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26th Mar 2024

‘I asked my husband to pay me for doing the housework’

JOE

This woman is my new inspiration

A woman who was sick of doing all of the housework by herself demanded that her husband start paying her for her services or pick up the slack himself, much to his frustration.

The predicament made its way onto Reddit and has sparked thousands of comments since it was posted one day ago.

The post reads: “I am a Steamfitter. But I’ve been at it for a while and I’m in supervision. With bonuses and incentives but not counting benefits I earn over $100 an hour.

“I also work out of town. I started doing that once the kids were old enough to take care of themselves with their dad at home. So when my youngest was in middle school and the oldest was a junior in high school.

She added: “It is great. Our retirement savings are piling up and we have been able to splurge on the kids. And ourselves.”

She continued: “My husband is upset however because I decided to pay for a cleaning lady. He and I discussed it and we agreed that him and the kids didn’t do a great job keeping the house clean and tidy while I was away. I hated coming home to a mess. It caused a few fights because it was like they expected me to come home and clean up after them.

“Having her is fantastic. I come home to a clean house and I am happier. My kids have more time to study and do extracurriculars. They still have chores and they are still expected to clean up after themselves.”

“He could pay me my hourly rate to do extra housework when I am on my days off”

“My husband came to me last time I was home and said we should cut back on the service when I’m home. That I should be doing more housework. He thinks that we are wasting money. I said that I work 14 days in a row and that those are 13-hour days. Yes, it is mostly paperwork but his job as a teacher isn’t much more physically challenging. I said that I could offer him two options. If he wanted we could completely get rid of the service and he and the kids could make sure the house was in good shape when I got home. Or he could pay me my hourly rate to do extra housework when I am on my days off.”

The woman said her husband is upset and even accused her of being “financially manipulative”.

Fellow Reddit users were shocked by the husband’s actions and slated him for being so demeaning.

One wrote, “People like your husband always reinforce my decision to stay single.”

“Maybe it would help your husband if you showed him bit by bit what parts of the house you consider really nice and clean now thanks to the cleaner. And then remind him again that you don’t mind paying for it, you’re not asking for him to do it, just that he lets money you can both afford go towards this totally understandable ‘luxury’,” another said.

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