Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs LoadingNot so.Apart from the uncanny male ability to overload the dishwasher, it has one component that needs attention at least once a week, but which men seem to find far too mysterious to worry about at all: the filter. I will not disturb you with the details of what I’ve found in dishwasher filters over the years, except to say that the whole chicken drumstick I once discovered was not at all unusual.Likewise, the vacuum-cleaner needs not only to be used, but also regularly emptied.And fellas, the brush that sits beside the toilet is there for a purpose. It needs to be used! Please.I didn’t always clean houses. My career of cleaning up after people began in aged-care facilities when, at age 15, I was employed in a nursing home kitchen as a “dish pig”. I worked for a (male) chef whose sense of hygiene was, well, dubious. Perhaps he would have been cleaner had he been sober, but I had no way of ever knowing.LoadingFrom the kitchen, I graduated to the laundry and sluice room – also known as the “bedpan room”, which had all the attractions the name implies.From there, working in people’s homes looked like a step-up. The pay was better, and I was my own boss, but in terms of sheer grunge, there was surprisingly little between them.Though I’ve now moved on from cleaning men’s domestic messes, as the HILDA survey attests, the problem is still there.So, aside from the tasks already mentioned, I offer the following tips in the hope they help, if not the men who read them, then at least their frustrated female partners:Cleaning can’t be ad hoc – get organised.Pay attention to showers, floors, bathrooms.The equipment you use must start off as clean as the intended result.Make it a habit to wipe down the sink after washing the dishes – with a clean dish cloth.And finally, I must mention the British raconteur Quentin Crisp, who famously said: “There is no need to do any housework at all. After the first four years the dirt doesn’t get any worse.”Please, do not follow this advice.Jacqueline Wilson no longer cleans houses for a living. She is a criminologist researching institutionalisation and state wardship.The Opinion newsletter is a weekly wrap of views that will challenge, champion and inform your own. Sign up here.
