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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask for a little contribution towards a household bill?

227 replies

chrismoyles · 24/09/2020 09:45

I'm in a LDR of almost two years. Bf is 8 years younger and lives with his parents, I live with my two kids. I pay all my bills, don't get money from UC as my wage is 'too high' so everything we have, I pay for. I'm not looking for a pity parade as that's fine with me. So when LD bf comes to stay (which is roughly once every 4-6 weeks) he stays about 2 weeks a time. He eats A LOT OF my food (he has problems with an ED which I've posted about before) and when I complain about it he says I'm free to eat whatever I want when I'm at theirs. However I don't feel the need to eat and eat and eat when I'm there like he does at mine as I don't eat a great deal, I have the odd meals and snack at his (we mostly eat out which we generally go halfs on) and I like and respect his parents in that I wouldn't eat a ton of their food, especially food that I know they might be saving for something or as a little treat. He is trying to get help for his ED but sometimes I wonder if he actually believes he has one or if it's just nagging from me that makes him see about it. Either way, covid has sort of put a spanner in the works help wise but I can't help but find it extremely frustrating - he got up last night when I was asleep due to a bad cough and this morning I've found an empty ice cream carton in the bin. Myself and DD had eaten roughly 1/5 of it, he had a massive amount last week and I made a fuss about it being a treat for me and DD (of which he said pitifully, "so am I not allowed to have any?") and now I see that he's polished it off leaving none for me and DD.

He also ate a full watermelon over two days last week while I was in work which was bought for me and DS - we didn't have a morsel of it. I've found myself hiding food meant for the kids otherwise I know he'll eat it and I'll have to buy more and they'll temporarily go without. I've told him this but it's like he can't help himself - he suffers from a form of bulimia. He doesn't seem to see fit to pay me or re-buy these items as he obviously sees me as a free house. He finished off my cheese last week and when I made a massive fuss because I found out it was gone when I was about to put it on DD's pasta he went out to buy some from the local corner shop. This cheese is pretty much almost gone now, not through my or kids doing.
He will buy us takeaways quite often but also expects me to pay for some which is fine however when we do have takeaways/eat out I tend to choose something for say £6/£7 whereas he'll buy multiple items such as three starters and a main) which comes to say £15 so now I've stopped wanting any as I'm fed up of being taken for a ride.

This isn't the crux of my post but I wanted to give some background. So whenever he comes down here I never ask him to contribute to bills because I don't see why he should because he doesn't live here and I don't contribute to any bills when I'm up there however I'm there sometimes 3-4 days every 3 or so months when he's here a lot longer and more often. He's been down for almost a fortnight now and he brought his air con machine as he came down when the hot weather was starting a couple of weeks ago. I knew this would take quite a lot of electric but not as much as I was expecting. I have one of those key meter things for the electric and when I got paid this time last month there was £46 on there which I knew would last me roughly six weeks.

Yesterday morning the electric went out as the money had run out, so I'd used this £46 in a month. I knew this was because of the air con machine as I've not done anything else out of the ordinary. I can give or take being hot or cold but bf seems to have serious issues with being hot. He'll stand outside in the cold or sleep with a fan on him regularly.

So last night after much anticipation I finally asked him if he would be willing to contribute a bit to my electric bill because the air con machine made it go down really quickly. As I said I've not asked him for anything before, he lives with his parents, pays them £250 a month keep and is self employed to the tune of £52k a year. Not that this matters but I'm making a point that he can afford it. His reply was "umm ok" in a very unsure voice. I asked if that was acceptable and I had the same "yeah ok" unsure voice.

I'm at the end of my tether with him tbh. He's becoming more and more selfish and the fact that he doesn't see that I'm not on amazing pay compared to him (I take home roughly £2k a month) and decides to eat all my food and doesn't like the idea of contributing to the bill that he created is just putting nails into the coffin to be honest. He put an online pasta specialist food order onto my card the day after he came down for £26 as his wallet was upstairs (stupid me said it's fine, put it on mine and send me the money back) and despite me reminding him, he hasn't paid me back and I wasn't even fussed for this order and barely ate any of it so it's not even like I was wanting it. If I knew I was going to end up paying for it I'd have said to forget it or to get up and get your wallet. I know I should be more strong when it comes to getting my money back and getting him to pay me back for the outgoings I've mentioned in my post but he already makes fun of me for counting the pennies and keeping a close eye on my budget (I have to or I'll run out of money) that I know it would be the same if I started about this. However from reading back this post it sounds to me like he's the tight one and is taking advantage of my good nature.

He can be generous at times, we went on a massive holiday this time last year and he paid for most of it although he got to choose the hotels etc and the holiday could have been made quite a bit cheaper than it was but he wasn't 'staying in shit cheap hotels'.

Sorry for such a long post, I just wanted to know if I was BU or if he is. And any tips on sorting this out? Thanks.

OP posts:
BiblioX · 24/09/2020 10:34

I couldn’t get over him not contributing to household costs when he is eating things bought for you AND your children.
Don’t feel that expensive holidays are the same - he benefitted - got a holiday he wanted, with company, sex etc.
Making fun of you counting the pennies when you have children is shameful.

Cocomarine · 24/09/2020 10:35

And you clear up after him too 🙄 it gets worse! See though - the four thing isn’t an ED, it’s pure selfishness. That’s why he expects you to clear after him too.

Anordinarymum · 24/09/2020 10:37

All these abbreviations render me senseless. What the hell is ED please?

EL8888 · 24/09/2020 10:37

YANBU. He’s being greedy, selfish and thoughtless. He needs to find his own over-eating

It’s handy he is not moving in with you. He most definitely needs a taste of the real world. Instead of the financial non-dependency / perpetual childhood some people seem to have these days. A few months of seeing how much things cost should smarten him up a bit!

