My Mother-in-Law Demands over $200 from Me for Cleaning My Home — But I Never Asked Her to Do ItA woman’s mother-in-law gave a helpful hand to a couple who were in the hospital waiting for their kid. The couple was really grateful for her offer to feed their dogs. However, when they got back, they discovered a note affixed to their refrigerator, the contents of which astounded them.An anonymous woman shared her confusing experience on the “AITA” subreddit on October 9, 2023.
The 31-year-old mom had her gorgeous kid a week ago, but she had to stay in the hospital until October 8 due to problems.Appreciative to be back at home with their new baby, she considered how things had come about so suddenly. She was at home with her 33-year-old husband when her waters broke, and they weren’t thinking about cleaning. She just tossed some towels on the bedroom carpet and ran to the hospital.A Charming Motion or Something Else? The woman’s 59-year-old mother-in-law kindly offered to feed their pets while they were in the hospital, a gesture that the couple really appreciated. But when they got back home, the wife saw a receipt and a letter on the refrigerator. She was shocked to learn that her mother-in-law had cleaned the entire house, not just the carpet in the bedroom.The volume of texts was so overwhelming that OP turned off her phone in an attempt to escape the circumstance. The note included a breakdown of the cleaning costs, including $200 in cleaning supplies and a day’s labor at $25 per hour. The woman was completely taken aback by this sudden demand for payment. “Now, while it was nice of her to clean my carpet and then the rest of my house, neither of us asked her to do this,” she continued. How Did the Husband of OP Act? The spouse of the original poster took the initiative to handle the problem in response to the unanticipated demand. He texted his mother to thank her for helping out when they were in the hospital. But he had to express his displeasure with what she had done: “Hi mom, thank you so much for all of your assistance over the past few days while [my wife] was in the hospital. Having someone around to watch the dogs was a terrific idea.”The man wrote that the receipt and letter affixed to the refrigerator were discovered by him and his wife. Neither of them had told the MIL about OP’s water breaking in the bedroom, so they were both astonished that she had decided to spy about their home. Second, the couple was perplexed to discover that the mother-in-law was requesting payment for their services as well as her time spent cleaning the property after spending hundreds of dollars on cleaning supplies. Since they were supposed to pay for these cleaning supplies, they also needed to know where they were located in order to obtain value for their money.“We genuinely believed you were assisting us out of the goodness of your heart when we entrusted you with the dogs, not as a way for you to make quick money. The husband said, “We are family, and we are hurt you would do something like this while [my wife] was so ill. The Response of the MIL The mother-in-law replied as soon as she saw her husband’s letter, saying that her acts had been motivated by kindness and that she couldn’t understand why they weren’t grateful. Additionally, the woman received texts from her extended family highlighting the MIL’s support as a loving gift and applauding her efforts despite her elderly age.The volume of texts was so overwhelming that OP turned off her phone in an attempt to escape the circumstance. Despite her goal to prepare the house for the baby, her mother-in-law was falsely portrayed as the villain and her husband was accused of manipulating the situation. Meanwhile, her husband continued to get criticism from their family. The woman was highly offended by the whole thing and disagreed with her husband’s offer. To diffuse the criticism from the extended family and free them up to concentrate on their new responsibilities as parents, he suggested compensating his mother. But the woman was adamantly against paying his mother for what she had done.In the middle of all of this, the mother-in-law texted the couple again, saying she would be happy to give them the cleaning supplies as a gift, therefore taking that cost off of their bill. She made this gift, but she refused to accept payment for her labor, claiming that the cleaning process involved “a biohazard.” The woman was split between her ideals and her family’s harmony, between her husband’s wish for peace and her unwillingness to give in. “AITA, why won’t you pay my mom?” she questioned. How do you feel about this narrative? Scroll Down for More Stories