Why don't people look after things anymore?

bratz81

I don't know how to take the stains off - other than trying to send it back and repaint/varnish. But I just wanted to say I completely know how you feel.
My OH is the same, he doesn't take care of anything even his own stuff.

I do think it was how we were raised - I was raised in a very poor house where we scrimped and saved for everything, and you took care of things and made them last. I also had to do chores and tidy up after myself.

OH on the other hand was brought up in a house where they seem to treat things like sh!te, no one has any respect for anyone else's property, they don't tidy up after themselves and if something breaks well who cares.

For example - his 14yr old sister got an ipod touch for Xmas and she's already shattered the screen. Barely a word was said - if it was me at 14 I'd have gotten in so much trouble. And I'm only 29 here not ancient.

I call it rich kid syndrome in his case

Sensible_Jess

Thanks for all the replies - I'm a little calmer now, although I've yet to go and look at the damage again this evening as it'll probably make me all mad again.

I only discovered it this morning and OH had already gone to work so no, I haven't talked to him about the damage to the table yet.

I don't think a good clean will suffice but thanks for suggesting - I'll see if I can post a picture later to show what I mean....

@shy-but-need-help - How did you get your OH to respect your belongings? - please share tips....
Thing is, he borrows / uses a lot of things that I've either had before we got together or bought myself. I'm wondering if I should be a little more selfish and tell him to buy his own from now on. For example a CD/ DAB radio of mine that used to be in the kitchen is now in his home office after the one he was using broke (also mine, but old-ish). I'd rather he didn't break that as it was reasonably expensive. Should I take it back to the kitchen? Seems a bit on the petty side...

I don't think it stems from his home - his parents seem careful about their furniture and know how to use coasters IYKWIM
He has the same attitude to the wood floors we have. They are unsealed and so if water is spilt on them, it needs cleaning up right away otherwise they mark badly. At first I put his lack of care down to the fact he was used to laminate floors but now I'm resigned to being the one who clears up after him to keep the floors looking nice. I take pride in caring for our home even if he doesn't!

melancholly wrote: »

it may be salvageable..... can you stain it or sand it down first and varnish it? (or more to the point, can he, since he caused the damage?!)

I like your thinking - although he's not very DIY orientated so I'd prefer to do it. It looks like I can sand it down - although I'd have to repaint the whole thing so it would look OK. I was wondering how to get the 'aged look' back too to thanks for suggesting wax, I'll give it a try.

Looks like another Sunday down the drain for me then

luxor4t

Sensible Jess - that sounds like my DH & MiL!

I can still see the white mark from where MiL put the teapot straight onto a polished wood table ... her response was "oh, it doesn't matter" as she couldn't tell the difference between proper wood and plastic laminate :silenced: I can't describe myself as houseproud, but I believe good things should be used but looked after.

I've come to the conclusion that DH genuinely doesn't recognise 'good' stuff from carp eg a towel is a towel to him so he struggled to understand why I was upset when he used the M&S bath towel to wipe his rugby boots with, instead of the tatty tea-towel put ready. He got a better idea when he had to buy a new one

Over the years we've reached a truce - if he mucks it up, he sorts it out.

marmitepotato

Make up a paste of olive oil and bicarb of soda and rub this into the stain. It worked wonders on all ring marks on my wooden lamp table which I got from a seller on ebay. The seller neglected to mention that the table was heavily stained....