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Your most hated chore

post #1 of 33
1/27/07 at 6:06pm
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Ugh... I have to go make my hated weekly trip to the landfill. Those of you who live in areas where you can just put your rubbish bins on the curb should count yourselves lucky. I live in rural Alaska and we've got no trash collectors so I try to go once a week to prevent the rubbish from taking over.

It's so disgusting. You have to load your trash bins into the back of the truck, then drive to the landfill... there are tons of bald eagles and ravens and seagulls EVERYWHERE, all screaming and dive-bombing you and picking at trash...I'm always afraid they'll attack me or poo on me. YUCK!!

Plus there's garbage juice that flows freely at the landfill, and you have to be careful to roll up your trouser cuffs or else they'll get contaminated with rubbish goo. Then you have to get back in your truck and flee the landfill as quickly as you can. I think that the folks who work at the landfill should all get raises and medals for doing such important (yet smelly) work.

UGH... the landfill closes in one hour so I have to get going soon. Yuck. Most disgusting chore EVER. I wish I had a husband so that he could go take the rubbish instead of me.

So what are your most hated chores? I normally like doing laundry but my stupid cheap landlord has a COIN OPERATED laundry instead of having W/D in the units. It costs $1.75 to wash and $1.75 to dry! I wish I had my own washer/dryer so that I could do laundry whenever I like. Can you tell I'm in a whiny mood?

I guess I should be grateful that it's only me and my cats...if I had a family then the rubbish would pile up exponentially and I'd have a much worse time with rubbish management.
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post #2 of 33
1/27/07 at 6:19pm
Eep. I don't think you sound whiney @ all. Going to the landfill sounds positively NASTY!!!!!!!!!!

Me, I hate cleaning the bathroom. I have virtually no counterspace whatsoever in my tiny bathroom. So all my toiletries are basically balancing on the edge of the sink, and on the back of the toilet. I tried to find some of those "corner shelves" but I couldn't find any. I ended up getting a shower rack & nailing it to the wall, lol. But still, once every couple weeks I take everything off the sink and the back of the toilet, & scrub. My cats will also knock down my bottles off the sink, and I won't notice it until next cleaning time, when I sweep & mop the floor. Such a pain. And I can't believe how much gunk accumulates between my bottles!!! Where the heck does that crap come from???

Oh! Another chore that irks me...shredding up my junk mail. I really should invest in another shredder. This one takes like 3 pages @ a time, and I get SO MUCH junk mail that just accumulates...ugh.
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post #3 of 33
1/27/07 at 6:44pm
Blech, Linnea!!! That does sound like one heck of a nasty chore!!

As for me, my most hated chores include laundry and emptying the dishwasher. The reason being that with 2 small children and a husband, these things are never done for longer than a few hours at a time.
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post #4 of 33
1/27/07 at 6:48pm
This is a tough question, so many could tie for number one. I will give the blue ribbon of dread to scrubbing the gas stove grates. Yellow plastic gloves, steel wool....just Arrgh.
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post #5 of 33
1/27/07 at 7:09pm
When I lived alone I LOVED to do my laundry...now, not so much! The Mr. always leaves stuff in his pockets Last week it was gum. Now the inside of the dryer is covered in melted, sticky, fuzz-covered gum. I would buy a new dryer but it would cut into the perfume budget. That's a big HELL NO!
Why didn't I cherish the single life? Oh dear God WHY?
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post #6 of 33
1/27/07 at 7:18pm
I think cleaning out the fridge is my most dreaded chore ... it's always an adventure!
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post #7 of 33
1/27/07 at 7:27pm
  • kbe
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CologneJunkie


Oh! Another chore that irks me...shredding up my junk mail. I really should invest in another shredder. This one takes like 3 pages @ a time, and I get SO MUCH junk mail that just accumulates...ugh.

