My husband is driving me crazy! Am I overreacting...?

Question

My husband refuses to throw away empty containers like the plastic butter containers with lids, and Taco Bell cups, or plastic forks and spoons. He puts it in the dishwasher when it's empty so that we can reuse it. Thats not the bad part though. If we have company, he will serve them food and give them a recycled plastic fork, or Taco Bell cup!! He hates it when I throw this stuff out. We have dishes. Plenty of forks, nice drinking glasses, plates etc. He always buys the long sleeve of plastic party cups. Those cups are disposable and I dont understand why he wants to wash and reuse them. I think it's tacky to save that stuff but to allow company to drink from a Taco Bell cup or a recycled plastic cup?!! Is this tacky to you or am I overreacting?

Answer 1

Yes it's tacky, and perhaps unsafe too.  Dishwashers get super hot- especially the heated dry cycle, and the plastic could be degrading  and leaching into your food.  I'd be concerned about that.  Mention that to him and if he doesn't agree to stop, then perhaps you just need to accept this as an odd quirk, among many good qualities (I hope).

Answer 2

I'm all for recycling and reusing, but if company comes over he at least needs to break out the regular dishes. I think that's a fair compromise.

edit: I just read the answer above me and it does sound like something a bachelor would do. He's a married man now, he needs some " home trainin' " as we say in the south!

Answer 3

My husband is the same way.  His parents are very very frugal, and do the same.  For example, we recently had a family get together and I bought some plastic disposable plates and plastic cutlery.  My husband washed all the plastic cutlery, and my mother in law commented that the plastic dishes were good enough to wash and reuse.  Sigh -- kind of defeats the whole purpose of using disposable.  I also have an entire cupboard dedicated to recycled cool whip bowls and lids, cottage cheese containers, sour cream containers and the like that my husband insists on using for leftovers.  He means well.

I also think that my husband does this as a habit from his bachelor days.

Yes it is tacky -- best wishes trying to convince him, though.  Let it go.  It's minor compared to other problems you could be having.

Answer 4

Your husband has no idea where his priorities are.  He saves little things and throws away the big things?  (Throwing out all those nice appliances made me cringe.  I hope you tore him a new one that day.)  Keep throwing stuff away behind his back.  I understand wanting to save Taco Bell cups for personal use or plastic forks and spoons for lunches at work, but you do NOT give a guest a plastic item like that.  Again, keep tossing things when he isn't looking.

Answer 5

My husband saves used building materials from the jobs he works on and the garage is so full that you can't even walk in there.  At least if you want to you can hide some of the tubs or forks in the bottom of the garbage and get rid of some of it.  If he serves people with those old things just make sure they know that is his issue, not yours.  They might get a laugh out of it.

Answer 6

it sounds like he's a d*ck

Answer 7

Yep, this is tacky as h**l.  But what you're doing is looking at it from only your point of view.

Have you ever asked your husband why he does this?  Perhaps he was raised to act this way. What is common knowledge to you or I may not be to someone else.  Let him know, gently and sincerely, that this mortifies you when company comes, and you'd like for him to make an effort not to do this in front of guests.

Also, don't yell at him.  He's not really doing anything "wrong" or immoral.  It's just a social faux pas.  

Good luck!!  

Answer 8

Pretty tacky to serve guests that way.  If he wants to use them himself then I say let him be, but if wants to "bring out the good dishes from taco bell" for guests, then he might have some underlying mental issues.  Was his family extremely poor?  Is there something in his past that he needs to work through? Good Luck!  

Answer 9

Hoarding is not healthy. Your husband needs some counseling to help him cope with the idea that throwing things away is OK.