BuggerBognor · 24/09/2020 10:37

This reply has been withdrawn

Message from MNHQ: This post has been withdrawn

BuggerBognor · 24/09/2020 10:38

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EL8888 · 24/09/2020 10:38

Find = fund!
He’s clearly found it already Confused

SorryImKnew · 24/09/2020 10:38

I've gotten rid of bf's because they ate me out of house and home (or one particular dude who drank 10 nespresso coffees a day). Can't stand meanness or those who are wilfully oblivious to the cost of things.

SorryImKnew · 24/09/2020 10:39

What the hell is ED please?
I hate acronyms too as they sometimes render a post incomprehensible but I'm proud to say that I know this one - it's Eating Disorder!

Cocomarine · 24/09/2020 10:39

@Anordinarymum

All these abbreviations render me senseless. What the hell is ED please?
ED - eating disorder
iluvgab · 24/09/2020 10:41

He's 26. Nope he's never lived alone apart from when he was at uni for a few months when he was 18 and then quit, he hated uni and didn't like living alone. He is looking for a house atm because his dad is fed up with him. I'm interested to see if he was to change his ways when he realises he needs to budget for bills etc when he has his own house.

For the love of all that is holy, DO NOT let this twat move in with you. He needs to get his own house and pay for it.
I speak from experience as I had a relationship with someone like this for 5 years - he was the same age and I was also older than him. He did contribute to food and bills to be fair, but it was all the rest of it which was a nightmare. Entitled behaviour. Wanting a replacement mother. Basically wanting somewhere to live where all his needs would be met and yes, it was cheap because he wasn't having to pay rent.

Oh what a shock he got when we finally split, he went back to his parents, couldn't stand it there, tried to get back with me and eventually rented his own place.... he then discovered what it actually costs.

Kick this cocklodging hobosexual to the curb and find someone decent who is at the same life stage as you because he definitely isn't.

chrismoyles · 24/09/2020 10:41

It’s also not worth exposing your kids to his selfishness. My friend actually started hiding and hoarding food in her teens because her mum had a boyfriend who did this exact thing.

@RightYesButNo that's such a sad thing to read. It's complicated and similar to bulimia but basically he eats too much and vomits his food up. It doubly annoys me because the food I've paid for is going to waste, it's not even like it's filling him up.

I've asked him not to do it when my kids are home. Once, a good while ago, he was going into the bathroom every two minutes and he did it about five times in the space of 10-15 minutes and later on that night she asked what he was doing and I didn't know what to say so I just said he had a funny belly from whatever he was eating and had to use the toilet. I DO NOT want my kids growing up and thinking what he's doing is alright, that's asking for them to develop an ED Angry

OP posts:
chrismoyles · 24/09/2020 10:43

Sorry I tried to get my last post to put the top paragraph in italics to quote @RightYesButNo but clearly it didn't work!

OP posts:
SorryImKnew · 24/09/2020 10:43

hobosexual

Love it! Stealing that word for future use!!

GarlicSoup · 24/09/2020 10:43

@Jimdandy

He’s a cock lodger
^ This
Tiktaktoe · 24/09/2020 10:44

So, you said you weren't paying for his expensive items and then paid for them. Confused

chrismoyles · 24/09/2020 10:45

So I just worked out what he owed me from the pasta, electric and food from asda (£53) and asked him to send it to me. Which he did and then said 'so I take it we are going half's on everything now?' Envy

OP posts:
Cocomarine · 24/09/2020 10:45

@iluvgab hobosexual 🤣🤣🤣

SorryImKnew · 24/09/2020 10:45

Op, I used to share a house with a girl with bulimia and it was actually distressing hearing her vomiting all the time. Also, my food would go missing but I never brought it up with her as I figured she had enough problems without adding embarrassment to it. Like an alcoholic, he needs help and unfortunately much like an alcoholic, he is not good relationship material right now.
Would you consider ending the relationship?

iluvgab · 24/09/2020 10:47

I DO NOT want my kids growing up and thinking what he's doing is alright, that's asking for them to develop an ED

I probably wouldn't want my kids to be exposed to this at all so I would most likely end the relationship because of it.

chrismoyles · 24/09/2020 10:47

@SorryImKnew

Op, I used to share a house with a girl with bulimia and it was actually distressing hearing her vomiting all the time. Also, my food would go missing but I never brought it up with her as I figured she had enough problems without adding embarrassment to it. Like an alcoholic, he needs help and unfortunately much like an alcoholic, he is not good relationship material right now. Would you consider ending the relationship?
Yes I'm very close to it tbh.
OP posts:
SorryImKnew · 24/09/2020 10:47

Tell him that no, you're not going halves, but that you have running costs for your home and that anything additional that you incur due to his presence is to be paid for by him! Cheeky bugger.

Jeremyironseverything · 24/09/2020 10:48

You've let him get away with it.

It's not acceptable and you need to tell him so and mean it.

Let's give his age as an excuse for now, but once you've spelled it out, explained that he needs to offer and you need not to have to chase him up on it, then his future behaviour will tell you if the relationship is worth saving.
Tell him you've lost respect for him and he needs to get that back or there really won't be a future to this relationship. You don't want to feel like his mother. You want to be in a grown up, mutually respectful, and equal relationship. Having to nag and feeling resentful does not facilitate that.

sqirrelfriends · 24/09/2020 10:49

I feel for him having bulimia but I would be very worried about any impact he could have on your kids, especially if they are aware of him binging and throwing up.

Other than that, his selfishness is a separate issue. From what I've read he's staying with you roughly half the time and is paying nothing while eating you out of house and home, even stooping so low as to eat your children's treats.

hedgehogger1 · 24/09/2020 10:49

Just get rid OP. Can't see why your still with him

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