So a few things to note before I go in:

\- Living in Europe

\- English is not my first language, it’s my third so sorry for any mistakes

\-There’s so much info so I don’t know how to make it make sense

So we have been in a long term relationship for nearly five years and have lived together since the beginning basically (he came over once and basically ended up living at my place). There have been talks about engagement and marriage but they have been mostly from my side, with him agreeing that he would like to get married to me but not actually doing anything.

I have been on the fence about being with him in general for the simple fact that I feel like his mother. I cook, I clean, I walk our dog, and if there’s anything needed to be done at home I find it easier to do it myself rather than ask him. (I do believe this is because of my upbringing as my mother has taught me to be independent and never depend on a man. Her two main sentences I remember from being younger were “If you’re not skinny, you’re not pretty” and “You have two hands and a brain and so does a male, why shouldn’t you be equal or better”)

There’s also the fact that up until a few months ago, he only did contractual work and not the regular 9-5, but his income was triple my monthly salary. Despite that, I covered our food costs, mortgage (the apartment is in my name and it’s my loan), cable and internet, home and pet insurance and whatever else needed. He covers utilities, gas for his car which he drives and food-wise his lunches and the meals when we went out. So numbers would be something similar to that my income was around 1k, 300 goes to the mortgage, 300 to food, 200 to cable, internet, insurances etc and I would be left with around 200 to myself every month. Meanwhile, he earned around 2-5k, spending 100 on utilities and around 100-200 on our food. Absolutely I don’t feel like he should cover the apartment loan but anything else I feel should be split more evenly.

Besides the money issue, there’s also the issue with his mood swings. The thing that bothers me the most is that I feel as if the same rules don’t apply to us both. For example, I’m actually very introverted and I enjoy sitting in silence or reading a book and just generally hanging out at home. He gets very anxious if he has to be at home and do nothing and therefore wants to spend our evenings chatting with his friends in a parking lot or hanging around in shops or anything else. I need my alone time, I need quiet. He takes the fact that I just chill in the car in silence as a fact that I’m being boring and ruining his mood. However, if he’s tired and wants to just chill, I have to be quiet and leave him alone, otherwise he will bite my head off.

Just this morning, he agreed to take me on the bus on his way to work (no additional effort needed from him at all as the station is on the way to his work) and the bus station is a 15-minute drive from home and despite me waking him up multiple times, he got out of bed 5 minutes before we were supposed to leave home and angry at me for waking him up as he was not feeling good. Then he asked me to grab his stuff so I grabbed his phone charger, e-cigarette and keys and put them all with his wallet on the shelf ready for me. Cue a few seconds later he’s angry at me because I put his car keys next to his keys as well and he “didn’t know that I would also get those and spent time looking for them” and also mad that I didn’t get his laptop charger (how should I know that you need a laptop charger???)

Every time I bring up that maybe he could help me with chores (he has washed the dishes like 5 times in 5 years) he either finds some excuse or says something like “ok let’s clean on Saturday” and when Saturday comes he says that “I’ll get out of your way so you can clean”. He had a plate next to his bed (I brought him breakfast to bed) for 3 weeks before I finally have up and cleaned it up myself.

I feel like I’m undervalued and tired of this. I work two jobs and have full-time school on weekends and I’m running low on everything. Sometimes I just feel like if it were just me and my dog, my life would be so much easier and less stressful because I wouldn’t have to tiptoe around my own apartment, scared to do something that might piss him off or irritate him. I’ve brought up couple’s counselling but according to his words “therapy is brainwashing you”.

Every time we have a fight and I say that maybe we shouldn’t be together as we’re clearly not working, he starts insulting me that a relationship with a fucked up bitch like me is impossible and clearly we should break up. Then we go to separate rooms and in an hour or so he comes and apologizes for cursing at me and says that he obviously doesn’t want to break up as he loves me and wants to be with me. But after five years of the same thing over and over again, every time he comes and apologizes I feel like maybe I don’t want to be together anymore.

Is there even a point to continue the relationship? I feel like we’re both a bit unhappy, despite loving each other but sometimes feels like love is not enough.

TLDR: I feel undervalued and like a mother in a long term relationship and don’t know what to do.

10 comments
  1. You literally is his mother. And while it is your apartment he should definitely still pay if he lives there, and food/utilities should be spilt since you both use it.
    He is definitely taking you for grated, and you would be som much better off without him. He is just using you as a maid and gets free living.
    Girl you deserve better.

  2. Stop paying for stuff, stop mothering him, stop everything… best would be to move out and start new. He’s a mooch and a man-child.

  3. You should put your foot down and stand up for yourself and I would advise splitting the shared expenses proportionally to your salaries, it’s not fair to you, that you have to pay that much with your salary.

  4. You are more lenient with him than my mother is with me. You are beyond a mother at this point. Leave him.

  5. He is a child. At the very least, he needs to either start paying rent or move out. But if I was you then I’d end the relationship cause he doesn’t show signs of changing and he will only get worse after marriage.

  6. Either he takes on more responsibility or he can leave. He’s obviously not contributing anything except for stress. This sounds like emotional & financial abuse and breaking you down is classic abuser behavior.

  7. Girlie, you really don’t have to put up with this. I know it’s scary because you’ve been together for so long, but just imagine how far you will go and how much lighter you will feel if you only have to carry your own weight. I’m sending you big hugs and the courage to follow your intuition.

  8. You say that you’re both unhappy, but that’s not true. You are unhappy. He is extremely happy for having a mother that will take care of him, and extremely happy that he has you tiptoeing around him, and extremely happy that he gets to yell at you and call you names whenever he wants, and he faces no consequences because all he has to do after, is say some empty words that sound like an apology but are extremely not an apology. A real apology comes with changed behavior.

    In short, he’s making you miserable and he is taking advantage on how miserable you are, for his sole benefit. What do you even get out of this relationship? Yes, of course you should break up and kick him out. I don’t know how laws are in your country about kicking out a person that lives in your home, but you should contact a lawyer and find out how soon can you get this man out of your life forever. I’m sorry that this is happening to you, is not your fault, is his, but you definitely should not continue to be in a relationship with him. He doesn’t love you, a person who loves you wouldn’t treat you like that.

  9. So my thought is that if the income dynamic is that far off then he should be the one baring the majority of the financial costs, not you. It doesn’t necessarily matter what he is paying for, just that he is not paying his share and he should be.
    Before my husband and I got married and combined our finances, I would send him money for our bills. However, he was making more than me so we worked out that I would pay for my car and my portion of rent. Everything else he covered because he made so much more than I did.
    So anyway if it was just the money issue I would try to talk to him about splitting the expenses in a more “fair” way. However since there are other issues at hand, and he has refused couples therapy, I would say it is best to end things now. If he really cares and sees that he fucked up then he will agreed to do the work to fix things, otherwise he’s a POS and doesn’t deserve you.

  10. Must be weird being 25 with a 26 year old child. Leave him and find an actual partner.

Leave a Reply