I now know I'm an actual adult instead of a fraud, because...

[Whatwaswrongwiththatusername]

...I recently bought some mesh "bags" to wash delicates, wired bras etc in after decades of just chucking stuff in. Or just very rarely wearing anything that was difficult to wash. I now feel very grown up whenever I use them! (I'm early 50s, and actually used some of my birthday money last year on them, ffs!) 😂

Oh my, you spent your birthday money ? I mean, well done on your maturity, but that does seem a high price to pay 😂

I am through this phase and now focus on wearing ‘shit that doesn’t need ironing’ and I am amazed it took me so long.

Well it does sound like a strange thing to spend bday money on, but they were actually an add-on to an order of Very Nice Things I'd been wanting for a while, so not all bad. Honest! 😄
And I am so with you on the whole non-ironing thing. I literally have no idea where my iron is. I assume I still own one! And I never look like a creased scruff as there are many ways to wash/dry clothing that leaves them looking good. Thinking about it, the last time I actually ironed something was some new (higher thread count) bedding that I wanted to wash before use and thought that ironing it would make it look fab. I have no idea why I thought this, or where in hell that thought came from, I ended up a hideously annoyed, stressed and sweaty mess and it was one of the worst adulting-activities that I ever partook in...!

😂😂😂

Hmm, as you are over 50 and therefore Elderly could this be a sign of dementia? I hope you have a concerned family member who can appropriate your car keys and get POA sorted so you don't squander their inheritance your savings on nice holidays and dry clean only cashmere.

Is it ok to squander if it was silk? 🙃

My 24 year old DS asked me for some silicone oven gloves for Christmas.

We both looked at each other in horror for a second, as it was like a 'coming of age' moment! 😱

Until he looked sheepish and said, "Right, I'm off to play Fortnight with my mates."

Phew! 🤣🤣

I am 56 and still waiting for much of adulthood to kick in.
Toast is still a meal to me, I have no iron and whilst I have heard of the concept of delayed gratification I have never actually been there.

Arrr, see I'm still just pretending to be an adult. I might be in my 50s, I might have teens, but no way am I grown up enough to adult, because I just bung all my laundry in together and wonder 'where do all the pairs of socks go? Is there a fourth dimension one of a pair goes into? Will the pair ever be reunited? But I'm sure this is a deep, deep philosophical question and I couldn't possibly ruin by using a washing bag to keep them paired up.

What's an iron?

My dd is now the same age as I was when I bought this house.

I've had mesh bags for bras since one of DDs lost a wire which resulted in needing a repair visit ... and she asked me for one of them when she went to uni.

The only other thing I bother putting in them are dressing gown belts so they don't tie up the whole wash. I'm not sure I have 'delicates'.

I felt like an adult when I finally owned a Le Cruset pot. It lasted for about a day, but it was a novel, and rather strange, feeling.

It wasn’t so much that I felt like an adult as I realised other people think I am.

A parent at school (I’m a TA) told me about an issue she was having with her 7yo. And then asked anxiously “What do you think? What would you do?” And then waited expectantly for the words of wisdom.
I don’t know. I’m winging it. The person who has been the subject of my efforts to parent for the last 15 years tells me I’ve got it very wrong mostly so why are you asking me? Find a grown up!

No, I'm definitely a fraud.

Oh I recall a few years ago one of the very first times something very similar happened with/to my daughter! She was already having to adult as she'd been moved out for a while before this. The unspoken look between us clearly saying she was already turning into me 😆 and the panic in her eyes 😆 There have been many times since this, the poor, u fortunate soul!!

I'd like to say that I'm obviously a wonderfully fabulous mother so she could do much worse...until I recall my own horror at the realisation that I'm clearly turning into my own mother 😂

Ah yes, the concept of delayed gratification. I do not believe that exists, it is a myth! Those two words should NEVER be anywhere near each other. I want it, and I want it NOW (whatever "it" is 😄)

I recall that feeling as dd approached the age that I was when I'd had her. Then sailed past. Year after year, until now it has been coming up for almost ten years later and I still can't help but to feel that I'm not adult enough to have a child of that age!! Like, how tf has that happened?! How did I - still not feeling like an adult - manage to do that, kept alive until her own adulthood arrived, when I was sure in my head that I'm no more than a child myself?!🤔

Indeed!! That is very much a marker of a fully grown adult, especially if you have an aga too?

I think I'm definitely only an adult when I actually use the bags. I felt a huge adult soul being sucked into me when I placed the order, which only grew when it arrived. I haven't done laundry in a few weeks and I can confirm, now, that the expectation of being an adult at all times, due to purchase of said items, appears to be very transient and possibly diminishing a small amount with each use!

I bought myself nice new tea towels 'as a treat' then felt horrified. I used to be cool now I'm genuinely thrilled because they were even more absorbent than I had imagined

Late sixties and getting there, perhaps.
I now own vases, instead of using old jars, or even cut down lemonade bottles.
tea towels and mesh laundry bags, check.
iron, even if rarely used, check.
as Victoria Wood once observed, go to garden centres, check.
matching le Crueset, check
tea cosy, even.

Ahhh that really is the grown up dream! Horrible to cook on (ducks and hides from Aga lovers) , but there is a certain “adult” feeling when I warm my bum on someone else’s whilst holding a glass of wine.

I had a day off today and spent some of it listing stuff on FB marketplace and sorting out all the wrapping paper, bags, etc.
I feel very ridiculously pleased

I bought some very expensive bras ( like £46).. bought a bra mesh bag.. put them in on a delicate wash.
When l went to take them out.. the bras had worked their way through the mesh bag which now had an hole in ( non wired).
Back to hand washing them.

It makes me feel grown up not doing the ironing. When I moved into my flat my grandmother passed on this impossibly heavy ironing board, I think it was actually made of iron, like a ship. It was unwieldy and screeched horribly when you unfolded it and there was nowhere to keep it where it wouldn’t eventually fall over. I dutifully used it (now and then anyway) for years - then one day I thought “wtf am I doing” and got rid of it. Any ironing now gets taken to the cleaners round the corner.

I order those little toilet cleaner smelly dispensers that hang inside the bowl in my online shop, and dig delightedly through the bags to find them when the delivery arrives... 😩