To hang my bl**dy MIL...

[Lunar270]

.....for re-hanging my washing on the line.

It was a nice(ish) day for hanging out the washing so there I am, pegging it all out. MIL pops round, sees me finishing the last of the washing and precedes to unpeg and hang it out again.

Now, a question for MN. I honestly don't spend much time thinking about it. However, I tend to peg garments using the strongest part of the garment. So for a tee shirt I'll peg the seam at the arm/shoulder as this also minimises peg marks. But nope, MIL turn the tee upside down and pegs the bottom seam, which results in the tee drying out of shape as it then droops (plus peg marks 🙄).

So I call her out on her ludicrous behaviour. First why the hell she's re-hanging my washing and also that she's doing it incorrectly (for me). I should bite my lip but no-one can ever do anything right in her eyes.

"Oh I've been a housewife for over 30 years so know what I'm doing". I could've hung her out with the washing too. AIBU?

Life is too short. 🤷🏼‍♀️🤣

It’s passive aggressive control.

She’s ‘helping’ so she can’t be bad. They pick the small things so that if you tell anyone, you seem petty. It’s not petty though.

Tell her once nicely that her passive aggressive nonsense won’t be accepted. If it continues in terms of washing or most likely she’ll transfer it to other things, reduce contact.

Nice people that bring positive things to your life don’t act like this.

I always hang t-shirts from the bottom unless they're especially delicate, I also hang trousers from the bottom.
My theory is than the thickest bits are free to flap around and dry better. I think I got this from Anthea Turner when she had a domestic goddess type show in the 00's.

My Mum hangs T-shirts your way and also trousers from the top. It's annoying and there's always peg marks.

DH hangs out our washing very weirdly. We have a 4 arm whirligig and he hangs duvet covers across two arms.😳
However, the fact that he takes the wet washing out of the machine and hangs it out to dry (and sorts and puts it away afterwards) means I don't bother to complain about the strange way he hangs it.

I'd let MIL hang all your washing out next time and go in and make yourself a coffee. 😂

Hang from the heaviest part. So, waistbands & shoulders are pegged on the line. This from me who uses a Sheila Maid inside

I wouldn't /couldn't hang washing like you do but I certainly wouldn't be bothered to re-peg it! Who on earth has that time/interest?!

This is what I came to say 🤣

I am waiting for a thread to appear in AIBU one day which reads 'Every time my DIL visits she turns my toilet roll the wrong correct way' 😂

Tops from the bottom and bottoms from the top. And pegs MUST be matching!

I hang my clothes like your MIL but she didn't have a right to change how you hang your own washing!
I hang it by the bottom as the strongest part of the clothes are the parts that have most material, therefore, need to be free and hanging so they can dry more quickly.

MIL has been really rude, intrusive and disrespectful.

I'd tell her that if she is going to behave like this she will not be welcome in my house.

This is the rule.
Bet you others have higgldy piggledy pegs too.

It’s rude of her and I don’t understand this top and bottom thing.

I hang trousers from the leg takes up less space. Tops from the top. Sometimes I dry tops on hangers.

Send her to my house if she wants to hang washing out. I don’t care as long as it dries!

Your washing, your way….
I would have taken it down, re-hung it and told her in no uncertain terms to keep her hands off my washing and not be so ridiculous.
As to ‘I’ve been a housewife for 30 years’, I would smirk and say good for you, and just move on. If she did it again I would tell her she won’t be welcome in your house if she continues her nonsense.
What is the matter with people…

YANBU.

There is no correct way. People need to unclench. All this competitive 'Oh I couldn't possibly cope if everything wasn't just so', or passive-aggressively 'helping' others with their housework shortcomings (like the OP's MIL) is like people who boast post about how they can't cope with the possibility that their size 6 jeans might be getting a teensy bit snug, or offer 'helpful' unasked-for weight loss advice. It's a deliberate display of superiority, masquerading unconvincingly as a genuine worry or a harmless foible they can't help having.

I realise this post makes it sound like it's me that needs to unclench . But seriously - why do so many women engage in this domestic one-upmanship?

I'd just shrug my shoulders and let her fill her boots in this one.

Hand her a mop and ask her to wash your kitchen floor after she's finished re-hanging your washing as "you're not sure you do a thorough enough job" and "after all, she's been a housewife for 30 or whatever years so should know what she's doing". Then get her reordering the linen cupboard and ironing the bedlinen (even if normally you never do this).

A friend hung out the washing. His wife came home and studied the line. 'Got the children to help you?' was her comment. We all have our own way but I couldn't be bothered to redo it.

I also do the "tops from the bottom, and bottoms from the top" way, but I'd never rearrange someone else's washing, that's just rude.

When my husband or daughter hang out, and it's all higgeldy piggeldy, I have to bite my tongue and not say a word, as they'd never help again otherwise. The only time I would adjust (my own washing) is if I could tell a garment would have horrible peg marks if left like it was.

Does nobody else just feck the clothes on the line any which way as long as they get hung out…?

I'm petty I would just re-hang it my way.

What did she say about it? Is it her way of marking her territory, ie. her sons house is her house and you just happen to live there?

Send her my way, my container cupboard is out of control.

For the OP and washing, only things that cannot go in the dryer are pegged out. Or (because I detest peg marks) put clothes on a hanger and shove that on the line. If the hanger is the right size, the clothes dont come off, if it's really windy peg the hanger to the line.

& I would seriously struggle to turn your t shirt round the correct way and hang it like the OP 😂