10 household chores every adult should learn

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

You don't have to do them all the time, but you need to understand how it works.

Household chores are a big part of our life. Some of them can be avoided for a long time, for example, delegate to a hired specialist or entrust a partner in the division of responsibilities. But sometimes you still have to roll up your sleeves and do them yourself - this becomes especially clear during self-isolation or in cases when there is no one to call for help.

1. Prepare food

No one expects Michelin-starred dinners from you, especially when the ready-to-eat delivery works so well. Nevertheless, it is worth having in your arsenal a few of the simplest dishes from the most common products. Let it be at least scrambled eggs, cutlets with mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese.

Perhaps it seems to someone that any fool will cook it. But here's a revelation: some are not able to warm themselves even ready-made food. They will sit hungry and wait for someone with their hands from their shoulders to come and put a plate in the microwave.

By the way, in the Lifehacker's section "Time is" there are recipes of varying degrees of complexity, including the simplest ones. If you follow the descriptions, be sure to get something delicious.

2. Plan and shop

There is nothing difficult in going to the store and throwing anything from the shelves into the basket. But the benefits are not enough either. Otherwise, incompatible foods in the same dish may be found in your refrigerator. And it turns out that there is no place in it, but there is still nothing to eat.

To shop efficiently, you need, first, to know what is not at home. And secondly - what you need in the near future. It helps in this drawing up the menu or at least a vague idea of what you plan to eat in the week. If you didn't manage to do anything, here's a life hack: before leaving the house, take a photo of an open refrigerator and a closet with groceries. So you will at least roughly understand what you have in abundance.

3. To wash and iron things

Fortunately, you no longer need to first run to the ice hole with buckets, and then wash the laundry in the trough with your hands. But here's what would be nice:

• Study the instructions for the washing machine and understand that it has so many buttons for a reason.
• Learn to sort the laundry by color and properties, so as not to throw away white T-shirts after a general swim with red panties.
• Get in the habit of at least occasionally looking at the labels of things and comparing them to the symbol table. Some clothes cannot be washed in hot water, others cannot be washed at all, only dry cleaning.

It would seem that everything is very simple, no nuclear physics. But many do not master this, although knowledge here will save you a lot of nerves and money. The same goes for ironing. It is not necessary to bring panties and duvet covers to a crisp. But if you have already taken up the iron, it is better to do everything according to the rules so as not to waste your efforts in vain.

4. Reanimate clothes

It is still better for the average person to alter and hem clothes in an atelier. It's just that a specialist who deals with dozens of trousers a day will clearly cope with the task better than an amateur, which does it every six months. And uneven stitching can significantly spoil the impression of the thing.

But everyone should be able to sew on a button or restore a diverging seam. It's not difficult, you just have to try. For example, here's how you can manually sew a hole along a seam so that everything looks perfect on the outside (the hardest part here is making sure the stitches are the same length):

This is how the seam will look inside and out. Scroll to read instructions. Photo: Natalia Kopylova / Lifehacker

Insert the needle at point 1 and bring it out at point 2. Photo: Natalia Kopylova / Lifehacker

Go back and stick the needle at point 3 - halfway between points 1 and 2. Withdraw the needle to the left of point 2 at a distance equal to line segment 2-3. Photo: Natalia Kopylova / Lifehacker

Continue in this manner until you have sewn the entire seam. Photo: Natalia Kopylova / Lifehacker

This is what the finished seam will look like if you stretch it slightly. Photo: Natalia Kopylova / Lifehacker

5. Clean up efficiently

It is unlikely that everyone should know how to mix polish for each type of furniture covering, so that it shines like on the cover of interior magazines. Rather, it is about a conscious approach to cleaning.

For example, with age, it is worthwhile to understand that you need to wipe the dust not only in prominent places - so that your mother does not find fault. It is necessary to go over the top of the cabinets with a damp cloth, along the batteries, and along the recesses on the doors. It's not about aesthetics, it's about health. Dust can provoke allergies, make breathing difficult, and lead to illness, especially if there is an industrial plant nearby.

The situation is approximately the same with the floors. Not everyone considers the skirting board to be part of the floor, which also needs to be washed. And this must be done, because the dust readily collects in the grooves. It is equally important from the point of view of health to periodically wipe the door handles and switches - everything that you touch with your hands, and not always washed.

To summarize, the cleanliness police will not arrest you for rarely or poorly cleaning. Nobody offers to die the death of the brave in the fight against the mess. But if you already started cleaning, then do it well: health depends on the result.

6. Take out the trash

This skill could be safely added to the previous point. But he deserves special attention, because some include him in their list of household chores and take great pride in how much they do.

So, taking out the trash is not taking a carefully prepared package at the door and dragging it to the container. The process is a little more complicated. First, you need to make sure that the bucket does not overflow, and empty it on time - without reminders from the outside. Secondly, to actually take out the trash (again, no reminders!). Thirdly, wash the bucket if necessary, and then insert a new bag into it. If someone else does a lot of it, don't take the garbage-picker credit for yourself.

7. Make minor repairs

Perhaps, at this point, the most difficult thing is to outline a set of tasks that each adult must solve independently. After all, if you can afford to call an electrician to screw in a light bulb, then who can blame you for not being able to do it yourself.

But in general, being able to replace a light bulb or shower head would be nice. If only because these are simple things that can be done in a couple of minutes. As well as gluing a piece of wallpaper or putting together a hanger from IKEA. In general, here we mean everything that does not take much time and for which specific tools are not required.

8. Plan your budget

Definitely, this is a household matter: if you are inept with finances, you can be left without a home as such.

In the classical sense, budgeting is drawing up a fairly detailed financial plan for a month, or better - for 12. Such a scrupulous approach allows you to plan spending so that the year passes without financial falls, and you can use the ups effectively. Moreover, the lower the earnings, the more necessary the budget.

If you spend less than you earn without any planning, then this skill will also come in handy. So you can manage finances more efficiently, optimize spending and get more money to invest or otherwise improve your financial situation. In general, a useful skill, whatever one may say.

9. Provide first aid

In general, this skill is needed outside the home. But the likelihood that a bystander in front of you will burn himself with boiling oil, step on a shard of a broken glass with his bare heel, or overturn a cabinet on himself is not so great. But your household and you yourself can face these troubles. Therefore, it is important to provide first aid in order to hold out until the ambulance arrives. However, if the damage is not very serious, a doctor may not be needed.

10. Pay the rent

Bills, taxes, and other paperwork are part of adulthood. So it's a good idea to have an idea of where and what you have to pay for.

Lifehacker has detailed instructions for completing the housing and communal services quest. But in short, you need to pay for the apartment no later than the 10th day of each month. Receipts are most often delivered to your mailbox, but other options are also possible. For example, the data can be transmitted electronically. If you are not aware, it is better to clarify this with the management company or with the person who paid for your apartment earlier.

It is also necessary to submit meter readings on a monthly basis. This is necessary in order to pay only for the resources consumed, and not according to the standards.

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