My wife, the woman I married for better or worse had this to say about

[WCGreen]

entering a contest to win a dream house...

That fucking thing is huge...

I can't keep this house clean do you think I could keep that one clean...


Never mind that I have severe respiratory problems that are, in fact, exacerbated because of her lack of cleaning skills...

I still find that as a real strange reason nt to want to win a brand new house...

[NMDemDist2]

1. I agree with Mrs. Green

I have had 3000+ sf houses (that I built with plumbed in vacuum systems) and 900 sf houses.

I'll take the 900 sf as long as it has a big garage for storage

however, in years past, I would love to win the house and sell it. In this market..... not so much.....

[mondo joe]

2. Is she doing all the cleaning?

[GoddessOfGuinness]

4. ~~~crickets~~~

:rofl:

[WCGreen]

5. What little cleaning is being done is being done by me....

It is literally effecting my health...

[JVS]

27. Hey, he has a health condition.

That and a Y chromosome. :hide:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

3. Presumably you'd have to pay taxes on the dreamhouse...

Why not spend the money you'd pay in property taxes on hiring someone with professional cleaning skills?

[WCGreen]

6. But it would at least be clean for a little while...

This house is never going to be a centerfold for Good Housekeeping...

[GoddessOfGuinness]

8. You might be surprised

A little bulldozing can do a lot.

[hyphenate]

45. That's what people say about

MY housekeeping skills and the state of affairs here! Send the bulldozer to me when you're through with it! :rofl:


My sister in law and brother have a house with nearly that many SF. My SIL is Felix Unger to my Oscar Madison. She keeps her place looking like an Architectural Digest show home, and my 1200 SF apartment looks kind of like one of the contestants in one of those reality cleaning horror shows. I always say, "tomrrow is another day" and always append that with, "--and it's going to just get dirtier and dirtier...."

[CaliforniaPeggy]

7. She may have a point...

Bigger houses are harder to keep clean...

My cleaning lady can only do about 2/3 of ours every two weeks...

She does the dirtiest places of course...

And whichever floor she's scheduled to do...

It's a big job...

I am sooooooooo grateful I don't have to clean it!

Well, I do keep my kitchen clean..

:hi:

[KitchenWitch]

9. I can barely keep up with my 2000 square feet here.

And since I have a strained/torn rotator cuff, there are things I am completely unable to do right now.

[mondo joe]

10. Cleaning takes time. Cleaning well takes even more time.

If you can't keep up with a house's demands, it would be a problem.

[mtnester]

11. The prize taxes will also kill ya

is she thinking about an HGTV house? I tried several years in a row to win one, but the last few I really did not like the style.

[WCGreen]

12. This is only a 2300 sq footer in a suburb of Cleveland...

[mtnester]

13. I see, it id a local gourp...one of our athletic booster clubs

did that one year here. You could take the house, or some reduced cash prize. Still, be wary of the amounbt of gift tax you will have to pay.

[WCGreen]

21. I know that one....

I am an accountant...

I figured I could mortgage for the taxes and still be way ahead of the game...

[zanne]

14. This is what I tell my husband when he criticizes the way I clean...

"You know what they say...If you want a job done right, you have to do it yourself".

[La Lioness Priyanka]

15. she is right.

[theredpen]

16. Win house. Sell house. Use money to hire cleaning help.

[LostinVA]

17. Maybe it'll help him stop viewing his wife as a maid

[theredpen]

19. You say that likes it's a bad thing...

[WCGreen]

20. You know you really have no idea...

You just jump right in...

I am severely handicapped with a respitory problem and yet I still do most ofthe cooking and keep the kitchen clean...

Mold, dust and all of that is pretty bad for me, even worse if kick it up...

Just spent a week in the hospital from Chrsitmas to New Years...

But okay, say what you want because I know you have all these preconcieved notions...

So why should this be any different...

[yardwork]

40. Is your wife disabled as well? Because if not, sounds like there's a bigger problem

than the size of the house. If you are disabled with a respiratory problem, then the big question is - why isn't your wife helping you more? It sounds like there are more issues here than just the house.

