What your live-in partner is thinking but not saying about the way you two live.
By julie d. andrews — Written on Aug 07, 2009
While recently having dinner with a dear old friend who has joined the married lot, we just had to ask. Come on, we urged. Is there anything about living with your woman that drives you berserk but that you'd never tell her about?
After a bit of prodding, turns out he did have quite a few domestic annoyances. But he viewed them as so mild and trifling that he never planned to bring them up at all. Much of what he said surprised us. We did a bit more informal polling of married folk and halves of cohabiting couples to uncover their biggest pet peeves around the house. Here are a few of the gripes some live-ins are secretly harboring.
GRIPE ONE: "Must she leave dishes in the sink?" he asks. It's not hygienic. Plus, it takes all of 45 seconds to rinse the dish and put it in the dishwasher. Having so many dishes stacked in the sink makes it look cluttered. Let's keep the sink clean and clear.
GRIPE TWO: "Must she use so many paper towels and so much toilet tissue?" he wonders. We go through the items like hot cakes. Doesn't she know we're in a recession? We can't be spending so much on household items right now. Every single sink in the house may not need hand soap and hand lotion in this economy.
GRIPE THREE: Does she really need to push vegetables down my throat at every meal? I don't like veggies. I never have and I never will. I get my vitamins and minerals in other ways. I take supplements. What I like most is meat. I'd like to eat more of it at my dinner table. How To Get Him To Eat Vegetables
GRIPE FOUR: The bed. Can't she make it once in a while before we leave the house for work in the morning? How much nicer it would be at night to crawl into bed at night when the sheets are smoothed out and and the pillows fluffed. Beautiful Master Bedroom Designs
GRIPE FIVE: Must she give short shrift to pet duty. It seems I am always the one to take out the dog in the morning and late at night and after returning from a road trip. And must it be me who cleans the cat litter box. I'd like it if we shared pet clean-up and care. Can't she take a morning or two?
GRIPE SIX: Non-stop snooze button. Every morning it's the same routine. She sleeps closest to the alarm and when the buzzer sounds she reaches for the button. And just when we both fall back asleep, it sounds again. One of these days we're going to be late for work. Let's just wake up when it's time to get up.
Readers, what are some of your unspoken domestic gripes?