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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

DH will not work. Can I take away his hobby equipment?

599 replies

Menomenon · 01/01/2023 09:57

DH is 49 and hasn’t had a job for 18yrs. Before that he was in a basic role not earning much. He has some investments so these bring in a small amount. He went back to Uni and got a degree but hasn’t used it. When DC were little he would say he was a househusband, now he doesn’t even have that cover.

I work full time. He does almost nothing around the house. He is obsessive about the lawn and paths in our back garden but the front of the house looks dysfunctional. We have rubbish, old sofa, broken drains etc. Our house inside is awful - the DC won’t bring friends home. He will not do anything. I try to fix things but get shouted at or told he will sort or whatever. Cleaners leave.

He spends all day faffing on obsessive garden projects which he can pass off as ‘needed’. They sort of are needed (but way, way, way down the list). He barely cleans and won’t do anything practical/handy.

WIBU to take away and store his garden stuff until some of the urgent items around the house/for the family get completed?

OP posts:
Bogofftosomewherehot · 01/01/2023 13:18

I don't understand the point of your post - It's clear you're not going to facilitate change, neither is he.

Your kids ARE affected by the conditions you're subjecting them to, you choose to ignore it or minimise it. Even if you minimise it, it is still neglect.

You've tried counselling and haven't moved forward (beyond a few family days out).

So picture your future. The house continues to fall into disrepair, the kids have left and don't want to visit, you're still working, he's still faffing, you're increasingly frustrated, you become grandparents and complain that you never see your grandchildren and lament about your poor choices when you could have done something decades ago.

America12 · 01/01/2023 13:18

Also , what a terrible example to your children.

CJsGoldfish · 01/01/2023 13:19

We do a lot together as a family and they love it. Board games, visiting friends, walks. All - all without exception - are suggested by me and initially resisted by DH (‘the weather might change’) but he will do it (another thing that came out of counselling was joining in)

My job is demanding but I am a committed parent. The DCs have had a fun, enriched childhood. They know DH’s is not an adulthood they want (although they would never say that). They are teens and talk about their careers. They will be fine

I can't figure out if your denial is due to embarrassment or whether you really believe what you are saying.
Thing is, your children will be massively affected by the role model you've given them and the abuse and 'normal' you've shown them. Time will tell how that will manifest itself but don't for a second think they haven't been damaged in some way.
Do what you like OP, which is looking like not much, but don't dismiss what this life/environment/modelling has done to your kids 🤷‍♀️

Onthecuspofabreakthrough · 01/01/2023 13:22

QuantiFly · 01/01/2023 13:17

OK fair enough, that's your choice.

It sounds like, contrary to what pp have said, he has "brought things" to the relationship by supplying the house that you live in without a mortgage or rent, and some income from investments. He hasn't had to work for those things, but I don't suppose that matters from a practical point of view. If you had a house because your husband had spent your whole marriage working hard to pay the mortgage, you might have more respect for the husband but the house would still be a house.

So if the problem is that he doesn't do anything for the upkeep of the house, isn't the solution to get a cleaner?

Did you read where the OP said they've had several cleaners, who refuse to return to the house? Cleaners don't generally like clutter and a SAH man in the house while they're doing it!

Onthecuspofabreakthrough · 01/01/2023 13:25

As for why the OP has put up with it, I imagine she's been like the slowly boiled frog. It creeps up on you and he will truly believe he is doing nothing unreasonable (and from his own point of view, he isn't).
There's a reason why lawyers are so busy in January though, the new year shines a light on our lives.

OnaBegonia · 01/01/2023 13:29

we have been through loads of life events and memories
Really not a reason to stay in a horrible home that your kids are ashamed off with a lazy user.
It DOES affect kids growing up in dirty messy houses.

Devilou666 · 01/01/2023 13:30

Tabu to have put up with this for 18 years!!! He's got no reason to change because he knows you're a walkover.

immigrant002 · 01/01/2023 13:34

You put up with a man not providing for 18 years ??? Y ?
Please do yourself a favour and get rid of him not his hobby

Timeforachangeisitnot · 01/01/2023 13:38

OP,

Is he a husband to you, or another child?
does he cherish you?
is intimacy still alive in your marriage?
if you were too I’ll to work, would he do what it takes to support you, materially and emotionally?
when the DC leave home and it’s just the two of you, will you still find joy?

