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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU that flatmate is washing his friend's filthy work rags in the shared machine?

146 replies

blacktruffle · 13/04/2021 22:27

I am in shared accommodation at present whilst I study. There is a guy in the house who is 32 going on 16 - smokes MJ a lot, a bit of a no-hoper but pleasant enough in his own way.

Tonight, I came down to do some washing in the shared washing machine but couldn't use it as he had a load in there. It stopped 5 mins after I got there and he came running in and started to empty the machine then said he needed a plastic bag. I said why don't you use the washing basket that I bought for the house to use? He told me that the clothes weren't his but belonged to his mate who is a window cleaner and as he said this, I noticed not only grotty old joggers and T shirts but also the rags that window cleaners use coming out of the drum.

Suffice it to say that these things had been on a 90 degree wash (takes 3 hours for the machine to complete that cycle) and because I had no idea what was on those rags, I then had to put the machine on an empty hot wash with detergent and a squirt of bleach. That meant that I couldn't do my washing tonight and neither could anyone else!

AIBU to say that I don't want his mates filthy window cleaning rags to be washed in our house a) because they could have oil, bird poop or just about anything else on them and could stain any clothes put in after them and b) laundrettes are open so his mate should be using those.

I don't like confrontation but I don't want this to become a regular thing and not sure how to approach it. I just didn't want to put my clothes in after a load that had god knows what on it. Help!

OP posts:
Hidinginstaircupboard · 13/04/2021 22:29

So you need to talk to your housemate

S/he shouldn't be washing someone else's stuff in your shared washing machine especially if it is work heavily chemicalled items

FortunesFave · 13/04/2021 22:31

You sound incredibly precious. What do you THINK was on the rags? Soapy water? GOD FORBID!!

They were washed on 90 degrees! There wasn't anything left that would hurt you!

Bluntness100 · 13/04/2021 22:32

Oh for goodness sake,, 😂

ShaneTheThird · 13/04/2021 22:32

Jesus christ dont be so precious.

TheBitterBoy · 13/04/2021 22:32

Does your washing machine not work properly or something? Once things have been washed the machine doesn't store the dirt. If it's at a 90 degree no bacteria would survive. I think you are over reacting, unless it's costing you personally electricity or water bill money.

Arghlife · 13/04/2021 22:32

At that temperature it's fine, people wash nappies in machines.

However, he should really be using it to wash someonevelse things

HerMammy · 13/04/2021 22:34

You do know that a WASHING machine cleans things it doesn’t leave the sort in the drum, especially at 90 degrees, get a grip.

Original poster
blacktruffle · 13/04/2021 22:34

I don't think our machine actually gets to 90 degrees, it struggles on a 60 wash!

OP posts:
Original poster
blacktruffle · 13/04/2021 22:35

It isn't just the potential for staining other people's clothes but the inconvenience factor of him washing his mate's clothes when I or others who also pay the bills want to wash ours..

OP posts:
Sparklfairy · 13/04/2021 22:35

Do you share bills? I'd be more annoyed about sharing the cost of extra washes if it's the case. Really I'm not sure what would harm you or ruin your clothes after a 90degree wash though.

Original poster
blacktruffle · 13/04/2021 22:37

It takes the machine out for effectively the whole evening

OP posts:
Original poster
blacktruffle · 13/04/2021 22:37

Yes we do share bills

OP posts:
thatllberight · 13/04/2021 22:37

Annoying as a one off. Worth mentioning if it happens regularly. I'm sorry to be the one to break this to you, but your housemates also wash their dirty socks and pants in the machine OP Shock

Original poster
blacktruffle · 13/04/2021 22:38

Like I said, I don't think it reaches the dizzying heights of 90 degrees. It is an old machine and the glass doesn't even get that warm on a 60!

OP posts:
normalsaline · 13/04/2021 22:38

@TheBitterBoy

Does your washing machine not work properly or something? Once things have been washed the machine doesn't store the dirt. If it's at a 90 degree no bacteria would survive. I think you are over reacting, unless it's costing you personally electricity or water bill money.
of course it’s costing OP money, who else would be paying the bills?
Original poster
blacktruffle · 13/04/2021 22:39

Yeah, I know they do but less likely to leave marks on other people's clothes than oily rags

OP posts:
KrisAkabusi · 13/04/2021 22:39

@blacktruffle

It takes the machine out for effectively the whole evening
No, it's you putting on empty washes that takes it out!
ComtesseDeSpair · 13/04/2021 22:39

If it’s a one off or short term thing he’s doing as a favour because his friend’s washing machine has broken or something then I think it’s a bit petty to make a huge fuss about it. It would be polite to check with housemates beforehand before doing a three hour long cycle, so perhaps suggest a rule that anyone who wants to run a long cycle checks with other housemates beforehand.

DragonDoor · 13/04/2021 22:39

He shouldn’t regularly be doing his friends washing. It’s not unreasonable to ask him not to do that again, as it would hike up your household bills.

It was you who chose to take the machine out of action for the rest of the evening with an unnecessary hot wash. If I was one of your house mates I’d be more put out about that, and the use of bleach in a shared machine because it can ruin clothes.

CartTriesToDriveTheHorse · 13/04/2021 22:40

I think the issue is not what is being washed it is the fact it doesn’t belong to a house mate. Using the house washing machine for someone who is not in the house share isn’t on and you should raise it.

FortunesFave · 13/04/2021 22:40

@Sparklfairy

Do you share bills? I'd be more annoyed about sharing the cost of extra washes if it's the case. Really I'm not sure what would harm you or ruin your clothes after a 90degree wash though.
It was ONE wash. Nobody said anything about "washes" did they. And that would be a different post. "My flatmate keeps letting his friend wash his clothes at ours"
MysteriousAffairAtStyles · 13/04/2021 22:41

I then had to put the machine on an empty hot wash with detergent and a squirt of bleach.

You really didn’t need to do that at all.

ChipsAndKetchup · 13/04/2021 22:41

You sound unhinged. It's a washing machine. He's not been spinning a dead rodent in there ffs

Sparklfairy · 13/04/2021 22:42

@FortunesFave apologies, I meant if it became a 'thing's, not just the one wash in isolation Grin

ferriswheel20 · 13/04/2021 22:43

Oh OP, in the politest sense, get a grip. Me and DP currently live in a house share with 4 other people - 2 of whom are nurses washing their scrubs/clothes as soon as they get home, 1 who's a hairdresser and 1 who's a mechanic. On a daily basis we have - scrubs, oily rags and bleachy/dye covered towels in the machine and shock horror nobody else in the house cares