Whether it’s leaving a dirty mug on the side or forgetting to put the toilet seat down, cohabiting with someone is a tough gig.
But for Made In Chelsea’s Maeva D’Ascanioand James Taylor, they’ve signed a document that they think is about to make cleaning the house just that little bit easier. The pair – who are fresh off their engagement this summer and getting ready to welcome their first baby in November – have signed a pre-baby cleaning pact.
Yep, this is a pre-nup with a big difference.
Cleaning brand method have teamed up with legal firm Lawrence Stephens to blast away the ‘gender spray gap’ with their Clean-Up Pre-Nup, where couples will commit to splitting the household chores equally. Much like your trusty childhood chores chart, you and your other half can each agree to roles and responsibilities, with a rota in place to make sure it gets done (pocket money and sticker rewards are totally optional.)
And so while it's clearly a bit of a sponcon deal, it did get us thinking... While a glorified chore chart does sound slightly unromantic, it could be the very practical answer to all your problems. Dishing out the duties ahead of time could save some drama down the road… especially when it comes to whose turn it is to take the bins out when it’s raining cats and dogs.
The Clean-Up Pre-Nup comes after research shows that 54% of women do the lion's share of housework – with over half saying a domestic dispute could lead to a complete breakdown in their relationship. And for Maeva and James – and no doubt hundreds of couples around the country – they’re putting it down on paper that they’re ready to share the housework.
But not everyone seems sold on the idea. In fact, it sounds like germs won’t be the only thing your Clean-Up Pre-Nup could kill – it might kill off the romance too.
Taking to Facebook, many felt that signing your Clean-Up Pre-Nup might be masking the real issue at hand. “In my house, we both do whatever is needed,” shared one woman, adding “We’re a team and we help each other! No one job for either of us… we just share the load,” whilst another laughed, “I do everything! I probably wouldn’t be satisfied with anything my husband cleaned, so [it’s] better to save myself the argument.”
So whilst a cleaning rota might come in handy in making sure that your other half pulls their weight, it can’t be ignored that teamwork makes the teamwork. And sometimes, just sometimes, that teamwork might mean doing the dishes for two nights in a row.