The List

It is inevitable that when only half the household is away from the premises for an extended amount of time; the ones that remain must face the dreaded list; usually a list of chores that are expected to be completed before the dominant half returns. Of course, what the dominant half expects is that their usual maintenance tasks will be completed on top of the list; which already increases the workload for those that remain; especially if you’re more dependent of that person. Usually I try to pinpoint the precise point of return and get all the maintenance tasks done in one work burst in the nick of time so that I can spend some of the time as I please. But a rigorous amount of planning is often involved to ensure that the extra tasks are completed, and the key is not to let them build up. If they do build up, I ensure that a good initial hiding place is established with an aim to rectify it later.