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AIBU?

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AIBU to expect boyfriend to contribute to housework?

209 replies

nutellacrumpet8991 · 19/12/2018 10:13

I've been with my boyfriend for almost 3 years now. I am 23, he is 36. We don't live together although we are planning to move in together next year after i finish my master's degree. I stay at his place for weeks at a time, even months during the summer.

I don't work but i have my own money. Less than him, but enough to cover my rent, bills, food, travel and necessities.

Generally we get along well and things are good. However there is one major problem that has been bothering me. When i stay at his place for a long period of time i do EVERYTHING. I do laundry,i fold it and put it in the wardrobe, i cook dinner every single night, durink the weekend i also make us breakfast and lunch, i do the dishes every single day, i pack his lunch for work, i clean the flat,i take bins out, i even put his dirty clothes in the laundry basket. I also do a food shop every week (i don't drive so i have to carry bags uphill for half an hour).

He works Monday to Friday from 9 to 5. Desk job. When i tell him that he should do some stuff around the flat too he says things like 'Well i work every day so we can have a flat, food and afford nice things'. Which is fair, but it's not like i am dependant on him. I pay rent for my own flat, i pay my own bills, i pay for what i need for myself, i buy food for the both of us.

If i don't do the housework he still doesn't do it and i can't live in filth. If he makes a sandwich or toast he lives the buttery knife on the counter, crumbs everywhere. He is very messy. We had an argument a while ago because the bin was full and i did not take it out that day and he said to me: 'I feel like when you are here you treat this flat like a holiday home'. Then i told him every single thing i do around his flat and again i got the 'i go to work every day so we can have this and this' response.

I did a big expensive Christmas food shop the other day. But we still need the turkey, veg, fruit and drinks that are difficult to carry. I keep asking him to go get them but all i get is 'i am tired, just make me a list and i'll grab some things during lunch break". I said no, we need to go one day when you come home from work. He just tells me he's tired and that i can get the rest of what we need because i have nothing to do. Last year was my first Christmas with him. We had a Christmas lunch with his family then for the rest of Christmas we ate cheese sandwiches because he was too unorganized and lazy to do a food shop.

I now have doubts about moving in with him next year. I'll have a full time job too by then and i don't want to come home from work, do everything while he is relaxing on the sofa waiting for dinner to be ready.

Besides this he is affectionate, funny, caring and we enjoy our time together. His family is great and they like me. I really don't know what to do.

OP posts:
Heartbrokengirl14 · 19/12/2018 10:16

For me this would be a red flag waving! Think what it would be like after you move in. Postpone the move and have a talk and see how he reactions that should give you an idea of what he is really like

formerbabe · 19/12/2018 10:20

Don't do it fgs. Did he ask you to? Why are you doing his laundry? I've had plenty of boyfriends who I didn't live with. It never once occurred to me to do their washing, or indeed do anything beyond washing up what I'd used.

You're already setting yourself up to be a total martyr.

FestiveNut · 19/12/2018 10:21

Don't move in with him. It does not get better from here.

AtrociousCircumstance · 19/12/2018 10:23

Don’t move in with him.

The affectionate caring etc etc part of him will diminish rapidly when you’re stuck with someone so inconsiderate and lazy. It won’t change.

KayM2 · 19/12/2018 10:23

Oh dear.

You are not being at all unreasonable. Far from it. he needs a wake up call, as they say. And the time to have that call, if he gets it, is before you set up home permanently together. I wish you luck. He's better be worth the hard work it will be to change him

( in terms of strategy, perhaps very specific things, rather than a " talking to" that will come over as " you are a slob". Joint use of washing machine..... dishwasher...…. ironing. The bloody microwave. That sort of thing)

If it annoys you now, just think how much it will annoy you when you are 10 years down the line!

e1y1 · 19/12/2018 10:23

He taking the piss. 9-5 - he doesn't know meaning of work. My DH can put in nigh on 80hr a week and will still pull his weight around the house.

ILoveMaxiBondi · 19/12/2018 10:25

Don’t move in with him!!!

