I just think this is crazy! Do I need to stop being such a mum?

[michelleseashell]

One of my friend's washing machine is broken so I'm helping her out by doing her washing. Rather than waiting around, she's just left me with two big bags of mostly baby clothes.

The thing is about 95% of the clothes are ruined! They're all gray and absolutely covered in bobbles. This is baby clothes so they can't possibly have had time to get in such a state. They've obviously just been put in with darks, jeans, on really hot washes etc.

I just don't understand it! I am literally aghast! Why would somebody do this? Isn't it just a terrible waste of money? These are all Next and Gap but even supermarket stuff can be kept in good condition, surely? A charity shop would throw these clothes out.

I put on a 'white' wash with a stain remover pouch and a colour catcher and the colour catches came out dark gray.

Aghast!!

You might be a better friend without the gossip though OP.

Zukie - on no account tell Michelle where you live or she'll have your pegs off the line.

Don't worry, if she didn't hate Mumsnet I'd show this to her. She has a great sense of humour which is lucky because she needs something to make up for being colour blind.

Zukie, I'll be round doing a Papa Lazarou and stealing your pegs! :o

Well if she's totally in on the joke why all the 'she'll never see this cos she hates Mumsnet' nonsense?

I really don't get this. I'm sure I have my own share of trivial things to get worked up about but washing isn't it. They're clothes, they're to be worn. Anything that takes a load of looking after (and doesn't have a central nervous system) doesn't have a place in this house. If it's cloth it gets thrown in the wash, if not it gets thrown in the dishwasher. If it doesn't make it out in one piece then maybe it should have been a bit less of a wimp. If it does, it lives to serve another day. I care that my children's clothes are clean, dry and appropriate - so DD had a niceish dress on today. She was playing in the mud, and eating it, if it's ruined then it's ruined. I don't make an effort to ruin clothes but my children decide what they do in the clothes, not the other way round. I own nothing that is dry clean only, except for maybe one suit which was the best I could find at the time.
I think I need more of an interest in clothes and looking nice.

"But no one is that busy that they can't wash clothes properly (sort the colours out into piles) and if they are not in great condition you can buy new ones so cheaply now Asda, Tesco -just a couple pounds, so there is no excuse for babies to wear old or dirty clothes."
Half the time a week goes by and then you are just waiting for them to be in the next size up - so not worth replacing them, unless you have money to burn

For me its second nature thought to separate out the colours - thats what my mother did and I learnt from her.

Plus as a family of 5 we have a lot of washing so the loads have to be separated somehow and just as easy to do it by colour.

Also not sure how it makes you a suburban housewife to just look after things you spend money on - surely thats just sensible.

Because she won't see it. If I told her I was on Mumsnet she'd say, oh Michelle you're such a MUM. But since you're so worried about the morality behind comparing washing loads, she really wouldn't give a crap. A woman who's whites look like she rinsed them in the Thames does not then concern herself with any raised eyebrows on the way back to her hovel.

YANBU.

Does she care about her friends taking the piss out of her behind her back?

Goodness me, do you want her phone number or will you just take my word for it? This is a trivial matter. If I found out she was taking the piss out of me for having an oranges wash which I am incredibly precious about, I would laugh too. It's just japes.

I'm clearly in the right though. If you don't fold your towels right then don't talk to me :o

Well the thread started off a lot more serious - you were genuinely concerned that the clothes couldn't be passed on etc. Then it got a lot more lighthearted when people started pointing out that you were coming across as a judgy loon.

I have a pink wash - now that is surely a massive no-no on mn

I think maybe the problem is you thought this thread started off serious :o

Yes, I do have an oranges wash. It's actually my pinks, reds and oranges but I bought orange towels especially to make up a load for it. I'm a laundry loser. And just thrilled to find out I'm not alone!

michelle, you know those washing powder ads where two women stand in the kitchen talking about the amazing cleaning power of new XXX automatic? Those aren't documentaries. People aren't supposed to behave like that in real life. NO-ONE behaves like that IRL!

The ad industry has a charming phrase for those ads - two Cs in a K. Stands for 'two c*nts in a kitchen'. Which tells you exactly what the people who created that stereotype think of anyone daft enough to try to live up to it.

Well I wasn't the only one. Looks more like back pedalling to me but whatever.

Ha ha people DO behave like that in real life. It's strangely addictive. I even- and I haven't admitted this before- check out how they fold clothes in shops so I can copy it at home. If that's a cunt then call me a terrible cunt!

OP YANBU. I have never put my babies in grey clothes.

I am genuinely surprised to discover that people don't separate their washing - how can people afford to buy new stuff all the time when it all gets grubby looking and the colours lose brightness?

I do whites, off whites, black/v.dark, light colours, blue/greens, red/pink/oranges, and my cream towels go in a different load to the rest. I really thought this was normal

I think it is environmentally unfriendly to do loads of separate washes, lower your temperature and put it all in on a non-fast colours wash.

How many washes are you people doing?

Oh I always do a full wash, and I have a 9kg washing machine which is v.energy efficient. Never do only a few items at once.

I do about 10 loads a week, 3 of which are nappies.

Fairly sexist thread too - heavily judgey on women