If someone told me three years ago that I would be thrown out of my own kitchen in a flat that I paid for, I would have laughed. Today, I am living in a psychological thriller inside my own 5-room HDB.
In 2023, my Mother-in-Law (MIL, 68F) asked if she could stay at our flat for “2 to 3 weeks” because her flat was doing HDB HIP (Home Improvement Programme). My husband (33M) and I (31F) said sure, no problem.
Three weeks passed. HIP finished. She didn’t leave. Three months passed. Still here. Three YEARS passed. She has officially taken over the house.
It started small—rearranging my living room cushions, changing my laundry detergent. But over the last year, she has developed a terrifying obsession with controlling the REFRIGERATOR.
Yes, the fridge.
She bought a physical combination padlock and wrapped it around the handle of our double-door Samsung fridge.
I am not joking. There is a literal padlock on my kitchen fridge.
If I want an apple, an egg, or a box of milk that I BOUGHT with my own money, I have to go to the living room, ask MIL for permission, and she will personally unlock the fridge, inspect what I take, and lock it back.
Her reasoning? “Young people don’t know how to save food! You open fridge too long, electricity bill expensive! Also, this food is for my son, you eat so much for what?”
Last week, I came home from a 10-hour work shift at 8pm. I was starving. I unlocked the fridge (I found out her code was her birthday), cooked some frozen dumplings.
MIL walked into the kitchen, saw me eating, and literally SNATCHED the bowl of dumplings out of my hands, threw it into the rubbish bin, and yelled: “I told you not to touch the fridge without asking me! You got no respect for elderly! This dumplings I buy for my son’s breakfast tomorrow!”
I lost my temper completely. I screamed at her to pack her bags and GET OUT of my house.
My husband ran out of the bedroom. Instead of backing me up, he grabbed my arm and scolded ME: “Babe! Why are you shouting at my mom?! She is old already, just let her manage the food lah! Why must you make things so difficult? She is staying here to help us watch the house!”
Watch the house?! She is holding my groceries hostage!
I told my husband: Either your mother moves back to her own empty Bedok flat by this Sunday, or I am filing for separation and putting this HDB up for sale.
He claims I am being “an unreasonable, crazy wife” who is destroying family harmony over a fridge. Am I insane, or is this level of MIL dominance totally unhinged?