Attention Working Parents - Who Does Most of Your Housework?

He helps with the cooking and the dishes, and occassional lawn mowing, but I do everything else. I am fine with it, because I think I have a little OCD and it annoys me when he does things different than I do and i just redo it anyway.

No one person does most of the housework, it's a group effort. I do laundry, my husband cooks, we share cleaning with the kids. We are flexable and shift chores around when we have to but as long as everybody asks what Can I do instead of what do I Have to do, it works.

My wife and I both work full time and we both do the household chores. Whoever does the most depends on what day of the week it is as we have different weekends. I do the most on MTW and my wife does the most on TFS. And we both feel like we are the overworked ones on our weekends :-) and feel bad for each other when the other is working harder.

The mother...research shows that when a man begins the trip home his blood pressure goes down, he becomes more relaxed. The opposite happens when the mom starts home, her blood pressure goes up, her brain lights up like Christmas lights and her heart rate increases.

Since my husband and I have both retired and we are raising grandchildren we pretty much have assigned jobs. Even if he doesn't do his part I don't do it for him, the trash can run over and he has the consequences of having to clean up a mess but he is smart enough to know to do it on time...that's how he learns to do his chores on time...I am laughing my hiney off right now because I just gripped about the trash being too full to suit me. He said it's his job and if I don't like how he does it I can do it instead, AS IF.

I do the laundry, clean the bathrooms, plan the meals with some help from him since he cooks a lot more than I do, I hate cleaning the kitchen and I am all for having someone come and do it, I would work to pay someone but he does the kitchen instead. I, however, LOVE cleaning the bathroom. We both pick up stuff in the living room and hallways and he cleans the kids rooms. I would throw everything in the floor away and they would be toy-less in one day. He has much more patience than me. I do put toys in time out that make their way to the family areas though. They don't need to be in here, their rooms are for playing in. If someone comes in bringing a toy I ask the child "Is that toy wanting time-out?" they turn around and go put it in their room and come back after playing with it a bit.

So, when we both worked, I did laundry and cleaning, I cleaned the bathrooms, I did the shopping, and just about anything else in the house...he did car upkeep and cleaning out, the trash, the garage, the yard work, whether he paid someone to do it for him or he did it himself, I didn't care, it's his job to see that it is finished.

I work 40 + hours, as well, so does my husband. He works more hours than I do away from home, however I outlast him by far. I cook because I wouldn't eat the food he cooks (likely out of a can). I wash, fold, and press, he puts away most of it. He loads and puts away the dishwasher, I wash by hand by choice. We both grocery shop. He drops off and I pick up the little one. He makes the bed and all other chores I do, unless I specifically ask him. A bit uneven, but if I were to tell him I need more money he can find a way to make it.

Hubby does all outside work (by his choice), keeps things "straightened", and every once in a while helps with laundry. He also does the majority of things for our 2 year old (baths, teeth brushing) while I care for twin babies. He's fabulous! I do the actual cleaning, vacuuming, ironing and prefer to be the one to do the laundry as he does not read tags LOL. We share dish duty but he probably does more. More because he can't stand for them to be sitting in the sink.

I am single---so I do ALL of the housework and yard work. It is not easy!! Luckily I have a great job and sometimes can leave early. So before I pick up my son from daycare I run home and clean or do some yardowrk. I am also lucky to have a wonderful grandma that will watch my son so I can mow and weed-eat after work. Makes for looooong days sometimes, but that is the only way things will get done. All of you that have husbands help--I am very envious!! :) It is hard to do it all on your own....I just look at i that my son is only small once. As long as there is not stuff trying to escape from the fridge....it will all work out. I try not to stress about it anymore!!! I said...try...doens't always work!! :) Good luck!!

We both do. I work 40 hours M-F, and my husband works about 60+ S-S - he is on call all the time. I mainly take care of the 14 month old, cook and do mine and the baby's laundry. My husband cleans the floors and takes care of his own laundry. We take turns doing the dishes.

I do pretty much all of it ... when it gets done. I have to yell scream whine cry and any other thing you can think of to get the them to help. My husband thinks because "he didn't make a mess he should not have to clean it". He says the kids make all the messes. However he does make messses and he does not clean them. Same with my teens. So in a nutshell my house is dirty alot. I no longer cook because of this. I am about to stop doing everyones laundry but mine too. I WILL NOT BE A SLAVE!!!

It should be a group effort regardless of who left what a mess!

I do most of the housework! My husband takes out the trash (I usually have to gather it all up for him), occasionally unloads the dishwasher (though it's sometimes like he's never been here before and has no idea where everything goes) and also sometimes makes dinner: a pizza, hot dogs, or take out. I do all the rest. I don't mind, though. I do a more thorough cleaning job than he does and I actually read the care label on our clothing. He will clean up a mess he makes. For example, if he tracks in dirt, he'll grab the vacuum-once I point out the trail to him. He is awesome about taking care of our 3 year old, though. She's a Daddy's Girl. He bathes her, plays with her, changes her when she has an accident, and is pretty much at her back and call. She couldn't ask for a better Daddy and we are both incredibly lucky to have such a wonderful father and husband. However, if you have sons, please, I beg of you, teach them to clean up after themselves. It's a lesson that will last a lifetime!

I think we are pretty evenly split overall but he for sure does more cooking but he is home first. I almost exculsively do the laundry (he is only good a washing and drying, then he forgets...) I do more everyday stuff. Somedays we both do nothing =0/. I hate doing anything nasty (cleaning after doggy, literally threw up yesterday doing so. I will not scrub a toilet). I would say with a 75% certainty that I do more. This may be because I am more experienced (his mom did it all as a SAHM w/ all boys) and possibly more effecient, so I have more time to do more. But I bet if you asked him he would say he did more ;0) I have noticed when I make a big improvement on the house he is likely to follow (but not always). I think it is more enocouraging. But if we get mad at oneanother it never works. Somedays we have opposite schedules so I will tell him BTW the dishwasher is clean just FYI. Sure I'd love for him to empty it and he does more often than not. But he does not have to wonder and it encourages him to continue to "pay it forward" and do more so to speak.

