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AIBU?

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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:
Haggyoldclothbatspus · 16/10/2011 23:14

OP, do you live alone? Have lots of cats? spend your empty lonely life crocheting comforters?...

manticlimactic · 16/10/2011 23:16

I leave my pegs on the line. Is this not the done thing? Shock

I used to have them in a peg bag thing but one day I put my hand in to find a nest of spiders I stopped doing that. So they stay on the line. What wrong with a bit of rain on them bibbity

My next door neighbour leaves stuff on her line for weeks. Doesn't bother me but she doesn't use a prop and it hangs that low and trails in the long grass where the dogs do their business. Yuk!

WelliesinJune · 16/10/2011 23:40

So funny criticisms at OP! Never knew leaving washing out for TWO WEEKS wasn't grim/just plain lazy & shameful. Note to self: Must grow up, get out more, and stop making an effort to have any kind of standards whatsoever in order to be cool. Oh and pretend my life is so full and interesting that I don't pay any attention whatsoever to anyone/anything around me apart from ME. And how cool I am. And how little I care about other people. Honest.

doinmummy · 16/10/2011 23:42

I've had a silk blouse in my laundry basket for a year now....cant be bothered to hand wash it... Lazy cow !

Fifis25StottieCakes · 17/10/2011 00:20

I wouldnt leave mine out for 2 weeks but if i did whats it got to do with my neighbour. Would i care if they thought i was skanky, no.

She doesnt know what her neighbour has got on her plate. Maybe there is a reason she cant keep up with her washing. Her neighbours a running joke in her house so she probably hasnt bothered to find out.

I dont care or pay attention to my neighbours washing as i look after my bedridden granny every other day. Cool im all me me me, i just dont care about other people.

No i dont unless it directly affects me or has an impact on my life. How long my neighbours washing is on the line certainly doesnt appaull me.

Proudnscary · 17/10/2011 03:51

I have never noticed the hanging duration or indeed existence of any neighbours' washing in any house I have lived in - ever.

It is bewildering to me that one would note or carry an opinion either way about such a dull and inconsequential matter.

Tortoiseinadarkspell · 17/10/2011 06:25

Er.

Do I just live in a very clean area? The longer my washing is out, the more it smells like fresh air and sunshine and flower blossoms. You know, the things that artificial softeners and other chemical products try and recapture for people who use dryers?

Mind you, my line is under cover, so no bird shit/rain/etc., but I've left washing out for up to a week, and my house is pretty much sparkling, thanks.

SolarPrestigeAGammon · 17/10/2011 08:58

No Tortoise - you are a minker too :)

Original poster
Perriwinkle · 17/10/2011 20:10

Fifis25StottieCakes Sun 16-Oct-11 21:42:41

I dont think she would care if she knew you were bothered about it anyway.
_

That being the case, why are you so bothered about it on her behalf?

OP posts:
Original poster
Perriwinkle · 17/10/2011 20:12

Fifis25StottieCakes Sun 16-Oct-11 21:27:56

"...assuming because people dont agree with you they live in dirty houses with filthy bogs."

__

If the cap fits... Wink

OP posts:
BleurghUna · 17/10/2011 20:29

2 weeks is definitely not normal! You don't know what is going on in the rest of her life though. Maybe she has much bigger worries? I would be concerned about her rather than appalled. How well do you know this woman? Could you keep a neighbourly eye out for her and look for any signs that she might need help?

Fifis25StottieCakes · 18/10/2011 14:26

im not bothered, i havent started a thread about it. Ive just pointed out that i dont think its right to spend so much time watching your neighbours washing, taking the piss out of her the saying anyone who doesnt agree with you must have dirty houses

If the cap fights, yeah right, making assumptions again.

I will leave as i have nothing else to say.

BsshBossh · 18/10/2011 14:37

I don't even leave the washing line out; as soon as the washing's in (as soon as it's dry, if I'm home and never overnight) I put all pegs in the bag and wind the line up.

But that's just me. I barely notice what the neighbours do.

MoChan · 18/10/2011 14:45

I sometimes deliberately leave clothes outside for a long time - when they have a stain that won't come out, weather-bleaching works. I hope my neighbours don't think I'm rubbish.

stealthsquiggle · 18/10/2011 14:49

"

"

Yep. Me too. I don't think I have ever quite hit 2 weeks. I do, however, routinely, hang washing out late at night - because there is no way I will be organised enough to do it in the morning. Hopefully my lovely neighbour is not as nasty judgey as the OP.

Original poster
Perriwinkle · 18/10/2011 17:01

Don't worry Stealthsquiqqle, there's no way you'd be able to detect if it were you.

If we take the responses on this thread as a representative sample of laundry-hanger-outers around the country, it seems that a good 98% of people either wholeheartedly endorse my neighbour's solvenly ways, or at worst have exactly the same laundry regime as her. Shock

OP posts:
SusanneLinder · 18/10/2011 17:04

Waves to OP- Hi Louise is that you?

My next door neighbour by the way Wink

stepawayfromtheecclescakes · 18/10/2011 17:40

I would have had some empathy to start with, 2 weeks is a long time but meh, however cannot believe that the op then decides that anyone prepare3d to do this or to not think it is an issue must live in squalor. Have you been in your neighbours house op? do you know its dirty? and wtf has the observation that she wears lots of make got to do with anything Confused judgey pants or what!

Original poster
Perriwinkle · 18/10/2011 19:29

stepawayfromtheecclescakes she treats her laundry like that (it must be dirtier after she's washed it than before!), her windows (that she never opens incidentially) are caked in birdcrap, her car looks like she's emptied her wheelie bin out in it and her garden is like a wasteground. I don't need to go inside her house to tell what it'd be like.

Ewwww. Grimey.

OP posts:
Onemorning · 18/10/2011 19:54

Perhaps your neighbour (and is there a man in there or are you just judging her behaviour?) doesn't see a clean house etc as a reflection of her self worth?

belgo · 18/10/2011 19:57

Onemorning I was wondering the exact same thing - does she live alone or with someone else?

Original poster
Perriwinkle · 19/10/2011 21:59

She has a husband.

It's nothing to do with self worth - it's about having basic standards of cleanliness and hygiene.

OP posts:
Maryz · 19/10/2011 22:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Onemorning · 19/10/2011 22:59

So why is her husband not coming in for his share of the blame? Is she solely responsible for the upkeep of the household, and your basic standards of cleanliness and hygiene?

[back to the 1950's emoticon]

EightiesChickOrTreat · 19/10/2011 23:04

Haven't read the whole thread but the first and last pages have certainly made me feel better about leaving my washing out overnight. I've got some out there now and did intend to get it in earlier but now it's cold and windy.

Onemorning - yes, clearly washing is the moral barometer of women's behaviour but men have a pass!

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