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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think a white wash means just that!?

85 replies

Meowstro · 04/01/2018 23:42

Lighthearted thread... Asked DH to put some whites in the washing machine, I'd half filled it but needed to feed DD and get her to bed. I was very specific with what else needed to go in (just because he has form for putting in DD's vests that are white but with colourful spots and patterns). I went to put it on and realised it was over full which I thought was strange, he's chucked in clothes of all the colours of the rainbow in. I'm wondering what he heard whilst I uttered the words 'white' and 'white wash'!? Hmm

Do any of your OH's defy logic?

OP posts:
SheRaaarghPrincessOfPower · 04/01/2018 23:44

Yep, ExDH used to do this. Didn't believe that the colours would run and make everything grey.

UnitedKungdom · 04/01/2018 23:44

I think some people do white washes as light washes. He was clearly doing a light wash. It's relatively logical.

ProseccoMamam · 04/01/2018 23:46

NBU. This is why I am in charge of the laundry! DH is fucking useless. White means white only, or else you'll end up with pink/grey tinted clothes which I HATESad

PinkHeart5914 · 04/01/2018 23:46

I don’t think I’ve ever done a white wash.

I do a light wash and a dark wash

TinselatedTree · 04/01/2018 23:57

I've never done a white wash!
I split the 40 washing into 3 - light, dark and (red, orange & pink) and the 60 wash into light and dark and delicates and woolens just sit there until there's a sensible amount of similar coloured bits to justify a wash.
Dh's sports kit gets thrown in together irrespective of colour because I'm neither contaminating my washing with that nor leaving it to stink out the bathroom.

Original poster
Meowstro · 05/01/2018 00:00

We do lights separately from whites. Plus, it was bright reds, navy blue, green, yellow, not light at all. I could perhaps see his reasoning if it were lightly coloured clothes.

OP posts:
TestingTestingWonTooFree · 05/01/2018 00:02

I’d put whites with a pattern/picture in with pure whites.

SheRaaarghPrincessOfPower · 05/01/2018 07:55

A friend used to ask me all the time how I managed to keep white clothes white, so I told her (strict white wash, mostly dry outside) but she didn't believe me. She was convinced there was some secret trick that I wasn't letting on. She didn't believe in white washes and thought it was a waste of time separating laundry.

Oh.. The exciting conversations you get at post natal groups Wink

IncyWincyGrownUp · 05/01/2018 07:58

As a family we own precisely six things that are purely white. They take their chances with the rest of the laundry!

Twinkie1 · 05/01/2018 08:02

Get some colour catcher sheets. You can do a dark wash (black/grey/navy/red) and an everything else wash.

SuperMoonIsKeepingMeUpToo · 05/01/2018 08:03

Where should the white vests with coloured patterns go? If they go with coloureds, the white bits would go off white, surely?

DragonsAndCakes · 05/01/2018 08:06

A cynical person might wonder if he’d done it on purpose so you don’t ask again.

YesThisIsMe · 05/01/2018 08:08

I put light blue things in with whites and that’s it.

NoWordForFluffy · 05/01/2018 08:09

Lights and darks here too, with colour catcher sheets if there's anything at all suspect. We barely own anything that's just white, so it'd be a waste of energy to wash them alone.

FreudianSlurp · 05/01/2018 08:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Laiste · 05/01/2018 08:14

Anal about white washes here too. Always careful to keep them separate, always a scoop of vanish and always 60 degrees and they stay sparkly. I know it's monumentally unimportant compared to what's going on in the world but it's my job to do the washing and i enjoy doing it well!

lulu12345 · 05/01/2018 08:18

My OH chucks it all in together with a colour catcher. I on the other hand have a very strict 6 - yes 6 - category approach: darks, brights, lights, whites, baby clothes, delicates. Opposites attract.

Laiste · 05/01/2018 08:18

Oh fraudian that's me. I guard the whiteness of my eyewateringly expensive and now unreplaceable due to finances white bedding fiercely too!

I actually wince when DD (3) rolls on it with possibly sticky hands/face Grin

EvilDoctorHogmanayDuck · 05/01/2018 08:25

That's why I do the washing. We use our washing machine as a linen basket, but DH carries on putting clothes in there when it's already too full. He doesn't seem to realise that it takes 10 minutes to sort out the washing that needs to be done that day if he does this. 10 minutes when I could be making snacks or packed suppers, or going to bed.

flumpybear · 05/01/2018 08:33

My husband is shit at washing, but always seems to do it!! So I've told him to always use colour catcher sheets or it's divorce Wink

EvilDoctorHogmanayDuck · 05/01/2018 08:34
Xmas Grin
hackmum · 05/01/2018 08:40

When I do a whites wash, I include items that are white but have coloured bits on them. This is because they are quite clearly designed not to run - if the coloured parts run, they would ruin the garment.

Nottheduchessofcambridge · 05/01/2018 08:46

What hackmum said, if I put a white but with coloured spots vest in a coloured wash, then surely the white part of the vest would go grubby. Certain things don’t run. For example, you could stick a black towel in or a purple swim suit. Those two things would be pretty ridiculous if the colour ran when they got wet!

NoWordForFluffy · 05/01/2018 08:49

I do bedding on its own, so no worries about other things running into it!

DappledThings · 05/01/2018 09:03

I've never separated any washing by colour and I've never noticed any colour changes