How do you live with a smoker?

FloorCandy

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I have posted a bit of a vent before, but to sum it up, my mom lives with us since her divorce, (like 8+ years). She contributes very little to the household. We ask for no money, she doesn’t cook or buy food. I can’t trust her to watch the kids or even let out my dogs. She has one agreed upon chore, doing the dishes, aka running the dishwasher. She does it less than half the time, even though she only works about 15-20 hours per week at the mall. We bought her a car when she neglected hers too long and it broke, now the new used car is getting clunky because she does no up keep. it’s literally like having a teenager.

At some point she must have had some kind of mental break, because she has always been irresponsible, but near and after the divorce I noticed it was way worse than ever before. However suggesting to someone that they are mentally unwell does not get received well, so there will be no treatment until she’s so bad off that I need to legally get involved, let’s hope that’s far down the line.

My biggest issue and pet peeve is her constant smoking. I don’t allow it in the house and I never have. She strangled my brothers and I our whole lives by filling the house, car, wherever with smoke. As a kid I got many burns because I ran to hug my mom and got burned and then punished on top of that for not being careful. I recently looked at old pics of my kids from Halloween a few years ago. My son was 2, and I see him laying face down on the sidewalk crying, she is holding one hand to try to get him up, and waving her cigarette behind her in the other. Your frickin grandson fell and is crying, throw the cigarette in the street and pick him up. You can see me and my daughter in the background of the photo running towards them, hubby must have snapped the pic just as he fell.

Smokers seem to have this unreasonable level of selfishness. She throws cigarette butts on my walk, my deck, my porch, my lawn. I tell her to use an ashtray, I buy an ashtray, she overfills it and they fall out onto the ground and the dogs eat them and throw up all over, even on me in bed in the middle of the night. The only time the ashtray is emptied is if I or my husband does it. If I ask her to empty it she says she does, if I show her, she claims she just forgot that one time (there’s 40 butts in it, but she forgot just once!). She doesn’t check if the window that faces the deck is open, and smokes right in front of it. She tells everyone how unreasonable I am, I’m always attacking her, picking on her etc. she’s such a victim.

So we got 3 feet of snow. She just stands on the deck my husband shoveled a path to be clear for the dogs, and so I can get to my bird feed. She flicks her ashes onto the snow on the deck that the dogs constantly try to eat. As the snow melts, the ashes are all over the deck so people and dogs track them into the house. She puts her cigarettes out on my deck! Leaves little burn marks, but claims I’m wrong and she put it out in the snow. She’s not gonna be out there sanding and resealing the deck, I will be. As the snow melts I find clumps of butts in the front yard that she put out in the snow and just left there. There are burn marks in the concrete porch out front and on my beautiful walkway. The power washer doesn’t even get it off! I’m gonna buy one of those small metal trash cans and put it behind the bushes. I’ll put sand in it and tell her to put them there, but then I have to maintain this! I don’t want smelly cans of cigarette trash at my front and back doors, but I’m so tired of dog vomit and stinky ash smelling entry rugs. It’s bad enough her and her room stink all the time. I’m pretty sure she wakes up during the night and just smokes in bed, but I can’t prove it. She buys smelly oils and stuff that she thinks helps with the smell, and it smells like hippy stores, canvas and incense.

I have no idea what makes someone think throwing a cigarette butt on the ground isn’t littering. I’m so tired of not being able to enjoy my deck because she sits out there chain smoking on any nice days. I tell her, and she acts like I’m a huge a-hole. We have friends who are smokers, and we make them go to the back of the yard and smoke by the woods, she has never done that. All she does is smoke, she has always been skin and bones, but age makes it worse, and she will happily sit on the deck for hours in a bikini smoking. This is very awkward for guests and neighbors. We have a huge deck with 2 picnic tables, a pergola, chairs, fire pit etc, but we never use it because she will come out while we are out there and start smoking. Even if she smokes out front, I still smell her crappy off brand menthols all the way out back. My neighbor smokes Marlboro lights and I don’t smell them from his deck which is far closer, so maybe a menthol thing?

