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

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:
Sparklfairy · 13/04/2021 22:43

@thatllberight

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
Yep. How do you cope with house mate's skids? Grin
Original poster
blacktruffle · 13/04/2021 22:44

@ComtesseDeSpair Good idea - I might float that in the house.
@Cart, I agree that we shouldn't be forced to subsidise his mate who is saving a bundle at a laundrette. I suspect that he has done this a couple of times though but this is the first time he has admitted to it. I don't want to be nasty about if it is a short term thing but I think it is a p*ss take if we are all paying for his mate to save money!

OP posts:
Losttheequipment · 13/04/2021 22:45

Is this a reverse?

MichelleScarn · 13/04/2021 22:46

And period pants! Oh the vapors!!

Original poster
blacktruffle · 13/04/2021 22:46

@ChipsAndketchup - who knows what was in there Wink

OP posts:
Original poster
blacktruffle · 13/04/2021 22:47

@Losttheequipment

Is this a reverse?
What do you mean?
OP posts:
Hidinginstaircupboard · 13/04/2021 22:48

I don't think OP is being unreasonable to want to run through another wash

Chemicals in work clothes are different in washing machine than for eg faecal stained clothes, that some of PPs have mentioned. Yikes you do realise ig isn't a housemate using their shared washing machine and bills foe their chemical work clothes so she has an absolute right to say Hol' Up?

Flatmate is being a CF and really it's not ok to do this regularly if they do. I'd forgive a one off but say no jog on as not again.

Lou98 · 13/04/2021 22:48

From the title I thought this was going to be about mechanics rags or something. It's very unlikely that a window cleaners rags are going to be covered in oil!

It was very OTT to clean the machine after a 3 hour wash, even on 60 never mind 90! A pair of old joggers and a cloth aren't going to infest your clothes 🙄

Xboxstolemychildren · 13/04/2021 22:48

Seriously?? It's a washing machine and he's clearly doing a favour to his mate, you'd have a heart attack if you lived with me as I wash stinking, sweaty, muddy football kits of 15 kids twice a week Shock and my washing always comes out looking and smelling fresh.

bluebluezoo · 13/04/2021 22:50

Chemicals in work clothes

He’s a bloody window cleaner! What “chemicals” do you think he’s using? Apart from some soapy water and maybe some vinegar.

Oh and also, a “splash of bleach” will perish the rubber in your washing machine and you’ll have more to worry about than some soapy rags.

Original poster
blacktruffle · 13/04/2021 22:50

@Hiding - Exactly my point! I am actually looking for a nice way to say this has to stop if it happens again. These guys aren't regular chaps with a bucket of soapy water and a chamois. They do use chemicals. I know this because I have met them and they told me what they do.

OP posts:
palapenojopper · 13/04/2021 22:51

Even 60 degrees and detergent would kill whatever was on them.

You're being ridiculous.

Xboxstolemychildren · 13/04/2021 22:51

Would you still have the same thoughts if it was your flatmates work rags?

Original poster
blacktruffle · 13/04/2021 22:52

@Xbox - frankly - yes if they were covered in chemical crap, oil etc

OP posts:
Cocomarine · 13/04/2021 22:54

Agree that the “cleaning” cycle was unnecessary.

A one-off to help a mate who’d washing machine was broken: fine.
Anything more, it’s taking the piss to increase bills and take the machine out of availability.

Original poster
blacktruffle · 13/04/2021 22:54

It isn't actually bacteria that worries me because of course a hot wash will kill it but this guy has previously wrecked clothes of mine washing several pairs of paint stained overalls (again, I think as a 'favour') and leaving specks of paint all over everything which was why I was a bit triggered tonight! BTW, this guy isn't a painter and decorator!

OP posts:
normalsaline · 13/04/2021 22:55

I do love mumsnet’s hysterical worry about ‘chemicals’. Water is a chemical. We are made up of chemicals

saraclara · 13/04/2021 22:55

Oh for goodness' sake. When a load of washing has done the full cycle, there's no dirt/chemicals/general grot left in the machine! The whole point of the machine is that it makes things clean and then rinses everything several times!

Taking over the machine for the whole evening is one thing. But you're being ridiculous about dirt etc being left behind.

normalsaline · 13/04/2021 22:55

@blacktruffle

It isn't actually bacteria that worries me because of course a hot wash will kill it but this guy has previously wrecked clothes of mine washing several pairs of paint stained overalls (again, I think as a 'favour') and leaving specks of paint all over everything which was why I was a bit triggered tonight! BTW, this guy isn't a painter and decorator!
strange that you didn’t mention that in the OP 🤔
Original poster
blacktruffle · 13/04/2021 22:56

@normals - yes we know that but being facetious doesn't help as the chemicals I am speaking of are used professionally

OP posts:
GreyhoundG1rl · 13/04/2021 22:57

Washing machines are actually designed to wash dirty clothes...

babbaloushka · 13/04/2021 22:58

Yesterday my daughter left the shed skin of a snake in our kitchen sink.

Some soapy rags are not going to infect your washing, nor will they be oily, as that is the opposite of what window cleaners need. Give your head a wobble, you'll face bigger challenges than this.

Original poster
blacktruffle · 13/04/2021 22:58

Yeah, well I didn't but I have now. I said that I suspect this isn't the first time he has done 'favours' for his mates by washing their clothes in our machine but I couldn't prove it at the time. I barely knew the guy and didn't realise until later that he wasn't a painter/decorator by trade. too late by then as the machine had left bits of paint over everything.

OP posts:
Original poster
blacktruffle · 13/04/2021 22:59

@babbalousha - how lovely! they are quite beautiful aren't they?!

OP posts:
Xboxstolemychildren · 13/04/2021 23:01

But one of your main issues is that its first his friend and it's taking up time for other members of the house, you really can't say what he can and can't use it for.
I regularly wash my dish cloths that I've been using with spray chemicals, so what kind of chemicals do these window cleaners use that are so bad?

Swipe left for the next trending thread