The pressure to stay on top of all of life's admin, maintain healthy relationships, be "present" as parents, and maintain a clean home has never been harder for families.
What used to be the sole role of one person is thankfully being phased out, with more and more families choosing to take on a more shared role in managing and maintaining their home lives. In this series, we speak to couples who have successfully found a balance that works for their family in sharing the load, and first up is the insanely talented Alex and Corban Walls.
Fresh off winning The Block NZ in 2014, Alex & Corban are the owners of A&C Homestore, a beautiful homewares business with 3 stores across Auckland and a newly opened Christchurch store. In between managing the business and raising their two gorgeous kids, finding a balance between doing what they can and getting help where they need it has been priceless.
Thanks Alex for letting us pick your brain on how you guys manage your home and all of the cleaning responsibilities. To start us off, what phrase best describes your approach to cleaning?
We probably start off on different pages and meet somewhere in the middle. For Corban, he probably approaches cleaning with a "If you aren’t going to do it properly, don’t do it at all" kind of mindset.
For me, my approach is probably to "do your best with the time and energy you have, but some days it’s ok not to be on top of things". For us, it's a nice sweet spot that works.
How is the housework managed in your home?
We have a reasonably equal split in terms of responsibility.
Corban is at home the most so is responsible for the day to day keeping things tidy and in its place. He's also the tidiest and very fussy about ’surfaces’.
I'm responsible for the household 'operations’ and making sure everyone is dressed in clean enough clothes and fed from a well-stocked and clean/hygienic kitchen.
Most days, we like to make sure we are going to bed knowing that the laundry is done, and the kitchen and lounge are tidied and cleaned up, ready to be absolutely owned by the kids again at 6am the next morning. Every day we will vacuum or sweep the main areas.
We have a cleaner come once a fortnight to help us get into some "deeper cleaning" that we don't always have the energy for. We LOVE this day! But it’s quickly screwed up by that night.
Do you have roles with the domestic workload?
Our general housework responsibilities are split this way:
- Whoever gets up with the kids is responsible for the morning clean up and dishwasher unpack from the night before.
- I cook all the meals, do the supermarket shopping and keep the kitchen in order and stocked up.
- Corban does most dinner clean-ups, and rubbish, compost, and recycling daily.
- I'm responsible for all laundry, folding, putting away, sorting.
- Corban cleans the bathrooms and does the general tidying up around the house daily.
Are there particular routines you stick to?
Every morning we aim to leave the house knowing that the dishwasher has been emptied from the night before and the kitchen tidied up from breakfast. Our kitchen bins are small, so Corban is responsible for taking out the compost, recycling, and rubbish daily.
At dinner time, we clean up as we go, and dinner isn’t finished until the kitchen is clean. We'll always do a vacuum or sweep up the floors because... KIDS!
We aim to clean toilets probably once a week, but we leave the vanities and showers to the cleaner who comes fortnightly.
I'll usually do the bulk of the washing on the weekend, so it has enough time to dry, fold, and put away. With maybe one other load throughout the week.
We hardly ever do mopping, but can tell the difference straight away, and besides spot cleaning the windows, as we notice the kids' finger prints on them, we book a window cleaner every spring to do the big outdoor job.
What’s your partner the best at? What do you wish they did more of / or better at?
Corban is the best at tidying and making every surface look like it’s never been touched. But don’t look in the drawers... he just stuffs everything in drawers with no order or method. He is also the best picker-upper, picking up everything he sees but again just dumping it at the entrance of a room, which then becomes my responsibility. He is basically really good at doing the surface cleaning, but the handover of the rest of the job goes to me.
I’m good at keeping the house operating, the kids' rooms sorted, people all fed and the laundry done. But I’m particularly bad at finishing a cleaning job to a high standard (a Corban standard is perfection), or cleaning the toilets. I admittedly am a "flush and walk away" person (normally because I’ll be in the middle of something). I’ve got to say, cleaning is not my strong suit!
What’s the most annoying mess to clean?
LEGO! It’s not just in one area, it is found in every area; surface, crack, crevice, or stabbing your foot as you walk around the house.
And secondly, children's toilet mess.
When do you book a cleaner?
We book a cleaner once a fortnight.
What’s your best tip for busy households juggling work, family life.
Get a cleaner – at least once a fortnight to help you get on top of the deeper cleaning that you don’t have the time to do yourself.
Make sure you and your partner have discussed how to make it a reasonably even load, and don’t be too hard on each other when it’s not up to standard! Because life is busy, hectic and sometimes you just can’t be assed.