If I do ask her to stop doing something, it usually stops for 3-4 days, then business as usual. I’m not sure if there’s any solution, maybe just a vent. I’m making a grow out from a giant dog crate and I shoveled space on the deck so I can attach hardware cloth and stuff with room to move before my husband carries it down to the yard, and I found a trove of butts in the snow which prompted this post. Why are some smokers so unreasonable? My frenchie is about to go into heat, we plan to breed our frenchies this heat, and I worry about the puppies eating butts and choking. I purposely wanted to breed her in spring so I can put the puppies out on the deck in nice weather as they get older, but puppies find things in little crevices and it won’t be relaxing for me if I can’t read a book without pulling butts out of tiny jowls. I take great exception with the French bulldog standard, and after having a traditional bulldog with a tail pocket and face folds I had to meticulously clean and some other health issues, I decided to be the change I wish to see, and I looked long and hard for healthy dogs with normal length backs, straight legs, longer noses, and nubs they can lift, rotate, and wag. I’ve been looking forward to raising puppies, telling people about how great they are compared to other flat faced, roach backed dogs, but how will people feel if they come over and the puppies cough up cigarettes? I worry my little Meatball will choke on a butt instead of puking them out one of these times.

it’s all so frustrating. She doesn’t realize we don’t invite her to play board games or sit on the deck, because she smells like an ashtray. My husband had to take her car to the store because she blocked us in and he was humiliated his friend saw the junky car filled with empty packs and cartons, and he had to shower when he got home because he and his clothes smelled so bad. We have friends over on Saturday evenings, and she always comes out and has to hug everyone. They do not like it because she smells like cigarettes. It’s so gross and embarrassing.
 
It sounds as if you would be happier, and your Mom would be happier if she lived somewhere else.
She can’t afford it. She won’t ask anyone for help and we would find her living in her car. She got a full time job for 3 days and declared it was too hard and quit and went back to being a cashier at the mall. My brothers won’t let her visit let alone move in. At best my aunt would take her in, but that’s just thrusting my issues on someone older and less able to deal with it. My aunt has some of the weird behaviors my mom does so my uncle can’t let her have a debit card connected to their account because she would go out and buy everyone dinner or whatever, then can’t pay the electric bill.
 
Maybe a granny suite? Near the smokers woods...

I feel for you. When I was growing up everyone smoked.

Try to get her to switch to a Vape.
I bought her the blu setup a few years ago when they were popular and she never used it at all. I got her the car adapter the refills etc, never used it.
 
WOW, you need to schedle her a therapist If she likes it or not.
Her benefits don’t cover that, she has some basic part time over priced benefits from her job, but isn’t old enough or poor enough for Medicare/Medicaid. Not that I think she would go anyway. I have tried to suggest it, and she goes in her room without replying. Like hey the divorce has been hard, maybe you would benefit from talking to someone, or join a support group. Purses lips, picks up coffee, goes in room. One hour later she goes out driving and smoking for a few hours, comes back and goes to bed. Sometimes she goes shopping and deals with me by buying herself new clothes or some other nonsense she doesn’t need.
 
I was reading this with a cigarette in my hand but the post was so long I finished it about halfway through. Menthols, beh even I hate the smell of them, they are far more cancerogenic too and we all know cigs are not that healthy to start with especially on a poor diet.
But I tried vapes, thought I'd be doing my wallet and my health some good but had to quit vaping as it made me cough and made my lungs hurt.
There is decades worth of info on the effects of smoking and granted they are not healthy but david attenborough was a heavy smoker and he's 94 years old and still fit as a fiddle.

Vaping on the other hand we know practically nothing about the long term health effects of vaping. I don't know any person that has made it to 94 as a heavy vaper. Early studies show they cause health problems and just from my experience vaping is not good - it was drying my lungs and long term I feel vaping was going to do more damage than smoking.

The experts disagree now as they have no other info to rely on yet but I bet that will change as we learn more about vaping.

