What was your most hated chore as a child?

I didn't have anything to do - as the only girl and the youngest of 4, I was probably quite spoilt.

Up until I was 15 in 1976 we didnt have a washing machine, and from aged around 9 until then my most hated chore was taking the family laundry to the laundrette.

I didnt mind the all things I had to do whilst at the laundrette, it was the lugging a big heavy battered suitcase the half a mile or so to and from it that was the killer.

Family of 7, no running hot water in the house. Pans and kettles had to be boiled up on the stove. Every night the washing up of all dishes, cutlery, pans and the stove had to be done, then dried and put away. One night, I picked up the pan rest to put it into the sink to be washed but, as it had just had a kettle of boiling water on it, I got burnt and dropped it. I had to pay for the replacement.

I didn’t have any jobs and feel very sorry for some of the posters here. I realise how lucky I was.

Thank you for all these replies. What a wonderful glimpse into history.

Mollygo -you just reminded me. THE MANGLE !!
Feeding the folded sheets through and trying not to get your finger tips squashed.
Oh happy days ! NOT !

Lemongrove I hated cleaning and laying the fire too. Lighting it was too dangerous.
I also hated hanging washing out because it had to be done in the correct order with the correct pegs! Hanging it out now is much more fun, with the added feeling of successful rebellion!?

We had paraffin heaters when I was a child. It was my job to take the paraffin can to the hardware store and buy paraffin. I remember the can was metal with a screw top and was very heavy when full. The shopkeeper would say "Pink or Blue?" and fill the can from the appropriate barrel. The idea of a young child on her own lugging a container of highly flammable liquid with a not very secure top (I would often spill some) perhaps half a mile seems unbelievable now?.

From the ages of 7-12 we had to work in the home every Saturday morning. It was my job to clean the bathroom, sweep and mop the landing, stairs and hallway and polish the hall tiles. Then I had to clean the brasses.

After we finished we dreaded our step-father coming home from the pub to ‘inspect’ our work. It was a very rare day when he didn’t get into a rage after criticising what we’d done and most Saturdays he would make us re-do things. He was a very cruel man.

I quite liked my Saturday chores, but hated the daily winter task of bringing in the coal. Once my little brother was big enough to carry the bucket the job was given to him and I always felt sorry for him. The bucket was really heavy and would bang your shins - and spilling coal in the house resulted in a clout round the head.

GagaJo - our guinea pigs lived indoors in winter. They used to lie in front of the coal fire nestled against our dog’s stomach like puppies. It was my sister’s job to clean them out but they lived in cardboard boxes with hay and ma used to just replace the box when it got dirty. My sister got off lightly I always thought !

Cleaning out the guinea-pigs. S**t everywhere.

Ditto here with lemongrove - raking out the ashes and laying the fire for the day. I can still remember our metal bin on fire in the back yard as the ashes hadn’t been completely cold and they had caught the paper in it.

I didn’t have chores as we had servants! We lived in the colonies. Housework is something I have never got used to and loathe to this day…

I didn’t mind the chores really. They didn’t take too long. I refused to empty the ashtrays though. I’ve never been able to stand the smell of cigarettes since I was very little and could never touch one either.

A few chores but cleaning the silver was the worst.

Same here Paddyann My Mum said we would have a lifetime of chores so we didn't do any.

I was one of 5 children and looking back I don't know how my Mum coped. We didn't even make our own beds!

Dusting the ornaments and cleaning the cutlery. I now have NO ornaments (not one) and I would like someone to tell me why we cleaned cutlery which was washed after every meal, please? Crazy!

Helping on washday - every Monday without fail. I hated having to put washing on the clothes horse and pulley if the weather was bad. Always cold meat from Sunday's joint and rice pudding on Mondays.

Plucking chickens. My father bought our chickens from the local farmer, then, after chopping it's head off, left it to me to pluck the feathers. It took AGES to remove every feather and it hurt my fingers.

They MUST have machines that do it these days.

I didn’t have to do many chores. My parents were more interested in my exam results than my abilities as a housewife. I remember ironing handkerchiefs - what a waste of time! - also sometimes helping to make beds.

We didn’t have any set jobs, just helped when needed.

We had a long , to me , stairs with carpet up the middle , held with brass stair rods! My job was to take them out and Brasso them , then clean the bit under them with a brush and dustpan before I put them back , this was every Saturday , we didn’t have a vacuum cleaner so during the rest of the week I had to use the brush and dustpan to clean the carpet every second day , mind you I had plenty of time for playing and day dreaming ,

Same as paddyanne here. I was an only child and Mum told me housework and chores would come soon enough. My only ‘task’ was a Sunday morning visit to my Grandad’s garden to get a cabbage, cauliflower, sprouts or whatever was on offer for lunch.

We lived in the top flat of a 3 storey Victorian house in London, on Saturday mum would give me a bucket of hot water a bar of household soap scrubbing brush and cloth and I’d have to scrub the wooden flight of stairs (no carpets) up to our flat and if I’d annoyed her in some way she’d make me do the other flight as well. It was worse if the coal man had been as there was black dust front the front steps upwards.
It got messy ?

The big carpet in the living room reminds me of a funny story that is still being told 65 years later to delighted GCs.

Being left to our own devices meant that we got up to all sorts of mischief. One day we decided to have a peashooter fight.,we each had a bowl of rice and a straw as the weapon of choice. We tried to clear it up before dad got home, but saw his car pull up before we finished. We quickly swept it under the carpet.

Of course, as he came in all you could hear was crunch, crunch, crunch. Rumbled!