If you cannot say yes to the above, start planning your escape, even if you have to take a long range plan and allow your dc to grow some.

As we say here in Scotland - you are a long time dead.

WinnieFosterReads · 01/01/2023 13:40

Can you see that your DCs' lives are smaller by having an embarrassingly untidy/dilapidated house?
Can you see you are putting your DH's quirks/moods/diagnoses above the needs of your DC?
Can you see that you are (inadvertently) teaching your DC that if a partner brings a degree of momentary material stability then it's worth more than emotional stability, self-respect, friendships and socialising?
I think you are correct that your DH gaslights. For that reason, you chose the wrong type of counselling. Joint counselling isn't recommended with an abuser (gaslighting is abuse). Book some sessions with Relate on your own. They will help you recentre your and your DCs' lives.

Bellagi · 01/01/2023 13:40

Has he got aspergers?

whataboutsecondbreakfast · 01/01/2023 13:40

Menomenon · 01/01/2023 12:15

Thanks for the posts, I appreciate them all but I don’t need legal advice as I said upthread I have taken it.

To also reassure you, the DCs are not ‘neglected’ - they are just embarrassed about their house. They aren’t the same thing.

I know I should ‘do’ something. But DH is the problem and it’s him that really needs to ‘do’ things.

Stop kidding yourself.

Your DC's are being neglected and you're just as complicit in it as he is.

Nowhereelsetogo90 · 01/01/2023 13:41

Why are you with this cocklodging excuse for a man? Your kids are happier with both parents? You've said his actions make them embarrassed to bring home friends! Get rid!

Bellagi · 01/01/2023 13:41

To give context, my ex father in law was like this. MIL just lives with it. He's a good man underneath but hard work.

RampantIvy · 01/01/2023 13:42

I am with him because I love him

No, you don’t. You love what you want him to be. I agree with what @arethereanyleftatall says:
I was just clinging on to memories, and the tiny snatches of nice times we had together in the last few years

The walls peel, the roof is coming apart, the wiring and cabling is difficult, the bathrooms are antique. Cleaners leave because it is unsatisfactory to clean. There are issues with the gutters. It’s a lot but he refuses to sell and move.

After reading this and all of your updates I’m still baffled as to why you are still with him. He won’t change, not for you or his children or for himself. So you either put up and shut up or leave and provide a better home life for your children.

How on earth did he have the get up and go to marry you in the first place? He is treating you like a mother/carer not a wife.

Nanny0gg · 01/01/2023 13:45

Menomenon · 01/01/2023 10:47

The walls peel, the roof is coming apart, the wiring and cabling is difficult, the bathrooms are antique. Cleaners leave because it is unsatisfactory to clean. There are issues with the gutters. It’s a lot but he refuses to sell and move. We went to counselling and I accept the house will not be sold.

Can you afford to rent?

Your children are not going to thank you for their upbringing

spuddel · 01/01/2023 13:46

Sure you can take away his hobby and become his mother/jailor. How on earth can you still have sex with this lazy manchild? I'd curl up and dry.

Taxanimal · 01/01/2023 13:46

Sounds like he’s suffering from depression or some other mental health issues, I’d suggest counselling of some sort. Otherwise if he’s really pissing you off, consider your relationship. If you’re happier with him like this than without him, fine. If not, get rid. Good luck.

DrinkFeckArseBrick · 01/01/2023 13:51

I am worried for your future OP.

If he won't spend in the house it will get worse and worse. You can't invest in the house because it's not your house (unless you get a solicitor to draw up some kind of agreement that you get any investment back if you split, which it sounds like he may ignore anyway).

You will always have to meet your kids at their house or out somewhere. You will be living in increasingly worse conditions. And paying for everything.

Honestly you could try giving him an ultimatum. New bathrooms or you leave...but how will he pay for it? I would think that getting rid of his gardening stuff will just make him irate.

Please seriously consider leaving. 'Love' is not a reason to live an, objectively, shit life.