Have you considered marriage counseling? If your wife won't go, I suggest that you go yourself. Something doesn't sound right.

[xchrom]

18. what is this 'cleaning house' you speak of? nt

[Fran Kubelik]

22. Perhaps you should hire a cleaning lady

Talking derisively about your wife's "lack of cleaning skills" on the internet doesn't really make you seem like a nice guy.

[Connonym]

24. I was going to say asshole

but yeah, we don't know your circumstances but we DO know that your wife is your wife and not your cleaning person unless that was some weird thing you had put into your wedding vows.

[Fran Kubelik]

25. That would be another, equally valid way of phrasing it.

[WCGreen]

33. Perhaps your the ass hole for jumping to conclusions....

My health depends on a clean house...

It's just the way it is now...

And we can't afford a maid...

I have a debilitating respiratory disease that keeps me at about 50%...

The small house we live in is a disaster...

But at least if we moved into a larger, clean house from the beginning, it would make it easier, in my mind, for her to get ahead of the mess...

[Fran Kubelik]

47. Did your wife know that she was signing up for this when she married you?

Being blamed for your illness? Also, tell me - is she the only one making messes in the house?
Do you love this woman? You sure don't talk about her like you do. You talk about her like she is a barrier to your happiness.

[Connonym]

49. sorry, no I think I was right

I admitted that we didn't know the specifics of your situation but just based on the words in your OP you sound like an asshole. You don't owe us any explanation of your (which, by the way is a different word that "you're" which is what I think you is what you meant when you said "your the ass hole")situation but what you've attempted to explain still doesn't mitigate that your attitude about your wife is awful. How would you feel if she was over on some other web site complaining that her husband doesn't take care of her the way a man should? Honestly, you come across as though you really resent that she's not June Cleaver and that's just wrong. But hey, I'm just a bitch so what the fuck do I know about that?

[GreenPartyVoter]

23. I used to enter those contests until I realized that a) I don't want to move and b)

I can't afford to win a "free" house.

[colinmom71]

26. Umm, that's partly why I purposely looked for a smaller home...

When we decided to buy a house. I wanted a smaller house that would easy to keep tidy and would be energy efficient. That and I felt like it would be a waste for a family of three to have a house designed for families with two or more kids. Even in our smaller not quite 1500 sq. ft. home, we still have three bedrooms (guest room for visiting grandparents), a separate living room and den, and nice large kitchen and mud room that we plan to renovate next year!

I agree with your wife. The tax issues aside, I'd hate to try to keep a 4000 sq ft house tidy. Not to mention the extra furniture, window treatments, painting, etc. you'd have to buy to appropriately finish such a house. Just be grateful that your wife is being practical with your family resources... ;)

[pitohui]

28. i had a friend who won a house, catch a clue train, you sell the house

you don't have to take the house, you can sign it over for cash, it just isn't that difficult

the money my friend got from that house changed his life

if you are worried about the taxes, when you sign the papers, you can have so much withheld to cover your estimated taxes

being afraid to win 100K because you might have to pay $33K or whatever in tax is just silliness

[yardwork]

41. How does everybody win these houses? Where do I sign up?

I could use a new house, or the cash! I had no idea that there were new-house contests. Where do I find them?

[Mike03]

29. As the son of an OCD compulsive cleaner, I think maybe I know where she is coming from

Only OCD mothers and single or recently divorced men know how much time it takes to keep a house clean. It is really murder! Even doing only a half-assed job (like I do) takes hours. I have cobwebs, spider eggs, soot, mold, etc. everywhere, and I try to devote at least an hour a day to basic cleanliness around my house.

It's a major chore to keep even a small house clean...

My two cents.

[WCGreen]

34. And to top that off, it is essential to my well being to have a clean home...

[Book Lover]

30. You want to give the woman more work and for some reason she thinks it would be a burden?

Can't imagine where she'd get that idea. Hire a maid and get off the cross.

[WCGreen]

31. Boy oh Boy, people are quick to judge....

I do most of the housework and work from home but I can't do the heavy cleaning because of my repitory promblems that I clearly mentioned in the OP...

