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Putting tea bag in bin rather than on edge of sink. 🤷♂️<br /><br />
This requires forward planning… My guess is person stirs teabag in cup, lifts cup and moves over to bin/sink area. Realises that hands are now full, one hand on mug, one hand on spoon, so can’t open cupboard under sink with bin or lift lid of bin, scoops out teabag and tips onto edge of sink. This is all compounded by the fact that they have also failed to squeeze teabag against side of cup to prevent dripping, possibly because milk is already in and again lack of forethought didn’t allow any room for milk so liquid is up to the brim leaving no available surface for squeezing against…
God it’s complicated when you think about it!!! 😂😂😂
Yeah I can relate to most of those. For me though it’s more of a fundamental issue of just finishing the task at hand. Don’t put the dishes near the dishwasher, put them in it. Don’t put the recycling NEAR the back door just go outside to the bin. If you’re going to do the laundry (about twice a year) don’t leave the clothes in the machine for days hang the up when it’s done.
My biggest one however is when you’re cleaning glasses the outside needs to be cleaned too!!!
Taken from the OED:
Farage n The vile liquor found at the bottom of a kitchen bin. Usually the result of the careless disposal of a still warm tea bag. Let it cool in a suitable receptacle then compost it you mingers!
@Cougar - Closing cupboard doors rather than releasing them six inches early. My partner’s up at sparrowfart making breakfast, I’m still in bed trying to sleep, all I can hear is the percussion solo from downstairs. She’s trained the grandchild to do it now too, bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang.
Soft-close clip-on cabinet hinges
I’m the only ****er who can use a central heating thermostat. Everyone else will ramp it up to 30degrees to heat the house up quicker.
I'm also the only one in the house who knows how to operate the thermostat, but that's by design 😁
All the trv's are 'stuck' in one position too, there's a shame.
Our house has a place for everything and everything has a place. E.g sellotape is in the greeting cards and paper wrap drawer with pens and parcel scissors.
Mr B just wants everything to be left out in plain view, where he can see it. Now instead of scrabbling around looking for items, he just asks me where it lives (and has lived for the last 23 years) :o)
I'm mostly going to list the things than my daughters (now in their 20s) are seemingly incapable of doing. They have moved away to go to uni, it is a heavenly place when they are not at home with us. But after a few days of having them at home.. omg!
Bringing the used glasses from their rooms and putting the in the dish washer would be a start.
Clean whatever's left on the plate before stacking it in the dishwasher.
Being quiet as they move around the house, not sounding like a heard of elephants & not slamming of the all the doors in the house including cupboard doors. The only door that doesn't get shut is the fridge door, I can come home from work and there will be a puddle of water by the fridge because it's been cooling the kitchen down all day.
Put the their washing in the washing basket (but sorting out their underwear for themselves).
All the other stuff I'd quite happily do if they could get the above right.
Don't get me wrong, It's nice to see them and also nice to see them go 🙂
Its the fridge that does my head in.
The wife looks at me like I'm completely mental when I suggest similar stuff should be on the same shelf. Fruit and veg, dairy and meat don't all below together in cross-contamination fridge jenga.
Tell you what - it’s a good job we’re all perfect and everyone else isn’t . 😉
This thread makes me realise how harmonious our home life is.
But, why do you think I've left those Sharpie pens and bags in the drawer next to the freezer? When you were expecting some of last week's chicken stock for the red wine reduction, egg whites, mashed potato or apple sauce aren't really a viable alternative.

This passes for acceptable..
I'm just leaving it..ffs
DrP
Operating a roller blind without ripping the cord out of the mechanism every time
Turning off lights
Understanding that the sink's draining board is for the clean dishes
Using a towel more than once
Returning the electric toothbrush to its charger
Operating kitchen drawers without wrenching the front off
Understanding that clothes drawers obey the laws of physics when it comes to occupying space
Putting the lid back on the toothpaste
Realising that the milk will run out soon
Rinsing out tomato tins once they're empty so they can go in the recycling without having to be scrubbed first
Putting things in cupboards in a way that means the next person to look in the cupboard stands a chance of avoiding concussion and even seeing what might be in there.
