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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

The toiletries bag (light hearted)

157 replies

ollieplimsoles · 06/06/2015 18:23

A stand- off is happening in my house.

I was unpacking the shopping in the kitchen when we came home and all the bath/ shower things were in the one Morrisons bag. I asked him to 'take this bag of toiletries to the bathroom'. He did, when I went upstairs however I chuckled to myself to see that he had simply put the large bag down on the floor of the bathroom and not actually unpacked it (classic DH). I told him I thought it was funny and that he should have unpacked it. He replied with 'you never asked me to unpack it.

Over the following days the bag has remained on the floor, only DH has taken what he needs out of it as he needed it! So I started doing the same! Now only a few items remain in the carrier bag that has been on the floor for almost two weeks.

Dh won't move it because...he doesn't want to. and I won't because I unpacked all he other bits of shopping!

We are both well aware of the bag and tension around it is building, who will crack first? I know I didn't tell him to unpack it, but who leaves a shopping bag unpacked on the floor!

AIBU to ask for your similar stand- off stories?

OP posts:
Original poster
ollieplimsoles · 07/06/2015 20:38

Btw the stories on this thread are epic- the soaking wet dressing gown in a maternity ward is one of my personal favourites.

And the Christmas decks just left there...all year..genius!

OP posts:
Lancelottie · 07/06/2015 20:47

I strongly suspect with out even going to look that we already have a sock on the upstairs landing.

We certainly have a tuba, half a Hornby railway and a dinghy rudder in the kitchen. I know because I've just walked round them to get to the laptop.

Naughtyspud · 07/06/2015 20:49

When DH used to work from home more than he does now, he often used to make himself a cafetiere of coffee then leave it by the sink with the dregs festering in it. If it was still there the next day, he used to use the second smaller one and leave that there too. (not sure what he did on day 3 - he's often not at home that many days in a row)

I realised I was emptying them almost without thinking about it as I started cooking tea - was a SAHM to 3 young children at the time. I got really annoyed at having to do it - inevitably I got coffee grounds everywhere at a time of day that I found really stressful anyway so I just started taking them into his office and leaving them on his desk.

Neither of us have ever mentioned it

Naughtyspud · 07/06/2015 20:55

Sort of related to this - if I leave something at the bottom of the stairs on purpose to remind me of something, say a book that needs to go back to the library or something the DCs need for school I can guarantee DH will put it away 'for me'. Something left there because it needs to go upstairs, say MASSIVE basket of clean washing, he will step carefully over Hmm

Whateverittakes3 · 07/06/2015 21:09

Oh jeez. This is my life! As if it's not enough constantly picking up after 2 kids I have to pick up after dh all the time. I do the whole leaving it for a few days thing but get so irritated by it, I just end up caving in! The really annoying situations are empty packets in the cupboard/drawer. Rubbish/laundry next to the bin or actually on it. Just pick up the fecking lid!!! When I'm in a reasonable mood I rationalise it and think we just have different standards, he's not doing it to deliberately piss me off etc but when I'm hormonal, I'm fuming and just think he's a lazy fecker! I quite like the idea of having a bag next to his bed of stuff he's just left lying around. Is that unreasonable and petty?!

3luckystars · 07/06/2015 21:16

How could anyone leave a cola bottle on the floor? That cant be true.

RackofPeas · 07/06/2015 21:19

I honestly have no idea what sort of item I could leave lying around to test DH, he's just so oblivious! I do like to frustrate him by putting his wallet and phone into the special decorative bowl I bought for the purpose and watch him spend ages hunting for them. He will huff and ask where they are.
In the phone bowl - I will say. I also have a rack of hooks next to the back door for keys. He never hangs the keys up. I find myself approaching a locked back door, shout to him for the keys and find that -
They're in his pocket.
They're on the table.
They're in the shed.
They're in the bathroom.
They're just about anywhere EXCEPT on the key hooks.
There is a box of old cameras in our bedroom on the floor. He keeps parking it infront of my wardrobe door. I move it to infront of his, to make a point about how it shouldn't be there. It moves back again. I can't lift it, it's too heavy so he has to sort it out and they're his cameras anyway.
His fishtank needs cleaning. I can barely keep up with the hovering at the moment so I'm not scrubbing a fishtank and it's his anyway. The algae is so bad you can't see the fish.
I thought I had won the Great Pile of Documents stand off. I used to do all the home admin stuff but the two little whirlwinds keep me too busy. One day the huge tottering pile vanished. I thought he had sorted and filed it.
No, he'd just bunged it in a paper bag and shoved it out of sight.

My parents had a Christmas decoration up for an entire year. It was a gold tinsel circle with a pretend plastic candle in the middle, hanging up on the hall light by the front door. Does that win??

storynanny2 · 07/06/2015 21:20

My friend was fed up with her husband leaving shirts in the laundry with rolled up sleeves despite being asked not to. One day she decided to wash dry and iron them without unrolling them. He didn't do it again.

RackofPeas · 07/06/2015 21:21

Rubbish next to the bin! Yes, why do they do that? So often he has to walk PAST the bin to put it down anyway!! Aaah!
This is why I stopped buying Finish dishwasher tabs and switched to Fairy. The little packets on the side used to do my head in!

