One woman, Allison Raskin, has come up with a creative approach to household chores in her marriage, which she calls the “Allison Solve.” In a viral TikTok video, she explains that if she asks her husband to complete a task that is more aligned with his strengths than hers, and he doesn’t do it on time, she is allowed to do it her way with an “Allison Solve.” This rule has garnered over 157,000 views and over 1,000 comments since it was posted. The concept is simple: if her husband doesn’t do a task in a timely manner, she can step in and complete it quickly, albeit not perfectly.
One example Raskin gives in the video is replacing a shower caddy, where she resorted to the “Allison Solve” by placing a new caddy below the old one because she couldn’t remove the old one. This resulted in a less-than-ideal aesthetic in the shower, but Raskin had solved the problem on her terms. Viewers in the comments found humor in her approach and shared their own strategies for dealing with similar household issues, such as hiring someone to do a task if their partner procrastinates or charging a finder’s fee if their partner can’t find something.
Some viewers compared Raskin’s “Allison Solve” method to the concept of weaponized incompetence, where someone deliberately performs a task poorly to avoid responsibility and force someone else to step in. While weaponized incompetence is often seen in the context of enforcing unequal gendered labor divisions, in Raskin’s case, the roles are reversed, with her taking charge of tasks that her partner hasn’t completed in a timely manner. Not everyone is on board with this approach, as evidenced by the caption in Raskin’s video stating that her husband does not approve of her method.
The concept of the “Allison Solve” sheds light on the dynamics of sharing household responsibilities within a partnership. By setting a rule that allows for a fallback option if a task isn’t completed on time, Raskin is finding a way to navigate the challenges of division of labor within a relationship. While some may find humor in her approach, it also prompts a deeper reflection on how household tasks are delegated, completed, and ultimately shared between partners. The conversation sparked by Raskin’s video highlights the various strategies and dynamics at play when it comes to managing household responsibilities within a relationship.