I do recognise however that I'm the one with unrealistic expectations of the dishwasher's capabilities. Its a Bosch though, it should better at its core function!
I know I'm going to go downstairs to:
Plates and cups spread thinly over the drainer
dirty cups o the clean drainer
plates on the side by an empty sink bowl
recycling on the worktop above the half full recycling bin
cardboard boxes around the recycling bin
random glasses of water en route to the kitchen.
milk out of the fridge, lid placed on but not closed
3 pairs of shoes in the doorway to the living room.
something behind a door, preventing i from opening more than 1/2 way, as when the door is shut, it looks like a good place to put something, like a bin, or shoes, or an empty box.
grumble, grumble....
Shoes, every day of my life I come home take my shoes off and spend a minute putting everyone else's shoes where they are supposed to go rather than just being a trip hazard
bin and wash rinse / cats dishes, after a weekend away there are catfood plates and wrappers all over utility room
every day of my life I come home take my shoes off and spend a minute putting everyone else’s shoes where they are supposed to go
That's where you're going wrong. They know you'll do it so why should they bother. Throw them* out of the front door instead.
(* - the shoes)
Using my nice* kitchen knives on anything other than
I periodically have to have this conversation with my partner. It's like, she has short-term memory and long-term memory but a complete absence of mid-term memory.
I'll explain, gently and patiently, how long it took me (along with the intervention of a local butcher) to return an edge to a previously sodded Sabatier I acquired from a professional chef, and how a sharp knife is not a great bedfellow with a glass "chopping" board if it in fact wishes to remain anything other than a butter knife with lofty aspirations. And she'll duly go chop stuff on one of the plastic or wooden surfaces instead. For about a year, then one day I'll hear the distinctive 'clack - clack - clack' from the other end of the building again.
It's the same with the bathroom. There are no windows so no natural ventilation. If I had a pound for every time I've had the "close the door; turn off the extractor fan; not have a completely ****ed bathroom: pick any two" conversation I could retire on the proceeds. Then after a few days of her falling off the wagon again she'll come to me, "it smells musty in there," well I wonder why.
Stirring tins of paint with a suitable implement NOT ONE OF MY BEST SCREWDIVERS.
... or the paintbrush itself. Paint should not be all the way up the bristles, let alone a third of the way up the handle.
i bet there’s an identical thread in tne womens chat!
I keep telling my other half, if I say I'm going to put shelves up then I'm going to put shelves up. I haven't forgotten, she doesn't need to keep reminding me every month.
But separating colours from whites for the washing.
It has recently transpired that we have different approaches to doing laundry. I will filter stuff before it goes into the laundry basket, so checking pockets for stuff, turning delicates inside-out, making sure that aren't a gordian knot, etc. She does this (allegedly) between basket and machine.
This came to the fore when she asked me to put the washer on, I gathered up the contents of the Whites bin and set the machine going. Whirr whirr bing! later and I'm faced with a load of pink socks, shirts and towels. The culprit is a red skirt I've never seen before. Has this ever been washed, I asked. "No." Well... why the hell is it in with the whites, then? "Oh, I was going to take it out." Argh!
Soft-close clip-on cabinet hinges
Oooooh! Thank you!
This passes for acceptable..
I see your problem there. You could get a bin twice the size into that gap. 😁
(Why does it have a drawer at the bottom?)
Putting the lid back on the toothpaste
I fixed this (and the middle-squeeze because of course everyone else does) by only ever buying toothpaste in dispenser pumps.
Apologies to DrP I think you might have my daughter somewhere in your home?
Is bath plug full of hair ?
Is kitchen sink full ?
Is draining board like a mixture of jenga/ Tetris/ buckaroo ?
