apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Man, if my garbage could be emptied once a day, that would be amazing. But unfortunately if I did that that'd be an awful waste of garbage bags... although it would be less smelly.

I wish the dishwasher would empty itself. It's my most hated household chore if you can believe it. I dread it!

My wish - for my laundry to be sorted, washed, ironed, and put away immaculately organized. I actually don't mind sorting and throwing clothes in the washer. However, I really hate the folding and putting away part. I don't mind other chores. I'll even take vacuuming the stairs over doing laundry any day.

LilyC, the solution is having two dishwashers - also means you need fewer cupboards.

I'm with you, 4ddh. I *hate* folding laundry.

For some reason, unloading the dishwasher is such a bore to me. It's so easy, but I really don't like doing it at all.

I'd like to be able to twitch my nose or blink my eyes and have everything in the house taken care of, from cleaning and maintenance to keeping the cupboards and fridge filled at all times. I am not someone who enjoys the day to day labors of the domestic side of life, at all.

I'll fold all the laundry if someone else will vacuum & dust.

Laundry is the one chore I do not mind at all.

I have to say that one of the best "convenience" things about moving to Hong Kong is the ubiquitous availability of cheap, good laundry shops.

To "do laundry" now, I separate colors and white into two bags and call the shop. That's it. They pick it up, wash it, dry it, FOLD EVERYTHING, and deliver it back in front of my door by the end of the day. And it costs about US$4 for a full load.

It's the next best thing to self-cleaning, self-drying, self-folding laundry!

I've thrown out pots to avoid washing them. My guess is that happens most often when you have burned something onto it so intensely it would never be a pot you'd wanna use again. In my case, I was lazy and hate dishes more than anything. Thank god for my husband. He washes or loads the dishwasher 90% of the time. When I was single, I ate out of the tin-foil I heated my food in, so I'd have no dishes.

MOPPING. I HATE IT.

My most hated chore is taking the garbage out every day - it has to be done since the humidity in Hong Kong means that any garbage sitting out for more than a day festers. OK to be fair this is really the only chore I do since we have a maid who comes in once a week to sort out everything else! That is the biggest convenience of Hong Kong.

Sigh. Am I the only who is bothered by the fact that the survey takes it for granted that women are still doing the majority of housework? I know it's a fact, but still...I would prefer a partner who automatically does half the domestic drudgery than a fancy new gadget any day.

I really dislike cleaning the tub :( It's my own fault because I love salt scrubs and they make the tub disgustingly gungy. I try to use more environmentally friendly bathroom cleaners but then tend to give up and use comet because less scrubbing elbow grease is needed. Sigh.

My dream is to have one of those bathrooms that are all one molded piece, sink and toilet and shower integrated with a drain in the floor. When it got dirty I could attack it with a high pressure hose and some soap and just rinse off :D I saw a stainless steel one a few years ago in an Ikea in the UK and I never was able to find any info about them on the internet. I think they are made for boats?

I hate folding clothes too... so I don't. Hahaha, I hang up everything that can fit on a hanger (and many things that can't...), and the rest never seem to make it out of my clean laundry hamper *cough*

MFlick, I hate mopping as well (I once had a summer job as a janitor, too bad they dont make mini floor buffers) and bought a steam mop, holy cow it makes mopping SO EASY. Totally worth the money, best impulse infomercial purchase ever (yeah! no regrets really!). The one I got, H2o mop, has an attachment for cleaning carpets but I don't really understand what is useful about that. For steaming spills I guess. I basically never mopped before I got one of these, now I don't mind it at all.

Where I grew up, we used a giant squeegee-like mop to clean the floors, which have drains embedded in them (might sound strange to Americans, but when you live in a place with sand/dust storms, you definitely need this). One pass with the squeegee and lots of soapy water, then another with a damp rag wrapped around the blade. Actually fun (maybe my aunt tricked me into it somehow, but I liked doing it), and very effective. Now that I live in an older California house with hardwood floors, a yucky pitted faux stone vinyl kitchen floor, a sheddy dog and another very sweet, but not very dirt-conscious human, my least favorite chore is washing the floors. No matter how much I vacuum and mop, the floors are always dirty. Have tried to get folks to go shoeless to no avail. I'm tempted to try aysha's H20 mop. Seriously!

