What do you think is the worst household chore?

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Definately

cleaning windows, I am currently trying to convince my hubby we NEED a Karcher Window Vac, he just rolled his eyes in a "not another appliance" kind of way. I'm not a great fan of ironing, that's usually hubby's job anyway unless he has a research paper to do. Not a huge fan of changing the bedding either but that is done at least once a week. I NEVER leave bedding on longer than that.

Alex, I have to say I LOVE hanging laundry out on the line. Nothing better than the sight of my washing lines full of clean laundry, puts my neighbours washing to shame!

I vacuum and dust the whole flat daily and the bathroom and kitchen get cleaned daily too. I would love a dishwasher but that would involve a kitchen remodel. I don't really mind doing dishes buy hand though.
 
That's Easy

DUSTING! Think about it - it gets EVERYWHERE....

I would hate doing dishes too but I haven't washed a dish by hand in so long I'm not even sure what it would be like....
 
Dishwashers ...

... are the single-biggest cockroach attractor than anything else in your home.

The conditions are perfect: warm, wet, with bits of food.
 
Cockroaches!

Matt IMHO I don't think for a single instant, dishwashers are prone to attract these insects. I live in a community of some 20.000 people, in ten blocks of six towers each and 15 floors high. It's like a sort of park with little ways and big trees. Unfortunately it's 40 y/o and it has a permanent cockroach problem BUT in my flat I vacuum everyday sometimes twice, since I have a German Shepperd which is always shedding hair. Besides that, I drop 2 naphtalin balls in the dustbag of my machines. SO I don't have cockroaches at home. I'm not the Mr Knows-everything, this is just my experience. Besides, dishwashers, as you know,  are almost hermetic, or else you have a problem of flood in the kitchen. So they (cockroaches)  come from outside through open windows, sewage pipes, under doors and ducts, like bathroom, and elevators (or lifts). My twopence. Hugs Gus
 
Gus ...

... you THINK you don't have a cockroach problem.

I have a friend who services dishwashers and he assures me, when he disassembles the units, in 99% of homes (yes, even the exceptionally clean ones), he uncovers entire nests of the things inside the machine.

You cannot avoid them. Unless, of course, you get rid of that appliance that always leaves behind moisture and bits of food (even microscopic bits of food).
 
I have never

seen a single cockroach in my house. If there were a nest of them under/in your dishwasher, I'm sure I would see at least one on occasion. A cockroach would hate my house because there's nothing for it to eat.

I've seen spiders crawling across the floor on occasion - but never a cockroach...

I hear they hate eucalyptus smell.
 
For me, it is washing dishes by hand, washing walls, and cleaning the bathtub/shower. Thankfully, we have a great dishwasher. I refuse to wash dishes by hand unless there is absolutely no way of fitting qn item in the dishwasher (I have taken the top rack out before for large pots). If something doesn't come clean, it comes out of the dishwasher, goes in the sink to be filled with water and soak, and then goes in with the next load. Cleaning the showers/bathtub is just a pain in the butt and the cleaner irritates my hands and usually makes them peel. Washing walls (especially in the kitchen) just seems to take forever, and usually takes a while to get clean. I need to wash the kitchen walls eventually, they are starting to look a little dull from the kitchen grease and smoke (cooking smoke, not tobacco smoke, nobody smokes in our house thank God!)
 
Cleaning shower doors-HATE-HATE them-fortunately most of the bathrooms I have used use shower curtains on the curtain pole.Its far easier to wash the curtain in the washer-or if really dirty-just replace it.If I have to use a bathroom with shower doors-will rip them out and replace them with a pole and curtain.I have NEVER seen really clean shower doors-most always have some kind of yuck on them.Scrubbing potties and bathrooms as well is no fun.And hate some yardwork-only yard chore I like is mowing-to me its like vacuuming a giant carpet.
 
Vacuuming is the worst chore!!

Just kidding guys... I love to vacuum, unfortunately I have collected to many vacuums (410) so there isn't much room to vacuum. But I am working on downsizing my collection big time.. But I really hate to do yard work.. or wash dishes, that is why I haul around my good old Maytag Portable dishwasher where ever I move to. And if a dish or pot won't fit in the Maytag, out it goes. Dan
 
Most disliked chores...

For me, I DESPISE dusting....I don't really know why since I use my electrolux for most of the dusting jobs, but I have so many "whatnots" and vacuum cleaners and other assorted effluvia of life sitting around gathering dust that I simply hate doing it! Lucky for me, my wife doesn't seem to mind it too bad, although she prefers to use a dusting rag and Pledge or Endust, but I sweep it up when I run the vacuum, so it's all good. The next chore that I have hated all my life is ironing. Having a bad back makes standing for hours at an ironing board absolutely excruciating! Unfortunately, this can become difficult to avoid since I am a VP at a bank and am expected to be in dress button-up shirts on a daily basis!
 
I can't stand vacuuming, dusting, mopping, or washing clothes. Thank God for wonderful cleaning ladies and the iRobot roomba.
 
Speaking of dusting

I wanted to ADD something because I hate dusting more than anything........

Growing up - we NEVER used the vacuum cleaner to dust. We used a rag and cloth with either damp or furniture polish......I don't know why we never used the vacuum to dust, but we didn't. It wasn't until a few years ago it occurred to me to use the vacuum to dust EVERYTHING, but I still use a damp soapy cloth to clean remotes, keyboards, door knobs, telephones, etc.

I've noticed that by doing this, it requires much less dusting overall.

