I honestly cant take it anymore with you lot turning up every single weekend!
You know the type of people I meanthe ones who are convinced the whole universe revolves around them and honestly couldnt care less if youve got your own life to live. My brother-in-law, his entire family, and even his wifes brother, rock up at ours every weekend, without fail, and stay the night. Thats him, his wife, their two children, and her brotherthe whole lot of them piling into our home, not even bothering to check if weve got plans or if its remotely convenient for us.
Theyve been doing this nearly a year now and, well, its fair to say Im fed up. Dont get me wronghaving guests is lovely from time to time, but this is just relentless. Theres never any chance to have a quiet weekend, sort out my own things, or simply unwind and recover from a busy week at work.
Instead, I end up slaving away in the kitchen for two straight days, making endless tea, preparing food, sorting out beds, and then drowning in laundry once theyve finally shuffled off. Every single time, I ask myself if they have the faintest clue how rude it is to just show up uninvited, acting as if its the most normal thing in the world just because were family! God, if it was once in a while, I could handle it, but three times a month is outrageous.
My husband and I would never pull that sort of thing with anyone elsewe wouldnt dream of it. In fact, maybe we should have gone over to theirs a few times unannounced, just so theyd get a taste of what its like. I asked my husband to say something, but he completely bottled itdoesnt know what to say apparently, too scared itll upset them. Or maybe he just doesnt mind. Anyway, since he refused to help, I decided to take matters into my own hands.
First, I just stopped cooking at the weekends. If they wanted a meal, they had to settle for whatever leftovers were lurking in the fridge from the week before. And if that ran outwell, they could sort themselves out. I could happily get by with just a cup of tea.
One time, they all sat at the table, clearly expecting lunch, giving me expectant looks. I told them straight: theres nothing made todayif youre hungry, youre welcome to whip something up. They all sat there, stunned, but no one cooked anything; just drank their tea in silence and sloped off to bed.
I also stopped scrubbing the whole place top to bottom every single time they came. On one occasion, my brother-in-laws wife moaned about her daughters white socks turning grey, of all things. I simply told her, look, I havent had time to mop the floors, but if shes worried about the state of my house, the mop and bucket are right there in the bathroom if she fancies cracking on. She never brought it up again.
Most importantly, I stopped putting myself last. I refused to rearrange my weekend or cancel my own plans just because we had houseguests. At the end of the day, I deserve to see my own friends and have my own life! So, when they were over, Id sit with them for an hour or so, then politely excuse myselfsorry, Ive got things to do. My husband could entertain them if he wanted. If I had no plans that day, Id just start a massive spring clean on purpose, just to avoid hanging around with them too much.
After one of these visits, my brother-in-law said to my husband, Looks like our times up, isnt it? Not sure how he finally twigged! But since then, the visits are far less frequent, and only after weve actually spoken about it firstand, thank goodness, with no more overnight stays.
Have you ever had something like this happen to you? How on earth did you stop it?
