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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Wee in a bucket - AIBU?

94 replies

Monoceros · 21/08/2018 17:46

Camping at the moment, the toilet building is about 3 minute walk from where we are pitched. My husband tends to wake up middle of the night and - instead of going to the toilet - he uses the kids' plastic bucket to pee into. He thinks it's normal and I am completely unreasonable to think it's a disgusting habit. He's also mad that I told the kids about it, as they are now refusing to use the bucket. AIBU?

OP posts:
SlartiAardvark · 22/08/2018 08:14

We've always used a wee bucket in the tent, it's dual purposed as a general cleaning bucket during the day.

I've never understood the phobia about wee - it's not radioactive FGS.

Just give the bucket a quick swill with water & a smidge of dettol & all is good.....

Unihorn · 22/08/2018 08:16

FurryDice
I am 27 and had to use a bucket when staying overnight with great grandparents in the 90s even though they had a downstairs loo by this point. They were so used to doing it when the toilet was outside that it just carried on.

ferrier · 22/08/2018 08:17

This is one of the many reasons I don't do camping!

TheOxymoron · 22/08/2018 08:22

Just a quick question....
How is that a holiday??

kktpj · 22/08/2018 08:24

Long time camper here.
We use an old nappy bucket with lid.
It's called the bucket of shame and whoever uses it most in the night has to do the walk of shame in the morning.
Just rinse it out each day, absolutely no need for bags and nappies, be ecological

askawayy · 22/08/2018 08:26

Theoxymoron, just what I was thinking! I cannot fathom why people put themselves through this kind of torture, seems more like a punishment than a holiday to me. Who would pay to go somewhere -and have all their creature comforts from home taken away?

AMAnamechanged · 22/08/2018 08:26

@DottyCat123 and @Ginandplatonic Please don't use 'cheap disposal nappies'! The environmental impact of nappies is huge as it is, without people like you using them out of sheer laziness!!

Stop being precious and just wash the bucket!

sdaisy26 · 22/08/2018 08:26

I really really don’t get the whole wee bucket thing being a normal part of camping. Either you’re wild camping & moving on regularly in which case pee somewhere outside the tent, or you’re on a campsite with a loo so go there. I cannot imagine a situation where I’d choose to wee in a bucket right next to where my family are sleeping.

askawayy · 22/08/2018 08:27

Obviously I can understand it if you're visiting an exceptionally beautiful part of the world such as camping in Yellowstone but in England I just can't see the appeal.

Clairetree1 · 22/08/2018 08:28

That said, it is true that urine is largely sterile in most people.

I don't think you understand what this means!

It is nutritious and comes out without its own bacteria colony

So bacteria from the bucket or surrounding air multiply in it VERY fast!

"sterile" means very very quickly contaminated, where there are nutrients, and if one of the first contaminants is a pathogen, there is absolutely no competition to keep it in check.

In other words, dangerously poor hygeine

Shoxfordian · 22/08/2018 08:30

Does he do this at home as well? It's disgusting.
Doesn't sound like a holiday to me

Myimaginarycathasfleas · 22/08/2018 08:30

you don’t have a bucket problem you have a DH problem 😁

Maryann1975 · 22/08/2018 08:37

I remember going to stay with my parents friends in the mid 80s, they were farmers, living on a very rural farm in wales. They only had an outside toilet. So, 30 years ago, people still lived in what queenofthenight thinks was hilarious.

To us, it was really weird. To them, it was so normal and there was no need to change.

Back to the actual thread. Tell your dh to get his own bucket, by that, I mean a dedicated wee bucket for camping. Apart from that, I see no problem. We were quite near the toilet block last year, but I was terrified having to go across by myself, it was so quiet and I had no idea who was around. I also wouldn’t want the dc going across by themselves and am far to lazy to get up with them to take them when they are able to manage the bucket on their own.

Loonoon · 22/08/2018 08:37

Having grown up with outside loos and potties under the bed for night weed. I would have no problems with a dedicated wee bucket but seeing in DCs seaside buckets is gross. The litter + swing bin idea is genius —I have terrible memories of spilling the full potties on the stairs and my mums rage at that—

Aeroflotgirl · 22/08/2018 08:39

Why can't your dh use the nearest bush.

PollyFlinderz · 22/08/2018 08:40

Grasslands Wed 22-Aug-18 06:00:44
my son works away from home in work camps. on his first week at the job site rather than get up to wee he used a pop bottle....sackable offence! health and safety of the cleaning staff...NO three warnings...job loss on the spot.

Why did he leave it for the cleaning staff to find?

Aeroflotgirl · 22/08/2018 08:40

This kind of thing puts me off camping, worse nightmare, much rather a nice clean hotel with good facilities. Hate roughing it.

Amummyatlast · 22/08/2018 08:42

One thing having DD is good for, is that no one bats an eye when I take a full potty to the loos after a night's camping. Little do they know it's mine and not hers (she has an iron cast bladder). As others have said, it's not the trip across the campsite (which can be lovely if there is a full moon), but it's the getting dressed and the noise of the zippers. And my bladder issues mean I go several times a night. Hence the potty. However, since DD is now fairly old to be using one, I may need to invest in a bucket.

Aeroflotgirl · 22/08/2018 08:42

Its a no no, if the toilet block is 3 min walk away from the tent. It has to be within easy reach.

THEsonofaBITCH · 22/08/2018 08:43

It is nutritious and comes out without its own bacteria colony
To clarify, I hope you mean nutritious to bacteria as its filled with toxins for humans

grumpy4squash · 22/08/2018 08:43

"sterile" means very very quickly contaminated

It doesn't. "Sterile" means free from bacteria or other micro-organisms; totally clean.

PollyFlinderz · 22/08/2018 08:44

I have my own bucket for during the night when going camping because we camp in the wild and there are no toilet blocks. We do have a toilet rigged up a bit away from us but I’m not going there in the middle of the night.

My bucket is lovely. It has a lid on it and my adult kids stenciled Mama on it. My grandchildren put it behind my tent for me every evening when they make my bed for me.

StarfishSandwich · 22/08/2018 08:44

And I thought DH was being unreasonable when he made me go outside to the toilet tent to pee rather than using my bucket in the campervan at night 😂 If it’s more than an emergency one off, he ought to have a dedicated wee bucket though!

StarfishSandwich · 22/08/2018 08:47

I’m actually a bit Envy at the suggestion of a nappy and plastic bag in a bucket. So much plastic waste, for what?!

PollyFlinderz · 22/08/2018 08:48

Oh and last hotel I stayed in was the Mandarin Oriental in Munich. I can happily camp or stay in nice hotels.

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