What’s happening now is exactly what would happen if you moved in. This will be your life for the rest of your life. This is who he is, he doesn’t do housework. Either accept that, and move in knowing you will be doing it all! Or accept it and leave him to sort his own house and you stay in your nice clean house. Honestly, he won’t change, no matter how much you try and talk to him about it.

ILoveMaxiBondi · 19/12/2018 10:26

TBH I can’t believe you’ve been doing it all already when it’s not even your house! Why did you?

BrushTheCatEar · 19/12/2018 10:36

He sounds like a selfish, lazy man child!

ShalomJackie · 19/12/2018 10:36

Stop doing his housework and just do yours at your place. Why would you move in with him when you can already see the future?

BonBonVoyage · 19/12/2018 10:39

Omg you're 23. Dump him!!!! Don't waste any more time with him

PickledChutney · 19/12/2018 10:54

Oh dear. You’re setting yourself up for a crappy life with him if you move in together. He’s not going to change. He’s taking the piss out of you and you’re letting him. Best case if you move in with him is that you’ll be able to get him to do some housework if you nag at him constantly. Worst case is that you do it all and eventually stop to make a point and then end up living in a pigsty. Yuck.

formerbabe · 19/12/2018 10:58

I think it's unfair in a way to blame him. I presume he's always lived like that and must be fairly content...then he gets a girlfriend who comes round and does all the housework willingly. Why would he suddenly change? It's your choice to do what you're doing.

It's understandable that further into the future you might not want to settle down with someone lazy...that would be a nightmare. You are obviously not compatible in terms of living together.

Weenurse · 19/12/2018 10:59

Don’t move in.

ExplodedPeach · 19/12/2018 11:00

I don't understand why you ever started?! Sharing the cooking/washing up when you're there, sure, but why would you ever do his cleaning, washing or pack his lunch? Anyway, he sounds like a waste of space. Would he do the same visiting your flat?

Don't move in with him, it'll only get worse. When someone shows you who they are, believe them!!

CardsforKittens · 19/12/2018 11:00

He's become used to having all the housework done by you. And he thinks that's ok. It's not.

People don't change very much. Can you live with doing all the housework as well as a job outside the home for the next 5, 10, 20, even 40+ years? I couldn't and I'd end the relationship over this because it's not a minor detail, it's years and years of being treated as inferior.

RayRayBidet · 19/12/2018 11:01

Please don't move in with him, he won't change. Please spare your sanity.

KC225 · 19/12/2018 11:01

Don't move in with him, it will only get worse.

UpstartCrow · 19/12/2018 11:02

Is he from the 1950's?

Sleephelpplease · 19/12/2018 11:03

If he’s this lazy now think how much more will fall on you if you have kids and are working? Is that what you really want? I’d be running a mile and finding someone who was more of a partner.

Imnotaslimjim · 19/12/2018 11:04

Don't do it. I did and put up with it for 15 years before I decided I was worth more than that! You have so much life ahead of you, why tie yourself to a man that her wants a skivvy?

LannieDuck · 19/12/2018 11:04

I assumed from the title that this would be a thread about him staying at your house a bit and you wondering if he should do some housework while there.

I was prepared to say that it's your house and you'd have to do the housework anyway. Maybe it would be appropriate for him to do a bit if he stays over frequently. I would never ever have said he should do it all!

So... why are you doing all of his?! Definite red flag.

7yo7yo · 19/12/2018 11:05

God no way.
Wait till you have kids, it’ll get worse.
I’d dump and move on.

ChocolateCoins567 · 19/12/2018 11:06

Sorry are you paying rent for your own place but you're mostly at his? Flipping heck. Stop staying over and doing it all - he is never going to change if you keep mothering him!

Move back to your place, and stop doing his washing! Are you his girlfriend or his maid?! I wouldn't dream of moving in with someone who had such a backwards view of having a home together, that he views housework as your work. No! You wear clothes, you wash them.

Go back to your place, and tell him you want to be in a relationship with an adult not a child!

IAmW0manHearMeRoar · 19/12/2018 11:07

Sorry but it sounds like he has no respect for you.

Can I ask why you don't work?

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