To be annoyed at DMIL for putting a wet towel in the dustbin?

[FloralFantastic]

DS peed on the bathmat this evening - the in laws were kindly babysitting. When we got home we were told that DMIL had thrown away the bathmat - in the outside bin, drenched with both water and pee. Rubbish won't be collected for another week. I was livid at 1) the wastefulness as would have just washed in, and 2) why on earth she'd put it in wet, as whilst I'm not gonna eat my dinner from my outside bin I'd also rather not needlessly invite bacteria and mould to it. She said she put it in a bin bag if that helps.

DH is telling me I'm being needlessly irate and should 'just' be grateful for the babysitters - thoughts?!

The waste argument is valid, un bag it and wash it now.

The bacteria argument is silly. What do you think bins are for?

Odd she binned it. Get it out and stick it in the machine.

Odd you are worried about bacteria in the bin. It's literally the point of the outside bin.

So the wet towel was put in a bin bag first?

You being irate is OTT. Think of it this way: the cost of a bath mat is cheap babysitting. Should she have binned it? Ideally, no. But I wouldn’t want to deal with a mat drenched in urine either.

This may just be as a result of being conditioned by my own mum to never put wet towels in laundry baskets so it just generally gives me the ick rather than being worried as such 😅

Like a white pedal bin liner I use for the bathroom bins... not very thick/ waterproof etc imo but presumably she thought preferable to her touching the mat!

YABU if you're actually 'irate' about this. I'd be a little annoyed yes but definitely wouldn't show it to my in-laws who presumably have been babysitting for free. If you're that concerned about the waste go and rescue it and stick it in the wash. As for the bacteria in the bin YABVVU.

I wouldn’t get upset with your in-laws as they were babysitting for your but did you show some common sense and take the bath at out of the bag and wash it? Before there were disposable nappies cloth ones were washed.

But a laundry basket is entirely different from the trash bin - I assume that your mother would also have said not to put banana peels in the laundry basket, but I also assume that you do put them in the trash bin.

But she's not put it in the laundry bin. You don't want wet things in the laundry bin because they/things around them can start to go mouldy thus ruining good clothes. You're not using your bin for storage of reusable items so it doesn't matter if it and everything in it ends up covered in mould.

But like everyone else has said, since she's put it in a rubbish bag it's not like it's even been in contact with any other rubbish in the bin. Just fish it out and wash it.

I’d be pissed off that she threw it in the bin (whether in or out of a plastic bag). Why couldn’t she throw it in the washing machine?

Odd to throw it away.

Just retrieve it and wash it.

Bring it in and wash it, there’s no waste.

Take it out of the bin and wash it!

I would have preferred that MIL put the bath mat in the laundry trough ... or into the empty bath if you have no trough.

How to get it there?
If it were dripping wet, a bin bag is a good idea if no bucket were available and obvious in the laundry.

It is wasteful that she binned it so lucky that it was in a bin bag and easy for you to retrieve.. and wash.

You are over reacting, hugely!
The worst thing that could happen is that the rubbish is collected before you can fish the bagged bath mat out of the bin. It's a plus that she told you.

Livid - really?? It’s a bathmat. She looked after your kid, I presume he’s still alive and warm/fed and had a good/reasonable time with granny. But if you don’t want to lose a bathmat, you may have to engage a professional babysitter for future outings.

I’d be annoyed too at her just throwing the bath mat in the bin. Just because they’re doing you a favour doesn’t make it okay to chuck out your belongings. What a weird thing to do!

Something similar happened in our family once; sister-in-law from a very wealthy background threw away towels that had mopped up kiddie vomit, to the amazement of the sisters-in-law from more humble backgrounds, one of whom was the owner of the towels. They talked about it for months afterwards.
Unlike them, you can fix things by going and rescuing the bathmat. If you trust yourself to stay calm and be reasonable, you can tell your free babysitter that you did so, so she knows how you'd like things done in future.

Your husband is right . For heavens sake just go and get it from the bin and wash it. Such a big drama over nothing.

I’d think it was weird but go and get it out and shove it in the washing machine on a hot wash.

Get it out and wash it, as everyone says.

I would be worried about how she behaved in front of DS though, it sounds like she had a major over-reaction to a bit of wee and I would be concerned about the upset that might have caused. I wouldn't want the boy thinking he'd done anything wrong by having a small accident.

How old is DS?

This seems like inventing a justification for OP to be angry at the MIL. There is absolutely zero information given to suggest the child was upset or even knew the bath mat had been thrown out, or any description of the grandmother’s reaction. It’s just as likely that she sent him to bed first or threw it out with all the emotion of a person tossing a dropped cracker in the bin.

OP, go fetch the mat and wash it. Being irate is completely OTT.

It’s a pissy bath mat. Get over yourself.