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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU to issue my 14yo DD with ONE bath towel for the week to teach her lesson

299 replies

Slowdecrease · 13/05/2016 11:04

I went out for a couple of hours last night to visit a friend. My DD said she was going to give herself a pamper night. When I came back DD was in her bedroom and on the bathroom floor were four, that's FOUR wet scrumpled bath towels (freshly washed yesterday). My face felt hot. I went into my bedroom and there on the floor in front of my bedroom mirror, was a further wet, scrumpled bath towel. My face was now purple, my eyes were starting to blur with blind fury!!! Five freshly washed towels left wet and scrumpled on the floor. She does this EVERY TIME she has a bath (though five is a record it's normally one or two).

AIBU to issue her one towel for the week (and hide all the others) so she learns to use it, put it on the radiator if it's usuable again the next morning or put it in the wash bin? Yes I know by the end of the week it will be minging but to prove a point that other people live in this house and would like a dry towel occasionally without washing the whole lot every single day, is this a fair and good way of teaching a selfish 14 yo a lesson??

OP posts:
AugustaFinkNottle · 15/05/2016 09:59

I am always in awe of people who change towels daily

I'm not in awe. I think they're daft, and pretty selfish.

TroysMammy · 15/05/2016 10:07

Someone I knew advised they only used a towel once because it was disgusting having all that dead skin on it (his). I asked if he changed his bedding daily. He said no and I asked what about the dead skin and that of his wife's. He then realised how ridiculous he was using a towel just the once.

OutToGetYou · 15/05/2016 10:07

I just can't understand the logistics of it either. People who say they use two, then another to stand on, then dp uses one of their used ones as his one to stand on how the hell does he know which one to use?
I bet he just lies "yes dear, I stood on your used one, nor your new daily washed one at all". He probably actually doesn't even know this is the 'system'.
Heaven forbid a towel someone with clean wet feet stood on might touch part of your clean wet body. The world would no doubt end.
And you'd get crabs. Obvs.

I think people just make this stuff up to sound....... I dunno, clever? Its not working.

OutToGetYou · 15/05/2016 10:08

Troys, you'd also have to change your mattress, carpet, shoes, coats etc daily.

Or hourly, really.

TroysMammy · 15/05/2016 10:11

outtogetyou tbh if he shed that much skin he should be half the size he is. Grin

iminshock · 15/05/2016 10:15

I wash my towels only if I see dirty marks on them or they start to smell.
So usually after about 3 weeks.
Do I win?

LittleBearPad · 15/05/2016 10:26

Ah, Mumsnet at its best, competitive towel washing...... I wash mine before I even use them. Then again before I think about using them. There are fourteen of us in our two bed house and I have no problem washing five towels for each of us every day and getting them all dry, and storing them. And I work 36 hours a day and am 63 weeks pregnant.

I hope you're just using the one chicken a week to feed them all.

Wink
OutToGetYou · 15/05/2016 10:26

Nah, imin - I'm the same. And dp washes his own so Lord knows how often they get done never

OutToGetYou · 15/05/2016 10:27

Little - well, one chicken and half a pack of filled ravioli to be fair!

LittleBearPad · 15/05/2016 10:29
Grin
Creatureofthenight · 15/05/2016 10:30

I'm really quite shocked at the number of people who say they wash towels daily - what a waste of water and electricity.

LittleBearPad · 15/05/2016 10:34

What's with the bath mat hate Redd?

Mine are just like thicker towels. Used to stand on whilst clean with potentially a bit of clean water dripping on.

Bathmat or vile thing apparently

Sniv · 15/05/2016 10:37

You're all missing the point of the thread:

scrumpled

What a fabulous word. It's like It's not exactly 'scrunched', it's not exactly 'crumpled'.
It's scrumpled.

OTheHugeManatee · 15/05/2016 10:47

All of the arse towel neurotics on this thread need to see this definitive League of Gentlemen sketch on the subject 😂

kitkat1968 · 15/05/2016 10:50

I think of bathmats as being very 1980s and a breeding ground for fungal infection

kitkat1968 · 15/05/2016 10:52
  • especially '1980s' is the avocado coloured one linked to above!
GreenMarkerPen · 15/05/2016 11:04

bathmats are only breeding ground for fungal infections if they are not washed regularly and stay damp.

QuintessentialShadows · 15/05/2016 11:12

But someone has ds's that have 2 or 3 showers a DAY??? Wtf is that all about?!

cough.
Kinder to The One that Does the Laundry than wank socks....

SuperFlyHigh · 15/05/2016 11:18

Get a lock on airing/cupboard for storing towels.

Make her wash towels by hand no show her how to use washing machine.

Give 3 towels (1 for face, one body and one hair) for week, if she has period blood etc (have had this boak) change them otherwise they get used Monday to Friday.

Say that with money saved by not washing extra towels for a month (the energy/water/detergent) you'll save for her... Bribery always goes a long way...

I personally love long showers but own my own flat... I do cut down on baths, and don't Overuse water.

Drove my mum mad the other week as she'd sprained her ankle so could not drive but wanted to hobble round sainsbos using my car to get her there!

I bought for her and me the Ecover range of detergents (they were on special offer) with huge lecture on saving the planet. I also plan to try those washing machine nuts.

Maybe eco friendly stuff would be the way to go??

pearlylum · 15/05/2016 11:24

"Get a lock on airing/cupboard for storing towels."

FFS sounds like a prison.

pearlylum · 15/05/2016 11:24

QuintessentialShadows my DD usually showers twice a day.

QuintessentialShadow · 15/05/2016 11:31

And she does not even need wank socks..... Wink tut tut

OutToGetYou · 15/05/2016 11:31

Our bathmats don't stay damp, they get hung up and they dry. No one here has a fungal infection.

SuperFlyHigh · 15/05/2016 11:39

pearlylum you see the lock can be removed at a later stage...

I was only half joking about the lock.

A good age as any to start teaching her housekeeping skills though.

Can she cook yet?! Grin

SuperFlyHigh · 15/05/2016 11:40

pearly is that 2 showers eg 5-10 minutes or leisurely 20 minute ones though?

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