Carefully planning a move to ensure a seamless transition into her family’s new home, a woman shares on Reddit that her husband, who refused to follow her strategic approach of packing, was served a hard lesson on why “details matter.”
After the move, her husband was shocked when he learned what his wife had done…
Sharing her story called “Packing – details matter,” a Redditor details a hilarious story where she packed an entire house, while her husband refused to help.
Detail-oriented, the original poster said she had an inventory sheet for each box that was both numbered and color-coded, identifying the contents and room to which they belonged.
The user recently shared how she delivered some “malicious compliance” after her husband didn’t offer any help with packing even the garage, which was filled with his stuff.
She writes, “I packed the entire house by myself (well, the kids helped with their toys). My husband didn’t do the garage [until] I forced him to.”
The OP explains she kept asking about the content in the boxes he packed so she could add the information to her running inventory sheet.
“He lost patience and said, ‘there are wrenches, screwdrivers and sh– like that, dear.’” She continues, “He does this for multiple boxes. Saying things like ‘It doesn’t matter, it just needs to be packed’ and ‘never mind the list, the movers are going to be here soon,’ Etc etc. so I dutifully write this down.”
‘Cue the malicious non-compliance’
Once the family is moved in, the author explains they start renovating the home. “We are beyond stressed because there are [borders] and wallpaper [that looks like it was] applied by Satan, which delayed painting, which delayed carpet
“Cue the malicious non-compliance,” writes the woman, who says her husband –helping with renovations – starts looking for his tools, which are mostly still unpacked.
“Hubby is looking for a specific tool. Asks me what’s in a specific numbered box. I can give him specific details, but tell him, that’s orange, which is kitchen. You need blue, which is the garage.” She continues, “So he goes over to the boxes labelled in blue with the garage stuff in it. There’s a pretty big pile. He knows that I can find stuff in the boxes I packed and asks which box is the tool he wants in? I tell him he didn’t give me a lot of detail.”
Lesson unboxed
The OP says her husband points at a box and asks her to read from her inventory sheet, cluing him of what’s inside.
She pens, “I read out ‘wrenches, screwdrivers and sh– like that dear.’ He gets a little annoyed and asks about the next one. I say ‘it doesn’t matter, it just needs to be packed.’”
She adds, “I handed him my log, and just told him that’s what he gets for not cooperating. He had to go through about 20 boxes to find the right one.”
Redditors jumped in the comments section, commending the author for her valuable teaching moment.
“I’m not normally a big fan of pettiness amongst spouses, but he was almost literally asking for that to happen and definitely deserved it,” writes one community member.
An second shares, “As a frequent mover military wife it was not petty, it was a learning opportunity. My husband did the same thing with his stuff, just filled boxes, taped them up and wasn’t concerned about what was in them until he needed a particular item. Live and learn, except he really hadn’t.”
A third netizen writes, “Love that you logged down exactly what he said. I have no doubt what pisses him off the most is the fact it’s all his fault he’s having difficulties now. Well played!”
Responding to that comment, the OP writes, “It was indeed. He had forgotten at first and I had to remind him that those were HIS words, not mine.”
Meanwhile, others praised her organizational skills and some said the inventory sheet is a strategy they intend to use.
“OK, next time I move, I’m doing this…this would make it all so much easier,” shares one. Another cybernaut offered her own packing tricks: “I also made a zone map for the new house. You could be as detailed as you like with that and more vague about box contents, and things will still get approximately where they belong.”
“It was a perfect system. Especially going into renovations,” writes the poster. “My hubby made a doozy of a mistake with not going through stuff. Let’s just say, there were words spoken and a very po’d wife.”