# Most hated household chore? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 12, 2014, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-household-chore/690646 "2014-06-12T18:11:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2014, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-household-chore/690646/21 "2014-06-12T23:48:06Z")
> [@SaharaTea](#): > > I actually enjoy doing laundry, but nothing sucks more than mopping floors and cleaning toilets. I clean my toilet daily and it takes about 5 minutes, including the vanity and mirror. I don’t mind this chore so much. Obviously, or I’d put off doing it the way I do with every other household chore. I do agree with you about floors. I hate mopping, especially the kitchen floor. Someone always seems to want to walk on it as soon a I’ve mopped and I put it off and put it off until I eventually have to get down on my hands and knees and clean it the old fashioned way. Every time I do this, I promise myself I’ll mop it regularly. In over 30 years of living in this house, I still haven’t kept that promise. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2014, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-household-chore/690646/22 "2014-06-12T23:50:40Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Besides cleaning up cat vomit? Unloading the dishwasher. I have never quite figured out why I dread it so much, especially because it only takes a matter of seconds. I hate that as well! And I’ve wondered why, because it’s not dirty, onerous or difficult. Nor is it time consuming. My dislike of this task in particular makes no sense at all. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-household-chore/690646/23 "2014-06-13T00:29:28Z")
When we remodeled our new-to-us house last winter, the major thing Tony and I agreed on was no carpet. (Four kids, two dogs, living in the country. Carpet is just a giant PITA.) Normally, I hate to mop, and of course, the whole house has to be mopped, but I invested in a cheap little steam mop. I love mopping with steam! Plus, I can take the fabric head off, and just use the nozzle to de-gunk the shower, or the kitchen table, or baseboards, or anything else that’s reasonably waterproof and dirty. And it smells good (like ironing,) and doesn’t require any chemicals. Win! Best thirty bucks I ever spent! Most hated chore, now that mopping isn’t a big bore, is folding/hanging/putting away laundry. I will wash and dry all day long, but folding just defeats me. Thank goodness that the big kids, at least, do their own washing! They also empty the dishwasher, with the 4-year-old putting away silverware. I don’t mind filling it up again. Everything else is mostly a giant bore, but not too onerous, and I kind of enjoy cutting grass (even if someone’s yelling “Mommy,” I can’t hear them for a few minutes,) and I love to cook when I can be creative. When it’s just another night of “what the hell am I gonna feed 'em this time,” eh. But I do it anyway. And, considering that I’m a completely indifferent housekeeper in all other regards, it probably strange that I have one nitpicky task that’s done very regularly: I dust the ceiling fans all the time. I hate seeing “furry” blades revolving above my head! ---
**Author:** ![MoonMoon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonmoon/32/2959_2.png) [@MoonMoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoonMoon)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-household-chore/690646/24 "2014-06-13T00:31:29Z")
> [@romansperson](#): > > Yep. This. Threeved. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-household-chore/690646/25 "2014-06-13T00:49:05Z")
Our dishwasher is broken. I had forgotten how much I HATE washing dishes by hand. It doesn’t help that we don’t have a drying rack or anything because of course we never do this. It’s awful. It sucks SO HARD. It’s so gross and it’s slimy and I’m bad at it because I never do it and you just get them dirty again and UGH. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-household-chore/690646/26 "2014-06-13T00:59:21Z")
> [@Lacunae\_Matata](#): > > Normally, I hate to mop, and of course, the whole house has to be mopped, but I invested in a cheap little steam mop. I love mopping with steam! Plus, I can take the fabric head off, and just use the nozzle to de-gunk the shower, or the kitchen table, or baseboards, or anything else that’s reasonably waterproof and dirty. And it smells good (like ironing,) and doesn’t require any chemicals. Win! Best thirty bucks I ever spent! I’ve considered getting a steam mop (for the above mentioned hated vinyl kitchen floor but also for the tiled bathroom floors and the hardwood floor in the family room). Is it suitable for all these different types of flooring? Can you get right into the edges of the kitchen floor, for instance, or is there always a gap of floor which has to be done by hand? I don’t want to buy yet another appliance for which I have to find storage space and which fails to live up to my expectations. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-household-chore/690646/27 "2014-06-13T01:05:11Z")
Bette Midler channeling Sophie Tucker: You clean your house, eight months later, you gotta clean it again! So why botha? ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-household-chore/690646/28 "2014-06-13T01:12:50Z")
Cleaning the shower. I either get all wet or just do it naked, but then I run out of hot water before I’m done. Everything else is fine. I just put on the music and try to enjoy it. But I’d love to pay someone just to keep my shower clean! ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-household-chore/690646/29 "2014-06-13T01:20:25Z")