I always remember my grandma complaining at how we just cleaned the entire house, and there's a layer of dust all over everything we just cleaned......I think vacuuming dust is the MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH better than using a cloth or rag to dust.
 
Spring...

Spring house cleaning. Moving everything, washing walls and ceilings. Id rather be in a coma.

Next up would be windows, but seeing as most of the windows tilt in, I really shouldn't complain. There is a heavily traveled dirt road that ends at my road, and the dust gets to be a bit much. One rain, and the windows are in need of being washed once again.

I actually enjoy all of the other daily and weekly chores. I keep to a schedule, come home from work, eat, do the dishes, then tackle that evening's chore. Keeping at it means that things never get bad.

Don't own a dishwasher, but being on my own, the daily dishes are done in no time flat. Laundry and ironing are done on the weekend. Ironing always gives me time to ponder things.

What I have never been able to master is dusting with the vacuum cleaner. There is something about that hose getting in the way. I guess that it is what one is used to. I found that the best thing for me is the Swiffer duster. I don't have clutter, but I do like a nice assortment of tchotchkes about, so that the place doesn't look barren. I find that the Swiffer makes fast work, and if kept up with weekly, the dusters do a fine job with no dust being redistributed.

Interesting post, seeing how we are all different, and all have our methods that work for us.

Joe
 
Hi Joe,
I agree with you about window but I actually love spring cleaning.
Use my Vac all the time for dusting. My allergist even recommend it because with a good hepa filter vac the dust I s actually gone and not tossed up in the air to land somewhere else.
 
In order of the worst first:

1. Dusting & Polishing - tedious and boring moving things out of the way to put them back in the same place.
2. Cleaning wooden venetian blinds - its fine to dust them as just close them and go over them with the duster but how do you get to the side that faces the window there is always a few mm gap that the duster doesnt get to even if I turn the blinds the other way!
3. Cleaning the shower screen - rest of the bathroom am ok with but hate doing that. My partner uses proper soap so it needs doing weekly. Before when using just shower gel I used to just wipe it down with a damp cloth and deep clean it every other week but now needs doing weekly.
4. Cleaning the windows - done every few months on the inside but still a chore as have to lift all the blinds up and then lower them again.
 
Ugh, venetian blinds. I can't stand them. My parents had awful metal ones when I was little - they were a danger to clean since the metal blades of the blind could easily cut a finger as well as the sponges to clean them. Better to invest in curtains, that way you just take them down whenever they need washed and you can clean the windows too. 


 


Bought a Karcher extension lance the other day from Amazon UK - amazing height adjustable pole that can be locked onto the bottom of my Karcher WV50 cordless window vac - what a total pleasure - so much easier & safer than climbing a ladder. Link for product review.



http://www.ciao.co.uk/Karcher_Window_Vac_Extension_Lance__Review_6085448
 
I have curtains also but the blinds are for privacy during the day they are angled so people cannot see straight in.

Was thinking of one of those karcher vac things. How good are they?
 
I had ...

... custom-made wooden blinds in all six apartment windows that I inherited at my last place. Pain. In. The. Ass. I kept them tightly "up" the entire time and covered the windows with sheers. SO much easier to just take down the sheers and run through the washer.

And a trick I learned from a friend: don't bother ironing them. Just put them back up, damp. They will dry wrinkle-free.
 
I had the same problem with people peering in when I lived in my last flat rental - the landlord had previously fitted venetian blinds which I hated. I took them down and put up hanging nets instead and discovered that people could no longer see in. Nets are a preference though as you know : )

The Karcher WV50 does a pretty good job to be honest and far more efficient than traditional cleaning. (see link to the review I did).

It really depends on how you clean your windows - I just used to use an old bathroom towel, spray bottle of Mr Muscle window cleaner liquid (avoid Windowlene spray as it is too greasy and smears) and a squeegee with handle - thus, spray the agent on and swipe afterwards with the squeegee, using the towel to wipe off the excess. Simple, clean and sparkling glass!

The Karcher WV50 avoids the towel routine and I still use Mr Muscle window cleaning liquid with it instead of forking out for Karcher's own branded shampoos etc.

http://www.ciao.co.uk/Karcher_WV_50_Window_Cleaning_Vacuum__Review_6071080
 
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Mopping/scrubbing white tile when it's very dirty; but my Electrolux B8 cuts down on labor</span>


<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"> </span>


<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Washing skyview windows</span>


<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"> </span>


<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Cleaning toilets; esp. after guests arrive</span>


<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"> </span>


<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Vacing the ceiling fan (I just use the Electrolux white bristle wall brush connected to the lightweight aluminum wands)</span>


<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"> </span>


<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Dusting with a cheap plastic bristle dusting brush or rag; I ONLY dust with a good quality horsehair dusting brush & ELECTROLUX</span>
 
Blinds---HATE the things,too.They don't always work and they are ALWAYS there-bad if you want to see out.You can pull them up-but they may not come back down or work.In one place I lived in ripped out the blinds-dumpstered them and went to Pennys and bought the blackout roll shades instead.The shades insulate better than blinds.Since I sleep during the day-perfect.The roll shades clean easily-just dust them pulled down with the duster brush on your vacuum.And I like curtains made of fabric that you can just wash at home in the washer.Just wash,dry,put them back up.
 
We have a maid that lives in the house with us so i really don't have to do a lot of cleaning, but when I do, i probably hate emptying the fireplace the most because we have a wood fireplace and we use it a lot and it has to me emptied once a month.
 

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