Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Dh is in the great British towel throw down challenge...

193 replies

Chlorinatedfrontbum · 31/07/2016 20:32

but doesn't know it. A towel was dropped on the bedroom floor 2 days ago. It's still there. I've entered him into the challenge to see when it gets picked up, but not told him. AIBU?

OP posts:
noideawhattocallmyself · 01/08/2016 16:28

my DH was unknowingly in one for 'throwing away and empty bottle of Listerine' - 7 weeks before DD1 (17) cracked and told him :)

EnglishGirlApproximately · 01/08/2016 16:28

Ooh, I'm having a similar challenge with my staff but none of them have realised yet, it's been going for months. I appear to be the only person capable of removing empty loo rolls from the toilet. I've got 47 of them lined up on a shelf near the loos and no-ones batted an eyelid yet Hmm I dan see me going nuts and wrapping them up for Christmas gifts at this rate 😤

Bee182814 · 01/08/2016 16:30

I'm thinking of starting similar in my house. DH never picks up anything after himself. Ever. He will occasionally take plates out after dinner and leave them on the side next to empty dishwasher, never actually puts anything in it. Clothes dropped by his side of the bed literally two feet away from washing basket. Damp Towel left on the bed everyday. Pants/pjs left on bathroom floor every morning. Coffee cup and water glass left on bedside table every morning. Won't make bed, open curtains or anything at all. Leaves work stuff strewn all over the place every evening. I'm at my wits end. I'm 37 weeks pregnant and have a toddler. I just have really bad nesting instinct at the moment and can't leave it long enough for him to do anything about it so I cave after approximately 40 seconds of noticing and pick it up....

JellyBellyKelly · 01/08/2016 16:33

My ex boyfriend used to drop his dirty clothes all over the floor.

I'd hang them up and put them in the wardrobe.

He'd pull them out of the wardrobe to wear in the morning always rushing because he was ALWAYS running late, see they were dirty, then drop them on the floor again.

I'd put them in the wardrobe again

I think it was 6 days before he lost his temper with me asking why I was hanging up dirty clothes back in his wardrobe.

I very sweetly told him washing belonged in the wash bin. Anything else got hung back up in the wardrobe.

Miracle cure, that one was.

Chesntoots · 01/08/2016 16:39

Wonder how all these partners would feel if you put their uncooked dinner "next to" the oven as opposed to "in" the oven?

Pretty sure they would notice that! Not much they can say though - after all it might be your "blind spot"....

(Can you tell I'm single..?)

mummyinbahrain · 01/08/2016 16:44

I once had a similar stand off with my husband with washing piled on the bottom step on the stairs! I was pregnant with DS and was huge! I left the pile of clean clothes on the step an I swear they were there for three weeks until I had finally got so mad I blew up in his face oops! Confused
I just don't get how men can walk past things on the floor over and over and over again and apparently not notice it or not think I should probably move it! Grrrr makes me so mad!!! Angry

Original poster
Chlorinatedfrontbum · 01/08/2016 16:45

Toots, I like that idea!!

OP posts:
FoxesOnSocks · 01/08/2016 16:46

Of course they see it. Man do not have differ vision, he sees it as someone else's job to remove it, it is not his responsibility, and as there is no deeply inbedded expectation on males to ensure thier environment is clean (and thier ability to ensure this clean and tidiness reflect upon thier worth) then its presence will not bother him.

roseblossom4 · 01/08/2016 16:47

When my oldest DS was born prematurely, I was in hospital for three weeks. When I got home the washing machine was stuffed full of dirty clothes, the laundry basket was over flowing and he'd went to the hot press and opened all the packets of new towels we got for wedding presents. I could have cried.

CaroleService · 01/08/2016 16:49

Sow a few packets and mustard and cress and give it a sneaky watering ...

BodsAuntieFlo · 01/08/2016 16:52

Sow a few packets and mustard and cress and give it a sneaky watering

Excellent idea 😂😂

Goingtobeawesome · 01/08/2016 16:54

I went three days without washing ds1's clothes and he didn't notice. I can't remember why I did it but I expect it was not putting them in the basket related. Last term he wore home socks for school, happily with pink stripes on, he said he has no clean school socks Angry. Given I wash every fucking day and as long as it's put in the basket it's ready for wearing the next day or one later if not drier safe and too wet to peg out, I wasn't impressed. Took precisely twenty seconds to find three clean pairs and two dirty in his room.

