My girlfriend [25F] of 2 years gets mad at me [27M] if I try to "stock up" on anything and will throw it out. How do we work through this?

This seems pretty silly to me, but I'm probably a little more in her direction here.

I genuinely wouldn't be surprised if her burning through your stock ups wasn't intentional -- unless she said it was. I know we have tons of paper towels, so I don't hesitate to use a ton of them because I'm not going to run out and I really don't want to wash dish towels a lot. When I get to the last roll, you can bet I'm going to be a lot more conservative. Smart? No. But it happens. Toothbrushes are a little bit weirder, but I do it with my stock of sponges so I still wouldn't be surprised.

Just talk to her about it. Explain that she seems to burn through your stocking and that it bothers you. Lay out that it's just economical to buy extras, but only if you continue to use things as you would without extras. If she's concerned with hoarding, make a list of things that make sense to stock up on, and ask her to be more understanding of your desire to have some extras on hand.

But for stuff that don't pertain to you, leave it alone. Seriously. Live and let live. My husband likes it when his sock/underwear drawer is organized and I just throw my junk in and dig for what I need. But when I do laundry, I put his things away how he likes it. You need to do the same thing -- just let pack her way and you do your packing your way. Her not packing extra underwear will not directly impact you. You won't be stuck in dirties, she will. So why bother worrying about it?

Maybe I'm coming a little from her side here, because I cannot imagine over packing. Her small emergency stash could be because she doesn't worry about natural disasters and knows she'll have time to grab a few things if she needs them. 5 extra minutes grabbing a handful of items won't kill her or you. Honestly, she may only have it because you (presumably) insisted.

It's a difference in personality you guys need to find a compromise with. You can get extra stuff if there's space and it makes sense (e.g., not 15 bags of rice -- not that you said you do this), and she can pack her stuff her way without you fussing or worrying.

/r/relationships Thread