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AITA for cutting off the electricity to the house my ex still lives in after 18 months of freeloading and counting?
Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.
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Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.
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Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.
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This pattern is older than leases. Kindness gets rebranded as obligation the second it is convenient. Access turns into entitlement when nobody sends an invoice. Domestic squatting starts in the story long before it shows up on the couch, powered by selective memory and borrowed authority. The quiet trick is scope creep: a temporary favor becomes standard practice, then moralized as a right, then weaponized against the host when the subsidy ends. Systems exist because debates do not move sofas.
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Paper beats pleading. Records beat vibes. Turning off the resource that carries the freeloading is not meanness, it is logistics. Hospitality remains a choice, not a utility; ownership remains a responsibility, not a community vote. Adults who want permanence negotiate terms, contribute costs, and respect capacity; adults who want freebies narrate hardship and hope the lights stay on. The durable move is simple and boring on purpose. Stop underwriting what was never agreed. Document the boundary. Let consequences run on schedule. Romance expires, receipts endure, and peace returns when charity stops pretending to be infrastructure.