Ziplock even makes them.

Exactly. Doesn’t have to mean their ready to break up with you, it could just be that they are overwhelmed with work, or having health problems, anxiety over money, not sleeping well, worrying about a family member, feeling depressed etc.

The real LPT is paying attention to your partner. If they seem off, like more tired, sore, cranky, more emotional, check in with them to see what you can do to help, even if it’s just being a shoulder to cry on or listening to them vent about situation out of everyone’s control.

That’s part of being a good partner.

Stocking up on items you use regularly when they’re on sale is a better LPT. That way you’re not running out of products you use regularly AND you’re saving money.

Depends on the country you live in. Legally gift cards can’t expire in Canada. The only ones that break that rule is prepare Visa/MC cards.

Points can’t expire for reward programs either, like Air Miles.

Grocery gift cards along with a personal note would be welcomed. Gift cards that people won’t use, aren’t very helpful, but ones for the local grocery store or Walmart if there is one in town is a good choice. Everyone buys groceries, and Walmart sells such a variety of things that pretty much anyone can find something they want whether it’s food, electronics or clothes.

As someone else mentioned, give separate gifts/cards for the night shift. Most of the time they miss out on gifts and food all together because they are gone before they ever make it into the building for their shift.

Do you think men should have pictures with their mothers showing they’re proud of them?!

If you have chores or a task that you’ve been putting off, even though you know it will take a small amount of time and little effort, but still can’t force yourself to do it…and this is something you consistently do, you might have ADHD.

Executive Dysfunction is a symptom, which is basically that your brain doesn’t give you dopamine for completely tasks, like a neurotypical brain does. For everyone else, they complete a task, they get a dopamine hit that gives them a sense of accomplishment. ADHD brains don’t get that, without a reward for doing a task our brains just say, “I’m not doing it.” And don’t give you the motivation to complete it.

If that sounds like you, do a little research on ADHD and see if anything else fits and talk to your doctor about getting tested and treatment options.

If it’s not you, any of these other suggestions can help.

Whoops. Forgot what sub I was in. I’ve added the location for the specific rent controls I mentioned.

Rent control is vastly different depending on where you life, so checking local laws is a good idea.

Make sure your apartment has rent control. In Ontario Canada for instance, any building that was occupied Nov 2018 or before is safe. New buildings have no rent control so your landlord can raise the rent to whatever they want. Even doubling the rent or worse. Thanks, Doug.

Edit: Added Location.

My wife, like a godamn superhero made chicken noodle soup from scratch for herself the day before covid knocked her out.

They could, for sure. But it’s up to you whether you want to just take on extra work with no increase in money or benefits. They could give this duty to someone else, or hire someone else to do it. Or just tell you that it’s mandatory that you do it.

They might not want to pay you any more money, but even a day or two of extra vacation is a win for you and likely easier for your supervisor or whoever to get approved.

If you don’t say anything you could end up in a scenario where you’re getting more and more work added to your plate because you’re a “great team player”. But what’s the cost of all that extra work on you? Longer hours? Working on weekends? Unpaid overtime? More stress? Burnout?

You can make the argument not to rock the boat, but you also don’t want to be the doormat everyone walks all over because they never stand up for themselves.

I would ask the director what your increase in pay will be for taking on this new responsibility. If they don’t give you a raise ask if they can increase your vacation days or allow you to work from home or something else they can give you that isn’t a raise but will benefit you.

If it’s going to be a lot of extra work for you without extra pay or benefits, feel free to say no. Just say something like, “Thanks for thinking of me, but the extra responsibility will add a lot onto my plate and without an increase in remuneration, I don’t feel it’s the best fit for me.”