My husband and I split the household chores. We both work 40+ hours a week and manage everything just fine without help. Our children have their chores like setting the table for dinner and keeping the toys picked up. One thing that I found is that if make a place for everything and keep everything in it's place when not in use it keeps your home much cleaner. We very seldom have a messy house and I am so grateful for both of our hard work at home to allow this. Our down fall is our laundry, we only do one load a day and this helps to keep our laundry to a minimum. But we have the front load washer and dryer so we can wash a bunch at one time.

For meals we prepare them on the weekend so that whom ever gets home first can pop them into the oven, outside of Monday's and that is pizza night every week.

Our 50/50 split seems to work well with us. I think it is all about communication with your spouse and if they can see that all of us Momma's need a little help with the housework.

I work full time and my hours vary (day shifts, 16 hour night shifts, 24 hour weekends) and my husband is gone about half the month on business. We have four kids. For me I have someone come in for a few hours twice a week to clean. It's worth the money because I am not angry that I am the only one doing it. I also would prefer to use the time to be with the kids. I don't think they care who cleans the house. My husband cooks when he is home. He does some of the kids activities during the week when he is home. His hours are much more flexible than mine.

IN the home, me. OUTSIDE, my hubs. He thinks this is even. I do not as certain outdoor chores are seasonal whereas indoor ones need to be done daily or weekly. Our house is a complete pigsty right now and if I wasn't out of vacation days from work, I would take a day or two off and go crazy cleaning. I know I need to let a lot of it go - we have small children and both work and even though it bugs me, I can't let it. So my internal compromise is that as long as the kitchen is clean, I can function. I do my best with everything else, but try not to sweat it.

With both my husband and I working full time, chasing 2 small children around, and with me in school; house work has always been on the forefront of our thoughts. One thing we did before our second child was born was to sit down and list the rooms of the house. We then decided how often those rooms should be cleaned (ie living room - daily, kid's bedrooms - weekly, office - twice weekly). We then divided the rooms up between the two of us. We are each responsible for 5-6 rooms and while not all of the rooms get cleaned everyday each one is cleaned at least weekly. Vacuuming and mopping and laundry are on a separate list and those get done on a weekly basis taking turns although I usually end up with the laundry and my husband usually vaccums and mops. The list gets put on the same task board as my children's weekly tasks and its like a check for us. My 4 year old will clean the playroom and then check to make sure we did our jobs. It's kind of cute but also teaches her responsibility as well. If all the tasks are signed off on for the week we all go out for ice cream - more incentive for the four year old to tell us to clean :) It is definately hard but much easier to split everything. If one of us is ill or working odd hours the other will pick up the slack. Then we will often trade off - kitchen for bathroom duty etc. No matter how we work it out it all seems to get and stay clean.

We share, but we have to. I leave for work before my husband and get home after (usually...unless I leave the office a little early). My husband does almost all of the cooking. He also loads the dishwasher. I usually try to come behind and wipe down the kitchen, because water standing around is not something that concerns him.

I do most of the laundry and clothing-related things. I pick out our kids clothes, pack (when going somewhere), iron, etc. I'm also usually in charge of getting back packs ready for school, shopping done for school/kid/clothing stuff. I clean closets and drawers for clothes and toys that are too small. I do the sweeping...again, he could care less if the floors were ever swept.

My husband does pretty much all of the outside stuff, but I take care of getting the cars serviced (at the shop).

We do have a cleaning lady that comes every other week and does the basic stuff for us (change linens, vacuum, clean bathrooms, etc.). We decided many years back that it caused less artument between us if we have help. It's actually his marital advice to all of our friends.

We both pick up after our kids (5 & 2), with their help.

Hope you find a happy balance!

I work full time and my husband is a stay at home dad, but he's also full time in school. I do probably 90% of the chores. Our little guy is a few weeks away from turning 1 and he's a total handful( cute and wonderful, but a handful none the less)

I think I do about 85% and the cleaning lady does the rest :)

I do. I do all of the housework/yardwork, groceries, taking care of the kids, meals, laundry, scheduling of vehicle maintenance, etc. However, depending on the day (hubby works a rotating schedule w/ so many days off and so many days on) he will help get the girls up and off to school. He will also sacrifice his days off to help us earn some extra money throughout the week by taking over my babysitting job for me when I'm scheduled to work at my actual job.

60-40...With me pulling in the "60". We typically trade off on meals. We trade off on taking out the garbage. I do my laundry - He does his and we kinda split up the boys'.

But he never cleans the bathroom. And I never clean the garage. He cleaned the gutters today (we are having unbelievable fall weather) and I tackled hemming, patching and re-attaching buttons.

He can do the dishes and clear out the man-cave. But cleaning floors, dusting and any sort of "scouring" would be beyond him.

I think the biggest issue is the timing of household chores. I would prefer to do a flurry of small stuff for 20-30 minutes right after work. He would prefer to leave it all to pile up for a major overhaul type of cleaning ... maybe every-other-week.

When we both worked full time we split things 50/50 and now I just work part-time so I can be home with kids most of the time, but I have to say, it's still pretty close to even. I am so lucky to have an amazing husband who respects that being home with kids isn't playing all day so he helps with much of the housework...if I cook, he often helps with cleanup. I'm very pregnant so if he sees a load of laundry needs to be done, i don't hear anything about it, he does it. We have a great partnership.