Husband Insists His Wife Pay Him For Doing Chores Around The House After He Lost His Job
He claimed that it would be an easy way to have some spending money after losing his job.
Monkey Business Images | Shutterstock A husband questioned whether he was being irrational after claiming that his wife should compensate him for doing chores around the house.
In his since-deleted post, the 30-year-old man admitted that he recently lost his job. Since he's at home more often now, he believes that the dynamic between him and his wife when it comes to housework should change along with his employment status.
The unemployed husband said his wife should pay him to do chores around the house.
"My wife and I always roughly made the same amount of money. So we contributed the same financially and split the housework evenly. This always worked well for us," he began in his Reddit post.
"Recently I lost my job. I'm getting my country's version of an unemployment check, which is around 60% of my regular pay."
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The husband reasoned that since unemployment isn't a total reimbursement of his pay, his wife should contribute more so he can still have spending money.
He explained that even though he's not making the same amount of money that he previously did while working a job, he's still able to contribute to the household bills and all of their other expenses, but after making all those payments, he's not left with a lot of spending money.
While he has been job hunting and is confident he'll get hired somewhere else, it will be a couple of months before he can spend money again without having to dip into his savings account, which he's adamant about not doing.
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Since he's unemployed and spending more time at home, his wife suggested that he start doing more chores and anything else that needs his attention around the house.
At first, he agreed with his wife, pointing out that he wouldn't want to just sit around the house all day without contributing in some capacity. However, he does not agree with doing these chores for free.
"I did however suggest that she pitched in a larger percentage to the household finances than her normal 50%," he continued. "That way I could at least have some spending money [for] the coming months."
His wife heavily disagreed that she should have to pay him any amount of money to do chores.
His wife argued that since he's still able to pay his portion of the bills and other expenses that they need to survive, and he has free time, he should be doing more housework. She argued that it's absurd to pay her own husband to do chores around their home, considering he lives there, too.
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"The way I see it. Yes, it makes a lot of sense for me to do more housework in this period. But it also makes a lot of sense for her to chip in more during this period. I think it's unfair that she expects me to spend my extra time on housework, but she won't support me extra financially," he remarked.
Considering he isn't completely down on his luck when it comes to money and can still afford to live a certain lifestyle, it's not surprising that his wife would be against having to pay him from her own pocket.
It's not as if he's unable to contribute or struggling to make ends meet. The expectation of him completing the household chores while he's home seems to be a reasonable request under the circumstances.
If he truly wanted to have more spending money, he could pick up a side hustle or a part-time job until he was able to find a full-time position again, but requesting that he be paid for doing something that he should already be doing is silly.
He needs to remember that marriage is a partnership, and picking up the slack when you have the time should be reflexive and not require compensation.
Nia Tipton is a staff writer with a bachelor's degree in creative writing and journalism who covers news and lifestyle topics that focus on psychology, relationships, and the human experience.