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“That’s What He Gets For Not Cooperating”: Wife Gets Revenge On Husband On Moving Day
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“That’s What He Gets For Not Cooperating”: Wife Gets Revenge On Husband On Moving Day

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Packing your things when moving house can be a logistical nightmare! However, if you approach the entire process with some sort of plan or system in mind, you can avoid a lot of potential pitfalls. On the flip side, packing things randomly means you’re only prolonging the inevitable—a huge headache when you have to unpack later.

Redditor u/Essdee1212 recently shared how she cued up a dose of malicious compliance after her husband didn’t help her pack the garage and expressed how much he didn’t care about it. Well, soon enough, he got a taste of why behaving like that was a bad idea. Read on for the full story.

Moving house can be a very stressful and overwhelming experience, especially if not everyone’s helping out

Image credits: Blue Bird / pexels (not the actual photo)

One woman shared how she reacted when her husband was less than willing to cooperate with the packing

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Image credits: Kenny Eliason / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Image source: Essdee1212

Ideally, everyone in the family would pitch in during the move

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Image credits: Michal B / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Above everything—no matter what packing and detail-tracking system you come up with—what matters most when moving house is teamwork. It can be a thoroughly overwhelming and exhausting process. Especially if you’re taking on the lion’s share of the burden.

Every single additional person who pitches in and lends a helping hand makes the process go faster. The more people there are, the less energy everyone else spends while packing things, labeling boxes, and carrying them.

Not to mention that it’s… the nice thing to do—as cheesy as it sounds. Moving house is a huge step for anyone. And everyone’s things are everywhere. So it only makes sense that the entire family pitches in with the whole process.

If someone’s not cooperating all that much, it can be a bit awkward to bring up the fact in conversation. But it’s better to talk it out rather than to let those feelings of resentment build up.

Though in real life it’s never so simple, talk to your partner about how you’d like their help and how their behavior is making you feel. You want to be honest about your feelings without sounding like you’re making them out to be the villain.

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At the end of the day, remember that you’re a team. You wouldn’t be living in the same house, packing, and moving if you weren’t!

The entire process can be very stressful, so it’s vital to rest when you can

Image credits: SHVETS production / pexels (not the actual photo)

What also would make perfect sense is that the person who constantly uses the garage and their tools would take the time to carefully pack these things up.

Any artisan, hobbyist, or DIY enthusiast knows just how important it is that they take care of their tools. Packing them up (or rather, asking someone else to do this) haphazardly means that you won’t easily find what you need when you unpack.

It’s kicking the can down the road and asking for trouble later on. And, in between the lines, it speaks volumes about a person’s attitude not just to their tools, but to teamwork as well.

However, let’s not forget that due to how stressful packing and moving is, lots of people end up getting frustrated. Sometimes, these emotions come spilling out—and not in the nicest way.

Just because someone is overly critical or no longer cares about the details might not mean that they’re ‘lazy’ or ‘uncaring.’ It might mean that they’re beyond tired and need a decent break. Every problem seems smaller after a nap, a good meal, and some proper relaxation.

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No matter how you approach the finer details of packing, it’s best to get started as soon as possible. The entire process is probably going to take much longer and use more of your energy than you realize.

Moving is the perfect opportunity to declutter and say ‘goodbye’ to anything that no longer sparks joy

Image credits: HiveBoxx / unsplash (not the actual photo)

One of the upsides of moving house is that you can use packing as an excuse to look through all of your old things and declutter. Most of us keep hanging on to stuff that we no longer need or want. But it’s time-consuming to sort through them (especially after a long day at the office, raising kids, or studying).

So when we’re forced to move everything anyway, you might as well say ‘bye’ to some old, broken, and tired things that no longer spark joy.

Broadly speaking, the more effort you put into labeling the boxes, the more you’re helping out your future self. But even if you don’t have the patience for this, you can still label your boxes in broad categories, e.g. by room, by general item type.

Doing something is better than nothing. Obviously, if you know something is incredibly important to you and you’ll need it ASAP after moving, at least detail in which box you’ll find it. And use liberal amounts of bubble wrap! (You can always reuse it the next time you move.)

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In our experience, one of the biggest mistakes anyone can make while moving is putting way too many things into a single box.

We want to be so efficient and use as few boxes as possible that we sometimes forget that we’ll have to carry them to the car or the moving truck, and then throughout the new place. It’s better to pack fewer things so that the boxes are more manageable, for whoever does the heavy lifting.

