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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be appalled at the length of time my neighbour leaves her washing on the line

328 replies

Perriwinkle · 14/10/2011 17:47

A whole lineful will appear and then it'll be out for up to two weeks at a time. It can dry, get wet and dry again several times over and be slapped against a concrete wall in the wind. Items only seems to get picked in as and when they're needed and by the end of it's time out there it'll be hanging on by one peg, with longer items dragging on the grass or hitched up against the fence/wall.

There's no real reason I should care - it's not my family's washing after all - but I just can't bear to see washing (something which by definition is supposed to be clean!) being treated like that.

What are some people like?

OP posts:
Original poster
Perriwinkle · 20/10/2011 20:47

She's a SAHM (I think that's the acronym for it) with one child while he works away a couple of nights a week. In my book, that makes her more culpable as she's the one at home all day and yes, as I see it, the home is her domain while she doesn't undertake paid work outside of the home.

To be fair to him, I've seen him hanging the washing out more often than I've seen her doing it. Of course as we know, neither take it in, bits and bobs just get picked off the line as and when they're needed.

Whatever way you look at it, I think she's just a lazy arse.

OP posts:
Onemorning · 20/10/2011 21:06

Culpable? FFS. Biscuit

IWillOnlyEatBeans · 20/10/2011 21:38

YANBU to notice! I often notice if my neighbours leave their washing out for days at a time and wonder why.

If I left my washing out overnight I'd have to re-wash it. It it gets rained on I re-wash it.

If it's raining and I have to dry it inside on a clothes horse then it has to be hung in a very specific way or I can't relax.

I know it's weird and totally OTT, but it's one thing that really, really bothers me. Come and live next door to me, I'll be your perfect neighbour! [hsmile]

Ilikedrinkingblood · 20/10/2011 21:46

The poor woman is probably depressed and lonely and all her neighbours do is peek through their nets to see how dirty her windows are or how long her washing is out.

munkeychops · 20/10/2011 22:16

Jesus, how stepford wives is this?! I have been known to leave my washing on the line for a few days (shock horror) in my time. I'm glad to say though that all of my family are still alive and there seems to have been no long term effects.

This thread says more about you than your neighbour.

rupert1 · 20/10/2011 22:19

Your neighbour clearly has no routine regarding home chores etc.They definitely need reporting.But i dont know who to,police are so busy these days. Are you part of neighbourhood watch, (this isnt what your supposed to be watching

Original poster
Perriwinkle · 20/10/2011 22:39

My home is clean and tidy inside and out - so is my car. If you are a clean and tidy person everything about you will be the same way; your home, your car, your garden, your children. You wouldn't want it any other way and that's just the way it is.

It's nothing to do with not having the time. If these things matter to you, and are important to you, it's like anything that matters to you and is important to you - you make time for it because you want to. Like my neighbour - she could be indoors preferring to read, watch TV, surf the web, dressmaking or knitting for all I know. If she is, she'll be making time for those things because she wants to.

I can't believe that some people think it's some sort of crime to want to be clean, tidy and well ordered and to take pride in taking good care of the things that belong to you.

Can you only be a good mother and a decent person who has a "life" if you purport to not give a shit or care about being clean and tidy?

This thread has opened my eyes to the fact that slovenlyness is worn as some sort of badge of honour around here. It's akin to arsing around at school years ago so as not to be branded a geek.

Sorry if I'm not "cool" but I don't really want to belong to this particular gang. I'm quite happy being clean, tidy and hygeinic.

OP posts:
Fifis25StottieCakes · 20/10/2011 22:50

rupert

spat cola out

Grin

This thread has opened my eyes to the fact that slovenlyness is worn as some sort of badge of honour around here. It's akin to arsing around at school years ago so as not to be branded a geek.

there you go making assumptions about people who havent jumped on your neighbour with you.

people have sympathy with your neighbour living net door to you. By your own admission you know nothing about as you havent spoken to her. All you know is she leaves her washing out, wears shit loads of makeup, has filthy windows, a car like a tip and her husband works 2 nights a week but pegs the washing out and does no paid work outside the home.

like i said op, get a life

ps, the other day when you took the piss out my spelling. Just to let you know its not slovenlyness its slovenliness

CumbrianCooBeastie · 21/10/2011 12:09

Nope, I still don't get the cause and effect: IF your washing is out for a couple of days, THEN it must be skanky? As is your house, your personal hygiene, and especially you.

(disclaimer: I live in the middle of nowhere, with a lovely river, lots of trees and grass etc etc blah blah clean air lovely smells)

  1. If my washing is out and gets rained on, then left to dry again, how is that any different from rewashing it - it still gets wet, then is dried, from the washing machine, no? Rain is not, in itself, skanky.