Now it's summer holidays I will not wash anything if it's not in the basket and I'm going to sort out my issues with laundry too as I've realised its ridiculous and will not achieve anything with the kids.

DrMorbius · 01/08/2016 16:58

Wonder how all these partners would feel if you put their uncooked dinner "next to" the oven as opposed to "in" the oven?

No problem, I do all the cooking Wink

DesolateWaist · 01/08/2016 16:58

I'm in the great lawn mowing challenge here.

DH declared that he was going to take over lawn maintenance. He has mown the lawn precisely 0 times since then.
I have done it twice. I'm seeing how long I can go until I crack.

Owllady · 01/08/2016 16:58

If anyone does this in our house, be it dirty laundry or dirty crockery, it all gets collected and put in their beds. They are then faced with sorting it out and sleeping in a damp or dirty bed (which they have to change themselves) just when they want and need to go to sleep
I really don't give a fuck if that's harsh. I'm not a bloody maid just because I'm a woman

tsonlyme · 01/08/2016 17:11

When dh and I separated a couple of years ago I stopped washing his towel (living under the same roof). Took him 7months to notice 😷 We reconciled and I could no longer stand the smell so washed the damn thing.

We're six months into a divorce and STILL living under the same bloody roof. I haven't seen his towel make it into the washing machine yet. Bleurgh.not my problem any more because he's not allowed to use my bathroom 😉

ScarletOverkill · 01/08/2016 17:11

I think you'll crack before he does

Mix56 · 01/08/2016 17:28

Dr M. If you can drop Fing laundry next to the basket, why not drop Fing laundry directly into it, I fail to see how your poor wife deserves this complete lack of love, respect & support. Yes this is what it is about. Whether she does lots & You do lots i.e. either here nor there. You behaviour is goading & unpleasant. It's not a blind spot, you Suck.

PersianCatLady · 01/08/2016 17:39

roseblossom4
Your post makes me feel very angry for you.

MooPointCowsOpinion · 01/08/2016 17:40

I put everything on DHs pillow. I'm equally annoying so he puts everything on my mirror.

We are equally job-avoidant, and thus far have had no major housework related fall outs. Marital bliss may be down to having very low standards?

My main point though, is that, when I put clothes next to instead of in/away, I am thinking 'I will do that later' and never 'he will do that later'. I fully expect them to be there until I get round to it, and would be apologetic if DH got there first. I would consider myself a total arsehole if I thought 'DH will get that...'

PeachesAndCream1 · 01/08/2016 18:38

My exh used to do this - hop into shower, clothes on floor, Towel on floor, clean clothes on. Acid basket a mere 1m from where he dropped them. I obviously thought he didn't want them (as they were unloved in a heap), so I lovingly threw them in the rubbish. Five times it took for him to realise he was running out of clothes. He never did that again, but he did a TON of other things that drive me mental!

PeachesAndCream1 · 01/08/2016 18:40

Lol WASHING not acid. Stupid phone

Gowgirl · 01/08/2016 19:28

I see your towel and raise you a pair of socks definatley soiled next to bed 15 days and counting......

PollyBanana · 01/08/2016 19:41

Do you think this could become an Olympic sport?
Obviously we already know that high levels of testosterone confer an advantage, so we might possibly see some Russian women doing very well...

bettytaghetti · 01/08/2016 19:42

This type of annoying behaviour isn't just confined to those in possession of a Y chromosome. Whenever we used to run out of mugs at uni (quite a feat given that one of the previous occupants of the house had the nickname Kleppy and had completely stocked the kitchen with items 'borrowed' from halls the previous year), we would have to raid my housemate's room for mugs left under her bed with various amounts of leftover tea or coffee and corresponding levels of mould. I think the record was 25 mugs.
I frequently have a stand off with DH over the number of water glasses he manages to leave on the bedside table, but I'm completely useless and usually cave by day 3.