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Housekeeping

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Original poster

Housekeeping things your DP does that horrify you

107 replies

Fluffyelephant · 06/10/2024 21:45

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?

OP posts:
Cattery · 08/10/2024 22:30

olympicsrock · 06/10/2024 22:39

I use the same sponge for dishes and kitchen work tops. Plenty of hot water and cleaning products.
don’t see the issue…

Same. Done this for 40 years. Didn’t know anyone did any different

Changingplace · 08/10/2024 22:51

Cattery · 08/10/2024 22:30

Same. Done this for 40 years. Didn’t know anyone did any different

Show quote history

Agreed, if I was that concerned about the chemicals being used to clean the kitchen I wouldn’t use them at all.

K90 · 18/03/2025 19:36

Cem82 · 06/10/2024 23:18

The chemical sponge is terrifying that would really upset me!

My big list of hates (apparently I am a nag and nobody cares about these things but me):

  • My partner is a serious germaphobe (hands like sandpaper from constant washing every time he touches anything - his phone, a door handle etc) but when he does the dishes he doesn’t think to wipe the counters or clear up splashes on the tiles.
  • He takes out a new chopping board for every item and usually there are 3-5 of them to be washed before we even get to dinner one might have been for cheese for his sandwich, then a new one an hour later for my daughter’s sandwich and none of them washed or put away.
  • He doesn’t clean bathrooms - I think the not using chemicals and not tacking the dirty jobs feeds into his germaphobia and his fear of the effects of chemicals on his health - so if there’s the need to use oven cleaner it’s on me which is just lovely if he thinks it’s that dangerous!
  • He stacks the dishwasher in a mad haphazard way that leaves it half empty so I have to reshuffle it before it goes on.
  • He puts things like cheese graters away in a different place each time so I always have to search all the cupboards.
  • If he is unpacking shopping he puts the same food types scattered throughout the fridge - like cheddar on each shelf so several get accidentally opened and you have decaying strawberries at the back of the top shelf that you are not aware exist. He also never touches or throws out the decaying hidden food but will mention that “we” must throw it out. It is chaos. I plan on filling the fridge with little boxes with labels on them but I doubt that’ll work!
  • Laundry is the same tshirts go in with the trousers, pillow cases in the middle of towel bundles - if I question it he says I should draw a diagram of how I want things stored if I am that fussy and ocd! I recently got him to start pairing socks as he could never find his sock’s match and it has changed his life lol.
  • Oh hanging clothes on the clothes line is mad, he goes out and throws them all on the line with no pegs, he then goes around pegging them afterwards and retrieving all the ones that have fallen to the floor, he pegs them as they landed in the line, ie top half of dress over the bottom half so it’s not properly exposed to the sun and comes in partially wet in the middle - I tell him to peg from the end of things and get told “your way isn’t necessarily the only way of doing things”. This is actually progress, it took me about ten years of arguing about the necessity of pegs and loads of our towels blowing into the river before he started pegging things - I do sometimes go outside and find a wash unpegged and a sea of socks on the ground “but it wasn’t windy when I hung them out”.
  • taking socks off around the house and leaving them there for me to pick up (I throw them in his office)

We are both probably complete opposites in that regard - he doesn’t care about or notice small details and I like order! He has accidentally broken quite a few of my favourite things when putting away dishes or stacking things to dry as he does it without a care in the world. In the last two days I have lost a glass, a sentimental mug and a beautiful candle holder.

His dad is seriously organised, the house is show house clean and everything in his house has a particular place, is labelled, you can find everything - I love it, it is strange my partner grew up with that and is a chaos merchant. Incidentally his dad’s partner says she can not relax in his house as it is too organised and regimented for her tastes lol.

I have almost choked with laughter. This is so funny

tattoonewbie · 18/03/2025 21:23

@Gowlett I think my DH is having a secret life with you.
He removed the drain cover thing in the kitchen sink that catches food. And then rinses the food down instead of emptying the catcher ???!!!
Used the dustpan to sweep crumbs off the work surface
Used loo brush to remove lumps of poo and then told me "we need a new one. I can't talk about it "
Yet loves wiping down and straightening the kitchen of an evening.
He rams the washer full so the laundry smells foisty
Then doesn't empty it
Or empties it on the floor and leaves it wet- I rewash a lot

Dogaredabomb · 22/03/2025 00:31

It's the idea of the sponge at all that's giving me the ick 🤢

I use about ten cloths a day, each time I do a swipe anywhere it goes in the laundry basket.

Dogaredabomb · 22/03/2025 00:34

My xh used to fold dirty tea towels rather than wash them. What kind of monster does that?

largeprintagathachristie · 22/03/2025 00:55

Never pushes his dining chair in after he’s left it. I took him out for a birthday meal at a restaurant this week and he did the same. And the chair is massively “out”, with a squealing of the chair legs at home for good measure.

Poor laundry rack technique. Puts jeans touching jeans etc. Then leaves it all there without any rotation or attention for six days or so, while others need the rack.

I’m the one who leaves cupboard doors open. I think I don’t. But yep, if I’m at home by myself for more than a day, there they all are, open.

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