[Book Lover]

32. Then hire someone to do it for you

This is why people here are frustrated - you clearly have physical trouble doing the housecleaning. Your wife can't keep up either, clearly. So get someone else to do it. Why is that so hard to understand?

[WCGreen]

35. What's hard to under stand is that we do not have enough money to hire

a house cleaning service...

Okay...

Does that sink in now...

I didn't want to go here but guess what, if she can't at least keep it clean enough for me to breath then I am probably going to have to divorce her just so I can regain some of my health and well being...

The problem is is that I love her...

I really hate defending myself to sanctimonious, holy than thou people...

I'm done with this...

[malta blue]

38. ...

:hug:

[La Lioness Priyanka]

37. to be very honest, would you ask this if the genders were reversed

what if a man refused to clean the house for his sick wife

i dont like the way wc green words this but he has a point, people are jumping down his throat without weighing that the dirt is making him sick

(i am not saying that you particularly are..)

[Fran Kubelik]

48. How do we know that she refuses to clean?

Has he said this? I think there is more to this than we know about. He has a respiratory problem. Perhaps she has debilitating depression, or health problems of her own.

[Connonym]

51. I understand the point you're trying to make

we don't know the entire circumstances but based on how he phrased his OP it comes off as really hateful. I'd give him the benefit of the doubt that he didn't mean it that way except that every time he's tried to justify it he's only reinforced my impression that he's resentful that she isn't doing her womanly duty. Perhaps I'm unfairly judging but he seems clueless as to how much work goes into maintaining a clean house. If he's truly debilitated by his health issues so acutely then I would suggest that there are many charitable organizations who will come in and assist with activities of daily living for someone who is disabled.

[malta blue]

36. my $.02

Cleaning house sucks.

That being said, sorry you are being judged so harshly right now. I have respiratory issues and fibromyalgia so it really sucks to be me and try to clean my house. Mr MB does help a bit, but most of it falls on me.

The thing is, it hurts to clean. It bothers my lungs to clean. I would much rather be cuddling my dogs than clean.

:hug:

[La Lioness Priyanka]

39. can i suggest something about the cleaning? throw away as much as you can

seriously, the less you own the cleaner things are.

[Lorien]

42. That's painfully true. My studio is in my home, and my job requires

lots of equipment and loads of books.I've been getting rid of nearly everything I can; giving it to friends, Goodwill, a veteran's group, and selling a few things on eBay. It does make cleaning a little easier! But alas, unless I can someday have a studio outside the home housekeeping will NEVER be anything close to a zen garden!

[ThomCat]

43. I can understand her thinking.

The more you have to clean the further behind you'll get, and the worse the dust and grime will get.

I clean until I ache, but as my pain gets worse I ache soon and soon. I'm throwing things away and paying people to clean for me. I'd never want to have a bigger place for exactly the reason your wife mentioned.
:(

I am sorry that it's affecting your health. I hope you are breathing well. :hug:

[fudge stripe cookays]

44. I read recently...

that one of the recent winners of an HGTV Dream House was foreclosed upon because they couldn't afford the taxes.

Pretty sad sign of our society.

[TexasBushwhacker]

46. I would imagine that most people would have to sell the house

Either that, or take out a mortgage just to pay the taxes. But I have to agree. "Dream House" sweepstakes are pretty bogus. You get taxed at the "sticker price" of a fully furnished house, which usually includes a big ass car, which they also tax at full sticker price.

[Robeson]

50. I thought you married a blue-blood...

...with country club memberships and every-thang. Surely you guys can afford to hire some of us blue-collars to help keep it cleaned...:P

[BuelahWitch]

52. Is there maybe someone in your church or community

That could help, who wouldn't ask for much, or that maybe you could barter with for housecleaning? I don't know what your wife's situation is, but I do know it's really hard to work 40 hours a week and them come home and clean house too.

[Digit]

53. This is simple..you enter to win, and IF you win, you take cash

or sell the house for cash to pay the taxes.

Then you use the remainder to hire a maid service and do some other remodeling or repairs to your current house.