Do you have a ‘helpful’ husband?

I don’t care how he does anything. Anything is better than ME doing it!
#lazygran

Plus while he does whatever he has a great SOH. My late mum used to say he could make a cat laugh. Much more important in my book!
?

We were going out.
DH, "I've shut all the windows but not locked them."
Me, "Why?"
DH, "For security when we're out!"
Me, "I meant why didn't you lock them?"
DH, " I thought you'd want to do that to check I'd shut the windows!!!!!"

Helpful?!?

Things are different now to what they were when I married in 1946.
The only time my husband did anything in the house was when I was laid up with a bad back. The children never forgot the burned sausages, lumpy mash and no gravy. He said it made him realise that women did more than drink cups of tea and listen to Mrs Dales diary.

You'd think this thread was about grandchildren!

Tell him to do something really helpful and not mess up you laundry which you can easily do yourself. OR show him how it needs to be done. Never too old to learn new tricks!

I had a helpful husband.
I didn't always appreciate it when he pegged out the washing differently to me and tidied up behind me, was obsessive about cleaning the draining board, etc.
One day, while I was at work, he 'helpfully' buggered off! Now I have to do it all myself! (No, I didn't want him to go).

Yes, I'm another knicker folder (and roller) a la Marie Kondo. Sadly, my knickers are all of the Bridget Jones type these days so folding them and putting them into one of those compartmented box thingies means I don't have to rummage through a drawer full of underwear, tights and socks. I'm quite proud of the fact that my 7 year old DGD loves "the tidy technique" - although she can get at least 3 pairs of her knickers in each compartment! Sorry - I've digressed somewhat from the original post about helpful husbands - although mine does fold his underwear as well.

It’s surprisingly therapeutic though, pandapatch - have a go! [grin{

I feel quite guilty now as I just shove knickers and socks into (separate) drawers (I do pair the socks first though) Does it really matter ? no-one else ever goes in my knicker draw!!

Yep fold and roll knickers colour coded for quick getaway! And bras also doubled over and stacked on edges also colour filed! Looks great and no shocks for anyone rummaging!?

dolphindaisy

Mine is adamant pushing the trolley round the supermarket is his job, problem is, he goes off to check the beer and I'm left with arms full of things I've picked off the shelves, trying to find him and swearing under my breath

Hmm.. been reading my playbook eh!????snap!

My ex husband thought he would be helpful, The washing machine I had at that time used did not spin the drip dry things until you flicked the short spin feature. I was out and he thought he would empty the machine. He broke the catch on the door and flooded the kitchen floor and the sitting room. He says he thought the machine was broken and certainly broke it then.

I am lucky to have a husband who wants to help - - except he never finishes any job! - Insists on washing up after dinner - Great! - but if the dirty crocks are not in the sink / dishwasher which he hates using - but on a work surface on the other side of the kitchen - that's where I find them an hour later when he has ' finished'. He does his own washing but drapes the items over the line - 'can't be fiddled with pegs.' I don't mind this as he does all his own ironing so crumpled jeans, shirts etc are his problem not mine. He does use the iron too hot on some things and when I come to use it there is a sticky deposit on the under plate where he has melted something in one of his items. However - - I say nothing about all these things - irritating as they are - I am just grateful to have him after 22 years living on my own before we met.!! Men are programmed differently to women.!

My DH comes from a large family and his father always did all the ironing, he automatically did ours since we married 40 years ago. We share everything else and mostly I am happy with what he does (there are occasional exceptions, but I quietly sort them). He never cooks or encroaches on my kitchen space but that suits us both fine. I guess I have just been lucky.

Lindylou57

Who folds knickers? I do, what do you do scrumple them in to a creased up ball and shove them any how into a drawer? Mine are folded and put under the clean ones in a drawer. I have two piles one white and one for coloured. It takes no time and keeps everything neat.

Just browsed this thread and read your comment. I’ve no idea why, but it made me go and fold all my knickers in the drawer, where they’re usually just “shoved”! I expect they’re not folded to the perfection of some people’s expectations, but I’m disproportionately pleased . Thank you!

