To be annoyed at DMIL for putting a wet towel in the dustbin?

Just take it back out of the bin and put it on a hot wash.

Add a cap of dettol if you are really fussed about germs.

Eh? Do you dry towels before you wash them??

I wouldn't be annoyed. I'd be appreciative they cleaned up.

If you want to keep the mat get it out of the bin.

I'd be interested to know how you would get rid of a pee/water soaked mat.

I’d just take it out and wash it. No damage done. Some people are very OTT about cleanliness, she clearly thought that you’d want it in the bin. She should have just left it by the washing machine in the bag.

Being irate is pointless and ungrateful. Just retrieve it from the bin and wash it. Odd to just throw it away but everyone is different and she might be equally horrified at you washing it.
However being upset that she put a wet towel in a bin because of bacteria is totally insane 😆 I mean. Where do you put nappies, sanitary towels, used wet wipes etc?? It's a bin. That is literally what it's for and I wouldn't never think twice about worrying about it being mouldy, that is really weird.

I'm against waste too. But usually bathmats don't cost that much. Yabu.

Have you see the price of bath mats?

Could become expensive baby sitting if she won’t deal with the idea of washing something a child has peed on. What else will she bin?

DesertGecko Do or did you bin all the clothes your dc peed on when they had a leaky nappy or explosive diarrhoea

Both you and she are over reacting. Yes, it's very silly of her to bin the bathmat, and I would be silently irritated by that, but just get it out and wash it. No need to make a drama out of it - presumably MIL will notice it's still there next time she babysits.

The wet towel in the bin isn’t an issue (your outside bin is full of mound and bacteria), the throwing it away rather than washing it is an issue - completely unnecessary. I guess when you have little kids it happens a lot so you know it’s necessary to wash it but if you see it as a one off it’s a bigger deal and you lose perspective a bit.

This is just not a big deal. At all.

Just wash it. All back to normal.

Are you looking for reasons to be annoyed?

She is being unbelievably profligate in her actions.

You are also being silly. It's really not hard to fish something out of a bin, wash it and return it to use.

And you're also a grown up yourself now, and are not bound by your DMum's weird habits with regards to wet stuff. So I hope you overcome your revulsion

I'd be annoyed. It's not for other people to go making those kind of calls over your things. I actually would be worried about leaving her in charge in your house again if that's her reaction to a bit of water and wee. What else might she throw out rather than wash? His pants and underpants?

I wouldn't worry about it being wet in the bin though, just that she's getting rid of your stuff needlessly. I had a flatmate use my pillowcase to clean up a spill once and I was REALLY annoyed. It's just irritating when people do weird things with your stuff.

Maybe she thought the bath mat wasn’t worth saving ? Was it very old/discoloured to begin with ? I wouldn’t make this a hill to die on, unless it was an incredibly expensive newish bath mat.

It’s a pissy bath mat. Get over yourself.

This seems like inventing a justification for OP to be angry at the MIL. There is absolutely zero information given to suggest the child was upset or even knew the bath mat had been thrown out, or any description of the grandmother’s reaction. It’s just as likely that she sent him to bed first or threw it out with all the emotion of a person tossing a dropped cracker in the bin.

OP, go fetch the mat and wash it. Being irate is completely OTT.

How old is DS?

Get it out and wash it, as everyone says.

I would be worried about how she behaved in front of DS though, it sounds like she had a major over-reaction to a bit of wee and I would be concerned about the upset that might have caused. I wouldn't want the boy thinking he'd done anything wrong by having a small accident.

I’d think it was weird but go and get it out and shove it in the washing machine on a hot wash.

Your husband is right . For heavens sake just go and get it from the bin and wash it. Such a big drama over nothing.

Something similar happened in our family once; sister-in-law from a very wealthy background threw away towels that had mopped up kiddie vomit, to the amazement of the sisters-in-law from more humble backgrounds, one of whom was the owner of the towels. They talked about it for months afterwards.
Unlike them, you can fix things by going and rescuing the bathmat. If you trust yourself to stay calm and be reasonable, you can tell your free babysitter that you did so, so she knows how you'd like things done in future.

I’d be annoyed too at her just throwing the bath mat in the bin. Just because they’re doing you a favour doesn’t make it okay to chuck out your belongings. What a weird thing to do!

Livid - really?? It’s a bathmat. She looked after your kid, I presume he’s still alive and warm/fed and had a good/reasonable time with granny. But if you don’t want to lose a bathmat, you may have to engage a professional babysitter for future outings.

I would have preferred that MIL put the bath mat in the laundry trough ... or into the empty bath if you have no trough.

How to get it there?
If it were dripping wet, a bin bag is a good idea if no bucket were available and obvious in the laundry.

It is wasteful that she binned it so lucky that it was in a bin bag and easy for you to retrieve.. and wash.

You are over reacting, hugely!
The worst thing that could happen is that the rubbish is collected before you can fish the bagged bath mat out of the bin. It's a plus that she told you.

Take it out of the bin and wash it!

Bring it in and wash it, there’s no waste.