Dating and finances

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by honeychile

I have asked guys about what they can and can't do, but I have never, ever asked if they can scrape a dead duck off the deck!

I completely agree that both men and women should know basic life skills (cooking, cleaning, laundry, fixing, killing critters, etc). I'm a mean cook, enjoy doing the laundry, but I also have my own power tools. If you give me a long enough fly swatter, I can kill a spider but hate it. But my mother-out-law made such an idol out of cleaning that she grossed me out. That poor woman had no life that didn't include a dust rag or detergent. I believe in tidy, I believe in clean, but an antiseptic house is a sign of illness!

I think that every couple needs to sit down and figure who will do what and how often. And if neither can do something or the other, then how to get it done should be figured out, too.

The dead duck story is in the TMI thread in ChitChat It only came to be an issue in very recent times! I ended up paying my 13 year old son to do it and even then, had to convince him "Man up! You're almost 14, you can do this! I'll pay you!"

I agree on your other points completely. I also have power tools and can mitre a corner on molding like nobody's business. I hate clutter and clean regularly, but it's a lived in house nonetheless. I just want things to be where they are supposed to be. I hate having to look for stuff when it should be "in it's place". I had to learn to kill spiders when my kids were little and I became single. I have to protect the children from those evil things, but I hate it. They no longer paralyze me though. Killing them is a necessity because the alternative (letting them wander around the house) is NOT an option!

Originally Posted by DrPhil

So, you believe gender equality. Good.

The man who got me partially brought me in because of two things: a clean home and good cooking.

I REFUSED to bring something to the table (literally and figuratively) that he couldn't. My household is relatively gender neutral so outside of the biological differences, he and I do the same or similar things.

QFT! Although, I can accept that different people are skilled at different things. It shouldn't be based on gender, but on individual strengths. If a man can't cook, I could live with that, as long as he can wash dishes or do something else that I hate/can't do. And, I cannot tolerate clutter so he had better be able to get clothes into the hamper and clean his frickin whiskers out of the sink. And if he leaves all the cupboard/dresser doors and drawers open, it's a deal breaker!