LiliZ, I found a video from a newsstation that tested the mop if you're curious.
http://video.aol.com/video-detail/does-it-really-do-that-h20-mop/1073820243
It gets pretty bad reviews here:
http://www.infomercialratings.com/product/h2o_steam_mop_reviews
But I dunno, I haven't had any problem with it. Its such a spendy item that I am pretty careful when I use it (purchased when I was at my old job that gave me quite a lot of disposable income :p) I still don't mop that often, lol

I get the big dirty bits off the floor with a sweeper, and then just push the h20 mop around as slowly as I can without getting impatient. The instructions reccomended keeping the mop on a spot for 8 seconds to sanitize it *snort* yeah ok if you have a very small floor I guess.

Arg. I read more of the reviews and I can't reccommend the h2o mop in good faith anymore, just because it works for me it looks like the vast majority of people have had issues with it.

The bissel steam mop gets decent reviews on amazon, though. I figure if my mop conks out I may replace it with this one.
http://www.amazon.com/Bissell-1867-7-Steam-Hard-Floor-Cleaner/dp/B000RPVHZU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1237272015&sr=1-1

Hoovering. I don't know why, but I hate it. I guess it's also the sound I hate (like my cats, I would like to go and hide somewhere when the hoover comes out). I guess I should try a Roomba, but I don't even know if they are available in Europe.

OMG, I have a clean laundry hamper too!! Only I do eventually fold it and put it away, but sometimes it does stay there for some days... (sad, I know)

I'm gonna try to fold the clothes when I pick them from drying... hopefully then I'll be able to forgo that particular hamper.

Laundry folded...I'd do anything to get rid of that chore. Clean clothes tend to stay there until time to do more laundry and I'm forced to fold it to get the basket back. The only way they are getting folded is because I refuse to let myself buy another laundry basket for that purpose - LOL.

I'd try to get him to do more chores but he never gets it done the way I like, so I wind up redoing most of what he does. I've just asked him to do the simple things - sort his own dirty clothes, sweep the kitchen, pick up after himself, etc. He also does the garbage since he knows I hate it - LOL - so I'm not doing too bad since he goes to work and I work from here.

I'm with slowdown - it's interesting that only women were asked to participate in this survey. It sure says something about gender equality in America... Plus, I'm really curious how men and women would have differed in their answers!

And vacuuming. Hate it, hate it, hate it. The sound of it is like nails on a blackboard for me. I wish they would invent a nice SILENT vacuum. I've tried a number of them, but even the quietest hiss and squeak and make that wierd air-pulling sound. Ugh.

Emika - I actually wear earplugs while vacuuming. I know it's crazy, but I guess I just have sensitive ears or something.

My hated task is putting clothing away. I don't mind folding it or ironing it - just separating it out in all the drawers and closets and such. I end up never doing it and just living out of the clothes basket instead, or just stack piles on top of the unused dresser.

I want my own laundry. Sending out clothes or using laundromats is my most hated household issue.

I loathe washing my dishes by hand. Ohhh my god I hate it so much. My sink is full right now too. :[[[

I hate cleaning the bathroom and I hate vacuuming and dusting. I've read that self-cleaning bathrooms do exist for gas stations and pay toilets in certain cities. It might be nice to have a household self-cleaning bath.

I'm also frustrated that a robotic vacuum does exist, the Roomba, but it really only works well on very low pile carpet and hard floors. Can't someone create a robotic vacuum that has conventional suction capabilities?

As for the dishwasher issue, you all bought the dishwasher, installed it, and now have the privilege of relief from the dishwashing drudge, can't you just take 3 minutes to put the dishes away? Yes, I have to frequently remind myself of this.

someone please find a solution for the three drips of urine that my 3-year-old dribbles in front of the toilet every time he pees. it adds up. by mid day it smells like a port-a-potty. i can not believe my lot in life is to mop the bathroom floor every day.

We pay for a housecleaner to come every two weeks. It's $70 a visit and it's totally worth it to us.

