When you move in with someone, be it a partner or a roommate, it's common for you to split household chores such as vacuuming, doing the washing up, and taking the bins out between all of the people living in the house.
But one woman was left fuming when her husband declared that she should help him with his half of the chores, despite them splitting their workload evenly when they first moved in together.
The woman explained that as her job has been more demanding lately, she's been unable to keep up with her chores so suggested to her husband that they hire a cleaner to tackle their household duties for them.
However, her husband refused to let her spend money from their joint account and told her she could only do it if she paid for the service.
So, the woman decided to hire a cleaner just to help with her half of the household chores.
But now her husband is fuming - and thinks she should use her newfound free time to help him with his half of the chores, even though he rejected the idea of paying for a cleaner.
In a post on Reddit, the woman wrote: "My husband and I have a good life together. We both work. I'm a business owner so my work schedule depends on my workload. For some periods I work seven days a week, some periods two [days]. My husband has a 9-5 job. We have a joint account for our expenses and we put around 30% of our salaries there.
"We are great at dividing chores so both do their part. Right now I'm in a period when I need to work 12-14 hours a day and I can't do my part. I asked my husband if we could hire cleaning help instead but he absolutely refused. I said '[is it] fine if I pay myself then?' He said okay, just not him or from our joint accounts.
"Now I have help with my part of the chores. My husband wants me to help him with his part. I said no since I'm still doing my part by paying [for a cleaner]. He thinks it is unfair because I am technically not doing the chores myself. He says that I'm using the fact that I make more money than him so I'm controlling him. But it is not true, plus he makes good money too.
"He said he is more than happy cleaning his part so I said fine, I will hire someone to do my part. He thinks now it is unfair that I don't clean AT ALL."
Commenters on the post were largely on the side of the woman, as they claimed she was still "taking care" of her chores by paying someone else to do them for her, and said it was her husband's choice to refuse to pay for a cleaner.
One person said: "You talked about it. You're choosing to spend some of your money that you agree to keep separate to free up more of your time. Time = Money. He chooses to keep more money but have less time. If you start doing his chores, you're spending your money AND time."
While another added: "You are taking care of your chores. By paying someone instead of doing them. If your husband wants the same, it becomes a household expense and it all gets done and is paid out of the mutual account."
And a third posted: "If he wanted help with his part, he could have agreed with getting the cleaner for all of the chores. Plus, in a way, you are doing the chores yourself. The time you would have spent cleaning, you are using to work and with the money that you generate from working you can pay the cleaner."
Do you have a story to sell? Get in touch with us at yourmirror@trinitymirror.com.
