My husband came home today with a decently sized swing that he made for our 7 month old. It is comprised of used stuff, some of which had mold/moss on it. He wanted to put it on our very small deck. I told him it should go in the yard and I also asked if it is safe and clean. He then got snippy with me saying that he wouldn’t put our baby in something that wasn’t. 

My husband loves to bring random crap home and “find a use for it”. We have a good amount of stuff in our backyard already that has been sitting there for way too long and lots of things in our basement that he has collected. I wouldn’t call him a hoarder, but he has a hard time letting go of things that he thinks could be useful someday.

Anyway, back to the fight. He then somehow turned it into an argument and claimed that I said he doesn’t do anything, which I never said or even implied. He works very hard and I merely mentioned that he has to stop bringing crap home with him because we have too much junk. He doesn’t see it as junk, so I think that’s the problem.

I feel bad that he worked hard to make the swing and I did dismiss his efforts, but at the same time, I’m fed up with him thinking that this crap is okay to bring home. Not to mention that this swing clearly was not clean enough to put our 7 month old in.

I’m going to apologize for dismissing his work, but how do I do that without making it seem like this is okay to keep doing?