The division of household labour post-retirement

Plus I sort the bills, contracts , insurances!

He hoovers , cleans the windows and cooks on Wednesdays plus he pays for a meal out once a month! I shop, wash, iron, clean, cook and garden ! But we have a cleaner for two hours every fortnight to wash the floors , hoover the stairs plus any other jobs she can fit in! We both look after the allotment!
I plan meals, holidays, days out.
He does the DIY as I am useless but as I point out, decorating a room is once a flood, cooking is daily!!! 👏😂

Dh had a very demanding job so I ran the house. When he retired he insisted on learning how to operate the washing machine, dishwasher and learned to iron. Now he does more than me! We spend more time doing other things together.

Changed a bit. Not so much as I would have liked.
But it did also lay a bit bare, what work he does actually do. So I didnt moan too much.

As it happens, he came out of retirement, so we are "back to normal".

With both of us probably having a little more understanding of what each other does do.

P.S.
I do have to ASK him To do anything though 🙄

When DH retired he undertook the hoovering and dusting. He made a rita tgat he would move all the furniture out from walls in one room a week when he was hoovering. Do miss him for that as sone of the stuff is too heavy for me.

Of course . While Dh was working long days , I did all the household chores. Since retirement he vacuums (never dusts first) , does the laundry and hangs it out. He’s not great with cleaning though. Bathrooms, toilets, kitchen. Helps me to change the sheets but that’s about it.

I hate to think what the house would look like if he’s left on his own! 😬🫣

I am still working and my husband is retired - he does most of the housework and cooking

DH worked abroad , everything" domestic" was done for him and I was stupid enough to do the same when he was at home !
Once retired he assumed this would continue, decided a little talk was in order. Still by no means an equal division of labour but at least he understands running a house is not quite as simple as he thought !

And he does the bins and recycling. Of course!

I take the grandchildren to school and do the babysitting, he does the school work and the entertaining when I've had enough of them.

I used to do most things as he often worked away from home, but now he does the hoovering, floor washing and everything connected with dishwashing. I do the cooking and the washing. Nobody does ironing or dusting!

My ex did nothing in the house. After retirement he stopped shaving and dressing he spent the day sitting watching tv and eating. I'd love to know who does it all now.!!!

Mine never did much even after retirement.
However, now that hes had his cataracts removed, , he’s forever dusting and vacuuming.
It was well worth paying for a private procedure and not waiting for an NHS appointment

My husband passed away 7 years ago do I have had to take on everything. But after our retirement we attempted to share everything...however a lifetime of me doing finances and IT and meal planning. He did all car related and garden and house maintenance jobs, along with some grocery shopping . Old habits die hard as they say...I do know he could not cook and would have lived on pub meals if I had gone first!!!

I do laundry, dishes, tidying, bedmaking. He does the cooking, garden maintenance, pays the bills. We share shopping. I think its fair but he thinks he does more.

I clean downstairs, husband upstairs. We cook alternate weeks. He does most of the gardening, me the washing and ironing.we share the driving. It works very well

Many thanks for the excellent ideas and advice here. Much appreciated. Hope you're soon feeling better Catterygirl!

May I gently recommend that couples spend time learning how to do the things normally done by their partner, or, if non-urgent, who to contact to get things done. One of you will probably become less able or die first and it will be very difficult for the other to cope if they have limited skills. This is especially important with financial matters.
Fortunately for me the things my husband was good at are now done by my son or other family or I pay a tradesman, but of course they are not immediately available. I often have to wait a few days to get a bottle or jar opened!

We share everything, we don’t have a duty rota, if one doesn’t do it the other does, or it gets left, we sometimes have to scurry around if we are expecting visitors.

It works, the garden is lovely and the house is no worse than others ( better than most, no pets). It’s very easy stress free living.

DH changes the bed as I broke my shoulder and arm on a walk. Tripped over a loose paving stone. I stick it in the washing machine quick as a flash. He doesn’t know how to work it. We share pretty much everything. I was on cooking duty today so he emptied the washing machine and put the things to dry and when I saw him struggling with the quilt I turned down the cooker and went to help. We split it 50/50 according to what we can manage.

No changes here, we both play to our strengths as we have always done. DH does the shopping, cooking, ironing, bins & maintenance and I do cleaning, finances, gardening with some of the bits that DH usually does if I need to. It's worked well for over 40 yrs.

I’m the admin officer, gift buyer, social calendar arranger and general organiser. The dusting, laundry, kitchen cupboard cleaning, any sewing, gardening and meal production are mine along with the grocery shopping (mostly delivered). Mr C vacuums, changes the bed, irons sometimes (always the bedding), empties the dishwasher, does any manual washing up needed, cleans the bathroom, windows and the kitchen sink. He checks the car over and manages most small DiY jobs, if a little less each year.

We’re driven by aptitude and individual choice, nothing forced. Mr C retired before me and gradually took on more of the things I did, it seems to have stuck.

We mostly share chores, same as when we were working, but I do most of the cooking and Mr D does all of the gardening. He will cook for himself if I eat out, and will cook for both of us if I am not available, but we both prefer my cooking, and I am happy to do it, so I usually do.

We each do our own washing and ironing, and are lucky enough to have a cleaner who mops floors and cleans the bathroom etc, so mostly it's just if we are having someone round that we need to do a quick spit and polish, which we do between us.

I do things like wash cushion covers and throws - that wouldn't cross his mind - and I am far more particular about wiping surfaces and sinks regularly, so I do things like that when I see they need it (in practice this is every time Mr D is supposed to have cleaned the kitchen ). I water indoor plants (again, he wouldn't think about it) make sure things that need it are charged up (we have a lot of rechargeable lamps, for instance) and generally make the place look nice. He used to do all the decorating, but these days we get people in, as I'm not keen on him being up ladders and doing close work for health-related reasons.

We split admin on the basis of who sorted out a particular bill first. We keep saying we should organise that better, as there is no rhyme or reason to how it is done, but we don't get round to it. I tend to be the one who books things and keeps the calendar updated, and I do the grocery shopping. If there were a leak or burst pipe he would deal with it - I wouldn't have a clue, embarrassingly. That's something I need to find out about as we get older.

Since retirement DH does vacuum the house and takes the dog out more than me. He does occasionally cook his few traditional meals he grew up eating. I admit the kitchen is my domain always has been my mum was in her kitchen.
DH does potter about with tedious jobs fixing broken gadgets etc. We both know by now our limits in the house and garden bigger jobs we pay other people to do.