OMG ... guess what my MIL did to our house whilst we were away?! .....

[Disenchanted]

Tidied it from top to bottom, did all the washing, bought us a bread bin and chrome plate stackers as we have no cupboard space, hoovered every room ....did everything!

And she came before and after work everyday to get it done before we came back!!

Bet you thought I was going to say something bad didn't you?

Thats lovely!

My mother in law does jobs for me around the house too and I always find it very touching. Then she will peg out my size 20 knickers on the line at full mast for all the world to see and suddenly I find myself going off her again

PMSL Polly!!

Whilst I can see it is a kind thing to do I would be livid if my MIL anything of the sort to me. It implies that the tidying etc needed doing therefore I am a bad person/wife as it should have already been done.

I came back once to find some friends had come around for our lunch date early, and she had taken all my washing off my line as it was dry. Again, I can see she was trying to help but I don't invite people round to take my washing (great big knickers and everything )off the washing line for me. Was very cross. But I am a perfectionist control freak who lives in a mess most of the time but it is my mess

Aren't youo worried that she's been through the embarrassing stuff hidden in your knicker drawer and read your bank statements etc ?

POLLY!!! brilliant name! i LOVE it. lololol.

I love it when my IL's come to visit as they take it in turns to do the washing up for us. I do point out we have a dishwasher but they just laugh and MIL cleans my oven too!

It's not just MIL's either, my mum does the same, she does the windows when she comes to stay and washing the skirting boards (!)

onlyaphase, i once made a control freak pal of mine cry because we'd stayed at her house for a few days and on the morning we were leaving i'd stripped our bed and put the sheets in the washing machine and stuck it on and pegged them out.

apparently that was a BAD thing to do and didn't give her her due as the hostess. i have never gone to her house again as she is clearly a lunatic.

i get on well with my mother in law but she always used to come round and start sorting through m washing for me etc and it drove me beserk. when she comes to babysit, i hide the laundry basket now She has just about given up trying to help now, and only does things when I ask. She used to want to do our ironing, cook and everything and i hated it. made me feel like i wasn't doing a good enough job.

if you're happy with it disenchanted, then good on ya!! and you have a lovely mother in law!

Obviously the whole MIL and DIL evolutionary theory bandied about this past week in the news hasn't hit the 'Disenchanted' household

Can I swap MILs??

My mum just can't help herself and always cleans the cooker and has to wash up anything lying around. I think MIL is desperate to do the same!

Actually though onlyaphase raises an interesting point. Lots of people would see this sort of thing from a MIL as interference or having some sort of negative inference re their housekeeping skills.

Oh I love it when my mum does things like this. My MIL doesn't do anything.
I dont feel bad atall. Just glad someones helping me. It's always such a mess

And when I'm at friends (best friend) for tea with the kids, I help her clear the table, put things in D/W and wipe sides , sweep floor etc.

My MIL always does the washing up when she babysits - even tho we have a dishwasher. i get v annoyed because a) I don;t know which sponge she's used (the washingup one or the cleaning-the-worktops one) and b) we are on a water meter, so if she does the washing up AND we run the d/w, we are wasting a bowl of water.
AND she tidies, which also annoys me.

Disenchanted that sounds fantastic. Did you think you had died and gone to heaven?

My MIL's too old and not interested in cleaning. My mum's the messiest person alive. The only candidate I would have is my dad's wife but for obvious reasons she doesn't do anything without specifically checking first.

I have come over all .

You have separate sponges for dishes and surfaces?
I must have missed the lesson when they told us that one!

MY MIL does all of this when we're in the house and she's staying.
Whilst I do appreciate it ,for some irrational reason it bugs me- maybe because it makes me feel like she's implying I should be doing these things (which she doesn't).
I've asked her not to and tried to get dh to speak to her but she says it makes her feel better about staying with us and is her way of repaying us. I rush about like mad before she comes tidying, cleaning and sorting yet she always finds 'things' to do (it's the weeding today, was ironing yesterday- stuff i'd already folded ready to be put away because it DIDN'T NEED IRONING!!)
I love her really

I have separate cloths for washing up and cleaning worktops Is this unusual?

yikes, captainmummy, you sound a bit scarey!

Aitch you are welcome to stay at my house any day.

disenchanted tried to email you to send the ladybug suit but couldn't send it for some reason

mail me at

[email protected] and will post it out to you if you still need it

p.s nice MIL btw

I am a Monica-from-Friends compulsive tidier

I have been shouted at by friends because I've cleared up cups or started washing up

I just like tidying

morningpaper thats lovely, would you mind popping round to mine please

I would forgive my MIL a lot of interference if only she cleaned my oven for me. But she never touches it - instead if by some oversight she is left alone in our house she heads straight upstairs to 'clean the bedroom doors'. She was horrified last time to discover that DD's room now has a lock on it....

I'm not scary dusty, but I suppose it makes me feel a bit inadequate when MIL does all the washingup/tidying/clening in the few hours she's here babysitting! Her house is the sort of place where you leave your shoes by the front door, don't flatten the sofa, eat a biscuit on a plate and with a serviette, and she asks 'everything ok?' if you go to the loo.