Seems daft now

Not laundry but similar. My ex husband washed up once a year on Christmas Day. (I never had a dishwasher until.divorced). I tried pilng up dirty dishes and cutlery by the sink until everything was used up and there was nothing clean left. The response was nil.. It was a case of who blinked first.

I found a thong belonging to his current partner

Jocork; How on earth did her footwear get into his sock drawer and did you find the other one?

Its a wonder so many of us are still married with these troublesome husbands, I'm sure if they were asked about us they'd struggle to think of any irritating things we do. Mine leaves socks in a tight bunch, leaves things in pockets for washing, blames me for moving anything that's missing, would never change bedding or towels etc. All that pales into insignificance to what really annoys me - it's the way he refuses to put the little food catcher into the sink drainhole. No, he'd rather let all the food bits go straight down the drain. Yes we've had rows over it but he still does it.

My DH opens drawers but doesn't close them. I know - odd! I've stopped closing them, just walk past. He also carries his breakfast tray into the kitchen and puts it on the side of the sink. I have asked him to put bowl in sink and tray in cupboard but he never does. I've told him I'm not the maid but it doesn't make any difference. Occasionally I just leave it there all day but he doesn't notice.

My ex used step out of his underpants and socks and leave them where he'd stood. Despite my asking him not to, it continued . Finally I'd had enough and left the items just where he'd left them. One morning he came into the kitchen to say that he had no clean underwear, only a pile of used and why was this. I explained the rules only stuff in the laundry basket was washed . " how petty " was the response. We didn't divorce because of this but it helped ?.

Does your husband complains of not having enough intimacy.... My husband is 74 and retired, I'm 61, he has a long sleep every day after lunch. Falls asleep in front of the T.V spends all day in his shed building and fixing things which I think is great at least he has interests. But is it fair to blame me ...

My ex eventually learned to use the washing machine after often complaining he was low on shirts, and often put the washing on after that. Recently however my daughter went to stay with him and his new partner and as she'd been away for a few days before visiting them, asked if she could use the washing machine. His response was that he didn't know how it worked. She said she wasn't asking that, just, was it ok to use it as she'd work out how herself. Clearly his new partner looks after him better than I did!
I never used to put his clothes away - just put clean stuff in a pile on the bed for him to arrange as he wanted. The only time I ever went in his drawers - because I'd lost some navy socks of my own and thought they might have got there by mistake - I found a thong belonging to his current partner and thus discovered their affair! Our marriage ended there! Perhaps if I'd put things away for him regularly he wouldn't have been so careless and I'd have been unawares for longer.

I have a DH who also takes his socks off and they are inside out, why cant he put them right before putting them in the linen basket,I wash them as they are and leave him to sort them out if he ever realises.

My DH will open drawers, cupboards etc. looking/retrieving items but WILL NOT CLOSE THEM.
He looks blankly at me when I go nuts because every drawer, cupboard door, door in the house is wide open. He really is unable to see why I refuse to go behind him closing everything.

When we first married I told my husband that Friday night was my night off from cooking and it was up to him to sort out something for us to eat. In practise this means we usually have a Chinese take-away! However it annoyed me that he would bring it in and dump it in the kitchen for me to plate up, so one week when I'd cooked our meal I left the food in the utensils in which it had been cooked, then told him his meal was cooked and all he had to do was plate it up. He laughed and did plate up the takeaway that week but soon slipped back into old habits!

Nannan2 Your talk of toilet rolls being 'the wrong way round' brought back an amusing memory. My DH was left-handed. When he replaced a toilet toll he always hung it so that it unrolled nearest to the wall. The rest of the family would always change it so that it unrolled outwards.
DH got really annoyed about this, and one day he stormed into the bathroom and unscrewed the toilet roll holder from the wall. The toilet roll was then perched on the knob at the bottom of the radiator. There it remained for months, until I came home one day to find the holder back in its old place, and the roll unwinding outwards. One of the few times in his life that my stubborn-as-a-mule mate admitted defeat!

