To Wash DH's Stuff With Mine

[TheShellBeach]

My NDN invited me over for coffee this morning and a woman I've never met before was telling me that she washes her DH's underpants separately from the rest of the washing, as she "doesn't want her stuff to be contaminated with his pants".

They have children, so it seems that she's been "contaminated" by contact with her husband's body more than once in her life.

AIBU to think it's weird? I wash our clothes together. I thought everyone did.

I can't imagine the extra work this would entail, too.

Not to mention the cost of the electricity and heating the water and the additional washing powder required.

She’s crazy y but I did work with. Someone who washed her and her children’s clothes and made her husband do his own separately. It seems odd to me as it’s extra money to put on the machine for his stuff. I came back from holiday and was faux complaining about doing the ‘mountain of washing’ and she said ‘well I’d make him do his own!’ What is the point.

She’s batshit. The other 99.999% of your friends and neighbours shove it all in together.

I don't wash our clothes together, I do mine and he does his own. Nothing to do with 'contamination' though, more that I would end up doing it all otherwise plus he always complains that his socks go missing when I do it

Generally I don’t wash DPs clothes with mine but that’s usually because his make up a full load by themselves. But now and again they all get washed together. You share a bed, you can share a wash load. How odd

She's being weird. I would think children's underwear is much more likely to "contaminate" other people's clothes, but I wash that in with mine too.

I heard on the radio once a woman saying something along the lines of that she irons her husband's underwear because men's underwear is unhygienic and even after washing and needs the heat of the iron to kill the bacteria 😁

I wash the family’s clothes together, colour roughly separated. His pants are no more “contaminated” than mine. I might separate his stuff if he was a coal miner or something, or if I had particularly delicate items, but otherwise it’s a waste of time as far as I’m concerned.

I remember being in hospital after having my eldest. My dh sat on the edge of my bed & a nurse told him off (cross contamination) he howled with laughter & pointed to baby & said it was a bit late for that

I can't imagine how much energy would be wasted doing separate loads of laundry

It's an odd thing to do if one person is responsible for all the laundry but in our house adults do their own washing so it doesn't tend to get mixed anyway.

Each to their own 🤷🏼‍♀️

That situation is a bit different? You don't object to having your partner's pants in with yours on principle.

I think I do all of ours because we've shared out the housework tasks equally in our house and I chose the washing because I like doing it.

I can't imagine how much energy would be wasted doing separate loads of laundry

No extra energy required - what is the difference in 2 loads of separate washing (1 each) or 2 mixed loads?

"...................she irons her husband's underwear because men's underwear is unhygienic and even after washing and needs the heat of the iron to kill the bacteria"

Sorry.
I just meant if she was going to separate out the underpants and wash them separately the machine would not be very full unless the DH had about fifty pairs.

Does she just put the washing in the machine and then take it out again, without switching it on?

Actually, I remember once, years ago, working for a woman who refused to put her mother's knickers in the washing with her own.

I could never work out why. (The mother lived in a separate part of the house but due to infirmity could not do her own washing)

Maybe he's terrible at wiping his arse.

We wash everything together and that’s only because 1 person is responsible for doing the washing. I think if oh started asking for his stuff to be separate I wouldn’t have an issue, it would just get done last after I did my own and ds’s. Or I’d tell him he’s responsible for doing his own stuff now.

I think your friend is batshit but really only because of the reason given. Contamination sounds daft.

Totally agree about the laundry thing, but actually (in ref to a previous post) hospitals should stop visitors sitting on patients' beds. It's basic infection control.

Sorry.
I just meant if she was going to separate out the underpants and wash them separately the machine would not be very full unless the DH had about fifty pairs.

I can imagine some lazy bloke doing just that to be honest buying 50 pairs and washing them every 6 weeks or so when he ran out!

I’m wondering whether these people understand the concept of “washing”.
Would they be mind-blown if they realised that when you stay in a hotel you’re sleeping in sheets and on pillowcases that have been slept on by other people and washed with sheets and towels used by all those other people? Poo smears / period leaks and all? Or is it only pants that contain indestructible germs that can’t be removed by washing?

Oh GRIM!

We both do our own washing but not because of fear of cross contamination.

I don’t get that. How could a patient get an infection from someone’s trousers being in contact with their bed sheets?

I can imagine some lazy bloke doing just that to be honest buying 50 pairs and washing them every 6 weeks or so when he ran out!

So can I.
In fact my adult DS has about a hundred pairs of black socks which appear to live on his bedroom floor