Tea & Tales

Living with a partner is a beautiful thing – most of the time. But let’s be real, there’s always that one thing that drives you up the wall. For me, it’s cleaning. My partner and I have been together for seven years, and I wouldn’t trade him for the world… Except for that 5% of the time when I’m knee-deep in dust bunnies and he’s blissfully unaware.

Let’s set the scene: I’m not a neat freak. I’m all about ‘organised chaos’. As long as things are hygienic, I’m good. But my partner? He’s on another planet. He genuinely believes cleaning the entire house takes an hour. An hour. Meanwhile, I’m over here spending my days off scrubbing floors while on his days off he gets to enjoy his hobbies.

To his credit, he does all the cooking. Seven meals a week, sometimes more. And I’m eternally grateful for that. Coming home to a ready-made dinner is a luxury I don’t take for granted – or I try not to anyway. But here’s the kicker: A couple of months ago, I proposed a chore swap. I’d take on two meals a week, and he’d handle the upstairs bathroom. Sounds fair, right?

Spoiler alert: he’s cleaned the bathroom exactly zero times since we made the deal. Zero. Nada. Zilch. Instead, I end up making dinners, and the bathroom remains a disaster zone. The only time it gets cleaned is when we have guests, and guess who cracks under the pressure? Yep, it’s me.

To add insult to injury, there’s the spare room. It’s essentially a storage unit for his clothes. He promised to put his own clothes away, but the bed is now a makeshift wardrobe. And don’t even get me started on the ironing. The only other chore that is technically his. We’ve lived here for nearly a year, and I’ve yet to see him touch the iron.

So, here I am, on my day off, cleaning the house for four hours straight because his siblings are visiting. He asked me to take annual leave to “help entertain”, but let’s be honest, the real reason is so I can make the house presentable. Or at least that’s how it feels.

Living together is a constant negotiation, and sometimes it feels like I’m losing the battle. But at the end of the day, I love him, and we’re figuring it out – one spreadsheet at a time.

To anyone navigating the joys of co-habitation: you’re not alone. It’s messy, it’s frustrating, but it’s also worth it. Just make sure you’re both putting in the effort – and maybe consider investing in a good cleaning service!

Cheers to love, compromise, and the eternal struggle of keeping the bathroom clean.