@melonscoop@pooflady Ah, but emptying the dishwasher offers a simple and finite end to a particular task. Much more satisfying than trying to clean the kitchen, in general, a never-ending-task each and every time.
@shahnm So did you correct “a simple tasks” to “a simple task” or to “some simple tasks”?
Personally, I maintain that ad copy writers had always hated the grammar part of English classes (notably the concept of adverbs, generally using adjectives instead), almost as much as college athletes. And even more than the generally unwashed public.
On the other hand, they probably earned more money than did I, a simple learned (but now retired) college professor.
@callow It’s all good until someone comes along and wipes a finger along a shelf and says “Dude, you really need to dust.” Noooooo!!! Then there’s a big finger swipe across my shelf looking heinous and calling to me to dust the freakin’ house already.
Takes nearly all the strength and motivation I can muster to ignore that swipe for a few months until a new layer of dust can settle and make all right with the world once again.
Cleaning the litter box. It doesn’t take long at all, but I dread having to do it. Fun fact: It wasn’t my idea to get any of our animals and yet my spouse hasn’t cleaned the litter box in over 6 years.
@smilingjack Well…she’s a chick, so…
It all started with that old wive’s tale that litter boxes are dangerous to pregnant ladies. Toxoplasmosis my ass… Sounds like a made up word to me. She hasn’t been pregnant for over 5 years now, so I guess I’m just a nice guy. Begrudgingly, mind you, but a nice guy all the same.
@medz my partner promised to take over cleaning the litter box duties almost ten years ago. I have to do it because he won’t unless I say something, and I avoid it because I am eternally fighting becoming a nag. It’s awful when I’m pregnant because I have hyperolfaction /and/ I have to rely on him to do it, which happens twice a week at best (we have two cats and only one box they generally use).
@jitc I used to have google calendar reminders for each of us so it would theoretically be done twice a week. She is really good about ignoring her reminder which would make my turn that much worse… So I just do it now and try not to gripe too much.
@medz oh, he is the worst at responding to any calendar reminders that require an action that isn’t involved in his presence outside the home. I had to take over all of our rent/bill paying activities that couldn’t otherwise be automated because he would set himself reminders to pay them, disregard them, and then never remember to do them independently. I try not to gripe too much either, though. He does so much other stuff for our family.
I don’t mind replacing lightbulbs that I’ve put in, but the problem is I’m usually replacing lightbulbs from seemingly decades ago that break rather than unscrew.
(Punchline: it takes more than one @dave to change a light bulb)
@dave
A predicament: change a bulb that dies every other month, seemingly for no reason, or replace a bulb once a decade, but put far more effort to do so properly, then spend more time looking for a replacement with the right socket.
@dave the 10 and 12 foot ceilings make the lightbulb changing more of a chore, getting ladders and such. My wife gets her phone ready for the physical humor that is about to happen.
I don’t mind replacing the garbage bag, I don’t even mind taking out the garbage, and technically speaking, I don’t even really mind that I am the only one in my house that will do it. What drives me crazy is that to avoid taking it out, people continue to stack garbage precariously on top of the full trash can to the point one can’t even breathe hard in its vicinity, lest a couple of half-full soda cups dump out on the floor.
I have told the wife and kids that that I would rather they call me at work in the middle of the day and say “Hey, I am a lazy @$$-hole, so will you come home and empty the trash can so I can put some more garbage in it?” rather than stack it on top of it and leave it for me to clean up the mess later. It would be worth the hour-long round-trip.
@mrburatti@RiotDemon I do like using silicone mats, but they present their own challenges to clean, too - so floppy and hard to handle in the sink. I seem to always get water running off the mat onto the counter or floor. And they really don’t fit in the dishwasher.
@macromeh@mrburatti@RiotDemon I do love mine too but yes, the act of getting them clean is difficult, even when I put them in the DW. How do you do the upside down U shape, RD? LIke, rolled up first? Then bend it around the tines? I have just rolled it up loosely and laid in between tines but it doesn’t get that clean unforch.
@moonhat I’ll try to take a picture later because I couldn’t find one online, surprisingly.