If yes to the above then you may have a visitor!!
Send her back if/when washing and drying is done
Ps Your lights will be on
Soft-close clip-on cabinet hinges
... I've just bought a pair to try. If it works I'm going to redo the entire kitchen. Thanks again.
So I'll add my couple of my pet peeves
- before you start washing up, put away the stuff on the drying rack that is dry.
- you don't need to scrub out the jam jar that is going to recycling, a light rise is more than enough
- shoes need to go on the shoe rack, not randomly left all over the hall (shoe rack is in the hall)
On the other hand, we have all got to an advanced stage with filling and emptying the dishwasher. So progress has been made
I've got a friend like that... Never knows where his keys are when leaving the house..
I couldn't cope with that kind of stress and faff of playing hunt the keys at least once daily. I always know where my keys are.
Nice, TY.
I already bought those little bump pad things a couple of years ago. They made very little difference, cupboard doors now go 'bang' instead of 'crack'.
My OH is setting up as an at-home childminder and she's got a list of stuff to do including childproofing accessible cupboards. If anyone knows of a single product which is both a soft-close and a childlock, I'll be your friend.
glass “chopping” board
why In the name of all that is holy would you allow one of those monstrosities in your home? This is at least one thing that she and I agree on. Wood or plastic only. I just need to reinforce that the plastic board, and only the plastic board, is for raw meat.
emptying the cordless vacuum, current mrs b seems to think its self emptying
Soft-close clip-on cabinet hinges
… I’ve just bought a pair to try. If it works I’m going to redo the entire kitchen. Thanks again.
My pleasure. The only problem is, you then need to do all the wardrobes as well (trust me) as you get used to being able to slam any cabinet door and not worry about it, and you get caught out by the one you didn’t do…
Same applies to soft-close toilet seats.
Drying up.
If there's not enough space on the draining board then you start doing some washing up, not building a breakable tower of babel with your favorite bowls.
why In the name of all that is holy would you allow one of those monstrosities in your home?
I'll take a photo and you'll see. But variously,
1) It was a present from her,
2) It's hellishly cool, and
3) It's really useful for stuff other than chopping. I rolled dumplings out on it yesterday.
emptying the cordless vacuum, current mrs b seems to think its self emptying
On merging two households, we ended up with two cordless Dysons (I know, I know). We donated one to The Girl.
Fast forward a few months, my partner complains that The Girl's house is a tip and hasn't been hoovered in weeks because they don't have a vacuum cleaner. "Wait, what?" I enquired, "But we gave them your Dyson?" It doesn't work, I'm told. Well... why has no-one said anything, bring it here and I'll take a look at it.
Got it back, I emptied it, it now works fine. 🤷♂️
We have cupboards. They have doors to hide the contents. They even have soft close hinges. Apprently they have to be left open by at least 10cm.
Dishwasher part 2. Apprently i have to fix it this weekend as its not cleaning properly. I didn’t get a chance to restack it last night before the half empty dishwasher was put on, well it Would have been half empty if i had restacked it.
If I've learned one thing from this thread, it's that I'm never buying a dishwasher.
Cordless shitting vacuum cleaner!
Ours doesn't get emptied by anyone but me. I'm fine with this. However, should someone else be using it (who doesn't have emptying privileges) and the crap passes the MAX line then they should stop.
Do they? DO THEY? DO THEY ****!
Then I have to take the damn thing apart to try and remove the "dust sausage" that is gumming up its inner workings. Whilst being tutted at because the cordless vac that I bought is "rubbish".
If I’ve learned one thing from this thread, it’s that I’m never buying a dishwasher
You're approaching this all wrong. The thing to learn is to live alone.
The thing I've learned from this thread is a lot of you have a high tolerance threshold for laziness and what seems like willful ignorance, either that or I have a low threshold...
Cordless shitting vacuum cleaner!
