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By Joel Vernier
I was napping in my “Comfy Chair,” my favorite pastime, and I woke up at 9:30 pm. I realized I had not done the day’s dishes or unloaded yesterday’s. Due to life’s ever-evolving circumstances, I have been stepping up to do many domestic duties. Most of my adult life, I have focused my efforts on doing all of the outside chores: cutting grass, trimming, spreading various fertilizers, so that I have to cut the grass more often. Weeding, blowing off the driveway, deck, and sidewalks, cleaning gutters, power washing, staining the deck, picking up the puppy presents, and the list goes on!
I am now relearning all the many domestic chores that I have done on occasion, but not as a main focus of my days. I have found that it takes up a lot of time in my day! The average American household spends about 2 ½ hours a day doing household chores. As always, I’m once again performing above average. Some days, it’s more like 3-4 hours, but it feels like an eternity!
Granted, at my age, I do take a few breaks, maybe a nap or to watch a favorite television show. I looked into the cost of hiring someone to handle all household chores, which could range from $75k to $ 130k per year, including benefits. A bit out of my budget range. Casual weekly cleaning would cost around $200 per visit or $ 8,000- $ 12,000 per year. It looks like a potential career if I ever master all of the domestic chores.
Laundry, bathrooms, kitchen, floors, dusting, change linens, trash & recycling, meal planning & grocery shopping, water plants, vacuum up dog hair, clean over & microwave, clean windows, mirrors, dust blinds, take pop cans back to the store, organize closets, drawers, replace burned-out bulbs, vacuum under beds and furniture, wipe baseboards, pictures. Wipe kitchen counters, tidy up living areas, throw blankets. It appears that it takes me 4- 6 hours, with my breaks slipped in as a reward after each chore is completed. Since one cannot live on frozen TV dinners, prepping meals 2-3 times a day consumes more time, especially when I have to look up the recipe in our Betty Crocker cookbook! It is the first cookbook I purchased in the first month we were together. I have bought 30 plus since then, but it is still our favorite.
So, after doing domestic chores, outside chores, and taking the dogs for a walk, I’m exhausted. I began recording my favorite TV shows, but I never seem to have time to sit down and watch them. On the rare occasion that I can sit down on the couch with my dogs and watch an episode of Gunsmoke, I’ve mastered the time management skill of watching the first few minutes and then napping until the last few seconds when Matt Dillon says, “Don’t be a fool!” Then the bad guy goes to draw his gun, and Matt shoots him! I just love that show!
Last night I finished the dishes at 10 p.m., I texted my daughter, and later she texted back that she finished her dishes at 11 p.m.
“Remember, every day is a gift! Some are just a little more fun to open than others.
