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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

No bathroom bin

828 replies

Veeveeoxox · 25/12/2021 19:54

If you are at relatives house with no bathroom bins where do you put your used sanitary stuff? I've been wrapping my tampons putting in handbag and putting them in the outside bin. I would always empty the bathroom bin and my periods are very heavy so need changing frequently., SIL isnt menopausal even my dad who lives alone has bathroom bins ??!!

OP posts:
deadlanguage · 26/12/2021 22:05

@Bubblybubblebath

I put tampons down the loo. No bin in my bathroom
Do not do this! They aren’t designed to be flushed and the sewerage system can’t cope. tampax.co.uk/en-gb/tampon-truths/can-you-flush-tampons/
VanGoghsDog · 26/12/2021 22:16

@deeplyambivalent

But what do people do with their dental floss? And ear buds? And cotton wool?
I don't use any of those things, nor San pro.

But I still have a bin.......

Sparklingbrook · 26/12/2021 22:37

Everyone should use dental floss. Bin or no bin.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 26/12/2021 22:39

We don't have a bathroom bin and I don't have to make it some secret mission to dispose of my tampons in the kitchen bin. If someone sees what I'm doing, I couldn't care less. It's 2021, most people who would be in my house either have had periods at some point in their life or live with someone who has. We all know periods happen, it's natural and a fact of life.

It's the difference between shame and dignity for most people, though. If a couple have a child, you know what you've most probably done together at one point at least - but it doesn't mean you want to know the details of their sex life.

Same with poo: I know we all do it and, if you need to, go right ahead and use the toilet as much as you need to - but I really don't want to know afterwards where your creation ranks on the Bristol Stool Chart.

VanGoghsDog · 26/12/2021 22:41

@Sparklingbrook

Everyone should use dental floss. Bin or no bin.
Don't be ridiculous. I use teepee things now and then, I hate dental floss.
LoveGrooveDanceParty · 26/12/2021 23:03

@deeplyambivalent

But what do people do with their dental floss? And ear buds? And cotton wool?
Can you genuinely not figure it out?

Assuming this really is a conundrum for you - they go in the kitchen bin.

Natsku · 26/12/2021 23:07

So you go upstairs to the bathroom to floss and brush your teeth before you go to bed, then go back downstairs to the kitchen bin to dispose of the floss? Seems a bit silly when you could just put a bin in the bathroom.

Obviously if you live on one floor with the bathroom right next to the kitchen this is not an issue. But otherwise, why make extra work for yourself?

deeplyambivalent · 26/12/2021 23:07

@LoveGrooveDanceParty Calm down, love.

Sparklingbrook · 26/12/2021 23:14

I use teepee things now and then, I hate dental floss
Glad to hear it although not sure why you think it’s ridiculous to suggest looking after your teeth. Teepee brushes also need disposing of unless you use the same one continually….

DdraigGoch · 26/12/2021 23:16

@Sparklingbrook

I think the people that don't have bathroom bins are predominantly the ones who never have guests. There's a connection there I feel...
Like they're the ones with small houses.
Sparklingbrook · 26/12/2021 23:16

No I think people don’t want to visit because there’s no bathroom bin…

RoyalFamilyFan · 26/12/2021 23:19

It is true with some on here, they say they don't need a bathroom bin as they never have guests. My parents don't have one, but the only people who visit them is me, and other relatives who live two streets away. And visits are rarely for more than an hour as my dad starts to fall asleep if visits are any longer. So they don't need a bathroom bin.
I get lots of visitors, so we do have one.

Lockheart · 26/12/2021 23:37

@Sparklingbrook

No I think people don’t want to visit because there’s no bathroom bin…
Don't be so bloody daft. I couldn't tell you which of the houses I visit have bins in the bathroom other than my parents house.

Some of us have to live in houseshares or small properties where visitors are impractical at the best of times, we can't all be hostess of the year.

Sparklingbrook · 26/12/2021 23:43

Don't be so bloody daft

This whole thread is daft TBF and I was being tongue in cheek. But even the smallest houses can still have visitors.

DdraigGoch · 27/12/2021 00:02

@Sparklingbrook

No I think people don’t want to visit because there’s no bathroom bin…
In order to discover that there's no bathroom bin, they'd have to have previously visited. Sum total of female people who have spent the night in my house or previous flat:
  • My mother
  • My cousin

My mother hasn't had a bathroom bin for yonks. No idea about my cousin but she's pretty environmentally conscious so probably uses reusables. I'm currently staying at my cousin's mother's house (my aunt) and there are no bathroom bins. My aunt has a daughter, a daughter-in-law, and a son's girlfriend, all of whom must be in their thirties. Evidently it hasn't been an issue.

