To ask how you manage with one bathroom

[Intrepidintrovert]

We have one bathroom in our house and it's getting pretty unbearable. I don't really know what to do! Are there ANY 'workarounds' that you've come up with? We categorically can't move for very specific reasons that are too outing to share but are 100% solid stone.

Every morning when I wake up I need a wee straight away, and inevitably my husband is in the bath. We have no shower. No way of installing a shower as it's a very old, pokey house and the ceiling is very low and sloping over the bath and there's no other room. I end up in discomfort (and unable to do anything to start my day as I need it too urgently to move about). Occasionally I go in and wee but hate invading my husband's privacy and since the bathroom is tiny, it's pretty weird to just sit next to him weeing. Even if you told me to get over myself (I know plenty of people don't mind weeing or pooing in front of their spouse), we have two children who are approaching teenagehood and whom definitely won't want to wee or poo in front of mum or dad while mum or dad is naked in the bath, or vice versa. Obviously right now it's not a problem when the kids are bathing or on the loo as they barely even shut the door but that will change.

To add to the fun I have IBS, which doesn't flare often but when it does I need to go urgently, and someone being in there can be quite distressing. We can't have visitors despite having a spare room as we can't manage any more people using the bathroom. It's a very old house, rented and no way they will put in another bathroom - we have tried to persuade them! There's also no way of dividing up the room and separating the loo from the bath as it's tiny and the bath is against the back wall, door would then be off my son's bedroom. The kids and I bath in the evening to space out the usage, but husband is a big sweaty fella (sorry!) so needs to bath in the morning before work.

Just typing this out has made me realise how shit it is, but other people must live like this too... don't they?

It was a nightmare for us. DH and 2 DS all used to need loo at the same time. The most desperate DC would go first and then next DC and then DH. Sometimes a DC would need to use the bathroom bin with a bag and a portable loo seat on it. We now have 3 toilets and it’s the best

Wake up before your husband so you can go to the loo first?

Could he use wet wipes / have a flannel wash in the morning and then bath in the evening?

If you have one loo and it's not being used just use it. That's how I've managed when only had one.
Loads of families manage with one.
If dh or DC are in the bath or shower just use the loo.
Totally manageable with only two of you even with the ibs.

Does he have to have a full-on bath before work? Can you buy a tap attachment thing so he can get in, hose down and get out?

www.victorianplumbing.co.uk/wenko-chrome-shower-hose-kit-for-washbasins-22866100?campaign=googlebase&gclsrc=aw.ds&&gclid=Cj0KCQjwhb36BRCfARIsAKcXh6G3XKUbUH5PmQCT4N-fSdc3ALPBZIxV8xxWfBc0HO9fd78nuOByDfcaAkHbEALw_wcB

We never struggled growing up with 4 people to one bathroom, it's the norm where I live.

Honestly without wanting to sound like a mumsnet cliche it sounds like you have a husband problem rather than a bathroom issue. Why is he having a bath every morning? That seems very rude, why doesn't he have a shower and save the baths for later in the evening when he can be courteous and ask you first if you need the loo?

A potty?

@TinySleepThief

We never struggled growing up with 4 people to one bathroom, it's the norm where I live.

Honestly without wanting to sound like a mumsnet cliche it sounds like you have a husband problem rather than a bathroom issue. Why is he having a bath every morning? That seems very rude, why doesn't he have a shower and save the baths for later in the evening when he can be courteous and ask you first if you need the loo?

She doesn't have one.

He has a bath every morning?? Is he a coal miner?!

When dd sleeps at my parents house, they had a camping loo for her as the bathroom was on a different floor and we were worried about her using unfamiliar stairs in the dark. You could get one of those?

@TinySleepThief

They don’t have a shower...

put an opaque shower curtain up, at least whoever is in the bath won't see who is on the loo.
or, my old NDN had a long bathroom, so the loo was at the far end at the foot of the bath iyswim - he wedged a really pretty reclaimed pine door at the foot of the bath/adjacent to the loo for a bit of privacy.
if you really can't move and you rent there's not much more that you can do.

They might not have a shower but i presume they coukd get a shower attachment to put on the taps so he could have a shower wash in the bath instead of a full on bath. Isn't that what most people do when they only have a bath...

I pee when my dp is in the bath or shower as does he with me. We don't have kids. Does he bathe rather than shower in the morning? I'm not sure having a long bath or even a short one at a high traffic time is OK tbh. I think weeing in front of your life partner is perfectly normal. Did he not see you give birth?

@TinySleepThief OP said there's no shower right now.

How big is your back yard/garden? Maybe get a port-a-loo? That will solve emergency loo situations. Strange but it would work.

About the bathing; you need a rota and compromises. DH needs to wake up 30 minutes earlier if he wants that bath before work. Can he not shower at work (if his work has facilities)?

For starters no-one here has a bath in the morning! That's insane. It's a leisurely time consuming evening event, and selfish to take up the bathroom for that amount of time in the morning. It's quick showers only here in the mornings.

I feel like OP needed to write there is now shower in bold and capitals.

Is there enough room to put up a partition wall to separate the loo from the bathroom? Otherwise, a thetford porta potti type chemical loo might work for emergency 2nd loo option.

Rubber hoses on the taps with a shower head on so you can hold it up and shower.

Shower curtain around bath for privacy.

Camping toilet behind a screen in another room?

Pay for a saniflo toilet putting in downstairs yourselves.

Portable wee device holder sheewee type thing?

*no

We check if anyone else needs a pee before having baths/showers or doing anything smelly! It's basic manners surely?

Second the suggestion of a shower attachment for the bath.

or could you get the landlord to change the bath taps for one with a shower attachment? - that might mean DH is a bit quicker if nothing else it takes ages to fill a bath

Echo pp if he must have his bath he needs to get up and get it done before everyone else is up.

I used to live in a house that had only a bath, and the water pressure was so poor that even a hose that plugged onto the taps did not work, once you lifted it above the level of the taps. I used to long for a quick shower.

My suggestion is as another poster said, get up earlier than him, and use the loo first.

I think, possibly the OP might not have a shower. I can't be sure. 😉

We have one bathroom and no shower and I bath every morning too. We cope by not being so uptight we can even have a wee in front of each other!

you just cannot have people hogging the bathroom to the exclusion of other people if you have this sort of set up

it's in, do, and out unless you check first that everyone is good for however long

Other than that some sort of shower curtain as suggested up thread just to add a little discretion if the bathroom is being hogged!