Ours doesn’t get emptied by anyone but me. I’m fine with this
Emptied? Noah. And definitely nobody cleans the filter. And then wonders why it won't work and that flashing light is on.To add a new source of annoyance - nobody else is able to contact any sort of tradesperson or repair facility, including, but not limited to, plumber, electrician, car repair person of any description, heating engineer, decorator, tiler, roofer etc etc etc.
Plus - making coffee. Yes I am a bit particular about how I like it made, but just ONCE I'd be prepared to put up with a sub-optimal cup if it meant that I could stay in bed for a bit in the morning.
- Cutting bread well.
- Fixing bikes.
- Putting my DIY tools away.
- Using the multiple paint tin keys - not one of my screwdrivers to open paint tins.
- Putting tea bags in the bin - I don’t even drink tea!
- Putting cooking utensils, crockery roasting tins and pans away - after washing.
Dr J +1
he crap passes the MAX line then they should stop.
Do they? DO THEY? DO THEY ****!
I can literally hear it from the other end of the house. You know like when a pensioner is reversing out of a parking space in a VW Up!, barely moving yet with the throttle to the floor and the clutch sending a second-class letter to biting point, and you think "messiah on a velociraptor, does no-one other than me have any mechanical sympathy?!"
The thing to learn is to live alone.
you still get to do all the chores. .Frankly if you've got to the position where you have to fill a dishwasher "a certain way" then STFU about the fact that all the other adults in the house don't want to go near it, you weirdo.
Plan and execute a snap ambush.
When the end of days dawns I'm going to be doing some heavy lifting in our house.
Opening a packet of something - anything - with scissors, rather than tearing it with your teeth.
Our house has a place for everything and everything has a place. E.g sellotape is in the greeting cards and paper wrap drawer with pens and parcel scissors
Is that in the wrapping room? 😉
Erm , you do know self closing drawers are an actual thing?,
Ok , so you have to get the drawer to within roughly 5in.and the fancy smanshy auto mechanism does the rest.. silently. All the way closed , not sticking out just far enough so you catch your hip on it.
And iirc they do not allow the flick - slam manoeuvre favoured by those whose work demands a 0530 alarm, along with the associated..Well I'm up so everyone else can be as well
Emptying the lint trap on the tumble dryer is not something that occurs to anyone else.
My OH is setting up as an at-home childminder and she’s got a list of stuff to do including childproofing accessible cupboards. If anyone knows of a single product which is both a soft-close and a childlock, I’ll be your friend.
Grenade pin on a string? Tough love but effective.
More importantly there was an earlier reference to 'squeezing the tea bag'. Well really why don't I just inject tannins into a major artery? Tea bag squeezers are second in line for the scorpion pit just behind oxygen thieves who on exiting a lift immediately go full 'human statue'.
Frankly if you’ve got to the position where you have to fill a dishwasher “a certain way” then STFU about the fact that all the other adults in the house don’t want to go near it, you weirdo
This. As far as I’m concerned, as long as you don’t stop the spinning thing rotating and everything comes out clean without pools of water, it doesn’t matter if it looks like it’s loaded by an angry baggage handler.
It's priorities innit.
I might leave the odd empty bog roll on the side but she "always" puts the kitchen knives in the dishwasher no matter how many times I mention not to....and why...because they don't hold any priority or value to her. Same as sharpening them....happy to use nice sharp knives but if it meant sharpening them herself she would just as likely hack away with an old butter knife....again because it has no real value to her.
Drying up.If there’s not enough space on the draining board then you start doing some washing up, not building a breakable tower of babel with your favorite bowls.
One of my housemates in first year of uni used to do this but with washing up instead of drying up. He had been presented with a 6-set of plates, bowls and cutlery by his parents, the result being that he'd use one then drop it into the sink. Next day he'd use a clean one, repeat. Eventually it'd get to the point that he'd be forcing his dirty plates into the sink, bending the tap in the process in order to squeeze just one more dish in there.
