on your hands to notice who in your street puts the bins in and out 😂

Total princess here. "First person to walk past the empty bin has to bring it back" is a fine rule if that's what a couple wants to agree on, but it's hardly the only option.

What an odd thing to ask opinions on, and even have an opinion on yourself, let alone let it annoy you. Surely it's no business of yours who puts bins out and what they do with them. Do what you would like to do in your house and let others do what they like to do in theirs.

I actively walk past my wheelie bin as it's my sons chore for his pocket money 🤦‍♀️