Andsoforth · 01/01/2023 14:01

He sounds a lot like my df in some ways, who was also, most likely, an undiagnosed autist, and a wonderful person. Our situation wasn’t as extreme but I recognise a lot in what you have described - his priorities were unusual. He worked very hard on the upkeep of the house, but it became quite dilapidated because he didn’t focus on the right things.

He struggled to hold down a job, despite having some amazing opportunities and being head hunted and offered directorships on at least two occasions. He was a genius, but also incapable in other ways.

When he retired in his mid forties he invested in the stock market and became paper rich, but then couldn’t spend it because he was obsessed about the numbers.

The bottom line on MN is always work; nobody has value except through their labour and that deeply entrenched capitalism is necessarily ablest. It’s a little bit more complicated when you love someone who has a disability.

I’m not going to advise you to go or stay because there’s no simple happy ending. I was that embarrassed kid - I still am, and it has influenced the way I raise my dc and keep my home. But it has also shaped my empathy and awareness, and probably made me a much better mum to a ND child. I loved my df and I’m glad we lived with him.

You have to deal within the reality you have, not how it should be in an ideal world. You have a number of choices ahead of you and the best thing you can do is get as much, solid information as you can, and make clear headed decisions.

Being a single parent has pros and cons. It might be worth thinking about what it would be like to take on the mental burden of being a single parent while living in the same house and remaining married. Is that a better or worse proposition?

If the house cannot be sold, then you might need to come up with a long term plan for its upkeep that doesn’t require his input or organisation. What would you do if he wasn’t there? Then do that.

You might need to make some clear eyed financial assessments of what you can afford. It’s not helpful to yearn after his lost earnings because they just don’t exist. But perhaps you could look into disability supports? And a diagnosis might be helpful.

If you could afford it, it might be helpful to consult with an occupational therapist specialising in adults. They could advise you, if he’s not going to engage directly, and even if by some miracle he did, you should still look for that support and advice for yourself.

But what I’m saying ultimately is to seek out real professional advice, be it legal, financial or psychological and from the facts figure out the direction that you’re going to take.

Yulestorm · 01/01/2023 14:03

I feel miserable just picturing your future.

sjxoxo · 01/01/2023 14:03

I really don’t understand why you’re still with him!!!??? Surely it’s deader than a dodo. I don’t think there’s any coming back from this. X

PennyRa · 01/01/2023 14:03

He has been working for the last 18 years, as a stay at home father

OooScotland · 01/01/2023 14:08

converseandjeans · 01/01/2023 10:07

I can’t help but feel if a man was talking about confiscating his wife’s hobby equipment everyone would be saying how controlling and abusive it is.

Yes agree. For some reason it's ok for women to refuse to return to work & to still have help from a cleaner even when children are grown up. I'm intrigued as to what his hobby is.

Honestly though I don't think I could stay with him if the house was such a mess and he wouldn't allow me to intervene. If he hasn't worked for 18 years I don't even know what job he could successfully get & stick at. I think you need to consider that this could be going on another 40 years.

The hobby seems to be unnecessarily tidying the back garden, so probably a spade and lawnmower. Is that right, @Menomenon ? He’s not a gamer or anything, by the sound of it.

There’s always more to things than meets the eye. OP, you and the kids love him and want him to stay so I, for one, don’t think you should leave if that’s not what you really want. I think you should get him to have a health check, (after 18 years of this he will at least be severely lacking in confidence, which may be why he’s snapping at you when ask him to do household jobs he feels overwhelmed by) and some counselling if needed.

Then see if he’ll go to a careers office (maybe the one at his old university would see him) to see what he could do to get back out into the world a bit part time. 49 is not an easy age but with a bit of creative thinking its a great time to do something that really suits you. I’m only half joking when I say perhaps he could look into some form of gardening? Lawn specialist? He’d learn things, meet people and be doing something he enjoys while regaining some self respect and respect from you and the kids.

Good luck OP x

Soothsayer1 · 01/01/2023 14:10

PennyRa · 01/01/2023 14:03

He has been working for the last 18 years, as a stay at home father

I read about his parenting, I think I'm right in saying that he has intensively parented a small part of the garden?