# 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:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**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, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-household-chore/690646/41 "2014-06-13T13:36:13Z")
> [@The\_Holdsworth\_Effect](#): > > 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! Good to know. Thank you. I must look into getting one. I, too, am very remiss re the windows. Last year I got someone in to do them. Fantastic! Inside and out, did the sliding tracks and also cleaned the screens. I’m never doing them myself ever again. Worth every cent. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-household-chore/690646/42 "2014-06-13T14:42:04Z")
Fireplace ash cleanup. ---
**Author:** ![amaguri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@amaguri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amaguri)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-household-chore/690646/43 "2014-06-13T15:23:55Z")
Does yard work count as a household chore? I can’t stand any of it. I just paid a lot of money to have someone come out and weed/clean/prune/etc my entire yard because I’ve barely done it at all in 5+ years and it was starting to look like a creepy old witch’s house. ---
**Author:** ![codgerone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c37758/32.png) [@codgerone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/codgerone)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-household-chore/690646/44 "2014-06-13T15:44:37Z")
Changing the duvet cover. Specifically putting a clean one on. Hate it so much that the only way it gets done is if I decide one day that I can’t leave it any longer and drag the dirty one off as soon as I get up. Even then I’ll put of fitting the clean one all day. Cleaning the shower? Don’t you have shower spray? Finish your shower, spray surfaces in 20 seconds, job done. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-household-chore/690646/45 "2014-06-13T17:17:16Z")
> [@jabiru](#): > > 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. I don’t like it either. Nor does my wife. I don’t mind loading the dishwasher, and don’t even mind washing dishes by hand, but something about unloading the clean dishes is inexplicably annoying. ---
**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, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-household-chore/690646/46 "2014-06-13T19:54:42Z")
My steam mop is a [Eureka](http://www.walmart.com/ip/Eureka-2-in-1-Enviro-Steamer-150A/16927280) that I believe has been discontinued (which is probably why it was $26.00 on the clearance shelf!) But seriously, I use it for everything: Girls spilled something sticky on the coffee table? Steam it off! Baseboards looking grimy? Hit 'em with the steam nozzle, wipe with microfiber cloth. Dog had accident in his kennel? Hose it out, sanitize with steam. Plus, mopping floors of course! (I’ve used it on hardwood, tile, vinyl, and laminate without problems. And the moisture evaporates very quickly, even in humid south Georgia, so it’s probably better for hardwood floors than traditional mopping.) I’ll probably try it on the windows when I clean those next - a hit of steam, and then wipe. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-household-chore/690646/47 "2014-06-13T20:37:03Z")
I hate vacuuming. I hate dragging out the heavy thing, I hate the noise it makes, and it doesn’t smell very good after years of vacuuming up dirt and coffee grounds. In addition, if I twist and turn a lot while pushing it backwards and forwards, it’ll give me a back spasm. I’m so glad I replaced our entire first floor with easy-care laminate. Looks like wood, and I just go over it with a microfiber dust mop every week, or with some laminate floor cleaner once or twice a month. I also hate cleaning the kitchen counters. The clean-ness only lasts a couple of hours, because the next meal will shortly be prepared and mess them all up again. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-household-chore/690646/48 "2014-06-13T20:40:11Z")
> [@codgerone](#): > > Changing the duvet cover. Specifically putting a clean one on. Hate it so much that the only way it gets done is if I decide one day that I can’t leave it any longer and drag the dirty one off as soon as I get up. Even then I’ll put of fitting the clean one all day. > > . This is a good one. My wife likes to change the sheets and duvet cover much more frequently than I would (I count in years, she counts in days, or at best, weeks) ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-household-chore/690646/49 "2014-06-13T21:36:36Z")
> [@BlackKnight](#): > > 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. That’s what makes Making The Bed my least favorite chore, because I have to do it every week or two. Other things I do infrequently enough that they have a novelty that Making the Bed doesn’t. (It was that way when I was a kid too. Our job was “be a good student” so we didn’t have many chores, but we did have to bring our laundry to and from the laundry room, and we had to make our own beds. My hatred must have started early.) ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Woo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7c8e57/32.png) [@Dr.Woo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Woo)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-household-chore/690646/50 "2014-06-13T21:51:21Z")
> [@sandra\_nz](#): > > 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! Ooooh. You got it. Plus to me it’s the pinnacle of gross and disgusting - I just hate hate hate it. I also vacuum the bathtub and shower before cleaning them. And between me having long hair, my husband having somewhat long hair and a beard, and the three dogs, there’s hair a plenty in Casa Woo. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2014, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-household-chore/690646/51 "2014-06-14T02:28:00Z")
> [@amaguri](#): > > Does yard work count as a household chore? I can’t stand any of it. I just paid a lot of money to have someone come out and weed/clean/prune/etc my entire yard because I’ve barely done it at all in 5+ years and it was starting to look like a creepy old witch’s house. I don’;t know what the consensus is, but I think of ‘household’ chores as specifically indoor chores. My least favorite is cleaning any part of the bathroom: sink, mirror, toilet, bath/shower enclosure. Worth having a cleaning lady come in every other week just so I never have to do that anymore. I don’t mind doing laundry at all (I don’t do my wife’s clothes, but I do my own clothes, our son’s clothes, and sheets and towels) but I minimize the folding. Socks, underwear, t-shirts, PJs just go in their assorted drawers unfolded; it’s not like it matters if they get wrinkled. My son and I wear jeans and shorts - quick, minimal folding. My shirts go on hangers, but one a day doesn’t add up to much over a week. Mopping is a minor pain in the neck, but I only feel compelled to do it once or twice a year, so it’s not worth the effort of hating. I like loading the dishwasher, and putting the clean dishes away. I don’t dust, but the cleaning lady does. So while we used to just put up with dust, now we don’t have it anymore. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2014, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-household-chore/690646/52 "2014-06-14T05:33:28Z")
I just gave up worrying about what others think. If I am good with it that way, no need to change it. If it needs to be ironed, I threw it away. Gave up on hate too. Unfortunately my sarcasm & snark seem to have grown. ::: sigh :::: :smack: ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2014, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-household-chore/690646/53 "2014-06-14T05:37:17Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > Decluttering. This. At heart I’m a minimalist, but the minimalism is covered with piles of things I still have to “go through” someday. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2014, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-household-chore/690646/54 "2014-06-14T11:24:57Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#): > > If it needs to be ironed, I threw it away. I’ve just accepted wrinkles. And the “dry clean only” tag means either it can survive my washing machine, or it’s dirty. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2014, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-household-chore/690646/55 "2014-06-14T12:23:57Z")
Washing/ mopping polished wooden floors. Then rinsing and drying them with towels or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2014, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-household-chore/690646/56 "2014-06-14T21:38:45Z")
“(Oh god.) You’re sitting there facing a mountain (or molehill) of clean”, er, dirty, “clothes” and then schlepping them 6 miles to the laundromat with a pocketful of quarters, then hanging the dry (sometimes damp) shirts (53 last time) and pants on hangars. I haven’t sorted/mated/rolled socks or folded/rolled underwear since I got out of the USN. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-household-chore/690646.md?page=2)