My DH washes up in cold or lukewarm water, hangs washing out with no pegs (just drapes it over the line), makes disgusting meals from time to time……….but he’s still quite sexy and he makes me laugh, so I probably won’t trade him in after 51 years

I can't trust my husband with secateurs, nor can I mention weeds as his answer is to make up a can of weedkiller. He will and does do everything in the house, as he is my carer. He can be overpowering, smothering and hideously cannot put anything back where it should be. Having been married since '85 I frequently remember my Grandmother's phrase, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger!

My OH is totally useless. Yesterday he emptied the dishwasher for the first time in 3 months. Admittedly he's not been will for a couple of months and has a few days in hospital, but he's not that bad.
If any of you lovely people out there with useful, domesticated, helpful husbands, feel like lending me yours for a few days, please let me know!! They would be gratefully received.

How I envy most of you. My husband of 50 years is a case of "the spirit is willing but.....". His mother actually told me before we married that I would need a lot of patience. Unfortunately I am not patient and it has been a major issue in our lives.

He almost never does anything without being asked (and reminded several times). He is pretty competent at general DIY and I am useless, but I have a long list of things that need repairing that will never get done. He almost never notices when something is broken, needs painting, or whatever. He is unbearably slow at everything he does, so while he does mow the lawns it takes him all day at a snail's pace. My garden should be lovely but it is full of things that spoil it such as damaged fences, weeds in flowerbeds, tumble-down walls. He CAN do all these things (I have some disabilities) but I am wasting my time to imagine they will ever be done.

When we retired I became aware of just how little he had ever done around the house compared to me and I attempted to give him some responsibilities. He does do the washing and loads the dishwasher, but things like hoovering get ignored for weeks or months.

Friends tell me how lucky I am that he does the shopping - but he is addicted to the supermarket and goes almost every day for "a few bits and bobs" (they see him there) and again it's two hours of a job each time.

I don't let him near financial stuff, he'd have us overdrawn in days.

I'm not sure whether to celebrate our golden wedding in October or top him!

My DH does the garden, cleans the shower and hangs the washing out - Everything else is my job - whatever he doesn't like doing!

My husband is amazing, he can do any household task and gets better at mastering new tasks as he gets older. He is 75 and still works. He is luckily fit and healthy. He talks of baking his own bread when he eventually gives up work and cooking what used to be known as nouvelle cuisine as he likes small plates of beautifully presented food. I like a clean well-run home but I don't obsess about any of it. I am happy for him to take over any tasks that he cares to. I also still do some work as a therapeutic counsellor and am also in my mid-seventies. This is a really happy time in our relationship. I am thankful on a daily basis for having this man in my life and desperately hope that we can share many more years together.

I do the cooking and cleaning and washing and my husband does the washing up, cuts the grass and puts the bins out. He chops onions because they really hurt my eyes but I am a much better and quicker cook than he is so he doesn’t interfere in that. Anything to do with power tools or cars he does mainly because that bores me to death and I have no interest in learning or doing it. He is always willing to go to the shops if I have forgotten anything. I like to hang the washing out myself, don’t want any help but I don’t have to tell him that, he just senses it.

Have you ever tried colour catching sheets You just put one or two sheets in and when the wash is finished the surplus colour has gone onto the sheets and not the clothes. I wonder what this thing is with men and washing machines , I can't get a look in with ours. He has completely taken over.

Things worked well with each of us doing the jobs that we did best, until my decline with osteoarthritis in September 2020 and subsequent hip replacement. I was of course grateful that DH was seemingly willing to undertake jobs that I couldn't do but not only does he continue to 'do things for me', whether I want it or not , he has become an expert and often tells me how I should do the housework tasks that I did by myself for the first 40 odd years of marriage. He has also become a laundry 'expert', which involves either washing tiny amounts or bunging everything in together, regardless of colour, washing instructions etc. I can't even talk about the hanging out! I am hoping that the cost of running the washing machine unnecessarily over the coming months will put him off!
Each sticking to the jobs that they do best, suits me the most.

One of my children taught me that clothes dry anyway, even if not all the towls are next to one another. So let's just be thankful we do have help, even if it's just bringing all the paper bins from the bedrooms, downstairs, for emptying. It's when you have arthritis and sciatica and scoliosis that you appreciate this...

DH is the original Mr Doolittle , glued to his reclining chair, how I envy you ladies, Nothing will make him help.