This morning I was pouring milk on my Rice Krispies and came to the end of the milk in the bag (in Southern Ontario, 4 L of milk generally comes in a bag with three 1.33 L bags inside). The household rule is “when you empty the milk bag, you fix the milk so the next person can use it,” however, I cashed in the “but not when your cereal is going to go soggy while you’re doing it” exception. If someone comes along wanting milk while I’m eating my cereal, they either wait for me to finish or they change the bag.
Which reminded me of another of our household rules, “When you get to the end of the loaf of bread, you eat the “lucky bread” (crust) at the end,” which comes with its own exception “but you don’t have to eat two lucky breads in one sandwich when you would end up with the end of one loaf and the beginning of the next.” In that case, you can skip the lucky bread at the beginning of the new loaf and its neighbour (so it makes a bread-matching sandwich, I guess you could call that another rule) and take the next slice of bread for your sandwich.
These rules and exceptions have evolved over time to the point where sometimes someone will ask “what’s the latest ruling on the lucky bread situation?”
Are there any rules that have evolved over time (with or without exceptions) in your household?
What does “fix the milk so the next person can use it” entail?
In my house, the exceptions are:
If you are below the age of 18 - there are no exceptions.
If you are above the age of 18 - once all the sub-18s are asleep, all rules are null and void, as long as it looks like they were followed by the time the sub-18s wake up. So it’s A-OK to leave the kitchen a disaster at night, as long as you clean it up before the kids see it.
If you empty or nearly empty the toilet roll, you must replace it. However, if there is still about one person’s worth of paper on the tube (at least enough to completely wrap around it once, maybe twice), you can leave it on the spindle, but there absolutely must be at least one roll in the bathroom in the spot where we keep “backup” rolls.
In order for the next person to use the milk, one has to take the empty bag out of the milk pitcher and dispose of it, go back to the fridge and get the next bag out (possibly having to wrestle with the tie thing that holds the outer bag closed) and put it into the milk pitcher, find the scissors (because somebody didn’t put them back) or the little tool for slicing the corner off the milk bag (ditto) and cut the corner off, dispose of the little corner so it doesn’t end up in the dishwasher or in the dog, and put the milk pitcher back in the fridge (handle out, please!) . Depending on where the scissors are, this could take a long time…
That’s how it is in my house, sort of…except that the “above 18 exceptions” don’t apply to any 18 or over that were born to another over-18 in the house (had to add that part when the oldest turned 18 and tried to slack off).
All traditional housewife responsibilities are split 50/50 with the husband (me).
Exception 1: unless it’s something she really enjoys doing, such as cooking and it shall be made up for with unequal dishwashing/drying responsibilities.
Exception 2: or if it’s something the husband is really good at (including, but not limited to, cleaning the bathroom), then the husband shall do all the heavy-duty cleaning when it is his “turn” and the housewife shall just wipe down all horizontal surfaces. This is especially apparent when the husband is too busy with all other duties and puts off the bathroom cleaning until the mold starts to creep household members out.
All traditional husband roles remain the husband’s responsibility.
