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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to be annoyed at my husband (but also sympathetic to his troubles)

111 replies

brokensignal · 21/08/2023 09:36

My husband is driving me mad because he acts like every little task is some major effort. We split the work of doing bills and household admin pretty equally. I do almost all the cooking and housework and he does the garden which is small.

He needs to pay the factors bill for landscaping, you get 14 days to pay, the account is in his name but getting him to just do it is like pulling teeth, it would take 5 minutes to do and then we could file the paperwork away but he will leave it till the last minute because he just wants to relax and not deal with it right now.

He has to write and deliver a card to his aunt for her birthday which is already past. I bought the card and again it is left lying out for ages because it is too much hassle for him to write it out and take it round to her (she lives just a couple of streets away from us and would be happy with a 5 minute chat). I end up having to prompt him repeatedly to do things like this or pay bills, contact the bank, solicitors and so on and in the end I just end up feeling like a nag.

Our house is quite small, it doesn't get really messy but even a little mess looks worse in a small space. I do the housework and the tidying but there are times like very busy weeks where I am not home much or ill where the house gets messy, he then will make a comment about the house needing sorting, which I do (I hate a messy home to) but then he'll get home and just leave his shoes and back in the porch like a school boy, dump his wallet, works pass, keys, phone, watch etc all over various surfaces, opens his mail and leave it lying out and would do for days basically he just doesn't do anything to help maintain the basic tidiness of the home. If I ask him to put his shoes and bag away he moans "But I'm just in and need to relax". He has various drawers downstairs and in the bedroom where his stuff lives and for his post but if I put his stuff away into its designated home next thing he will be moaning that he can't find anything if he looks for something and it doesn't jump right up in his face it isn't there even if it is and I find it in a second.

If he has a job to do in the house say cooking breakfast or doing the garden he still seems to need my assistance most of the time, i.e. to get the cups ready for tea, to hold open the roll while he puts the bacon in them, to fetch and hand him the things he needs. While if I have a job I just have to get on with it myself which I do!

His job is more stressful than mine so I do try to cut him some slack and make it easier for him but he won't look for a new job ( we can afford for him to take a pay cut) with less stress. He does have some issue with his health but he won't go to the doctor, it takes so much prodding and pushing to get him to go. His GP used to let patients spouses make appointments for them but now they say it has to be the patient themselves who call so it is even harder to get him to go now. He does have elderly parents who require more support now and that is fine but sometimes they are getting him round to do jobs just to see him which I totally get but it is an extra strain on him and one he feels he can't say no to, and once you are there his mum really hates to see any visitor go. However he also has brothers and sisters who are either often there or could do a bit more but it is up to him to discuss all this with his siblings and to have some boundaries with his parents if he feels it is too much for him.

He won't make a decision about what to watch, where to go, what to eat so I end up choosing and then if he doesn't like it he complains. I got a big bonus at work this year and wanted to take us on holiday but he kept putting me off and now it will be next year as he just wouldn't commit to anything. He wants to just lie on the sofa after work and at the weekend which I get but at least we could watch something interesting but he seems to just want to watch reruns of old comedy stuff and sport. He spends a lot more time watching TV than I do so he can watch this stuff is he wants when I am not there and I never complain about him watching sporting events that are very important to him.

I just feel so fed up with it at times like he is just sleepwalking though life and I am little more than his keeper as he doesn't show me much affection these days although I try to show it to him. Other times I do feel for him because his job is crap and stressful but only he can make a decision about that. I do love him, we still have a laugh but life also feels very flat these days. Things are worse since he got promoted at work a couple of years ago.

None of this is ruining out marriage, yet but I feel like it is the long term failure to resolve such issues that does end up ruining marriages and lives. We are getting older and I've had relatives die in their 40's and 50's and that slipping into middle aged apathy isn't a given and that we could still be enjoying our lives together.

Am I being unreasonable to be annoyed at him for all the above and for thinking this is a problem that needs fixing?

OP posts:
SunRainStorm · 21/08/2023 09:42

He sounds insufferably tedious and I don't know how you put up with it.

brokensignal · 21/08/2023 09:46

@SunRainStorm Probably because this has only really been bothersome for the past couple of years, before I used to at least get some affection or thanks for the things I do but now I put his dinner down to him (I'm a really good cook even if I do say it myself) and he just eats it and if I ask him how it is he says fine.

He probably is a bit depressed due to the stress he is under but I just don't know why he doesn't do something to address these issues.

I do feel that it could be fixed but he needs to take an active role in doing that.

OP posts:
Quartz2208 · 21/08/2023 09:48

How can it not be ruining your marriage what is he bringing to the table

he needs to seek help

brokensignal · 21/08/2023 09:50

@Quartz2208 I agree something needs to change. I think he keeps thinking his job will get easier but I think that his work will think he is coping and just keep heaping more and more onto him if he doesn't complain or leave.

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brokensignal · 21/08/2023 09:51

I wish whoever thinks / voted that I am being unreasonable would post why as I would be happy to here some of that insight.

