Housekeeping things your DP does that horrify you

[Fluffyelephant]

My DP moved in earlier this year and he’s a lovely man. No regrets. But some of the housekeeping things I’ve discovered him doing have me 😳

There was the usual man stuff.. thinking it was normal to only change the sheets every few months. And when he does his washing he washes everything together. And I mean everything. Dark clothes, white clothes, kitchen towels, the bath mat, dog’s blanket - all in one load!

Tonight I discovered when he cleans the kitchen he doesn’t use the sponge that we keep with the cleaning supplies but just picks up the sponge we use to wash the dishes, sprays it with the super strong kitchen cleaner chemicals and then proceeds to clean the whole kitchen.. and then pops it back in the sink for us to use.

I mean do other people do that?! He’s adamant they do and I’m crazy for thinking it’s not normal.

So firstly, am I some kind of clean freak and the sponge thing is what everyone else is doing? And secondly, what cleaning things does your DP do that horrify you?

I can relate! But he says the same about me too so obviously it works both ways..

He's not awful and undomesticated but seems a bit simple at times!

Great at putting a wash on but that's kinda where it ends.. hangs it up and that then becomes its new home. Then puts another wash on without thinking of tending to the one that's hanging up! And so on and so forth.

Can't for the life of him put things away.. in the kitchen things are flung on the sides in several different locations.. and the lounge, bedroom, bathroom, empty crisp packets and plates left on the side until I move them

We do wash everything together though (well split lights darks etc but I'm not faffing about with separate washes for undies and tea towels, life is too short and my washing machine functions properly!)

We use an ikea scrubby thing for dishes but mostly use the dishwasher, and I use regular multi purpose spray and a cloth, or kitchen wipes for the counters. He has been known to use tea towels..

I've never boiled anything! Is this actually a thing? Never heard of anyone doing this 😂

Usual man stuff not changing bedsheets for a few months?

i don’t think that’s usual for men. Most people like clean sheets and houses/bedrooms that don’t stink I’d have thought.

Unless it's a hot wash it won't kill bacteria

Genuinely shocked at the number of people who are ok with this 🤢

I thought it was only teens and uni students who did stuff like this.

YABU. Why on earth do you need "super strong kitchen cleaner chemicals"? Every proper hygienist will tell you all that's needed is a drop of dishwashing liquid in water, job done. Assuming you're not running a weapons grade lab in there, that is.

I’m twitching just reading this!

My DH does the cloth thing too!
We use those washing up sponges with the scrubbing pad, and I have separate cloths for the work top, but DH uses the scrubber on the worktops, which I hate (and have told him on several occasions, to no avail)
My other bugbear is that when he washes up he insists on filling the sink with soapy water and plunging the frying pan straight into it. So now not only does the inside of the pan need scrubbed, the outside and the handle are all oily and greasy too, as well as everything else that was in the sink. He refuses to rinse anything, and leaves the minging water to stagnate in the sink. Drives me doolally!

I can't help feeling that getting a dishwasher would be life-changing for so many people.

But even with a dishwasher you still need to hand wash things on occasion, and that brings the radioactive sponges back into play, and adds 'bad dishwasher stacking' to the deck of irritants.

@Cem82 sorry, byt your DH sounds like a complete idiot. I'm not sure I could tolerate such ludicrous behaviour!! I'm mainly talking about putting clothes on a line without pegs.

There is no commonsense there whatsoever.

The chopping board thing happens in my house too; I'm the only one who ever cleans them. Fortunately we only have 3...

This whole thread has made me feel less alone 😂

The food at the bottom of kitchen sink is another one - gross

Maybe they mean the hot cycle of the washing machine.

More than 2 decades in and despite my best efforts DH still wipes the kitchen surfaces with tea-towels, which helps to explain why they mostly look like rags, and he never empties the dishwasher filter or clears trapped lemon pips and pine-nuts from the spray arms.

We don't boil the dishcloths or isolate the underwear either; we throw everything in together, bar separating lights, darks and woollens. None of us have died of toxic underwear/dishcloth syndrome yet. Most bacteria need moisture, food and warmth to survive, which the basic wash and dry process removes pretty effectively.

Yes exactly! We do have a dishwasher but not everything’s dishwasher safe

It’s my DP who bought and uses the strong cleaning chemicals. He claims the more natural stuff I use doesn’t work! 🤷🏻‍♀️

This is original 😂 but I can totally see where he’s coming from.

I think a lot of these things come from places of efficiency: washing everything together, using the one sponge, not replacing something unless it’s visibly dirty!

Oh god yes! Mine does this too.

It’s like everything that was in his pocket that day needs to come out on some (usually decorative!) surface in the house.

So then there’s rolls of dog poo bags on mantelpieces by all the vases and framed pictures! 😡😳

Mine pours the carpet washer water down the kitchen sink All that filthy water splashing all over the sink/tap/worktops etc. I have asked him endlessly to tip it down the toilet. Much less splashy, and less likely to transfer carpet filth to the dinner

Mine drives me mad with kitchen roll, he'll use it to clean the kitchen counters even though we have cloths (I wash the cloths after a day but he still thinks they're "dirty"). He also thinks using a whole piece of kitchen roll is wasteful and will rip off a small bit to clean something up, then leaving the rest of the roll with a ripped piece on

We have one! But frying pans etc don't go in. I restack/ rearrange it constantly- I read somewhere that in every couple there is one who stacks the dishwasher like an ikea designer, and the other who stacks it like a demented raccoon. Guess who's who...

@Fluffyelephant in my house, everything goes in the dishwasher or in the washing machine. and what i cant or wont put in goes to the lauderette for their machine or dry cleaning.

I don't separate lights and darks - they all go on a 40 wash.
Then towels, tea towels, bedding and underwear go on a 90 wash. If I have a white top, this also goes on a 90 wash with the other items previously mentioned.

I'm now standing back waiting for all the posters to tell me I'm going to hell!

I would just be pleased if he picked up a cloth!!

Why doesn’t he? Is he one of those males who think domestic work is a woman’s job?