We all know those jobs that nobody wants, but everyone wants done: cooking, cleaning, organizing, home repair, and laundry. All of that is assuming that nobody talks to anybody and just takes care of basic human needs in a household. People may pretend that everyone can do all these jobs while having to provide external validation for an employer, but at the end of the day, something has to give. More importantly, doing all those tasks means that one is not simultaneously resting, pursuing any personal fulfillment, or maintaining any relationship. The Heritage Foundation made waves in 2011 by proclaiming that if someone had a television, stove, refrigerator, or various other appliances, that person was not poor. I would argue that having and using all of those things takes more time than people think, and I completely understand why folks used to shove fast food and processed items down their throats before collapsing in a heap.
Laundry is not just throwing clothes in a machine and forgetting about them. People have to retrieve the laundry from wherever it is, and hope that all of it has been retrieved. Some people still sort between colors and delicates, but the reason why laundry detergent is useful for everything is because most people lack the time to sort before they need uniforms and/or underwear. Yes, people can do things while they wash and dry clothes, but all cycles are different, sometimes clothes have to be dried again, but to simplify, assume that the washing and drying takes about two hours. Most people do not use dryers as their storage because at this point in time, fewer people own their own washers and dryers, so now the clothes have to be taken back from whence they came, and that can take anywhere from fifteen minutes to an hour. This is just laundry, and already, a little over two and a half hours has been used.
Not everyone can do home repair, despite the videos and the sales pitches of home improvement stores. Thus, one who can do their own home repair save a little bit of time, but as anyone who problem-solves would know, figuring out what the problem is takes most of the time of home repair. Once the problem has been identified, maybe people have the parts, but most people lack the space to maintain tools and repair items at their house, so that errand depends on where one is located. Then–assuming that the part is cheap–installation and repair take some time. Who knows how long that can take, especially when every problem is different?
Some may sneer at organizing, but if someone has no idea where anything is or what they have, they can waste a lot of time and money repurchasing things, which is one reason why hoarding has reached the levels of being televised. Even knowing where everything is in a bathroom makes doing everything in a bathroom much easier, and the bathroom is already pretty basic. Storage, efficiency, and overall calm are much more possible when people are in relatively organized spaces, which is why there are so many retailers devoted to organization. Imagine coming home from just one job, and having no idea where the pajamas are, or where to put anything brought to and from that job.
Everyone likes a clean home. Everyone. Anyone who says otherwise is usually making an excuse for mental health issues that they are unwilling or unable to address. However, even doing the bare minimum of cleaning a studio apartment takes time, because there are different sections of the room, and different kinds of cleaning. Washing bedclothes is an additional laundry load, and almost nobody has time to do an extra load if they are working multiple jobs. People are likely washing themselves in disgusting bathrooms because the more complicated a bathroom is, the more time it takes to clean. Even the simplest of kitchens involves a sink and a floor, and there is no way that food can avoid messing up the surfaces. This excludes windows, walls, garages, yards, closets, porches, or other parts of a house–just one room, and even the readers of this post are probably exhausted.
Speaking of kitchens, cooking is so time consuming that one of the most commonly sought-after home helpers is a personal chef. First, one has to have food to either eat or prepare, and unless someone is in the habit of cooking for themselves, deciding what to purchase other than frozen food or readymade meals can be daunting. Then, after purchasing the food, usually one does not use all the food they just bought, so they have to put the food away, and again, people generally choose frozen or readymade meals because they lack the experience of organizing a kitchen. Now, the decision of what to make at that moment has to be made, and if someone forgot something, now they have to either do without or go back to the store to get something else, the reason for convenience stores. After cooking, unless all the food was eaten, usually some of the food has to be put away, and I will say that not being able to store any food is actually quite stressful. Great, now the food has been purchased, prepared, and stored–meals for the week have been prepped if one is vigilant–but now the kitchen has to be cleaned. Even if every meal takes thirty minutes from prep to plate, it still takes time to restore the kitchen.
These are the very basics to maintain a healthy household. I have not gone into meal prep, managing finances, socializing, getting rid of items one no longer uses, commuting, extra work done from home, or any of the other aspects of every day living that people take for granted. If one comes home from a stressful day of being overworked and underpaid, no one wants to do this because it is a lot. Having someone who stays home and takes care of everything is ideal, but unless one is paying that worker, most are unlikely to stay in such a position without help. The United States will increase its emotional maturity when it realizes that if people want something done, they need resources to do it; otherwise, those efforts are not happening.
Chasing A Dying Empire 