Happily Every After, Part 3

The next biggie that causes strife between couples is splitting up the chores. I never really thought about it when we were dating – part of me just assumed it’d work itself out. The other part figured it’d probably be just like my parents. And that’s where you can hit a little friction. Because my husband also thought the same thing. The problem? Our parents didn’t split things up the same way.

Who takes out the trash doesn’t seem like a big deal. I mean, sure, the trash has to go out, but who fights about that? We did. I grew up with trash as one of my chores and came to loathe taking out the trash. I swore to myself that it would absolutely not be my job when I grew up. (Ok, it’s silly, but I just really don’t like trash duty!) But my hubby was of the mindset that we’d split chores inside/outside. (As in, I’d do the inside ones and he’d do the outside.) It took some serious negotiating to figure out who was going to do what. (I also hate dusting. There’ll be a lot of dust on things before I’ll get around to dusting. Hubs is allergic to dust. Handily, he also seems to enjoy dusting. So he takes care of it before it’s an issue for him.)

The key? Here, as in with finances in part 2, the key is communication. And a willingness to negotiate (I do all the cooking *and* the dishes, though I had originally hoped to trade that off. Turns out, he hates doing dishes. Fair enough.)

Is there something silly you’ve argued about and had to negotiate?