Basically, I lay it the long way in one of the columns the top rack. Dirty side face down and then I pick up the short edges so it fits between the tines where I would normally put a row of glasses.
I hate hanging the shower curtain on the little hooks. No clue why that makes me so upset. Oddly I don’t care about cleaning up animal poop. Cage or in the yard. Guess I should own a horse…although I’m guessing more than a day of horse poop in a stall would be icky. My sons friend back in HS would ring the door if his little dog pooped on my block because he didn’t want to pick it up! He would ask me to do it. I did it twice before I told him to do it himself!
@medz The ring ones make me totally crazy. Why did we have them? I’m the one who buys that stuff. The least annoying ones are the 2 hook ones so you don’t need to take the cloth curtain off to hang the plastic one.
Taking out the trash/recycling. We live in an apartment so it’s a not-insignificant walk downstairs, and because I loathe it so (as does my partner), we accumulate enough such that we need to make three to four trips at once. I have an infant and a toddler, so I can’t just take it out whenever I think to, either, because I’d have to get him in his shoes and her in a carrier and somehow manage the emotional expectation he has of going outside after he realizes we’re only just going right back inside. Lately it’s been raining every day. This makes it even worse.
@RiotDemon@tkylemiller That doesn’t work. In my experience, even one wearing will mold a sock to the shape of my foot, resulting in left and right footed socks which need to be sorted.
/giphy left handed sock
@tkylemiller there is something called sock locks that allows you to put the pair together thru the wash and then they are still together and clean and the way you put them in
A while back I started at times sprinkling some cinnamon in the kitchen garbage container before putting a new bag in, to repell ants. But I’ve continued doing it because it’s such a nice scent when I pull the bag out.
Emptying the dishwasher. Putting away the already folded clothing.
@melonscoop Yes, emptying the dishwasher!
@melonscoop @pooflady Ah, but emptying the dishwasher offers a simple and finite end to a particular task. Much more satisfying than trying to clean the kitchen, in general, a never-ending-task each and every time.
@melonscoop YES, putting away folded clothing. Why won’t I do that? How much trouble would it save me if I did?
@melonscoop These are my top two also.
Correcting the grammar of a poll question.
@shahnm that’s ok. I don’t mind.
@shahnm So did you correct “a simple tasks” to “a simple task” or to “some simple tasks”?
Personally, I maintain that ad copy writers had always hated the grammar part of English classes (notably the concept of adverbs, generally using adjectives instead), almost as much as college athletes. And even more than the generally unwashed public.
On the other hand, they probably earned more money than did I, a simple learned (but now retired) college professor.
But I still would be so bold as to recommend https://www.grammarly.com or even https://www.webucator.com/how-to/how-check-spelling-grammar-microsoft-word.cfm to the powers-that-be at Mediocre Labs – might lend a little extra class to their sites.
Putting tools away after fixing something. Cleanup sometimes takes longer than the repair.
It’s still dusting. Simple, painless, doesn’t take that long, and I despise it.
@ruouttaurmind I was going to say drying dishes or hair until I saw this. I haven’t dusted in years.
@callow It’s all good until someone comes along and wipes a finger along a shelf and says “Dude, you really need to dust.” Noooooo!!! Then there’s a big finger swipe across my shelf looking heinous and calling to me to dust the freakin’ house already.
Takes nearly all the strength and motivation I can muster to ignore that swipe for a few months until a new layer of dust can settle and make all right with the world once again.
Cleaning the litter box. It doesn’t take long at all, but I dread having to do it. Fun fact: It wasn’t my idea to get any of our animals and yet my spouse hasn’t cleaned the litter box in over 6 years.
@medz You should leave the bag of poo someplace he likes to hang out. 6 years is 5 and 11/12 years too long!
@smilingjack Well…she’s a chick, so…
It all started with that old wive’s tale that litter boxes are dangerous to pregnant ladies. Toxoplasmosis my ass… Sounds like a made up word to me. She hasn’t been pregnant for over 5 years now, so I guess I’m just a nice guy. Begrudgingly, mind you, but a nice guy all the same.
