Or is DP a little bit nuts (teatowel related)

[LilaTheTiger]

Conversation went

Me "next time I'm anywhere that sells teatowels I'm buying 10 new ones and throwing all these grotty ones away"

DP "Oh no, don't do that, there's ones I want to keep"

"Really? Ok, not the ones you got from attractions then"

"And a the ones my mum bought me. Because my mum bought them"

"... "

DPs mum is not dead or dying or even a bit poorly, she is a very young 71 and fit and healthy and she would not entertain a grotty teatowel either.

WTF?

That's sweet, and rationally speaking definitely a bit nutty, but... I have a set of cream towels. They are nice towels but not special, just plain cream towels of reasonable quality. I do not need these towels. Some of them have weird stains in that will not wash out. But I just cannot get rid of them because my granny gave them to me after saving up with some kind of supermarket promotion. My gran died at Easter so now I really can't, but I was struggling before that!

I'm torn between 'WTF?' and ' Awwwwwww'.

Buy new and retire the sentimental ones to a drawer in the spare room, where DH can go and visit from time to time.

Quite possibly mad as they're ones which are in use. Sentimental/too lovely to use are kept upstairs in my drawers. One day I intend framing and hanging them in a lovely big kitchen. My mum thinks I'm mad and that the beautiful mouse one she bought me should be used. Not here as they end up wiping round the worktop spills and as oven 'gloves' by dh. Hence getting grotty here.

I have a huge fair number of tea towels, I keep buying them because I like the design, but the drawer is starting to look a bit, um, stuffed.

So embarrassing; I confessed about the ramekins I had and managed to ditch thanks to the Mumsnet thread, but I have been unable to refrain from collecting yet more kitchen essentials

No he isn't mad just possible a bit sentimental

It's sweet to want to keep them. However, my old tea towels just get a bit thread bare, rather than grim (in my opinion of what's grim). We also use ours as an alternative to oven gloves.

As others have said, buy new towels and put the sentimental ones somewhere else. He will probably soon forget about them. X

I'm quite attached to some of my tea towels so I can relate to your dh's reticence.

I have some I bought in llandudno when the dses were tiny, they must be at least 10 years old now and pretty useless as tea towels go but they are lovely memories. We have trains and castles of Wales iirc. I'm on holiday in shropshire at the moment and the urge to buy more 'tourist tat' tea towels is more than I can resist.

seeyou for new towels that don't absorb well, do the same process I said above for reviving old ones.

Hefzi - yes soda crystals can be used to unblock drains but so can caustic soda and even bicarb of soda. Soda crystals will literally just be called soda crystals. Here's a link
groceries.asda.com/product/limescale-plug-unblocker/homecare-soda-crystals/19846

I was worried about putting soda crystals or vinegar in my washing machine but as my washing machine seemed to be on the way out and i was going to bin my tea towels, I tried it. My machine had a complete new lease of life after that and my teatowels looked new again. The only thing to remember is not to put the vinegar and soda crystals in the drum at the same time - it must be separate washes or they'll react together.

I don't think it's mad I have an unatural attachment to my tea towels. They look fit for the bin but I love ironing them and putting them away. I hate anyone using the teatowel than hangs over the oven. God help you if you to choose it I will go down your throat over it. I totally get where your dp is coming from.

Can you get MiL round for tea one day and connive with her for her to comment disparagingly about the state of the tea towels? Then provide her with a bale of new ones to bring on a later visit, at the end of which visit she takes your old ones away to use as dusters? Ashes to ashes...

I've been despairing over my tea towels (grotty, horrid, some not absorbent, ugly). Thanks to this thread I've just ordered 6 ecloths (varied colours) and I'm going to bin the lot when they arrive! Yippee skippee!

Yes I know how sad that last post is!

a comfort blanket 😂👍

I put grotty ones in the garage for dh to use as rags. I am fussy about my teatowels, tho , and have to admit I have some I haven't out out yet, as I KNOW dh would do something horrible to them. He has an unerring ability to wreck that sort of new thing, especially kitchen knives.

Most of my tea towels are from exciting places like lands end and Isle of Wight. Never been there but presents from family. But more interesting than big standard plain colours I need to get out more having said that once they have stains or tatty they are binned!

I've just reread this thread and I'mTakingTheEssence IRONS TEATOWELS

We have a Jurassic Park teatowel which I'd like to keep because it looks like it came from the actual theme park so I'd like to keep that one. And one that my mum brought from Australia that is pink. I don't like my mum but it's a lovely teatowel so that can stay too.

But a new set if tea towels.
Put them neatly in the drawer on top of the old ones.

The old ones will never be used again and you can quietly phase them out later.

Ours all have mould stains and coffee stains because we used to put them under the drainer and the coffee machine and the stitching has all come off the edge. I was going to replace them but DH likes the pattern

Oh well. They are clean, anyway, and I kind of like the open serged edge ones best. :) I would strip wash them but I don't think it's going to do anything against stains.