A message from the firewood supplier arrived while Natalia was having lunch. The attached invoice listed six stacked cubic meters of split birch firewood, delivery to the village, and stacking under the shed. The total came to 22,300 rubles.
Natalia checked the address, made sure the driver had noted the rear access road with a solid surface, and forwarded the invoice to Andrey. She had no intention of paying for the order herself, although that was exactly what she had done for the previous five years.
Three weeks earlier, her husband had introduced new rules.
The Rule Andrey Proposed
The argument had started because of the refrigerator at Tamara Ivanovna’s house, Natalia’s mother. The old refrigerator had stopped cooling, so she moved the food to a neighbor’s house and called a repairman. He inspected the appliance, replaced several parts, and charged 14,800 rubles for the work.
Natalia paid for the repair from the joint account she and Andrey used for major household expenses. That evening, she explained to her husband why the money had been needed, but Andrey frowned and put down his fork.
“You could have at least called me. Almost fifteen thousand without any warning is still a lot of money.”
“The repairman came during the day, and the refrigerator was already broken. What was I supposed to do, send him away and wait for your permission?”
Andrey explained that they both worked and received their salaries on separate cards, so maintaining a permanent joint account only created confusion. He suggested splitting utilities and groceries equally, while all other expenses should be paid individually.
Natalia reminded him about replacing the pump at his mother’s house. In the spring, they had paid for it from the same joint account, and Andrey had not asked then why his wife had handled everything without consulting him.
“The pump was necessary for the house,” he replied, as though Tamara Ivanovna’s refrigerator existed purely for decoration. “Let’s not start remembering every purchase. From now on, we’ll just agree on things properly.”
“Everyone pays their own way!” her husband decided.
He said that helping their parents should also be divided: Natalia would be responsible for her mother, and he would be responsible for his. The next day, Natalia reimbursed the money she had spent from her salary card, and Andrey sent her a link to a spreadsheet where he had already listed utilities, groceries, and household purchases.
The spreadsheet was detailed. The only thing missing from it was the time Natalia spent solving other people’s household problems.
Six Cubic Meters for Lidia Pavlovna
Both mothers had long since grown accustomed to calling Natalia first. Tamara Ivanovna asked when it was best to submit utility meter readings, while Lidia Pavlovna asked what kind of paint she should buy for the porch and where she could find someone to clean the chimney.
Andrey loved his mother and visited her in the village almost every weekend, but his wife handled all the arrangements. She negotiated with repairmen, confirmed delivery times, and warned Lidia Pavlovna when she needed to be at home. Andrey usually appeared only after the work had already been done.
It was the same with the firewood. Every August, Natalia called a supplier she knew and ordered birch logs no longer than forty centimeters because anything longer would not fit into the stove. Before delivery, she checked the weather and explained to the driver where best to park so the truck would not tear up the ground near the gate.
This time, Lidia Pavlovna called on Monday morning.
“Natasha dear, I looked in the shed, and there’s only one row left. Spring was cold, so we used more than usual. Do you think six cubic meters will be enough for winter?”
Natalia stepped into the corridor with her phone so she would not disturb her colleagues.
“It should be enough. I’ll find out the price and pass everything on to Andrey.”
Her mother-in-law did not seem to notice the last sentence. She only asked Natalia to tell the driver to use the rear access road. They had recently spread gravel there, so even after rain the truck would not get stuck.
The supplier sent the estimate that same day. The firewood cost 16,200 rubles, delivery was 4,100, and transporting it by wheelbarrow from the unloading point to the shed and stacking it cost another 2,000.
The Invoice Suddenly Became a “Shared Expense”
That evening, Andrey was sitting on the balcony sorting through his fishing gear. Natalia opened the supplier’s message and said that the truck could come on Thursday afternoon.
“Fine. Tell them to call Mom about an hour beforehand,” her husband replied, still untangling his fishing line.
