Marriage is often a journey of navigating shared responsibilities and finding common ground, but sometimes, even the smallest of habits can create significant friction. What started as a quirky irritation has now become a battle, testing the limits of one man’s patience and the harmony of their home.
He explained what was happening.
I (28M) have been married to my wife (F30) for 2 years now, together for 5. We were going to start trying for a baby, but that got put on hold and might not happen anymore. My wife and I both work, and we make about the same amount and work about the same amount of hours.
My wife and I originally had a chore system set up where we just rock paper scissors-ed the calendar for our days off. We got a pretty fair cut, I want to say, but she did get more dishes days. I got more if not all the laundry.
My wife HATES washing dishes. She hates it with such a passion that she sometimes just shuts down and cries when she sees them in the sink. Before when I caught her crying I immediately went to help her, switch chores for the day, calm her down, and then it was fine.
I do most if not all of the laundry because she just won’t anymore, and I refuse to wear dirty clothes. The only thing she has to do with the laundry is put it in the basket. That’s it. We have a basket for darks, colors, and whites. She insists on her own basket for underwear and whatnot, so that’s its own thing, and I handwash it.
She’s been not putting her clothes in the basket. At first, I picked up all of her clothes and washed them because it was no big deal, but when I watched her take her clothes off and just leave them on the floor because “I always pick it up” I chose to leave her clothes there. She asked me why her clothes weren’t done, I said because she didn’t put them away, and she blew up on me. Same story.