AIBU, My clothes stink and I blame DH?

[Jojimoji]

DH took early retirement and as such is now responsible for almost all household tasks as I still have to work.

This is mostly marvellous, as I come home to clean house, dinners made, dogs walked .......and clothes washed. Herein lies the problem.

I workout almost every day. Intense workouts and I sweat a lot and my gym wear ends up pretty wet. I did the washing for almost 30 years in this family and never had a problem, but DH insists on not doing a load until there is enough dirty laundry to fill the machine stuffed to the gills. No half or three quarter loads permitted on his watch. And worst of all, he washes everything at 30 degrees. This just doesn't cut the mustard with my gym clothes.. often they've been rotting in the basket for a couple of days and then they are put through a coldish wash, bacteria remains, I put them on again, start to sweat and then I STINK. Or rather the clothes stink.

I've told him they need washing at a higher temperature. I've no problem separating my washing and doing my own. DH says that this is completely unreasonable. He pointed out the label on the clothes ( which does inexplicably actually advise to wash at 30!! ) says that it's unreasonable to separate my clothes for separate washes as the machine won't be full and then he reckons washing at 40 is worse for the clothes, and even reckons 30 degrees is more environmentally friendly and he is saving the planet.

YABU..let him wash the stuff at 30 and just put up with stinking out the gym

YANBU ..those clothes need washing at least 40 degrees. DH is wrong and you must wrestle the responsibility for the laundry away from this mad man.

youre not supposed to stuff it full it wont wash poperly-

I refuse to buy halo sports wash since it doubled in price from £4 to £8.
I have used the dylon stuff for sportswear but also use zoflora in with it

Wash your own clothes if you don't like his methods. That's what would be said to a teenager. Works just the same with adults.

Halo sports wash is very good for gym clothes etc. and yes get them in quick!

he is being a fool and it is serving no one.

lf he is washing at 30 he may as well wash at 20, which is good enough for the majority of clothing. At those temperatures the detergent and action of the machine is doing the work. Also, over filling the drum will drastically decrease the longevity of the machine. Modern machines are very capable of part loads and he can select the correct setting and it will decrease the water etc.

Dettol laundry detergent in every wash in this house.

From MN AMA - I developed laundry detergent -

www.mumsnet.com/talk/AMA/3308661-I-developed-laundry-detergents-AMA?postsby=LapinR0se

"Bacteria actually breed at anything less than 40 degrees. 30 is their safe haven"

Gym gear washed on the day it’s worn surely?

ours goes in daily, along with towels & underwear for the day - plenty for a load then!

Neither do I wash anything on lower than 40 but I put stuff on a longer cycle too, a better wash!

I chuck a cap full of disinfectant in every wash too instead of softener.

In answer to your post YANBU at all

I use a scoop of napisan, costs around £5.50 a box.

Clean, nice and fresh washing 🙂

The smell is bacteria, add some Napisan to the wash to kill off the bacteria, and they'll be smell free @ 30'

I use a dettol laundry product in my loads. Is awesome for sweaty gym gear, and I wash mine on 30.

I understand why he doesn't want to waste water & power doing a half load.

Can't you put your gym clothes into a bucket with some washing powder to soak until he has a full load & then he can chuck them in with the laundry.

Ew. Gym stuff needs at least 40 degrees and bio washing stuff. Zoflora for good measure.

I’m often next to people at spinning that either re-wear gym clothes or are not washing them properly. I can smell them from 50 paces.

Of course you're not being unreasonable.

DH saw a programme the other day where they said 40 degree wash no use. Most things are OK to go in at 30, if need a higher temperature 40 degrees isn't high enough-need to bump up to 50+.

I didn't know that.

Well he’s not actually delivering the right outcome for the service, is he?

if he’s in charge of the washing (is he?) then the question is ‘how can he ensure the household’s laundry is done in a way that’s fit for purpose?’.

and he’s not. So tell him he needs to, or you have separate protocols for gym gear - stained items, and delicate items, and one-off items, etc etc etc…

If his way worked, the “clean” clothes wouldn’t be stinky. And they are. So he hasn’t done the job. Not a leg to stand on.

Gym clothes go straight into the machine on a quick 14 minute 30° wash here.

other clothes go when they’ll fill the machine at 30° on normal wash.

Just chuck them in when you get home and they’ll be out and dry by the next day!

Don't tell him anything
I can't believe an adult woman is asking her DH if she can wash her stuff
Just do it and tell him to butt out.

As an aside I don't wash anything other than my bras on 30
It doesn't dissolve the washing liquid/ powder effectively and it clogs up the machine .

have you tried drying in the sun? Surely the sun kills the baterial. Or add that detol antibac to your gym clothes wash.

So in his retirement , his new job is monitoring your washing machine?

He needs another outlet.

Can you put them on a cold rinse and then have for the wash. But not a stuffed to the roof wash. How does anything get clean with a full machine?
I did this with the ds’s sports wear as I found a hot wash would make them smell worse. Like it set the smell in. So would do a cold rinse and then put to one side once I had a couple of sports kits I would then wash on a normal 30 wash but a long cycle. As I found that short cycles also didn’t get them clean or stop them smellling.
if they were really bad I would add either a large cup or white vinegar or I’d I had it dettol laundry cleanser as well as the detergent. Never used fabric softener as that seems to make it hold on to the smell of sweat.

My first thought was that OP's DH was putting his smelly socks in the same laundry basket as her less-smelly laundry.

But no, we have a woman-child unable to wash her own smelly clothes and specifically those associated with her 'hobby'.

MN wisdom normally states that you should LTB (but then OP would have to see to her own domestic needs) or such gems as 'is your DH always such a dick?' - maybe he is, maybe you are, maybe you both or neither of you are?

Best solved by you washing your own smelly gym kit - and maybe other stuff too to demonstrate the difference between overloading a washing machine and loading it to its specs.

That was a different thread, and he was sticking them on 20 degree washes!! No wonder everything still stank!

Argh I hear you! I also had to train DH not to stuff the washing machine!
Nothing worse than getting supposedly clean clothes out of the drawer and finding out they stink. Gross.

Get him to buy and use Dettol laundry sanitiser. I only wash at 30° and my gym clothes used to be gross until I started using sanitiser. Problem solved

Just wash your gym gear yourself when you are back from the gym. It’s unacceptable you having to wear smelly clothes. He’s not the boss, you can put a wash on if you want!!!!! 30 degrees will not get the bacteria out when there’s a lot of sweat. Stand your ground, he can wash everything else on 30 degrees all he wants.