My son has done his own ironing since the age of 14, what wasn't done was thrown into his bedroom as it was with the rest of his stuff after a couple of days. I also taught him to sew and now with 4 daughters he uses the sewing the sewing machine I bought him to take up hems, put in zips etc. He ( or his wife but she can't sew) should be teaching the girls to do it

However the clothes are when put in the laundry bin is how they go in the washing machine and then hung out. I find crumpled socks seem to straighten themselves in the machine. I put his socks and boxers away in his drawers but his clothes are folded lengthwise and put over the landing bannister for him to put away. I think the pile got to about 3 weeks worth high at one time. Now our lovely cleaner appears to be putting them away so he cant complain if he can't find something. He always puts a new toilet roll on before the old one is finished. But worst if all is that he never uses the toothpaste to the end and I have to finish them up. When he was renting an apartment in England while having his treatment I went to visit and found about 5 mostly used tubes of toothpaste piled on his basin. When I asked why his reply was "well I know you like finishing them up" grr!

As I've been divorced for a long time, I can't remember what annoyed me about my ex (apart from just about everything). However, I do admire my two DSs for their domesticity and think I must have brought them up pretty well - or have their OH's trained them well? What I would love to know is how all the posters on this thread have brought up their sons? Do their DiLs have any complaints?

My 15 year old proudly told me he HAD changed the loo roll yesterday-(&our holders are quite difficult to manouvre) but forlorny he informed me he'd got it the wrong way round- but i told him it didnt matter&well done!( At least im winning on that one!

There's lots of things that used to exasperate me when I was a young mother . Things that used to reduce me to tears make me feel uncomfortable now about my angst then !
I wish I was the person I am now but back then ?

Jools1903-i LOVE that one! Might try it one day...

Yes Bush i have ALL that from my teenage sons too- and im trying to change them both NOW so i cant get the blame when theyre older from their wives!Wish me luck!

Haha-gerry 86- i too started to do that this week!- two teen sons who do that constantly- i tried it last week with youngests school shirt- but no,he was wearing it INSIDE OUT! (good job he wears a jumper&blazer on top so it wasnt as noticable...)ill keep you posted if it works.....

When my youngest child(now 15) asks where something of his is,but doesnt say PLEASE i say it back &end it "what"-or just say "what"-till he cottons on which bits missing &ends it with " please"- we usually get there eventually even if he gets a bit grumpy

My husband has too many of the above bad habits! Luckily although it annoys the hell out of me I just do it.
It may make me a doormat,but the other option was to leave and I suppose I must l must love him,despite all his bad habits!

My husband leaves all rubbish at the back door as he claims not to understand the recycling. (He's a highly intelligent man) I sort it and bin it for a quiet life. A while back he moved into the spare room as I snore and keep him awake. The first morning he asked why I didn't make his bed. I said because it was HIS bed, not mine. Ever since he's done that small job himself. A little victory for me.

Reading this makes me realize how lucky I am!

If it's put out to washed inside out, or worse still half inside out, buttoned up or whatever lazy way they do it, that's the way they get it back. Sometimes things are very difficult to iron but that's my point of honour.

DH is 'guilty' of many of the irritating habits mentioned:
shirts buttoned up, sleeves rolled up;
tissues and coins in trouser pockets;
growing stacks of (his) mail that remain unopened;
shoes and slippers left around the living and dining room;
But the most annoying is his garden shoes - he comes in and leaves them on the kitchen worktop, out of reach of the dog. When I mention it he puts them up on top of a wall cupboard. I forget they are there, open the cupboard and get a muddy shoe on my head!!
But I wouldn't change him for the world, I'm well aware that one day I will miss him and all his little habits so, so much.
And I am the one who replaces the loo roll and leaves the empty tube on the window sill. Sometimes there will be several of them and I'll stack them in a pyramid. DH then gathers them up and takes them to the greenhouse for planting seeds in.