Living with the in-laws

Chakani

Thanks Savvy_Sue - that really added a smile to my morning mug of tea! (rebelliously made with milk straight from the carton, not a teeny tiny jug:rotfl:)

ALWAYS_POOR

My daughter and son-in-law lived with us for about 3 years before they got married and 4 months after they were married. I would say that we all got on very well. The only cross words were between my daughter and myself - but nothing major. However, we are all very easygoing, placid and laid-back. The only thing that bothered me was that they didn't do their share around the house, but any disagreements about this never got out of hand and were soon forgotten.

But it isn't an 'ideal' arrangement, they only came to stay for a year initially! It escalated :rotfl:. . .

Chakani

Always Poor - how did you decide what everyone's share of the housework was? We also have problems around this but for different reasons - I do all the cooking and cleaning around the house as MIL works, MIL cooks Sunday lunch (her territory, I wouldn't dare interfere!) and occasionally will do dinner once in the week if she's off work. But every time she's home, she runs around the house like a woman possessed, and you'd think I'd sat doing nothing all week - she cleans things that I've only just done, does things I've asked her to leave etc, which makes me feel like I'm just not good enough for her. It's a very difficult situation, because it is her house, and her kitchen, but I'm the one running it all, so making our very different housekeeping styles gel together is challenging to say the least.

Ouch, three years! You must be a saint.

ALWAYS_POOR

Saint? Ha - I don't think so.

When they moved in I decided that they should do their own cooking and washing and ironing and shopping, I gave them a food cupboard and a shelf in the fridge and freezer. If I hadn't done this then I would have ended up doing everything. I cooked Sunday dinner and we all ate together. It was the share of housework which annoyed me most. We all work fulltime and I just wanted them to keep their things tidy which made the housework easier. Yes I did rant a bit on weekends as they did tend to be a bit lazy. Their job was to clean the bathroom but more often than not I ended up doing it. This was the major problem. I think, because we are all so placid (there were five of us in the house as my younger daughter still lives with us) we would have a bit of an argument then it would all blow over quickly. This is how we managed to cope.

I was pleased to see them go!

I agree with morocha's comments.

Savvy_Sue

Chakani wrote: »

Thanks Savvy_Sue - that really added a smile to my morning mug of tea! (rebelliously made with milk straight from the carton, not a teeny tiny jug:rotfl:)

:rotfl: I remember my aunt coming to tea one day, and Mum being furious with us for taking the milk to the table in the bottle (remember milk bottles?) She seemed to think we should KNOW to use a jug, but we never did normally so I was completely baffled by her annoyance! :rotfl: