Helping family out is one thing, but being used as unpaid labor is another entirely.

So, what would you do if babysitting for a relative turned into scrubbing their entire kitchen every single weekend?

Would you do it for the sake of getting out of your house?

Or would you grow tired of it and find a way out?

In the following story, one teen finds herself dealing with this exact situation.

Here’s what happened.

Older cousin used me as a “free” maid for months, so I asked her mom for a pot

When I was a young teenager (maybe 13), I had an older cousin with a small child.

She lived in a basement apartment under her parents with her boyfriend and the kid.

She called me to babysit for her one weekend, and I, being a young teen, was stoked for the money and just to get out of the house, if I’m being honest.

I was homeschooled and wasn’t allowed to watch TV or do much at home.

I went over, and she and the boyfriend left.

Kiddo and I played for a bit before he said he was hungry.

When I went into the kitchen to feed him, every dish in the place was dirty, pizza boxes stacked a mile high, just truly gross all around.

I cleaned the kitchen, as I didn’t want to cook in such a mess.

After that, this became a weekly thing.

Every Saturday, my cousin would get me to babysit; there wouldn’t be a single clean dish in the house, and I’d clean before I started cooking.

This went on for months until I finally said something to my Dad.

Basically, the conversation went like this:

Her father knew exactly how to handle the situation.

Me: Do I need to go to Ella’s this weekend? I don’t feel good, and I don’t want to clean her house.

Dad: Why would you clean her house?

Me: Explains the state of the place every week

Dad: Yeah, you’re not doing that anymore.

You go over there tonight like every other time, but when it’s time to make dinner, go around to your aunt’s house (cousin’s mom) and ask her for a pot and some plates.

Tell her you can’t cook kiddo dinner because there aren’t any clean dishes in the house.

So that’s exactly what I did.

Never got asked to babysit again. 🤣

That cousin had some nerve!

Let’s check out what the readers over at Reddit have to say about this situation.

This is a great point.

Here’s someone with a similar experience.

Hopefully, it forced the cousin to change.

As this person points out, these two things are kind of concerning.

The cousin needed to be told on.

That’s no way to live at all, especially if you have children.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.