Hey everyone, I'm looking for advice on how to handle stalemates between my husband (uPBD) and me.
First, I try to avoid stalemates and just go along with whatever if it's not that big of a deal to me, but there are some things where I feel I need to stand up for my needs.
There are times when we want the complete opposite thing. A recent example, to put away his boxes of protein bars that have been accumulating on the dining table for weeks now. Those are his work lunches and the manufacturer keeps having sales so he keeps buying them when they are discounted. I have two empty drawers in a dresser they can move into. He told me he doesn't want those boxes moved and I can't touch them.
It's basically, "I want them put away" and "Well, I want them to stay where they are"... no tie breaker.
There's other things piling up in the dining room which I haven't even addressed yet since my request to put away those boxes took off like a lead balloon.
We have a 900 sq ft house, clutters and messes make me anxious and hard to focus, and the small rooms amplify the messes. Everywhere I look, it's disorganization and clutter. This entire house is an ugly cacophony of sights. It grates on me but the messes don't bother him. He says that they bother me is a "me" problem and I just need to get over it. (but also, when I do clean, he finds ways to criticize how I did it, such as how I filled the dishwasher).
I feel like my only options are 1) to just clean that
PLEASE READ up when he's at work (I work remotely), or 2) just let it ride and if he bitches about how we have to eat Thanksgiving dinner sitting on the couch, like every damn meal we eat, I'll point out the fact that his boxes are hogging up the dining table; if only he'd cleaned up. I guess I could also sleep in the spare bedroom citing his lack of empathy and compassion as reasons for why I don't want to share a bed with him right now, but that will trigger his fear of abandonment and lead to him monologuing about all the ways I'm a horrible wife and that he wants a divorce.