“They will. I forwarded the invoice to you. It needs to be paid by Wednesday so they’ll hold the truck for us.”
Andrey picked up his phone, looked at the amount, and placed it beside the tackle box.
“Pay it yourself for now, and I’ll pay you back after payday. There’s almost nothing left on my main card.”
“You have a savings account.”
“I’m saving that money for a boat motor. I don’t want to withdraw it now and then have to start saving all over again.”
Natalia leaned her shoulder against the doorframe. Three weeks earlier, her husband had insisted that an adult should plan expenses in advance and not shift them onto someone else.
“Then you’ll postpone buying the motor. Your mother needs firewood sooner.”
Andrey frowned and began putting his fishing gear back into the box.
“Natasha, why are you starting this? We’re not talking about my entertainment. We’re talking about heating for my mother. That’s a normal family expense.”
“My mother’s refrigerator repair was also a family expense until you decided otherwise. I placed the order, agreed on the price, and checked the address. You have the invoice.”
Andrey went into the kitchen, opened his banking app, and stared at the screen for a while. Meanwhile, Natalia took the towels off the drying rack, folded them, and put them in the cupboard. She had no intention of continuing an argument whose point her husband understood perfectly well without further explanation.
A few minutes later, he appeared in the doorway.
“Are we a family, or is everyone on their own?”
“That’s not my question, Andrey. You already answered it.”
A Conversation with His Mother
By the following evening, the invoice was still unpaid. The supplier warned Natalia that after Wednesday he would no longer be able to hold the truck and would give the time slot to another customer.
At around eight, Lidia Pavlovna called. She wanted to know what time the firewood would arrive so she could ask a neighbor to open the rear gate.
“The truck hasn’t been confirmed yet,” Natalia explained. “Andrey has the invoice, but the payment still hasn’t gone through.”
Her mother-in-law was silent for a moment, then cautiously asked:
“Natasha dear, did you used to pay for it yourself?”
“Sometimes myself, sometimes from our joint account. Andrey would transfer part of the money later, if he remembered.”
The conversation ended quickly. A few minutes later, Andrey’s phone rang. He went into the room and left the door slightly open, so Lidia Pavlovna’s voice could be heard from the kitchen.
“Son, why should Natasha pay for my firewood?”
Andrey replied that he and his wife would sort it out themselves, but his mother stopped him.
“You’ve already sorted it out if each of you is responsible for your own parents. Natasha has been ordering everything for me for five years, finding repairmen, and waiting for deliveries. I thought you two were paying for all this together. If you came up with these rules, don’t force her to break them for your sake.”
Andrey tried to explain that he did have the money; it was simply inconvenient to withdraw it right now. Lidia Pavlovna listened to her son and said that in that case, she would order the firewood herself after receiving her pension, and she would not take money from Natalia.
After the conversation, Andrey sat in the room for several minutes. Then he came into the kitchen, opened his savings account, and transferred 22,300 rubles using the supplier’s payment details.
“Should I send him the confirmation?” he asked.
“Send it. The order is in your name. I’ve already given him your number.”
On Thursday, the truck arrived on time. The workers unloaded the logs by the gate, then transported them by wheelbarrow to the shed and stacked them under the roof, leaving a gap between the firewood and the wall for ventilation.
The First Corrected Line
On Saturday, Andrey drove to see his mother, checked the woodpile, and covered the edge that could be reached by rain with a tarp. That evening, he opened his spreadsheet and deleted the line that said, “Each person pays for their own parents.”
In its place appeared a new line: “Help for both mothers — by mutual agreement.”
The couple decided to transfer money into a joint account for household expenses and discuss major purchases in advance, without dividing them into important and unimportant depending on whose relatives needed help.
Andrey made the first transfer, then showed Natalia the screen of his phone. She nodded and added her share.
A week later, Lidia Pavlovna reported that the shed was dry, the firewood had been stacked neatly, and Andrey had promised that in the spring he would find someone himself to repair the porch.
