The prosecution: Deirdre
double quotation markWhat gets to me is that whenever I get the mop out, instead of helping, Martin criticises me
My husband of five years, Martin, and I have different views on how to best keep our floors clean.We have a cat and a dog so naturally the floors get dirty. There’s hair, dust and whatever gets walked in from outside. Vacuuming helps, but it doesn’t actually clean the floor – it just removes the visible bits. At some point, you need to wash the floor with a mop.I mop once a week. I don’t enjoy it, but I watched my mother do it every week growing up and it feels like a basic point of hygiene. What frustrates me is that Martin treats this like an optional extra, or something silly that doesn’t work. We split chores and he does the cooking, but mopping has somehow become a running joke, because he’s decided it doesn’t work.His main argument is that mopping just spreads dirty water around. Sure, if you do it badly – if you don’t wring the mop or replace the water regularly – it can be inefficient, but that’s not what I’m doing. I wring out the mop, I go over the floor evenly, and it makes such a difference.We have sparkling floors, which I love – even if it’s only for 10 minutes because of the animals.What really gets to me is that whenever I get the mop out, instead of helping, Martin criticises me. He explains why it’s ineffective or how it should be done differently, but he won’t do it himself. When he did, he tipped a whole bucket of water on the floor and mopped it up, saying that was more efficient. But he just made a mess.He says vacuuming is enough. I’ve suggested we invest in a fancy bucket that keeps the clean and dirty water separate, but he says he doesn’t want to get involved. The thing is, he does get involved – from the sofa.Don’t dismiss the entire chore if you can’t do it yourself. This isn’t about loving or hating mopping. It’s about basic cleanliness and doing a job that has to be done. People have been mopping like I do for centuries. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to think we should both do some mopping, and if Martin doesn’t want to, the least he could do is let me mop in peace.The defence: Martin