The author responded to a lot of internet users’ comments and reactions

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Some of the readers were happy to share their own experiences with packing and moving

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Jonas Grinevičius

Jonas Grinevičius

Writer, BoredPanda staff

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Storytelling, journalism, and art are a core part of who I am. I've been writing and drawing ever since I could walk—there is nothing else I'd rather do. My formal education, however, is focused on politics, philosophy, and economics because I've always been curious about the gap between the ideal and the real. At work, I'm a Senior Writer and I cover a broad range of topics that I'm passionate about: from psychology and changes in work culture to healthy living, relationships, and design. In my spare time, I'm an avid hiker and reader, enjoy writing short stories, and love to doodle. I thrive when I'm outdoors, going on small adventures in nature. However, you can also find me enjoying a big mug of coffee with a good book (or ten) and entertaining friends with fantasy tabletop games and sci-fi movies.

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Jonas Grinevičius

Jonas Grinevičius

Writer, BoredPanda staff

Storytelling, journalism, and art are a core part of who I am. I've been writing and drawing ever since I could walk—there is nothing else I'd rather do. My formal education, however, is focused on politics, philosophy, and economics because I've always been curious about the gap between the ideal and the real. At work, I'm a Senior Writer and I cover a broad range of topics that I'm passionate about: from psychology and changes in work culture to healthy living, relationships, and design. In my spare time, I'm an avid hiker and reader, enjoy writing short stories, and love to doodle. I thrive when I'm outdoors, going on small adventures in nature. However, you can also find me enjoying a big mug of coffee with a good book (or ten) and entertaining friends with fantasy tabletop games and sci-fi movies.

Kotryna Br

Kotryna Br

Author, BoredPanda staff

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Kotryna is a Photo Editor at Bored Panda with a BA in Graphic Design. Before Bored Panda, she worked as a freelance graphic designer and illiustrator. When not editing, she enjoys working with clay, drawing, playing board games and drinking good tea.

Read less »

Kotryna Br

Kotryna Br

Author, BoredPanda staff

Kotryna is a Photo Editor at Bored Panda with a BA in Graphic Design. Before Bored Panda, she worked as a freelance graphic designer and illiustrator. When not editing, she enjoys working with clay, drawing, playing board games and drinking good tea.

Hey pandas, what do you think?
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glennschroeder avatar
Papa
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don't care about the labels on the boxes, but her saying later that "After 33 years my husband has just learned that what I say goes" makes me think she must be a real joy to live with. (And before anyone injures their finger mashing the down arrow too hard, I'd say the same thing if the sexes were reversed.)

rosemary2861 avatar
Phoenix🇬🇧
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I noticed that as well. No wonder he has so many tools. I would head off to the garage, to make things, if she was on my back all the time.

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judlaskowski avatar
Jude Laskowski
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What's with that "spark joy" thing? Yikes! My potato masher does not "spark joy", but I need it when I'm going to mash potatoes. My socks do not "spark joy" but they keep my feet warm. Get real.

g_r_grist avatar
Abner_Mality
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Just did a big move in the last year. Ditched lots of unused items and methodically packed all rooms with boxes color coded to where they would go in new place. Hired the movers to pack up the kitchen and garage, NEVER again! Garage items were literally just dumped into large wardrobe boxes (big mess). Kitchen was carefully packed into 30+ large boxes (nothing broken) but only labeled "Kitchen" no other details. Took a week and a half to find the cutlery and cooking utensils, so lots of takeout till then!

rachelestoops_1 avatar
Rachele Stoops
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The one time we had movers when I was a kid they packed our trash cans with trash in them!

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glennschroeder avatar
Papa
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don't care about the labels on the boxes, but her saying later that "After 33 years my husband has just learned that what I say goes" makes me think she must be a real joy to live with. (And before anyone injures their finger mashing the down arrow too hard, I'd say the same thing if the sexes were reversed.)

rosemary2861 avatar
Phoenix🇬🇧
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I noticed that as well. No wonder he has so many tools. I would head off to the garage, to make things, if she was on my back all the time.

Load More Replies...
judlaskowski avatar
Jude Laskowski
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What's with that "spark joy" thing? Yikes! My potato masher does not "spark joy", but I need it when I'm going to mash potatoes. My socks do not "spark joy" but they keep my feet warm. Get real.

g_r_grist avatar
Abner_Mality
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Just did a big move in the last year. Ditched lots of unused items and methodically packed all rooms with boxes color coded to where they would go in new place. Hired the movers to pack up the kitchen and garage, NEVER again! Garage items were literally just dumped into large wardrobe boxes (big mess). Kitchen was carefully packed into 30+ large boxes (nothing broken) but only labeled "Kitchen" no other details. Took a week and a half to find the cutlery and cooking utensils, so lots of takeout till then!

rachelestoops_1 avatar
Rachele Stoops
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The one time we had movers when I was a kid they packed our trash cans with trash in them!

Load More Replies...
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