I recall seeing a segment on one or other of the Newsmagazine type shows back 15-20 years ago on TV. Seems this guy in the NorthEast put himself on every catalog mailing list he could and as the poor USPS mail carrier delivered them in winter, he used them to fuel his Franklin stove for heat. He claimed to have saved over $90/month in heating costs, and this was early 1990s dollars...So, maybe junk mail could be a blessing, if it were delivered in sufficient quantity?
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post #8 of 33
1/27/07 at 8:10pm
I hate laundry. I would normally love laundry, but it is a f***ing nightmare now. I don't have a washer and dryer, and that was okay until DH2B started working every available hour of the week and can no longer give me a lift. Now I have to carry the huge bin of laundry down to the laundromat, where I must line up for a washer and dryer. There is nobody working at this laundromat so I have to scour the neighbourhood for a depanneur (corner store) who will give me change. Thank God my dep on the corner is usually really good about it if he has enough. On top of this, the laundromat is very crowded with one table about the size of a postage stamp to fold clothes on. The floor is never swept or mopped and I am a klutz so I usually end up dropping something between the washer and the dryer and then it gets all dirty. I dropped one of DH2B's shirts today, but was so annoyed with the whole experience that I just popped in the dryer anyway. When he notices that he has a nice gray stain on the arm of his favourite blue teeshirt I will just feign innocence.
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post #9 of 33
1/27/07 at 8:15pm
  • kbe
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With 5 inside cats it has to be changing the litter boxes. Ugh..
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post #10 of 33
1/27/07 at 8:44pm
Cleaning the fishtanks for me, one fresh, one salty...
Oh, and staining the deck... But we usually wait until Summer and make a party of it!
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post #11 of 33
1/28/07 at 4:37am
I lived in South Korea for a year and we had no hot running water. So whenever we had to do laundry, we had to heat a big tub of hot water, get out the scrub board and bar of solid laundry soap and scrub away with the old elbow grease. This was all done on the roof , mind you. After rinsing , everything had to be hung on lines.
I remember initially hating it and thinking, when I get back to the states, I WILL NEVER COMPLAIN ABOUT DOING LAUNDRY IN A MACHINE AGAIN!
But of course, that was long ago, and so I have and do. (complain, that is)
The way I got into it was I pretended I was Ghandi, weaving.
I would scrub and then meditate on something. It became very zen like.

Since we had no hot running water, we had to either take cold showers or walk to the neighborhood bathhouse.
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post #12 of 33
1/28/07 at 3:10pm
Actually...this damn term paper I'm trying to write is quickly turning into my most hated chore. In the year & a half I took off from school, it looks like I've COMPLETELY lost my paper-writing ability!!! Guh!!!
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post #13 of 33
1/28/07 at 6:26pm
Ironing.
Fortunately, I rarely have to engage in this, the most mind numbing of all domestic activities.
Renato
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post #14 of 33
1/28/07 at 6:44pm
I hate organising my wardrobe and getting rid of the old and useless stuff... I am just an un-tidy person.
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post #15 of 33
1/28/07 at 6:49pm
Dishes. It takes so long for such a little chore. At least I get to read a book while I do laundry, or watch a movie while I iron.


-ben
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post #16 of 33
1/28/07 at 8:16pm
Common chores in order from most tolerated to most hated:

laundry (actually enjoy this one -- especially now that I have my own private washer/dryer)

dishes (neutral)

taking out garbage/recycling/cat litter (yuck, but it's quick)

most household cleaning (tedious and I tend to postpone)

cleaning the bathrooms (tedious and I tend to postone and then regret postponing)
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post #17 of 33
1/28/07 at 9:49pm
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Weeding. I have a huge yard with very large landscaped areas that require endless weeding 9 months out of the year. I also live out in the country and I seem to run into a lot of wildlife that I would rather avoid ( snakes, mice, rats, a mange infested fox, racoons, hornets etc).
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post #18 of 33
1/29/07 at 12:47am
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I used to think ironing was bad, but after reading poor Linnea's odyssey among the ravens, now I think it's a day at the beach
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post #19 of 33
1/29/07 at 6:34am
Hate:Cleaning the rat cages! We have two male rats, Ernst and Conrad, who both are obsessed with killing the other, so each have it´s own cage. You can´t imagine how far away from the cages the rats are able to throw (or whatever they do) old food, cotton wool, paper strips, excrements and you name it...
I love my little "boys", though!

