Mom-in-Law Forcing Husband's Spouse to Do All Her Laundry Slammed: 'Help'

A mother-in-law has been accused of driving a poster on Mumsnet to breaking point by insisting they wash all of her clothes for her.

When it comes to chores, research suggests the long-standing gender disparities around the division of work in the household still persist.

A 2021 survey conducted by the Pew Research Center found 59 percent of women felt they did more work than their spouse, while just 6 percent felt their partner did more. Though 46 percent of men felt responsibilities were shared, 34 percent acknowledged their partner did more around the house.

Not every relationship adheres to tradition though and, for some, problems can arise when attempts are made to try and divide chores along these gender lines.

However the problem facing one person posting to Mumsnet under the handle KAYMACK offered a slightly different spin on the issue.

In a post headlined "Help! Mother-in-law driving me crazy," the poster explained that they are "not very good around the house," and their in-law "senses this and loves to gaslight me." According to the post, the mother-in-law "does not have a washing machine" and regularly bombards them, specifically, with "difficult things to wash."

To make matters worse, the poster said the mother-in-law doesn't explain how to wash these items yet "loves to chastise" them when they gets things wrong.

In the past, the mother-in-law has accused the poster of shrinking clothes and claimed they "ruined" one of her favorite garments. "She even gave me some things that should only have been dry washed just because she knew I would ruin them," the post says.

Though the original social media post sought advice on how to best wash the in-law's garments, the post instead prompted a slew of angry responses from users left furious at the older woman's behavior.

Modestandatinybitsexy said they should "refuse to wash anything else for her."

"Let her come and use your machine herself, buy her a washing machine or washing service if you're feeling charitable," they added.

For many, the answer was a simple one. Cherchezlaspice told her: "Let your husband sort it out," MiltonRoad agreed: "I'd give them to your husband to wash."

PicturesOfDogs, meanwhile suggested: "Say you're busy, she's welcome to come round on X day and use the washing machine, or she can take them to the dry cleaners."

The most practical piece of advice, however, came from a user writing as FangsForTheMemory, who said: "Ask her to come over to and show you."

"This is how I dealt with a difficult employer when I was an au pair," they explained. "She told me to hand wash an expensive pleated skirt that said dry clean only on the label. So I said please show me how you'd wash this. Behold, she washed it and all the pleats came out."

Newsweek was not able to verify the details of the case.