Do you pack your husband’s bag when he goes away..?

[ShillyShallySally]

Was chatting to a friend of a friend the other day. She was having a moan about her useless husband. In the course of this moan she mentioned that she’d had to pack his bag for a work trip. Just breezed past it as if it was the most normal thing. I was like wait…why are you packing his bag for him?? She huffs and puffs about “oh he won’t do it properly” or some shit. Didn’t really have much of an answer.

Mentioned this exchange at work. Seems this is not particularly uncommon. Had women moaning about having to do “all the packing for everyone” for family holidays etc.

i am quite baffled by this. Why are some women packing their husbands bags for them..? If nothing else, my husband wouldn’t want me to pack his bag for him. Being a grown adult he’d rather choose his own clothes.

Some men are absolutely fucking useless but my god, some women really don’t help themselves…

I've never packed DH's bags in 15 years of marriage. He packs his own clothes, plus our dc's clothes and all their toiletries. I pack my own things plus some practical family items. He stopped doing work trips since the dcs were born so I don't have to do solo parenting, so all our packing is for family holidays.

Lol I think the 7 month old can be excused

No way I'd pack for DP. Even 14yo DS I left to pack for himself last summer, though I just mentioned the things he really couldn't do without just to be sure (though he's a kid, not an adult)

It confuses me why people do things but then complain about it, I just wouldn't do it in the first place. Some people seem to put up with more things from their partners than I would.

Yes, just don't do it. Let the other person deal with the consequences of not doing whatever it is properly. Assuming they are adults, they are the ones who will have to go and buy sunglasses or underwear or arrange for a prescription to be sent or whatever. See also 'not remembering to send your mother a birthday card' and 'not remembering to buy food before your family arrive for dinner'. The consequences are yours.

I find sharing suitcases really annoying

I used to pack for my husband when he was coming back from one trip and flying the next day for the other which often happened pre covid .He had 150 flights in one year and I just did it to help as he was often quite stressed . I ironed his shirts too ,believe it or not!
He does /can pack his own bag and did not or does not expect me to do it but he was always very thankful when I did.

It's treating him like a child though, surely he wants to pick out his own clothes and decide what he wants to wear himself while he's away like a big boy?

Right? Also who "takes pride in doing their laundry"? You do your laundry because you want clean/non smelly cloths not a trophy and a fanfair😂

When I was married, no, I didn’t. My exh did have a tendency to arrive on a holiday with nothing he needed and want to shop on holiday but that had to stop after we had kids.

I don’t do it for my 12 and 17 yos either as how else would they learn? 12 yo being in Scouts helps as they require them to have packed their own bags for camps.

My Mum used to do it for my Dad (still would probably if they ever went anywhere) and I always find that mind boggling.

Absolutely. Some posters seem to have time-travelled from an era when gimlet-eyed post-war housewives in pinnies and rollers kept a sharp eye on the whiteness of the sheets on next door's clotheline, and castigated 'er at number twenty two for not scrubbing her doorstep to pristine whiteness before 8 am on Mondays.

Girl jobs? If he wears clothes - he must be able to clean them; if he eats - he must be able to cook, clean up the kitchen etc. it’s a basic life skill, like brushing teeth!
I have a boy I’m determined not to send another useless male in the world when he grows up.
im at an age where when I see a man preparing a decent meal and leaves the kitchen pristine its a massive turn on…but that’s me.

Mine travels a tonne too but no way I’ll pack for him! 2 months ago he travelled for a month with coming home 3 times just to re pack and go again: 1 st location - typical spring weather with some rain; 2nd location - very hot with odd very cold days while there; 3rd trip was mid - high 20s, going into snow for 2 days and back to high 20s.
i had no idea the temperatures were this variable; it’s his job to check the weather and pack appropriately for wherever he’s going for whatever long. I do enough mental work as it is to have to think about that too! He’d have probably ended up in short in the snow as I wouldn’t have thought only 4 hr drive away he’d be in snowy weather 🤷🏻‍♀️