Running a single household

There was no way around it, I had to go grocery shopping this evening. I'm booked the rest of this week and most of next and I was running low on food. So, I made a grocery list and dragged my sorry butt out the door and bought food (and toilet paper and hairspray) to last through next week.

I've pontificated on my wish to have help with that chore before, but I've recently been thinking about sharing all the chores and duties of running a household.

I'm willing to submit that running single person's household (no roommates or other family) is just as hard, if not harder, than running a household as a married couple (with no children at home). Married readers and co-bloggers - please correct me if I'm wrong.

Yes, with a married couple, there may be twice as many clothes to wash and food to eat, and they may or may not have more rooms to clean, but that doesn't really mean it's twice the work. There are just as many food preparation dishes, and adding an extra fork, plate, and glass to the dishes pile doesn't really change things. I still have to eat three to six times a day, which means three to six sets of dishes, and I don't have a dishwasher. I still have to do wash my clothes every 1.5 weeksish so that I don't run out of underwear. There's just more space in the washer and dryer for each load.

When it's just me I live with, I'm the only one doing any of it. No one is going to vacuum the house or do the laundry or clean the bathroom or shop for the food or manage the finances or cook the food or take out the garbage or recycling or make the bed or replace the DVD player that died a month ago (and I'm dying too, since we're moving into summer TV and I was thinking about canceling my cable anyway and I'm quickly running out of things to watch on my TiVo) or anything else that needs to be done around here. Not on my good days and most certainly not on my bad days.

There's so much to do and only one me to do it. I also work alone, running my own department, and I deal with many physical things, not just files on a computer. It's amazing I ever feel like I ever get anything done ever.

And just as I was feeling overwhelmed by everything I have to do around here, a woman I follow on Twitter was complaining about how her husband passes two grocery stores on his way home but he couldn't be bothered (according to her) to stop for milk and now all she really wants is a bowl of cereal and milk. She posted multiple statuses about it.

I really wanted to say (and I apologize for the uncustomary language), "At least you have a husband to share your chores and grocery runs with. Now, quit whining, get off your ass, and get your milk your own damn self like I have to every time."

But, as our blog title states, these are things I won't say.