@medz my partner promised to take over cleaning the litter box duties almost ten years ago. I have to do it because he won’t unless I say something, and I avoid it because I am eternally fighting becoming a nag. It’s awful when I’m pregnant because I have hyperolfaction /and/ I have to rely on him to do it, which happens twice a week at best (we have two cats and only one box they generally use).
@jitc I used to have google calendar reminders for each of us so it would theoretically be done twice a week. She is really good about ignoring her reminder which would make my turn that much worse… So I just do it now and try not to gripe too much.
@medz oh, he is the worst at responding to any calendar reminders that require an action that isn’t involved in his presence outside the home. I had to take over all of our rent/bill paying activities that couldn’t otherwise be automated because he would set himself reminders to pay them, disregard them, and then never remember to do them independently. I try not to gripe too much either, though. He does so much other stuff for our family.
@jitc Spouses, amirite? Can’t live with 'em can’t live without 'em.
@medz Didn’t have a cat back then…hummm I wonder if my husband will believe I’m pregnant in my 60’s???
@medz @smilingjack Just remind him that Larry King had one when he was like 100 so anything’s possible!
Trimming my nails. I hate it more than I should.
@dangerweasel Goes double for toenails.
I don’t mind replacing lightbulbs that I’ve put in, but the problem is I’m usually replacing lightbulbs from seemingly decades ago that break rather than unscrew.
(Punchline: it takes more than one @dave to change a light bulb)
@dave
A predicament: change a bulb that dies every other month, seemingly for no reason, or replace a bulb once a decade, but put far more effort to do so properly, then spend more time looking for a replacement with the right socket.
@dave If only some deal a day website could get their hands on some long lasting LED bulbs.
@dave the 10 and 12 foot ceilings make the lightbulb changing more of a chore, getting ladders and such. My wife gets her phone ready for the physical humor that is about to happen.
@dave @hchavers have you tried the lightbulb changer pole?
/image lightbulb changer pole
I don’t mind replacing the garbage bag, I don’t even mind taking out the garbage, and technically speaking, I don’t even really mind that I am the only one in my house that will do it. What drives me crazy is that to avoid taking it out, people continue to stack garbage precariously on top of the full trash can to the point one can’t even breathe hard in its vicinity, lest a couple of half-full soda cups dump out on the floor.
I have told the wife and kids that that I would rather they call me at work in the middle of the day and say “Hey, I am a lazy @$$-hole, so will you come home and empty the trash can so I can put some more garbage in it?” rather than stack it on top of it and leave it for me to clean up the mess later. It would be worth the hour-long round-trip.
@DrWorm I’m sorry, I would fucking lose it if somebody was putting half drunk sodas in the trash can. That’s what the sink is for.
@DrWorm So have you ever gotten the call?
@macromeh Nope. Everyone seems content to play their modified version of garbage Jenga.
@DrWorm Have you considered a larger trash can or perhaps taking out the trash more often?
Breaking down the cardboard boxes from all the stupid crap we order off the Internet.
Getting out of bed. Like now. I’ve been hitting snooze for an hour and a half
Selling MEH face pop sockets.
@deathbynoodlez @reclaimercube
@mike808 begging meh for the same shit everyday
I HAVE A LIFE DAMMIT
The job ain’t over til the paperwork is done.
@2many2no I just loathe the people that put the toilet paper roll on upsidedown…oh and left handed people
@sicc574 Be careful what you say… left-handed people are sinister.
@sicc574 Seriously. There’s a reason it was patented this way!
@cinoclav @sicc574 One reason for under:
@2many2no already know, I was married to one. In fact, I’m pretty sure that here attorney in the divorce was too.
dishes
Replacing the battery in the door keypad.
I find breathing to be overly time consuming and a nuisance.
Yes.
Putting the dishes away. I don’t mind washing them, I just don’t want to put them in the cabinet when they’re dry.
Cleaning the hair out of the shower drain cover.
@macromeh I kinda like that one. Only my own drain though, not anyone else’s. Yikes.
I hate washing baking sheets. I don’t mind all the other dishes, but I hate washing the baking sheets. Hate it. Hate it. Hate it.
@mrburatti I recommend getting silicone mats. I no longer have stuff sticking to the baking pans.