I haven't needed to iron since I began hang-drying most of my clothes and table linens. It's like magic.

The chore I dread most is dealing with the litter box. We've tried the automatic versions, though, and they have their own problems.

I think a few people here need a reality check, I will be happy to take any unwanted dishwashers to help out with your unloading the dishwasher conundrum. Try not having a dishwasher at all and see how much fun the dishes are then.

I hated folding laundry too...
...then I installed a wardrobe system with a dozen smaller drawers - so I just open the drawers, sort and toss things into the drawers:
Dark socks in this drawer, light socks in the one below - undershirts shirts in this drawer, t-shirts in another - gym shorts in one drawer, boxers in another drawer, briefs in the one below...
...you get the picture.

Mopping! I really really don't like mopping. Lugging around a bucket of water, filling and emptying said bucket, wasting a ton of water...

I've almost bought a Scooba for the purpose if not for the fact that I have natural slate (all bumpy and irregular) in my kitchen.

Mopping, because I feel like I'm just pushing the dirt around. If I rinse the mop after every single swipe, it feels like I'm actually cleaning, but it takes forever. I also dislike cleaning the tub, mostly because the tub in my apartment needs to be refinished. It never looks clean, even when I've just cleaned it.

No issue with laundry, though. Surprised how many people hate it. And if your hated chore is emptying the dishwasher, you clearly HAVE a dishwasher, and therefore, to my mind, nothing to complain about. When you have to wash all your dishes in a sink with no disposal, so all the grease and crumbs and bits have to be cleaned out of the little mesh strainer at the bottom of the sink at least once or twice every time you wash - well, emptying the dishwasher will start looking like a pretty fine deal.

Yeah, I don't mind laundry, either. It gives me an excuse to lounge around in my jammies on Saturday mornings.

I would adore a self-cleaning toilet. I seriously hate cleaning the crapper. Also, dusting. For some reason I despise dusting. I'm cool with everything else.

My neighbor's mother sweeps their entire driveway every morning.

I think it must give her some kind of Zen satisfaction.

I get the cleaning the trash can thing. even the tiniest bit of food grime stinking in the bottom literally makes me gag.

I also hate folding laundry-- it's the way it makes my hands feel, all dry and static-y. it makes me cringe.

I want a really good floor-scrubbing robot, like the ones seen in mid-century cartoons about houses of the future. (I don't dare spend hundreds on a Scooba - too many steps, too much space covered by carpet, and one big, strong, mischievous cat). I HATE scrubbing the floor. I have bad knees, so when the tile floor requires more attention than plain old mopping, I know I'm in for a few rather painful hours.

I also resent SC Johnson's assumption that only females clean. My boyfriend cleans without being asked (and is actually very good at it). I'd leave the floors to him if we weren't long-distance for the time being.

laundry.

Oh, man - are you dishwasher-dependant folk really serious? Especially this: "LilyC, the solution is having two dishwashers - also means you need fewer cupboards." It's hard to tell-- are you being sarcastic? I really hope so.

Anyhow... yes, I vote for mopping too! I'm lousy at it, and I know there must be a better technique, but I've never been shown it. I always feel like my soupy, puddled floors are thoroughly wet, but not nearly as clean as they could be.

Stiletto, it's good to hear that your boyfriend cleans voluntarily and well, but maybe you'd be surprised by how many men don't, especially once they've moved in with a woman who will. Like Johnson, I'm saddened by how many of my Gen-Y female friends find themselves doing nearly all of the cleaning, even when they're living with young men who like to see themselves as 'progressive'.

Lastly, another note to you dishwashers: do you scrape and rinse each plate before you put it into your machine? If so, I bet you a dollar that you'd spend no more time if you did your dishes by hand in the sink. AND you'd save soap and water in the process. Hand-washing dishes before putting them in a so-called 'time-saving' machine to be washed all over again astounds me. If there's a reason for it, please reveal it.

M

Melba,

There are dishwashers that require absolutely no scraping or rinsing of plates prior to loading, I happen to own one. I just take the dishes from the table and load them in, they come out sparkling, including pots and pans with baked on crusts and residues. The dishwasher is an older Kitchenaid Superba that is no longer manufacturered.