Eventually, someone else would do the washing up.
In the end we sorted out all his dirty crockery and dumped it on his bed one day when he left his door unlocked. Put it this way, it didn't make the bed any dirtier than it already was. 🤢🤢🤢
We have a small utility/cloak room it’s 5 metres from the front door across the hallway. Seems extremely difficult for the other members of the family to get there without leaving shoes, coats and bags strewn across the hallway! Then they go to the kitchen to take the last bag of crisps only to put the multipack bag back empty!!!
One of my housemates in first year of uni used to do this but with washing up instead of drying up. He had been presented with a 6-set of plates, bowls and cutlery by his parents, the result being that he’d use one then drop it into the sink. Next day he’d use a clean one, repeat. Eventually it’d get to the point that he’d be forcing his dirty plates into the sink, bending the tap in the process in order to squeeze just one more dish in there.
My second year daughter is 3 weeks into the shared house and is already fed up with ^ sort of thing. And all the rest, empty bog roll tubes, bins with stuff pushed in that's approaching the density where nuclear fusion starting is a possibility, etc. She's just been ranting on the family chat on whatsapp about it.
I just raised a figurative eyebrow on the app and welcomed her to my world.
Since when my wife has emptied the recycling jenga and has now done a load of washing.
It'll last a week and then we'll go back to normal 😉
Adding things to the shopping list after taking/using the last one. Toothpaste, sellotape, printer paper...
As a practical type of person and the father of the house, I think the wife and kids deliberately don't even attempt doing things as they know that I'll bloody do them.
Are we limited to housework in this topic or can I just list any random shit I can do that others can't?
This thread is worryingly familiar.
I also share my home with dishwasher and bin illiterates but they like to add some variations.
Not bothering to understand the differences between recyclable and non-recyclable materials and just randomly shoving them in either bin (they're side by side).
Finding either the general waste or recycling bin in the kitchen full and just popping the item they want disposed of on top of the lid, not emptying the bin, not placing the item next to the bin or putting it in a bag just balancing it on top (!???!?)...
Not even managing to put stuff in the dishwasher (despite there being space), or even stacked next to the dishwasher to be loaded later. No instead the bonus points are gained by putting it in the sink, submerged in cold greasy, bacteria laden water and then merrily ****ing off, knowing I will find it 8 hours later and just deal with it as complaints have never altered this pattern of behaviour...
They need to put a 'domestic skills' filter on Hinge/Tinder et al. Some of you have ended up with psychopaths.
sometimes its nice living on your own
This clip comes to mind looking at this thread.
I've looked in Ikea but couldn't find a magic table, must only be available in Oz.
One of my housemates in first year of uni used to do this but with washing up instead of drying up. He had been presented with a 6-set of plates, bowls and cutlery by his parents, the result being that he’d use one then drop it into the sink. Next day he’d use a clean one, repeat. Eventually it’d get to the point that he’d be forcing his dirty plates into the sink, bending the tap in the process in order to squeeze just one more dish in there.
Also had one of those at uni. Solution was to remove *all* the crockery apart from 6 sets of everything. Then the washing up had to happen daily or none of us would have eaten. He figured out where we'd hidden everything in the end, but never went back to his old ways.
I'll save the stories about him 'storing' up pint glasses of phlegm for another time.
This thread feels like a self help group!
My list:
Closing cupboards/drawers all the way.
Putting anything away. I have stopped picking up after my kids. I let it build up and then summon to sort their mess out.
Laundry - exception one of my kids does their school uniforms each week (poorly). So they do 2 loads of the approx. 7 we do a week. We also seem incapable of getting clothes IN the basket.
Hanging damp towels up. Seems lost on them that they don't tend to dry particularly well on the floor.
Pissing in the bowl or cleaning it up.
Actually putting the dishwasher on - The other kid unloads and reloads (poorly) it pre-dinner. I sort it out post dinner and put it on the rest of the time.