Smoking is however far more addictive than vaping so there is that. As a smoker I know, I'd struggle too much quitting, certainly not easy when the person is going through mental problems too.

You need all the mental energy you can get to quit and it does not sound like she has that going for her.

There is a simple solution to this. You start charging rent. That might be easier said than done as she is family but I do have to wonder who pays for meals?

Does she eat with the family for free or what is the arrangement? I would get annoyed with your situation too but if she adds to the finances then you will be able to put up with her far more, just my thought.
 
I was reading this with a cigarette in my hand but the post was so long I finished it about halfway through. Menthols, beh even I hate the smell of them, they are far more cancerogenic too and we all know cigs are not that healthy to start with especially on a poor diet.
But I tried vapes, thought I'd be doing my wallet and my health some good but had to quit vaping as it made me cough and made my lungs hurt.
There is decades worth of info on the effects of smoking and granted they are not healthy but david attenborough was a heavy smoker and he's 94 years old and still fit as a fiddle.

Vaping on the other hand we know practically nothing about the long term health effects of vaping. I don't know any person that has made it to 94 as a heavy vaper. Early studies show they cause health problems and just from my experience vaping is not good - it was drying my lungs and long term I feel vaping was going to do more damage than smoking.

The experts disagree now as they have no other info to rely on yet but I bet that will change as we learn more about vaping.

Smoking is however far more addictive than vaping so there is that. As a smoker I know, I'd struggle too much quitting, certainly not easy when the person is going through mental problems too.

You need all the mental energy you can get to quit and it does not sound like she has that going for her.

There is a simple solution to this. You start charging rent. That might be easier said than done as she is family but I do have to wonder who pays for meals?

Does she eat with the family for free or what is the arrangement? I would get annoyed with your situation too but if she adds to the finances then you will be able to put up with her far more, just my thought.
I cook, hubby and I buy food. She buys junk food for herself that she keeps in her room. My fear with charging rent, she won’t pay her insurance for her car in order to pay rent. I’ve been down this road when covid started and the mall closed. She smoked more and earned less. She stopped paying car insurance and didn’t tell us, she will sacrifice anything to keep smoking. I saw the bill with red writing and we paid it up. She recently went to my brothers wedding and needed to take out payday loans for the flight. She said she had rented a car, but when she got there her credit was terrible, and she had an out of state license so they called us to co-sign and put our card on file.

I feel for how hard it is to quit, but she will smoke herself into the streets if I let her. I’ve found her looking at “low income housing” and I don’t think an efficiency in the slums is the answer. Plus, she brings home less than 1k per month, even if rent was free, she can’t afford to smoke and keep the lights and heat on. She should just make more of an effort to be considerate. She isn’t chemically compelled to burn holes in my deck, and throw trash on my lawn, that’s bad behavior not addiction. I know many smokers, I have friends and neighbors who smoke, they consider other people before lighting up at a crowded bbq or tossing butts on my lawn.

I’ve read some stuff about vaping, and it probably isn’t the answer either, but she never even tried it. She’s 65 already, so idk how much long term effects of vaping will even come into play. It was really humiliating being a teen in the 90s, my mom was pregnant twice with my brothers and smoked the whole time. Even while breast feeding, exhaling right on the baby. People would point and talk about her, Move their seats away from her at games, she didn’t care. My friends were often not allowed or didn’t want to come to the house because of the smoking. She would literally sit around 8-9 months pregnant, chain smoking with an ashtray on her big belly, and tell everyone to look at the ash tray move as the baby kicked.
 
My grandmother lost a lung to cancer before she quit, and now she’s probably the healthiest person in the family lol. My father died from cancer that spread from his lungs when I was in hs. We were estranged so idk how much he smoked or any of that, but I did watch him at the end, having friends hold cigarettes to his mouth because he was too weak to do it himself. I’m definitely aware of the dangers, addiction, and desperation. What I want is some basic consideration for the people who take care of her.
 

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