Did you see the comic about the mental load last year? It really made me think. I am a worrier and a planner, which means I'm right across the tiny goings on of our little household from how much money we have in the bank, to what's running low in the fruit basket.
After the mental load comic, I wanted to reclaim some of that brain space. It sparked a long conversation with Tony about all the things that need to be done in our home each week, and how we were divvying them up.
And then we came up with a solution that we've managed to stick to. We thought about the two biggest and most time consuming jobs and split them. He does all of the laundry, and I do all of the shopping. It's helped me stop thinking about a whole chunk of house stuff and best of all - it works.
It's not super strict - every now and then Tony will join me at the markets or I'll help hang out a load of washing if it's late at night. But it's really nice knowing who's responsible for what. If the washing basket is looking full, or I need a particular item washed - I just ask. Same goes for Tony if he needs something from the shops a bit more urgently. I also love being the food person - and I've always had a strange love of grocery shopping :)
And here's a little confession... we also have a cleaner who comes once a fortnight to do the big stuff - the kitchen, bathroom and floors. I initially resisted the idea, thinking we didn't need it but that kind of cleaning, and getting it done on weekends, was something that we'd struggled with and fought over in the past. Having some help has also made bursts of travel and intense work periods so much easier, created pockets for things like blogging, and made weekly cleaning not a big deal.