  2. These hypothetical birds pooing on hypothetical clothes don't exist. I have never had bird poo on the washing. And if I ever did, I would wash it again, because walking around covered in poo is admittedly skanky.

  3. Bits of leaves and twig do not leap for the washing line and cling desperately to my clothes. I have never had to remove 'bits' from washing that has been left out, although I fully see that walking around with a leaf on my arm would make me skanky.

  4. Little spiders and lovely worms do not make homes in my clothes if they are on the line for a few days. Although if I am actually wearing a jumper and a spider runs up my arm, I will instantly rewash it, because everyone knows that spider footprints are skanky.

My clothes are clean and smell of wind, grass, water and stone. I deeply resent using a dryer because then they smell of sour artificial lab chemicals pretending to be a bunch of geraniums that fell in the vinegar.

So if you claim that thinking like this makes me slovenly, with a deep hatred of people who are clean, tidy and 'hygeinic' (i before e except after c, remember), I can only conclude you are deranged, probably brought about by inhaling too much Mr. Muscle.

Original poster
Perriwinkle · 21/10/2011 15:52

CumbrianCooBeastie my neighbour leaves her washing out for a couple of weeks not a couple of days. That's the point.

Fifis25StottieCakes thanks for pointing out that spelling error. Actually it was a typo rather than a spellling error as I do know how to spell the word. I didn't take the piss out of your spelling BTW. I simply said that it wasn't possible to understand what you'd written in one of your posts.

And I hate to keep labouring the point but I do have a "life". Possibly just not the sort of "life" that would meet with your approval, which suits me just fine. Grin

OP posts:
colken · 21/10/2011 16:32

I have read these posts and come to the conclusion that Perriwinkle (should that be Periwinkle the flower or Perrywinkle the drink with a sea snail?) has done all her own work and is now checking up on others in her spare time. Has it not occurred to her that the neighbour might have a disablement of some sort?

OP, do you iron your underpants, towels and vests?

Original poster
Perriwinkle · 21/10/2011 16:41

My neighbour is not disabled.

OP posts:
Onemorning · 21/10/2011 16:46

Not all disabilities are visible, Perriwinkle.

munkeychops · 21/10/2011 16:46

I would suggest people aren't bothered about how clean/tidy you are or are not perriwinkle. It really is irrelevant in the big scheme of things. I think what people find unreasonable is your sanctamonious and judgemental attitude.

It must be lovely to be so perfect that you can be "appauled" by someone leaving their washing on the line for longer than it 'should' be.

Fifis25StottieCakes · 21/10/2011 16:50

she may not look disabled perri but it does not mean she is not disabled which you wouldnt know as you havent spoken to her

no perri, the only thing which was wrong with my post was a lack of a g i think

have you got no mr mucsle left and resorted to a double ariel and coke

clean on the outside = clean on the inside Wink

munkeychops · 21/10/2011 17:05

... I just read the word "culpable"!! Hahaha!

I hope your neighbour leaves it out there just to piss you off to be honest, you sound awful.

porcamiseria · 21/10/2011 17:07

ha ha ha ha

yes OP is DISBALIST NOW

sweet fucking jesus

I think its odd behaviour too OP!!!!!

Fifis25StottieCakes · 21/10/2011 17:24

i reckon the neighbour could get a not culpable under mitigating circumstance if she played it right

Original poster
Perriwinkle · 21/10/2011 20:41

You can take it from me, the neighbour suffers no disability - visible or otherwise.

I will disregard the comment about me being "disablist". How the person who made that comment arrived at that assumption when all I said was "My neighbour is not disabled" in response to the suggestion that she might be is quite beyond me. I'm aware that one has to make allowances from time to time though.

OP posts:
Onemorning · 21/10/2011 23:25

You are Hyacinth Bouquet and I claim my £5.

[cats bum emoticon]

Maryz · 21/10/2011 23:39

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

WelliesinJune · 21/10/2011 23:46

I don't get it. Seriously. Why is everyone having a go at OP. TWO WEEKS leaving washing out is skanky (if not for the fact it indicates her neighbour wears dirty clothes in the meantime too, who has enough to get through two weeks without putting another load of washing on). None of my friends/family live like this. It's about having standards, for yourself apart from anything else. The fact that everyone thinks it is okay to live like this - with a clearly filthy car, clothes etc is an indication of what is wrong in today's society - no one cares anymore, it is okay not to have any standards or self-respect.

Maryz · 21/10/2011 23:56

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Miette · 21/10/2011 23:57

My clothes are clean as a whistle, but my car on the other hand...

WelliesinJune · 22/10/2011 00:00

What's the difference between noticing/commenting and judging, same thing isn't it?