I hate laundry because it involves stairs. If I had a same-floor washer/dryer, I’d be the happiest woman in a thousand years! ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-household-chore/690646/30 "2014-06-13T01:30:12Z")
Cleaning the microwave. ---
**Author:** ![PurpleClogs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f04885/32.png) [@PurpleClogs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PurpleClogs)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-household-chore/690646/31 "2014-06-13T01:50:35Z")
The bathtub. I can’t freaking reach the other side well enough and it kills my knees, my back, my wrists. Another curse of being short. I hate it. I’ve tried all the wands and brushes, but nothing compares to good ol elbow grease. ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-household-chore/690646/32 "2014-06-13T03:16:44Z")
Mowing the lawn. I’m sure there are worse chores, but being a slovenly bachelor I don’t actually _have_ to do most of them. The city doesn’t fine me if I keep my clean clothes in a heap on top of the dryer or have a dishes that stay in the drainer until they’re used. They will fine me, eventually, if I don’t mow the lawn. Plus, in bad weather I don’t want to be outside. And in good weather I want to be outside doing anything other than mowing the lawn. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Holdsworth\_Effect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/848f3c/32.png) [@The\_Holdsworth\_Effect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Holdsworth_Effect)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-household-chore/690646/33 "2014-06-13T05:17:26Z")
The steam mop gets close to the edges, and i really like the attachment for the shower. Mine’s an Oreck, bought off eBay, refurbished. Me three on emptying the dishwasher. I hate doing windows. In fact, I do them so rarely its shamefully obvious when I do get to it. Wait! Maybe I could use the steamer! ---
**Author:** ![4d3fect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/4d3fect/32/9728_2.png) [@4d3fect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/4d3fect)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-household-chore/690646/34 "2014-06-13T05:41:43Z")
Cleaning up after anyone else. “L’enfer, c’est les autres” ---
**Author:** ![Essured](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Essured](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Essured)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-household-chore/690646/35 "2014-06-13T09:03:35Z")
I’m seconding the windows. We have gorgeous big old-fashioned windows that look beautiful but are a pain in the arse to clean. There’s no big pane to clean easily - each window has a minimum of 12 individual panes, which means SO many more corners to have to get into. And they look stunning when they are done, as does the view, but I hate it so much because it’s so fiddly - I’m praying for a dry weekend as I promised myself I’d start cleaning them this weekend if it was wet and miserable. All other chores, well I can either do them quickly, or find a way to make them much less annoying. But the windows! Ugh. I think I’ve been putting them off for about 3 months now since I noticed them and started thinking I should clean them! ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-household-chore/690646/36 "2014-06-13T09:38:16Z")
Not a specific chore as such, but…I have quite long hair that gets every-fucking-where. Cleaning the toilet? There’s hair under the seat. Cleaning the shower? There’s hair on the ceiling. Cleaning a surface? There’s always one bloody hair left. And then the hairs get on the cleaning cloth and start plotting their escape, “I’ll hang on a for a bit, but the next time she wipes over there, I’m gonna leap off and tangle myself up in that corner.” I now tend to vacuum before I do any other sort of cleaning. The bath gets vacuumed, the shower gets vacuum, the surfaces all get vacuumed. It’s the only way to get all that bloody hair! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-household-chore/690646/37 "2014-06-13T09:52:34Z")
> [@minlokwat](#): > > Also mowing the lawn brings no joy whatsoever. Especially when it is with a hand mower and the yard is the size of Soldier Field (or at least it seemed that big when I was a kid). ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-household-chore/690646/38 "2014-06-13T10:48:51Z")
My most hated chore is scrubbing the shower. I don’t mind the sink, or the toilet, or even the floor, but scrubbing the shower is the pits! Dusting is a close second. Vacuuming, no biggie. Dishes, laundry, mowing - no sweat. I’ll even take steam-cleaning the carpets over dusting. Laundry, even when I hang clothes outside, is one of the easiest chores as far as I’m concerned. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-household-chore/690646/39 "2014-06-13T11:29:07Z")
Cooking is pure pleasure and I will clean, scrub, vacuum, launder, fold and polish without a word of complaint. But I absolutely dread having to dust the horizontal blinds. One. Infernal. Horizontal. Slat. At. A. Time… ---
**Author:** ![nonacetone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonacetone/32/2819_2.png) [@nonacetone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nonacetone)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-household-chore/690646/40 "2014-06-13T12:17:33Z")
Another one for cleaning the shower. I detest it. Everything else is gravy, as far as I’m concerned. Even picking up the dog poo in the dog yard. I’d rather do almost anything else, than clean the shower. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-household-chore/690646.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-household-chore/690646.md?page=3)