The Social Experiment Begins

I am nearly 30 years old, in charge of 3 kids ages 17, 7 and 6, 1 husband, 2 dogs, 8 cats (yes I know it’s a lot) and our house.  I am also the only one working at the moment but that is neither here nor there. The problem is, practically every day when I get home from work it seems nothing, NOTHING, has been done around the house. Maybe, if I’m lucky, I don’t have to go grocery shopping after work or try and piece together some kind of dinner. Still there’s the laundry, the cleaning, the kids to put to bed, the reminder for chores to get done and the prep for tomorrow.

Now you have to understand, there are legitimate reasons that my husband can’t do everything I used to do while I was at home and he was the one working. He is currently suffering from some unknown ailment which is really stressing to him. His doctors have forbidden him to drive, let alone go to work. That being said, he can still manage to push around the vacuum for a minute or two.

The young ones are learning responsibility and it is our job to teach them. They get constant reminders to clean their room, pick up their clothes, put away their shoes etc.  So what happens now if I don’t say or do anything?

This isn't to say that my husband doesn't contribute, that the 17 year old is completely useless or that the young ones don’t know how to clean up after themselves. There are nights when I get home and dinner is being cooked or the dishes are done and clothes are put away. Those are the nice, rare nights. Still, the laundry, the sweeping and mopping, vacuuming, lunches in the morning and kisses in the evening usually fall to me.

Enter the Social Experiment. I have resolved, for the foreseeable future, I will NOT do housework.  I’m not picking up that towel on the floor, I’m not washing the dishes, I’m not doing all the laundry in sight. Let see how long it takes for these things to get done without me.

There will be two exceptions to this rule:

1.       If it is something directly impeding me or what I need to do, I will do it. This means, if I need clothes for work, I wash work clothes. If I spill on my comforter, I’ll wash it.

2.       If someone directly asks me to accomplish a task, I will consider it. This, I believe, is the equivalent of me asking someone else to get a chore done.

I am curious to see how long it will take for the house to get dirty and smelly and someone else steps in to take care of things. Will they? Will I be able to resist cleaning? How long will I last?

I guess we’ll all find out.