chores:
(tʃɔ): (Haus)arbeiten
- routine (household) tasks
- things to be done
- a job or piece of work that is often boring or unpleasant but needs to be done regularly
Charwoman
The word “chore” originates from the old English “char” which means odd job*. You may have even heard of a “charwoman” – a woman who’s hired to do jobs around the house. I must say that I do not particularly like doing household chores. Who does? My mum would be “turning in her grave” (würde sich im Grab herumdrehen) if she could see the state of my house. She was always very house-proud. Thank goodness that my husband has no problem helping with the household chores!
Housework
Here is a list of typical domestic jobs. Are there any you actually enjoy doing?
- ironing
- dusting
- window cleaning
- hoovering
- cooking
- tidying up
- doing the washing
Murder the Ironing
The chore I least like doing is the hoovering. I always end up sweaty, agitated and angry. What makes it worse is that I know that the dust will reappear within days. Where does that grey fluff on the floor come from?
My favourite household job is ironing because I can watch mindless TV programmes where you don’t have to concentrate too much. I find “Midsummer Murders” (“Inspector Barnaby” in German) perfect. In the summer months I love hanging the washing out on my washing line in the garden, as long as it doesn’t begin to rain!
A Tidy House is a Tidy Mind
I know that some people find housework therapeutic and, of course, being tidy does make life easier. Generally I would say that most of my (female) friends have a much higher standard of household cleanliness than me, but I think they have learnt to accept me as I am. I just don’t consider it so important…. maybe because I spend my time writing my blog!
Happy cleaning!
*Do you remember the baddy in the James bond film called “Odd Job”?