I would imagine that the reason that few people have visited my house is that few people have been invited, on account of the only place I could have accommodated any visitors in the last couple of years is a sofa bed in a room which had no plaster for a year, still has no electricity or central heating (though finally has a stove). Oh, and there's been a pandemic on.

MrsMoastyToasty · 27/12/2021 00:56

Please do not put sanitary protection down the toilet. Even if it doesn't block the drains outside your home it may block the system further down stream.

I have visited many sewage treatment works and the first process that happens is the removal of non organic matter from the inlet. This is done by workers !

TheSmallAssassin · 27/12/2021 01:15

@Bluntness100

And to give them dog poo bags, it’s like the bad old days when periods were perceived as dirty.
It's not dirty, but somehow to carry san pro through the house is unthinkable?
Sparklingbrook · 27/12/2021 07:21

TBF if you genuinely never, ever have any visitors at all it matters not that you don't have a bathroom bin. You don't have to worry about people feeling uncomfortable carrying sanpro around the house etc.

HW1989 · 27/12/2021 07:27

I use a menstrual cup (highly recommended!) so don’t need a bin for sanitary products. I do however still like having a bin for empty loo roll and stuff that I can’t be bothered to take downstairs to the kitchen bin each time

FelicityBob · 27/12/2021 07:41

If any of my guests put a used sanitary towel in my kitchen bin they wouldn’t be invited back Envy

Iggly · 27/12/2021 07:57

@FelicityBob

If any of my guests put a used sanitary towel in my kitchen bin they wouldn’t be invited back Envy
Where should they put it?

Are they allowed to shit in your toilet or is that banned too?

NerrSnerr · 27/12/2021 08:11

@Iggly I assume they should put them in the bathroom bin.

morechocolateneededtoday · 27/12/2021 08:26

Fortunately everyone I visited when younger had a bathroom bin. The thought of anyone carrying bathroom rubbish to the kitchen bin makes me heave - presumably when changing sanpro in the bathroom, would go toilet, change, dispose and then wash hands before coming out. To then touch the dirty sanpro again and carry round the house to put in kitchen, touch other surfaces too which are then all touched by us when prepping food and eating...🤮🤢 Then the idea of the smell in the kitchen, or anything bathroom related carried through to there makes me feel sick.

I only use reusable sanpro myself, same for cotton buds, wool etc. Bathroom products we buy tend to be zero waste but all bathrooms have a dual bin with recycling and rubbish for hair/gunk from drain, toilet roll inners and anything a guest may want to dispose of.

ChristmasyFairy · 27/12/2021 09:06

I don't understand the no bins brigade at all.

Surely everyone has bathroom waste?

Cotton wool or pads for removing make up
Tee pee for teeth
Dental floss
Boxes/ packaging for medication kept in a bathroom cabinet
Wet wipes

Not just san pro.

I also think a few posters are bending the truth a little. eg the poster who said she took 8 trips to her outside bin with a day's worth of tampons.

Really?

Even if you never ever have a guest in your house it's odd to think you can't manage without one. The only person I know with no bin is my elderly Mum. She used to have one, but ditched it when her bathroom was done out. She puts her own panty liners in the kitchen bin. That's fine- she lives alone and in a small bungalow with the kitchen next to the bathroom.

I got fed up with that lark and bought a cheap bin in Wilko to put in my bedroom, as I go for a week at a time to stay with her.

tigger1001 · 27/12/2021 09:25

@ChristmasyFairy

I don't understand the no bins brigade at all.

Surely everyone has bathroom waste?

Cotton wool or pads for removing make up
Tee pee for teeth
Dental floss
Boxes/ packaging for medication kept in a bathroom cabinet
Wet wipes

Not just san pro.

I also think a few posters are bending the truth a little. eg the poster who said she took 8 trips to her outside bin with a day's worth of tampons.

Really?

Even if you never ever have a guest in your house it's odd to think you can't manage without one. The only person I know with no bin is my elderly Mum. She used to have one, but ditched it when her bathroom was done out. She puts her own panty liners in the kitchen bin. That's fine- she lives alone and in a small bungalow with the kitchen next to the bathroom.

I got fed up with that lark and bought a cheap bin in Wilko to put in my bedroom, as I go for a week at a time to stay with her.

I think you were referring to me. I never said I changed a pad 8 times - I was asked the question as the poster said they changed 8 times. But yes, outside each time if changed in the house. Is that so hard to believe? I go to the bins lots of times in a day. Anything that needs recycled goes straight in the appropriate bin rather than cluttering up the house. If the hoover needs emptying, outside bin it is, not the kitchen bin.

I don't use cotton wool or wet wipes. Packaging gets recycled so goes in the appropriate bin outside. Dental floss in the main bin in the kitchen.

Not everyone has space for a bin. And even if I did I don't want one as it would encourage people to chuck in things that can be recycled.

It works for me.

Is it really so hard to believe people do things differently to you?