PeppermintCrayon · 07/06/2015 21:25

I do all the laundry in exchange for DH doing all the washing up. We both think we have the better deal.

However an ex in my late teens left his washing on the floor because his mum picked it up from there. I didn't, obviously.

PeppermintCrayon · 07/06/2015 21:25

I mean we lived together and he thought Id pick it up. Nope.

Manic3mum · 07/06/2015 21:44

This thread is hilarious! My DH is just the same - we had used tea mugs stand-off, we got to a collection of 6 on his bedside table before I exploded! (so 6 days worth)
Angry Angry Angry

stonelog · 07/06/2015 21:47

This thread is so funny. Very reassuring to hear it's not just me who has to suffer for weeks on end. The pent-up fury Grin

I do worry about DP's bedside table. He leaves so much junk on it that he's knocked over glasses of water etc. many a time. The worst was when he something that really should have been put in the bin straightaway...MIL would have seen it if I hadn't been a pushover particularly diligent in my cleaning that day!

NothingUpMySleeve · 07/06/2015 21:50

I have a definite system for clothes, dirty stuff in basket, things which have been worn but are clean enough to reuse, folded on top of the chest of drawers. DP leaves everything on the floor, until there's no difference between the dirty and reusable and I throw it all in the basket and take it for washing.

I'm part-time and accept, now the children are older, that I should do a greater share of the housework, but I just can't stand doing unnecessary washing and sorting stuff a grown man should be able to do when he gets undressed.

This thread has inspired me to take all the are they clean?/ are they dirty? clothes off the bedroom floor and throw the whole lot in the bin.

LumpySpacedPrincess · 07/06/2015 21:52

Am I the only one who doesn't think this is funny? Seriously, there are a lot of entitled men out there.

bilbodog · 07/06/2015 21:53

At work there is a mince pie on the floor behind the pedal bin in the kitchen which we noticed about 4 months ago - we are leaving it there to see how long it stays. At this point I don't know if the cleaner is male or female because they come in Sunday's when we are closed ...........
And a few years ago I bought a small bedroom chair from an antiques shop and forgot to tell dh as he was away on business. When I realised I hadn't told him I thought I would wait to see how long it took fir him to comment on it. It was on his side of the bed as well! Needless to say I gave up after 6 months and told him - he tried to assure me that he had noticed but just didn't comment ......

3luckystars · 07/06/2015 21:56

You can wash the fluff off of colabottles, you know, no problem. I just cant understand anyone just leaving one there on the carpet like that.

Sunbeam18 · 07/06/2015 21:56

We have a towering pile of newspapers beside his side of the bed. I periodically chuck them all into a bag and put it on top of his side of the bed. He doesn't deal with it, but at least they are now in a bag by the bed instead of free range.
Last week I gave up and carried the boxes of Christmas decorations up to the attic. They had been waiting in a pile on top of a cabinet since early January.

Lauren83 · 07/06/2015 21:57

This happens in mine with the mouthwash and loo roll, he is lazy and never changes them so will use the tiniest amount so there's a bit left so he doesn't have to change if, I have started doing the same now to him, it's like some weird game of Russian roulette

Drivingforpeace · 07/06/2015 21:57

This is hilarious ollieplimsolls, he's obviously annoyed at it being there and at tripping on it but it would never occur to him that he could take the things out and get rid of the bag. I think he thinks you want the bag there and he's hoping you'll get rid of it soon.

CheshireSplat · 07/06/2015 22:01

This thread is great. I second itstricky's idea upthread. Please swap it for another bag and replace...

Original poster
ollieplimsoles · 07/06/2015 22:02

I know! :D

Lord bless him, maybe he thinks I'm planning to move the bag somewhere and I've just forgotten about it!

I just thought it was so funny, I ask him to take the toiletries upstairs and I find an actual carrier bag, placed on the bathroom floor. So right items in right room- just not unpacked! Its gold! Grin

OP posts:
FairyPenguin · 07/06/2015 22:43

DH has piles of clean folded laundry on floor next to bed. I don't care as it's clean and I don't need to go to that side of the room.

My stand off is always the bins. He stuffs rubbish in and pushes it down rather than taking the bag out. Even though I remind him that the bag might split if it gets caught on the bin handle as it's too full. But I nearly always give in as he's hardly home in the week so he has never suffered the actual consequences of leaking bin bags.

SilverBirch2015 · 07/06/2015 22:57

I started putting DH's bits and pieces he left around the house in his "man" drawer in the study. When that became too full, created another drawer, then a cupboard, then a basket in the bedroom, then a basket in the living room, drawers in the dining room. I kid you not, 25% of our storage space must to full of his unsorted stuff. When he can't find something he has to go through the lot.

One of the more annoying things he does is to leave used up batteries lying around when he removes them from a gadget. Why?

Funny thing is he does his fair share of all housework and chores. But he just doesn't see that housework includes putting stuff away in its proper place.

ChowNowBrownCow · 07/06/2015 23:04

Last year it took DH 4 months to put away the empty suitcases into the loft after our holiday. 5 cases and 4 holdalls! We just returned from holiday so we'll see if he can beat the 4 months mark?! They are huge and take up loads of space and get so dusty, it drives me insane.......he doesn't even notice there still there!

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