Living with my MIL is driving me insane and the biggest issue is laundry! Oh my god. I am 38 weeks pregnant, I have baby clothes I need to wash and I don’t need someone else interfering. I can wash my own shit.

So we bought a car seat from Mothercare, a really good one, on sale because it was the display model. It was supposed to be £350 down to £150 so bargain, right? Mil was standing around while we were deciding which one saying ‘I don’t know why you’re bothering to get that one, we got a second hand one for a tenner when you were little’ like yeah sorry that was the 90’s, shits changed. You’re not supposed to do that now and I shouldn’t be made to feel bad about caring for my baby’s safety.

Anyway, because it was a display model as I said, it was FILTHY in the creases. I didn’t realise how much fluffy dust was hidden in it until we got home so we decided to strip off all the covers and wash them. Mil didn’t like that either ‘why are you washing it all, just leave it as it is’.

We are on an odd electric tariff where the electricity is expensive during the day but is cheap if you use it overnight. So, I said I’ll put the machine on a time delay so it washes overnight. My partner was excited to get it clean and put it back together so everything is ready so he said just turn it on now. I explained I’ll put it on overnight when it’s cheap. Mil tells me to put it on now. I say again, I’ll put it on a delay because it’ll be expensive and it needs a good wash, then we can hang it to dry in the morning (not allowed to use the tumble dryer as it’s expensive even though we pay extra on top of our rent for utilities). But no, mil and partner both INSIST on me turning it on now. So I do, on baby care setting. My mil insists on everything being washed at intensive 60 degree wash and if I put it on any other setting she turns it off, but I figure this stuff can’t be washed on intensive 60 as the padding inside will go weird and quick 30 degree wash won’t kill the bacteria from all the shoppers. She turns it off when I go for a bath and puts it on quick 30 and says that’s the only two settings we are allowed to use in this house. I know for a fact that quick 30 was not enough for those car seat covers because not only was there still dust on bits but massive parts of it were still dry! It hadn’t even soaked it all let alone cleaned through! But I can’t put it back in. So I have to put my baby in that dirty car seat because she says so. Partner doesn’t even understand laundry so he just says do as she says.

I’m sick of her not allowing me to wash my own clothes or my baby’s clothes. She complains about how she can’t handle all the washing but won’t let me do it. Every single time I put a wash on overnight she sneaks downstairs and turns it off. Why? Only to put it on herself later in the day? When it’s expensive? On purpose? If I hang washing to dry she moves it around to how she wants it hung. Like why does this woman feel the need to control everything? I am not a child and I can do things myself! It’s really getting to me and I love her as a person but it’s getting hard not to lose my patience with her when she’s being so controlling. We pay as much rent to live with her as we would if we were to live in a 3 bed house by ourselves! The only reason we live with her is because if we pay her rent instead of a stranger it helps her pay off her mortgage. She’s stopped taking extra for utilities because I’m not in work now so we can’t move out incase my partners income doesn’t quite cover the extra we’d pay for utilities. But it’s making me miserable living here. I have no part. Am I just overrracting because of hormones? Literally just wanna cry everyday because of how much I hate living here😔

I JUST WANNA DI MY OWN LAUNDRY IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK

so I’ve been told when the baby comes she will be washing the baby’s clothes on quick 30 and no other setting. Um, mind your own fucking business? Stop washing my dark clothes in intensive 60 and fading them. Stop putting my colours in with darks and ruining the colour. Stop touching my fucking Stuff!

Sometimes I have to say to my partner ‘babe, you sound really controlling right now and your kind of being an arsehole’ when he’s being overly bossy, now I see where he gets it from. I’m not allowed to leave a clean dish on the draining board as she calls me down from upstairs to come and put it away. How the fuck am I gonna have a baby in this house? I don’t want to be upstairs trying to soothe my baby while stressing about the fact I’ve left a Muslin cloth on the sofa or something. I don’t want confrontation but I can’t live like this. She’s making it clear to us that this is not our home and that is not the atmosphere I want to bring a child into. We were living with her as a favour. I didn’t ask for any of this. I’ve had to quit my job to move here without being asked whether that’s what I wanted or not, it was just assumed that’s what I would do.

What do I do to make this bearable? Sorry it’s long, I just have no one to vent to as we’ve moved away from everyone we know😔

In Law Rant