The return of the house husband

As some of you may remember, my husbeast was in danger of losing his job. Well that fear finally manifested into reality, and as of last Friday he is unemployed. I am incredibly relieved. I know that relief is probably not the feeling I should be experiencing here, but it is. The last three or four months have been positive nightmares from the stress he was under. Now we can move on and find him a new job and get on with our lives.

In the meantime, while he searches for employment, the husbeast has dutifully taken on the role of house husband. Long ago, well before we were married, we established ground rules for our cohabitation.If we both were working (or at the time in school) we would share household responsibilities as equally as we could. I did most of the cooking and cleaning, he handles things like garbage and cat boxes. It might not seem like a fair division of labor, but I promise you it works for us.

If one of us should find ourselves unemployed though, their primary function turns to keeping the house clean. If you have nothing else productive to do with your day there is no reason that the chores should not all be done. For a while before we got married I was out of school and out of a job. During this period I made sure the house was always relatively clean and there was food on the table for him when he got home from work. It might sound like some antiquated 1950's idea, and I am sure feminists everywhere are crying out in agony at the idea, but it works for us.

Of course this is an equal expectation. When he is unemployed he takes on this responsibility. I get to make him honey-do lists, and he gets to complete them. I came home last night to some of the clutter cleaned up, a partially clean kitchen, and dinner on the stove. This morning the garbage was on the curb and he had grocery list in hand. I like not having to worry about these little things. I could use a little less stress in my life right now. I don't expect him to do everything, and in fact he is forbidden from doing some things*, but he is pulling his weight where he can.

In the end it is an arrangement that works out for all parties involved. He doesn't feel like he is a useless lump, and I don't have to stress about being the only income earner, and cleaning, and cooking, and going to the store, and keeping the books, and all my other normal day to day tasks.

Hopefully he will soon find a good paying job and things will revert back to the way they normally are. I am not going to lie though, I am enjoying having a house husband while it lasts.



*He is not allowed to really clean the kitchen because I can't stand the way he does things. In the end I always go back behind him and re-clean everything, and one of the things I hate most in this world is redoing something what wasn't done right in the first place.