OP posts:
spartanrunnergirl · 21/08/2023 14:02

He will never change unless you just stop. Don't buy the card, don't be there to help with breakfast. Let the bill become overdue.

TwilightSkies · 21/08/2023 14:05

You have a mother-child dynamic, rather than an actual partnership.

Supercat100 · 21/08/2023 14:08

He sounds very depressed. Would he get help?

SunRainStorm · 21/08/2023 14:08

brokensignal · 21/08/2023 09:51

I wish whoever thinks / voted that I am being unreasonable would post why as I would be happy to here some of that insight.

I didn't vote but I'm guessing they think you're unreasonable for sticking around.

Supercat100 · 21/08/2023 14:09

I don't think you are unreasonable by the way!

SunRainStorm · 21/08/2023 14:12

I'm sick of men being useless to live with being given a pass because 'job'.

Women work stressful jobs every day and I don't feel that anyone gives them free reign to act like lazy, gormless, slobs at home because of it.

Lamelie · 21/08/2023 14:13

Flip side.
How unbearable would it be for you to pay the bill, deliver the card? I have a similar one! I love him dearly and he’s close to burning out with work stress. I tease him or refuse to do the for eg. bacon and book the holiday. As you say life is short and my priority is getting him alive to retirement. If that means doing cards for his relatives so be it.

FatNoMoreSue · 21/08/2023 14:14

I cannot fathom women who put up with this shit.

The fact you say that it used to be better, and then cite him saying thank you for
things as being your idea of “better” is quite frankly very sad.

He is useless. He won’t change. Ffs claw back a
bit of self respect and ditch him.

theresastormcoming · 21/08/2023 14:15

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

DrinkFeckArseBrick · 21/08/2023 14:17

The complete passiveness and the laziness would kill the relationship for me. It might be that he is depressed or he might just be a lazy bastard but honestly I couldn't be someone's carer long term unless they actively tried to help themselves as well. Because that's what you are when you book their doctors appointment, pick up their shoes, buy them a card and remind them to write it, remind them to pay a bill - their carer, not their partner. Someone who can't put their own shoes away because they're tired from working is just making their own life and everyone around thems lives harder

Apexroof · 21/08/2023 14:18

Stop doing the wifework. It's his problem if aunt doesn't get a card, not yours.
Put all the stuff he leaves lying around into a bag and when he asks, tell him you moved it there so you could clean but it's not your job to tidy up after him.

BitOutOfPractice · 21/08/2023 14:24

So in fact he’s not actually doing any of his tasks is he. If you have to remember / tell / supervise / help turn you’re doing the hard work, he’s just along for the ride.

SunRainStorm · 21/08/2023 14:25

When I read that you were 'also sympathetic to his troubles' I assumed you were going to go on to describe that he has MS or arthritis or something debilitating.

He just has a job!!

That he can afford to leave. But he's too lazy to look for another.

So you're 'sympathetic' to the 'troubles' of a gainfully employed, able bodied man who simply can't be fucked putting his shoes away when he gets home even though he knows it bothers you, wants your active involvement when he is tasked with so much as making a sandwich, and doesn't even bother to thank you anymore.

He sounds delightful.

brokensignal · 21/08/2023 14:38

Lamelie · 21/08/2023 14:13

Flip side.
How unbearable would it be for you to pay the bill, deliver the card? I have a similar one! I love him dearly and he’s close to burning out with work stress. I tease him or refuse to do the for eg. bacon and book the holiday. As you say life is short and my priority is getting him alive to retirement. If that means doing cards for his relatives so be it.

I suppose because I also do more than half of all that stuff including for his family and I have my own families needs to consider. If his job is killing him he needs to quit and find a different job.

OP posts:
brokensignal · 21/08/2023 14:39

@SunRainStorm I do state in the OP that he has health issues which he does but he does nothing to help them.

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brokensignal · 21/08/2023 14:42

@TwilightSkies Sometimes I feel like this, I want to look after him but at the same time I sometimes feel like he wants to be babied, almost as if I am his "mummy" which isn't attractive to me. I totally understand that men can't always be big and strong and that we all need taken care of at times.

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brokensignal · 21/08/2023 14:46

@theresastormcoming Yeah I think he just wants to know that for every bit of work he is doing I am working or helping too. I've noticed that if a job falls into my remit then to him it isn't a real job at all while everything he does is a proper job that requires assistance. He can get quite annoyed if he thinks I am shirking on helping him do something if I walk away to try and get on with another job rather than just stand about waiting for him to need me. He always says to finish one job first but that just means I end up still working away at my jobs after he has done all of his

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brokensignal · 21/08/2023 14:48

@Supercat100 I think he might be depressed as a knock on effect from stress at work which is also the cause of his high blood pressure. Getting him to see a GP is like almost impossible and he would be unlikely to want to talk about such things. I think he needs to find a different job.

OP posts:
OhcantthInkofaname · 21/08/2023 14:57

Do you think his job is stressful because he does the same things at work?

He doesn't do things because he knows you will do it. He is a man child and you enable him.

brokensignal · 21/08/2023 15:01

@OhcantthInkofaname No he is good at his job.

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