Emptying the bin.
Crushing/flattening/taking the recycling out.
Putting fuel in vehicles seems to be "only with less than 20 miles of range left". Which is a problem if you are serial forgetter of purse/phone.
My wife also seem incapable of not misplacing keys, be they car or house. They are always somewhere, in one of her many bags/jackets etc. I now have put an Airtag on her car keys. Which reminds me that need to get some more.
Probably the worst thing for me is the 1/2 doing things. Well done, you've arranged dentist visit for the kids, but no I can't take them as I have a meeting. FFS
I have stopped picking up after my kids
When mine were small, I made a deal with them. We had one rule: They would put their laundry in the basket if they wanted clean clothes. I took care of everything else. On the basis that 1. I could do it faster and better than they would or cared to, and the chores got done 2. I didn't spend all my time chasing after them to do a list of shit that they had no interest in doing and most of the time did badly anyway, and 3. they would have enough time as adults and with children themselves to appreciate the fact that fact they they now had chores to do.
They got to be kids in all the messy glory they cared to create, and I got shit done. (apart from cleaning their rooms, which honestly looked like an explosion in a crayon and clothes factory)
When mine were small, I made a deal with them. We had one rule: They would put their laundry in the basket if they wanted clean clothes. I took care of everything else. On the basis that 1. I could do it faster and better than they would or cared to, and the chores got done 2. I didn’t spend all my time chasing after them to do a list of shit that they had no interest in doing and most of the time did badly anyway, and 3. they would have enough time as adults and with children themselves to appreciate the fact that fact they they now had chores to do.
They got to be kids in all the messy glory they cared to create, and I got shit done. (apart from cleaning their rooms, which honestly looked like an explosion in a crayon and clothes factory)
We did similar, own laundry basket in their rooms so it meant they didn't have dirty clothes scattered around their rooms (well, for the most part 😀 ) and before a load was going in to be washed they'd be asked once to empty their baskets into the main basket by the washing machine, if they didn't then tough shit, they're not getting washed this time round.
Any chores were/are delegated as they leave the table after a meal, dishwasher, bins, recycling etc there's no point asking them to do anything when they're on their computers or phones as they're not listening, although that's easily fixed, knock the internet off and the whole family appears at your side within 30 seconds and you have their undivided attention 😀
I do consider myself fortunate after reading this thread that Mrs f isn't one of those needing training, jobs ****** if that's the case.
The only door that doesn’t get shut is the fridge door, I can come home from work and there will be a puddle of water by the fridge because it’s been cooling the kitchen down all day.
Sounds like you need one of these!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/FRIDGGI-Fridge-Alarm-Freezer-Seconds/dp/B0813GNDB8?th=1

Adding things to the shopping list after taking/using the last one. Toothpaste, sellotape, printer paper…
Alexa (not Jim) mostly fixed this for us. "Alexa, add toothpaste to shopping list."
Now if I can just get her to stop putting the empties back in the ****ing cupboard. She cleaned out the bathroom at the weekend. Two binbags' worth.
I've removed my kitchen bin all together.
I've got a little mini shed type thing in the back garden that houses the wheelie bin and the various recycling containers.
The commute from the furthest point in the kitchen, outside, and to said bin area, is approx. a 4 second journey, with a gruelling 3 second trip back to the kitchen.

Tea bag squeezers are second in line for the scorpion pit
Yup.
We have a small utility/cloak room it’s 5 metres from the front door across the hallway
Humble brag. That's a big hallway. You've only yourself to blame.
Sounds like you need one of these!
> https://www.amazon.co.uk/FRIDGGI-Fridge-Alarm-Freezer-Seconds/dp/B0813GNDB8?th=1 <
Alexa can help with that - assuming your fridge has an alarm anyway. It can listen out for beeps and set off all sorts of things to warn you.
Can i add "get the washing in when it starts raining". Seriously, how hard can it be WFH!?