Yep, my kid actually asked me this question a few weeks back. My oldest was talking about things they had at school, and one of them was a pretend ironing board. He asked what it was for and then why I don't do it. Ok, let's get one thing straight. I hate to iron. In fact, the minute we could afford to have my husband's shirts sent out, I did. I'm pretty sure we had been married for about 3 seconds when the first batch of dress shirts met the neighborhood cleaners.
When we moved overseas, I started ironing since we had trouble negotiating the foreign cleaners. After birthing my first child, I realized I didn't have time for this so we hired someone to come in and iron once a week. Then we moved to another country where hiring people to iron was TOTALLY out of the question and sending shirts out cost about $10 a shirt. So I went back to perfecting the art of ironing. This also coincided with my new Baby Bunching life. And if there is one chore that doesn't mix with Baby Bunching...it's ironing. Toddler and new baby, bigger baby and bigger toddler, toddler and toddler--it doesn't matter how you slice and dice it--ironing with your younger bunch is a hazard! At least that's how I positioned it when we moved back the good ole' USA and having shirts cleaned/ironed was cheap again.
Now we are back to the neighborhood cleaners doing the ironing. I don't buy things I have to iron and when I do, I tend to wear them wrinkled. It's too hard to get out an ironing board and keep an eye on the kids AND make sure they don't pull it all over on themselves.
And when my son asked how come I didn't iron, I wondered what other things he wasn't exposed to because of Baby Bunching. (Like ironing is really that big of a deal!)
Oh yes....mopping floors. We don't do that around here either at least not while they're awake. I learned early on that mopping during the day while a giant pain was also a waste of time because within about 3 minutes someone would mess it up again. So I would spot clean with a wipe or paper towel and EVERY now and then I mop. At night. This way I have a chance of it staying clean for 10 hours before they spill oatmeal, jelly, rice, egg or some other food that is near impossible to get up without making a mess.
What chore have you abandoned since Baby Bunching?
you're supposed to mop? Hm. Imagine that. My kids will have no idea what a mop (or a Swiffer) looks like because I just pick things up as we go and I get to mop about once a week or so. (On Friday nights usually. What an exciting life I have.)
Posted by: Tara Pringle Jefferson | Mar 30, 2009 at 09:11 PM
Well, it's not since Baby Bunching, but I don't clean. PERIOD. I mean, apart from the regular day-to-day crap...picking up and the occasional mopping a spill of vacuuming a mess. We live in an area where Amish girls will come to clean for about $30-40. Our house has 5 bathrooms. So the choice is clear!! :)
I realized how funny this was when someone once asked if the kids were afraid of the vacuum and I said I didn't know, I wasn't sure they'd ever HEARD it. Haha!
Definitely the ANTIabandoned chore is laundry. I swear I do laundry every other day and there's always more. INSANE!
Posted by: JessPond | Mar 31, 2009 at 12:56 AM
Yes ironing is nonexistent at our house. Also I agree with the comment about laundry! In general I do all chores a lot less, except laundry. I have to do laundry daily or it just gets out of control. Our washer and dryer is in the kitchen which I really didn't like but now I love it. I can work on laundry while keeping an eye on everyone.
Posted by: Lisa | Mar 31, 2009 at 08:45 AM
Ah- how funny! I actually have a nice little burn on my leg from an attempt at ironing an outfit quickly for work the other morning. Let me tell you...poor ironing skills plus doing it in your underwear is recipe for disaster.
I would rather be wrinkled then deal with an iron. I do need to start investing in dry cleaning though. The life of my clothes would increase.
Posted by: Becky | Mar 31, 2009 at 09:23 AM
Well - this question would imply that I actually did chores before having kids... I guess I did - but not with any great regularity.
But I do know that I used to vacuum more. I have a joke that my children are terrified of the vacuum since they so rarely see it.
Posted by: Kate Coveny Hood | Mar 31, 2009 at 03:28 PM
Ditto on the ironing. Mine is also washing windows. I'll clean the mirrors, but it's pointless to wash the windows because they are almost always covered with little sticky handprints or dog nose-prints. Maybe twice a year.
Posted by: Alecia | Mar 31, 2009 at 03:51 PM
Haha, my son actually asked my mom what her ironing board was. He'd never seen ours. LOL!!! Luckily, my husband wears uniforms to work that they clean for him. Any dress up clothes that we have, I just put them in the dryer to warm the wrinkles out. :)
Posted by: Lois | Mar 31, 2009 at 09:57 PM
besides all of that, ironing can be dangerous even if you're not bunching.
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09173.html
One more justification for why I haven't done it in Years. :)
Posted by: Carol Amie | Apr 01, 2009 at 02:24 PM
i've abandoned all of them. we get out house cleaned every two weeks. I still have to do laundry, dishes, vacuume, and pick up toys daily, but the crew does the heavy lifting - changing sheets, cleaning under couches/beds, mopping floors, heavy dusting. we reason that this way we can spend more time together as a family instead of cleaning all weekend, but really I just hate cleaning.
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