Disgustingly Filthy

[ThinWomansBrain]

I spilt something on a canvas bag - decided to clean this and a pile of other soft rucksacks, laptop bags, etc.
Chucked them all in the bath with some pre-wash soaker, and they're now in the washing machine. The colour of the water in the bath was revolting - and I'd been carrying these bags around with me - YUK
They didn't look dory - but obviously carting round in city grime, etc.
I occasionally throw lightweight totes in with the washing - but how does everyone else keep this kind of stuff clean? - and how often?

Not enabled voting - definitely BU carting them round dirty

Actually OP, what are you playing at? You are supposed to put a green face followed by a less-than sign < and the words "not envy". The nice ladies of Mumsnet will start doubting your commitment to hygiene and cleanliness.

I try not to think about it.

Actually the soft fabric bags, I'll chuck in the wash maybe once a year or if they get muddy. The plastickey ones I'll wipe down from time to time, but to be honest the food's already touched worse before I got it - that's why food has packaging (and the stuff that doesn't, like loose fruit, can be washed).

Don't know what to do about the hessian or jute kind of bags though. Too rigid to put in the washing machine and a bit rough and absorbent for wiping.

This thread is amazing.

Professionally I have spent more time than I would like at end of life bedsides. You hear a lot there. When they can still talk.
You hear regrets .
You hear stories.
You hear wishes and hopes for the family. You hear fear, and anger.

Do you know what you never hear ?

I wish I'd spent more time cleaning

I wish I'd cared more about what others thought of me.

The day I give a rats tail about some judgement on the cleanliness of my bag is the day I know I have officially lost the plot.

I mean honestly how unutterably small and insignificant do you have to be to use phrases like "dragged up" or think someone has low self esteem because of a back pack? I mean is it satire ? Surely noone would advertise their own ignorance and small mindedness that way?

Hmm maybe it's a whole joke I'm missing.

Professionally I have spent more time than I would like at end of life bedsides.

Do you know what you never hear ?

I wish I'd spent more time cleaning

That's because nice ladies who die comfortably in bed at an old age have washed their bags thoroughly all their lives, never put their towels in the same wash as their bedsheets, and have no regrets.

Filthy dirty women catch bubonic plague from their grubby tote bags and tend to die in gutters

(PS What happens if I do put my bags in the washing machine, but I put them in the same wash as my knickers? Are my chances of disease greater or less?)

I run holiday lets and if you want to see filthy and disgusting come and do changeover with us on a Saturday morning, what is left in bedrooms would make your toes curl but cant say that I've ever noticed a grubby tote bag.

@DreamingOfTheSouthOfFrance

I washed my dog walking rucksack recently after a dog weed on it..... wouldn't normally bother

This is about my level of hygiene, washing rucksacks decreases their level of waterproofing. Every so often I empty the sand and dried orange peel into the bin, and that's about it. The dried orange peel helps combat the smell of dog poo, when I have to carry the full dog poo bags back to the car park where the bins are situated.

Yeh ! This ! But I now feel like a minger though

DOG IN WASHING MACHINE IS A STEP TOO FAR - SORRY MISREAD YOUR MESSAGE -

Much higher risk.

MN is hilarious. There should be a list available or a handy infographic that shows exactly what can/cannot be washed in a dishwasher/washing machine and exactly what frequency this should/should not occur for optimum batshittery hygiene

@whatdoIknowabout

DOG IN WASHING MACHINE IS A STEP TOO FAR - SORRY MISREAD YOUR MESSAGE -

I often wash bags in the machine. My handbag maybe gets done every few weeks. Often we take a backpack on a day out and it gets grubby with the kids and mud and food etc so they get washed if dirty after use. I wash school bags and fabric lunch boxes in the wash too - not sure if you have kids or not but I just fling everything in the machine! My partners work bag gets washed maybe every 1-2 months as well!

I've never washed a bag and I don't have low self esteem

@whatdoIknowabout

DOG IN WASHING MACHINE IS A STEP TOO FAR - SORRY MISREAD YOUR MESSAGE -

I bloody wish I could put my dog in the washing machine. She is constantly covered in mud, or if at the beach, sand. But mostly mud. Only a few weeks ago she came back covered to her chin in thick, tarry, smelly (oh my God the stench) mud. Took an hour to shower it all off and the next day she merrily bounced in and out of muddy puddles.

Errr I did wash my rucksack the other day it was a bit dirty I think I purchased it in 2006 but there you go.
And as for the hygiene remarks, yes it’s good to be hygienic but NOT good to not be exposed to dirt and bacteria.

One of the issues with lower immune systems and increasing allergies is that people are no longer exposed to things due to a massively increased sterile environment

There is a known problem in people that get to about the 30 to 35 ish age group and younger and they just don’t have the same robust immune system as older people, I know lists of you will say well what about covid and older people well that’s due to age and chronic illness not variety of immune system. The general fact is those born before the mid 80s were exposed to more bacteria and more varieties of natural foods and less chemicals in the environment and food and therefore there immune system had to work, learn and cope more, that’s one of the reasons peanut allergies are almost 10 times higher now than in the 1970s.

what on earth is it with people weeing on their shoes and bags?

" I think you’ll find that life’s too short without good hygiene."

Oh yes, all those people who die from not putting their handbag in the washing machine!

I’ve never washed a bag for life🤣 I do wipe down my handbags and purse though but only if I see a mark on them, god I must be a dirty cow

(PS What happens if I do put my bags in the washing machine, but I put them in the same wash as my knickers? Are my chances of disease greater or less?)

Mumsnet at its finest

Genuine question - are all those judging the tattered purses and tote bags equally judgemental of men’s dirty wallets/rucksacks etc?

Or is it just women who are expected to keep an exceptionally high standard of cleanliness at all times?

It's gross. Just thinking about people putting their water bottles or an apple in their bag amongst five year old crumbs and tissues gives me the shivers.

Surely it's not too much to ask to give it a quick clean with a baby wipe once every couple of weeks? Two minutes tops.

@NannyAndJohn

It's gross. Just thinking about people putting their water bottles or an apple in their bag amongst five year old crumbs and tissues gives me the shivers.

Surely it's not too much to ask to give it a quick clean with a baby wipe once every couple of weeks? Two minutes tops.

Don’t think about it then 🤷🏻‍♀️. Until this thread, I had never given a second of my time to thinking about other people’s handbag hygiene.

I do put my boys fabric lunch bags in the washing machine at the end of each week in flagrant disregard of the “wipe clean only” washing instructions. Makes me really feel like I’m living on the edge taking these chances.

@Notanotherheatwave2

Genuine question - are all those judging the tattered purses and tote bags equally judgemental of men’s dirty wallets/rucksacks etc?

Or is it just women who are expected to keep an exceptionally high standard of cleanliness at all times?

This is a very good point.

If the thread could be moved please to the feminism board we could stop arguing, agree it all is the fault of men (menz?) and the patriarchy and quietly forget the whole thing.