@mrburatti @RiotDemon I do like using silicone mats, but they present their own challenges to clean, too - so floppy and hard to handle in the sink. I seem to always get water running off the mat onto the counter or floor. And they really don’t fit in the dishwasher.
@macromeh @RiotDemon Hey, thank you for the recommendation. I can give them a whirl and see if they work better for me. Much appreciated.
I put mine in the dishwasher often. I put them in an upside down U shape in the top rack between a set of tines. Works great for me. @macromeh
They are my favorite gift from years ago. Use them all the time. @mrburatti
@mrburatti Good quality parchment paper over baking sheets and as liners for muffin pans. (Avoid the cheap stuff - it sticks.)
@macromeh @mrburatti @RiotDemon I do love mine too but yes, the act of getting them clean is difficult, even when I put them in the DW. How do you do the upside down U shape, RD? LIke, rolled up first? Then bend it around the tines? I have just rolled it up loosely and laid in between tines but it doesn’t get that clean unforch.
@moonhat I’ll try to take a picture later because I couldn’t find one online, surprisingly.
Basically, I lay it the long way in one of the columns the top rack. Dirty side face down and then I pick up the short edges so it fits between the tines where I would normally put a row of glasses.
@RiotDemon yes please take a pic if you remember!
@moonhat mine always come out clean this way.
@RiotDemon ah, ok. Thank you! That one looks kind of stiff-ish, is it? Mine is more soft and rubbery I think.
@moonhat nope. Very rubbery. I can roll it up into a tight burrito. It does have fiberglass inside.
@mrburatti I almost never wash baking sheets. Either parchment paper or aluminum foil.
@RiotDemon That looks like the same ones we have - I’ll have to give your method a try. Thanks for the tip!
I hate hanging the shower curtain on the little hooks. No clue why that makes me so upset. Oddly I don’t care about cleaning up animal poop. Cage or in the yard. Guess I should own a horse…although I’m guessing more than a day of horse poop in a stall would be icky. My sons friend back in HS would ring the door if his little dog pooped on my block because he didn’t want to pick it up! He would ask me to do it. I did it twice before I told him to do it himself!
@smilingjack Agreed. The ring ones are the worst. Hooks are way better, but still annoying.
@medz The ring ones make me totally crazy. Why did we have them? I’m the one who buys that stuff. The least annoying ones are the 2 hook ones so you don’t need to take the cloth curtain off to hang the plastic one.
Taking out the trash/recycling. We live in an apartment so it’s a not-insignificant walk downstairs, and because I loathe it so (as does my partner), we accumulate enough such that we need to make three to four trips at once. I have an infant and a toddler, so I can’t just take it out whenever I think to, either, because I’d have to get him in his shoes and her in a carrier and somehow manage the emotional expectation he has of going outside after he realizes we’re only just going right back inside. Lately it’s been raining every day. This makes it even worse.
Sorting socks
@tkylemiller just buy all the same exact pair of socks, problem solved.
@RiotDemon @tkylemiller That doesn’t work. In my experience, even one wearing will mold a sock to the shape of my foot, resulting in left and right footed socks which need to be sorted.
/giphy left handed sock
@tkylemiller there is something called sock locks that allows you to put the pair together thru the wash and then they are still together and clean and the way you put them in
@CaptAmehrican @tkylemiller Sock locks? The day I have to lock my socks is the day the terrorists win.
@tkylemiller I refuse to match my socks in their drawer, nor will I allow my girlfriend to do it.
A while back I started at times sprinkling some cinnamon in the kitchen garbage container before putting a new bag in, to repell ants. But I’ve continued doing it because it’s such a nice scent when I pull the bag out.
@moonhat Nothing quite so refreshing as a whiff of spiced garbage.
@macromeh @moonhat
https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/fe3ecc2c-e5ad-4fcb-9fdc-b8b0c52b17d7
@macromeh @moonhat Its like having a Cinnabon(dumpster) all the time!
@macromeh @moonhat @sicc574
@macromeh @sicc574 @therealjrn you guuuuuyyyys!! I’m serious. It’s nice.
Putting food and water in the bowls of all the foreign spies I have captive in the dungeons.