Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think this is odd (MIL issue)

97 replies

3rdrockfromthesun · 27/09/2015 22:30

Just come back from London and seeing DP's parents who are separated. Was going through the drawers Before leaving to pack stuff we had forgotten/ left behind last time where I found some of DP's underwear. Started to pack them when DP said that his mother has spare paints for him just in case he forgets to bring some with him! AIBU to think this is a bit odd as DP is 25 (not going on 3) that he can just nip to the shop and buy spares/new paints if forgets like the rest of us Hmm?

OP posts:
Original poster
3rdrockfromthesun · 27/09/2015 22:30

Plus they are new ones not ones he left behind when he moved out

OP posts:
MrsTerryPratchett · 27/09/2015 22:32

Paints or pants?

BackInTheRealWorld · 27/09/2015 22:32

Meh, it's not even worth a second thought.

maddening · 27/09/2015 22:33

Such things are born from experience - so probably after several visits where your dp had failed to pack underpants his mum got some in to avoid the having to wash them immediately or the rush to the shops to buy some more.

Vixxfacee · 27/09/2015 22:33

Yabu who cares.

Prettyeyedpiratesmile · 27/09/2015 22:34

Unless her DP is Picasso, then I think we can safely say she means pants....

HirplesWithHaggis · 27/09/2015 22:35

If that's the oddest thing she does, you have a keeper. Grin

How long since he moved out? How much "stuff" has he left behind?

IAmACuboid · 27/09/2015 22:36

Ach, c'mon, he's 25 not 35, it's not that long ago he was living at home and she was buying all his pants for him.
Yes it's a bit of overstepping now he's fully left home, but all it'd take is him saying "No need to do that anymore Mum". If he turns up without his overnight bag it's just easier to have a few things there, why make a special trip to buy stuff unnecessarily?
I left spare clothes at my mum's til I was 30 (jeans/jumpers/boots etc) as I'd sometimes head there for the wkend straight from work. No big deal.

BertrandRussell · 27/09/2015 22:37

My mother had a box in her bathroom that she kept stocked with tampons in case any of her adult daughters or daughters in law needed them.

There were many occasions over the years when we were grateful.

Maybe83 · 27/09/2015 22:39

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

scatterthenuns · 27/09/2015 22:39

Fine at 25. He won't have moved out that long ago.

Greengardenpixie · 27/09/2015 22:40

No, not that weird. My ds had to ask to borrow my dh's socks and he was also in this twenties.

FadedRed · 27/09/2015 22:41

Have a look in the loft next time, you'll probably find his schoolbooks and train set too.

Original poster
3rdrockfromthesun · 27/09/2015 22:43

Yes pants not paints Blush. We live in Yorkshire so it is not a spur of the moment visit that becomes an overnight stay.

Umm he left home fully 18 months ago. I just find it odd about having spare underwear - maybe she is waiting for the day he leaves me and moves back home?!

OP posts:
sodabreadjam · 27/09/2015 22:52

My DSs are in their 30s. One lives in the USA and the other has been living with us on and off - he has just moved out to live with his girlfriend.

We have spare clothes for both of them, although I can't say I would be rushing out to buy new clothes to keep here for them.

However, I can assure you that it is my dearest wish for my them to find a long term partner and settle down. I really doubt that you MIL is trying to entice your DP back home with the promise of new pants.

Agrestic · 27/09/2015 22:53

My mum's probably got shed loads of my old pants that I abandoned 5/6 years ago.

It's not weird.

HirplesWithHaggis · 27/09/2015 22:56

Or maybe he had a habit of turning up from Uni with bags of filthy laundry and no clean underwear, and she got fed up with him hogging the washing machine the minute he walked in? Maybe she likes to do certain types of laundry on certain days/prefers not to use the tumble dryer... who knows? We all have our own little peculiarities, and if this really is the worst, as I said earlier, you have a keeper.

If you're living, and presumably working, in Yorkshire, mummy's home in That London isn't going to be first port of call if you do break up.

OddlyLogical · 27/09/2015 22:57

I find it very weird!

cdtaylornats · 27/09/2015 22:58

I'm 57 and keep some clothes at my Mums - who wants to cart a suitcase around on a train when you visit

GiddyOnZackHunt · 27/09/2015 23:02

I'm 45 and haven't lived with my parents for at least 23 years.
My mum still keeps a toothbrush for me :)

5Foot5 · 27/09/2015 23:06

18 months is nothing. Give the poor woman a break. (Oh and since you refer to him as your DP not your DH she is not strictly speaking your MIL)

Marcipex · 27/09/2015 23:12

My mum has more than one spare bath robe, it saves people packing a lot of stuff.
Not a big deal surely to have a few spare clothes in the house.

scatterthenuns · 27/09/2015 23:15

Actually, come to think of it, all the clothes (knickers included) are exactly where I left them when I moved out over a decade ago.

NotAnotherMonday · 27/09/2015 23:16

Not odd at all, my mum has a whole spare set of clothes including knickers and bras for me at hers (and she only lives 10mins away) "just in case" she always has, since I went to university. It's a comfort to know if I lost everything id still have something to wear that was "mine"

imip · 27/09/2015 23:16

No, not weird!

I met dh when he was 27. He'd been at boarding school, living at uni, and them a different city from his parents (rural Australia) for 11 years. He still took a huge bin bag of dirty clothes to his mum every time he visited home, and she still brought him jocks, socks and hankies every birthday and Christmas. I was his first long term girlfriend. I thought it weird at the time, but now I seem to by these things for dh??? He's just lazy and would probably end up going commando because he would be too lazy to by himself underpants (but he his currently making four dough pizza bases for dinner tomorrow(.