He Won’t Put Any More Money Into Renovating His “Bungalow” Because His Wife Refuses To Upgrade And Buy A Bigger Home, And He’s Afraid Of Getting “Trapped” In Their Tiny House For The Rest Of His Life
Nearly two decades ago, this man and his wife bought a home– which he calls a “bungalow”– built in the 1950s. At the time, it was the perfect starter house, given that he and his wife were young and child-free.
But now, 17 years later, he resents living there. It’s only 1,000 square feet, and he and his wife have since had three children together.
“Quite frankly, we’re practically living on top of each other, and I can’t imagine raising three teenagers in a house with 1.5 bathrooms,” he said.
So, he would really like to size up and get a new house– especially because their current home will be entirely paid off in a few years, and he claims that they have plenty of money to afford an upgrade.
Nonetheless, when he first proposed the idea of buying a larger house around five years ago, his wife was completely against it. In her eyes, they’d already put too much money into the property to sell.
For some context, around 10 years ago, he and his wife did perform some remodeling. More specifically, they gutted the main floor down to its studs and completely renovated it.
“New plumbing, electrical, insulation, drywall, windows, doors, trim, cabinets, all of it,” he recalled.
“I did the majority of the work myself, and though it modernized the living space, it didn’t give us any additional space.”
Anyway, his wife has used the work they put in a decade ago to rationalize her refusal to even consider upgrading to a new home. And it’s started to get under his skin because he really doesn’t want to live in their tiny house anymore and believes it’s not conducive to their family’s needs right now.
Rido – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
That’s why, to get back at his wife, he’s simply refused to do any more work on the house aside from necessary maintenance and repairs.
For instance, when his wife wanted to renovate the basement, he said no. Then, when she wanted to pour new sidewalks, patch their walls, or apply a fresh coat of paint, he turned down all those ideas.
“My actions are petty and passive-aggressive,” he admitted, “But I know sinking more money into this place will just fuel my wife’s sunk-cost fallacy.”
Still, he can’t help but wonder if refusing to do any work on their current home because he and his wife aren’t on the same page about buying a new house is really the wrong thing to do.
Can you understand why he feels squished living in such a small place with a family of five? At the same time, do you think rejecting all of his wife’s renovation requests is the best way to handle this situation? What else could he do?
You can read the original post on Reddit here.
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