My (33m) wife (31f) is a SAHM. I feel she is more of a dependent than a partner.

Your post could have been written by my father, years ago.

My mother was a lazy dependapotamus who never helped with anything. The house was fairly clean, but she left piles of laundry waiting to be ironed. We kids never had chores, never learned how to take care of ourselves. If my father needed help with the family business, he had to ask his parents - because his wife was far too busy watching TV and racking up credit card debt.

Dad waited until we were in our late teens, and then he divorced her. All of the kids decided to live with him full time. None of us knew how to do anything at first. I remember us all standing around the washing machine, wondering how to use it to wash our clothes.

Fast-forward to today and Dad has a new partner, who is lovely, helps him anytime he needs it (and he helps her). They've just finished renovating their beautiful new property, and they spend their evenings dining with friends and indulging in their hobbies. He has a great life, and you can too.

Stop enabling her. If you need to leave her, and feel able to wait, then wait until the kids are old enough that you won't be crippled by child support payments.

Definitely don't have any more kids.

I'd look into having a vasectomy to prevent it.

You also need to take back control of the finances. If she's wasting the family's money, she shouldn't be left in charge of it. Set up a new bank account at a different bank and have your pay go into that. Work out how much your wife should be given, then have that automatically transfer to the normal account on a weekly basis. Keep an eye on how she's spending it, you may need to take over some of the purchasing responsibilities. Maybe look into online shopping - see if there's a grocery store near you that delivers.

If you want to sell your house, hire a cleaner for a few hours. Send your wife on holiday to her relatives if you have to. Hire a big skip bin and get rid of all of the useless clutter. Do what you have to do.

And put your foot down about the kids not helping around the house. If she wants to re-wash her own dishes, that's fine. She can do that. But she shouldn't be able to unilaterally decide that the kids won't learn how to take care of themselves, or help with the house.

TL;DR Your life will only change if you change.

/r/relationships Thread