Rethinking our housework through subtraction and addition

For dual-income couples, one of the unavoidable themes is
"the burden of housework".

I myself, amidst the changing life circumstances of giving birth to my first daughter, returning to work, giving birth to my second daughter, and returning to work again,

(Oh, I'm chased by housework every day.)felt that way many times.

I will introduce

two approachesthat my husband and I keep in mind when considering improvements on how to handle housework more stress-free.

1. Subtraction: Reducing unnecessary fixations

Are there any points in your housework that you areunconsciously fixated on?

The power of the sun is great, laundry must be sun-dried! The living and dining room should be vacuumed every morning to be clean in every corner! Meals should be eaten freshly cooked!

I understand, that is the ideal! However,

Laundry is not dried on the balcony. It is completed with a dryer and indoor drying. Cleaning the living and dining room is done three times a week. I leave it to the robot vacuum. Side dishes for the first half of the week are made or bought on the weekend.

Our family is able to live with this stance without dissatisfaction or problems.

While it is of course important to figure out "how to efficiently handle" a huge number of tasks, why not start by

reducing unnecessary fixations?

Just by lowering the baseline of life that you take for granted, you will create room in your feelings and time.

Especially while children are small, it is common to end up overworked before you know it in the midst of busy days.

When you feel (I'm kind of exhausted lately) or (I want more breathing room in my life), please look back on your daily housework from the perspective of
Is this really necessary?.

2. Addition: Introducing convenience

If you still don't have enough room in your feelings or time even after reviewing your housework approach from a subtraction perspective, consider the

addition approachof introducing convenience. Examples include introducing convenient appliances or utilizing agency services.

In our case, considering the heavy burden of hanging and taking in laundry every day, we introduced a drum-type washing machine with a drying function before our first daughter was born.

As a result, I am very satisfied, fully enjoying the benefits of the drum-type washing machine, such as: - No need to go to the balcony to hang laundry - It dries reliably regardless of the weather.

Honestly, it is quite expensive, but I feel it is cost-effective enough that I think I couldn't manage my life without it!

If you repeatedly feel burdened or stressed by specific housework, I think
boldly solving it with moneyis one method.

Finally

Deciding what to consider a waste and how much to invest in convenience
depends on each family's situation and values.

Also, even with the same family structure,
values and lifestyles change day by day.
I feel that the way we handle household choresrequires periodic review.

By the way, here is the balance of subtraction and addition for the three major household chores in the Karashin household.

In our home, because we want to make laundry as easy as possible, we have continuously reviewed our approach by:
・Reducing the amount of laundry (subtraction）
・Introducing a drum-type washing machine (addition）

Conversely, regarding cooking, there is still room for improvement,
so I feel we need to continue trying various approaches in the future.

If you feel like you are being chased by household chores every day,
why not try reviewing your approach to chores from the perspective of subtraction and addition?

Practical examples from the Karashin household are available in this article!
If you are interested, please take a look.