Else, I´m not jumping with joy when it comes to vacuum cleaning, either. It makes me aggressive for some odd reason
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post #20 of 33
1/29/07 at 1:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by musse


Else, I´m not jumping with joy when it comes to vacuum cleaning, either. It makes me aggressive for some odd reason

That's exactly why I love to vacuum.....
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post #21 of 33
2/1/07 at 10:28pm
decorating especially rubbing down and preparing paintwork BORING beyond belief.
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post #22 of 33
2/1/07 at 10:45pm
Hands down... It's the dishes... every day, every meal... It seems like you can get them all done, then an hour later... there they are again. ARGHHHH!
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post #23 of 33
2/2/07 at 2:06pm
I just bought an IRobot to clean the floors. Talk about great! I just sit and read while the IRobot does it all. You can only get one room at a time and have to recharge, and it drives the dogs nuts, but oh how good my back feels.
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post #24 of 33
2/4/07 at 1:33am
All of it. I am completely undomesticated. At least I have pretty good personal hygeine though.
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post #25 of 33
2/9/07 at 5:36pm
Waiting in line for anything (does that count?)
I now send other people to do all my stuff...never been happier it seems.
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post #26 of 33
2/20/07 at 9:41am
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I HATE to empty the dishwasher. I'd rather do just about anything else. Don't know why...
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post #27 of 33
2/20/07 at 9:53am
vacuuming (moving all that furniture and still knowing there are probably all those spots you are missing, feels so futile)

and dishes, for mentioned above reasons, they just keep coming and coming. i often go hungry just because dishes are such a pain in the ass
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post #28 of 33
2/20/07 at 9:54am
I don't mind doing laundry -that's pretty easy. I just hate sorting, folding and putting away the clothing!
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post #29 of 33
2/20/07 at 10:35am
Dusting. Moving all the lamps, vases ,etc is just hateful to me..and there are so many tables in my house. ICK
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post #30 of 33
2/20/07 at 11:22am
Two, but they're both in the past:
litter box (first I went to indoor-outdoor cats, then outdoor cats, then no cats)
washing dished (I've had a dishwasher for a while, the last two places before I bought my house had dishwashers)

All in all, I can't legitimately complain.
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post #31 of 33
2/20/07 at 11:52am
i too hate PUTTING AWAY STUFF: dishes, laundry. i don't mind the chore itself, but then there is a post-chore chore! i thought i was done!
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post #32 of 33
2/20/07 at 12:24pm
Maybe this belongs on a different thread altogether but it is a chore I don't mind at all. I regularly wipe the finger prints off each and every one of my wife's and my own fragrance bottles. Am I obessive compulsive or what?
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post #33 of 33
2/21/07 at 3:26am
Any housework at all. I hate all of it.
My flat is tiny so I have no washer/drier and have to hump the washing down to the laundrette every week. However, I do pay for a service wash. It's really not much more expensive than doing it myself, and the girl there folds it all up, so really it's just the carrying to and from.
I also refuse to buy anything that needs ironing. Linen is my mortal enemy.

Changing the sheets on the bed. Putting a duvet cover on a double duvet, single handed, is no easy task. Ideally you should change your sheets weekly. I tend to do it every two months. :/

Cleaning the bathroom - well I wipe down the bath each time I use it and bleach the toilet quite frequently but I've the same problem with limited space and having all my cosemtics b alanced on the side of the bath or the window ledge. The window ledge is stained with make up. It's just too much hassle to move everything.

I dust almost never and vacuum maybe once a month.

I do, however, wash up as soon as I eat, but only under running water. I have a horror of immersing my hands into dirty water. Urgh.

I am supremely lazy.
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