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Housekeeping

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Original poster

Loo bins - do you have them and what is the etiquette for visitors?

262 replies

cosmicdomestic · 03/01/2016 16:01

We had SIL to stay over Xmas. She is always a polite house guest and generally tries to fit in with what we do. This time though she kept on hinting that we needed a bin in our downstairs loo (which is tiny) - we don't need one in our opinion.
Anyway, as if to make her point, when I went to put my Quality Street wrappers in the kitchen bin on NYE, I had horror moment when right there in the bin, on top, partially covered with one thin tissue was a (heavily) used tampon (bin is in the cupboard next to the dish washer - so it gets warm and we never put perishable waste in it - but the cupboard actually smelt of the offending article!!). It could only be SILs and I did not mention it
Even if we got a bin in the loo, is it polite to put used sanitary protection in it - surely she should flush or wrap in tissue and quietly put in our wheely bin?
What do other households do for female guests?

OP posts:

rabbit123 · 04/01/2016 23:59

Bunbaker, begs another question...you don't use dental floss? No bathroom bin and you don't floss?

Lweji · 05/01/2016 00:25

I don't floss and have a bin. (is this going to turn on a fight between flossers and non-flossers?)

IamtheZombie · 05/01/2016 01:12

Zombie assumes that none of the no-bin posters has ever gone on holiday to Greece. Or at least to the Greek islands Zombie prefers. Used loo paper goes in the bin. It is not flushed down the loo.

In Zombie's house each of the upstairs bathrooms has a bin and a basket. Recyclables go into the basket; everything else goes in the bin. The downstairs loo only has a bin but that loo is adjacent to the kitchen where the recycling boxes live.

AtiaoftheJulii · 05/01/2016 07:41

Lots of places do the "used paper in the bin" thing. I'm not sure why that would encourage anyone with adequate plumbing to put a bin in their own toilet!

PrimeDirective · 05/01/2016 09:40

Prime, I think you're unreasonable for not having a bathroom bin for guests and thinking it's normal to put used sanpro in your handbag. Not for being squeamish about menstruation. You use washable sanitary towels/mooncup etc. Good for you. I don't, so don't have a special bag, nor do I want one.
So it's not a question of it not being normal, as it's perfectly normal for me to put washable sanpro in my bag, it's just that you don't want to do the same so you think that I should compromise my rule on bin liners for other people's convenience.
I think it is unreasonable to not go out prepared if you have your period. I would no more provide sanpro for guests than I would provide sanpro disposal bags and bins.

where do you throw things like cotton buds, tooth pics, dental floss, empty toothpaste tubes etc?
Bedroom bins, kitchen bin or recycling bins.
Is it really that hard to take your rubbish from one room to another? Do you need a bin in every single room in the house so you never have to walk to use one?
If you can carry the empty shampoo bottle and cardboard toilet roll tube to the recycling bin, then you can carry the cotton bud and wrapped sanitary towel to the kitchen bin.
I'm not going to put a bin in the bathroom because other people are too lazy to take things to the other bins.

Lweji · 05/01/2016 10:00

PrimeDirective

Why have bedroom bins and not bathroom bins? That doesn't make much sense to me.

PrimeDirective · 05/01/2016 10:12

There's so much contradiction here!

Woman uses friend's bathroom to change her sanpro and couldn't possibly be expected to put the used item anywhere but a bin with a liner in the bathroom. It would be completely unreasonable to expect her to carry it to a different bin in the house.

However, it is then expected that the friend should go into the bathroom and pick up the guest's rubbish in one bin and carry it to another bin.

How can it be totally unreasonable for a woman to carry her own sanpro to the kitchen bin but positively expected that the homeowner should pick up that sanpro and empty it into a different bin?

maybebabybee · 05/01/2016 10:15

prime what is your issue with emptying a bathroom bin ?

If it's lined it's just a matter of picking up a bag and tying it up, surely? It's not like you have to carry a used tampon with your bare hands?

PrimeDirective · 05/01/2016 10:20

Why have bedroom bins and not bathroom bins? That doesn't make much sense to me.
Because there are lots of occasions when someone is in their bedroom and creates rubbish from something they have opened or used and would need to dispose of (tissues, cotton wool, broken coathangers, sweet wrappers, pens, clothing labels etc). But they wouldn't necessarily be leaving that bedroom anytime soon. It is therefore convenient to have a bin in the room.
When you are in a bathroom, you are going to be leaving it in a short time, so you can take your rubbish with you.
Do you not have bins in your bedrooms?

PrimeDirective · 05/01/2016 10:30

prime what is your issue with emptying a bathroom bin
What is your issue with carrying your own rubbish to a different bin?
Why is it so unreasonable for you to carry it to my kitchen bin but expected that I should do it?
Are you really that incapable of walking a few metres with your own rubbish?

If it's lined it's just a matter of picking up a bag and tying it up, surely? It's not like you have to carry a used tampon with your bare hands?
I'm not squeamish, I have already made that very clear. I don't like using bin liners, they are wasteful and harmful to the environment. I have no issue emptying my kitchen bin with used sanpro in it. I have a problem with providing a bin that is just for guests that I don't want, that there is no room for and no-one else in the house needs, just because some women appear to be too precious to carry their own sanpro to a different bin?

Stop being so bloody lazy!

cleaty · 05/01/2016 10:34

I wouldn't walk through a house with other people in it to put sanpro in a kitchen bin. Far too embarrassing.

maybebabybee · 05/01/2016 10:38

just because some women appear to be too precious to carry their own sanpro to a different bin?

It's your opinion that they're precious. When you're hosting people part of being a good host is that you make them feel comfortable. When my FIL comes to visit I have to cook him English food only because he won't eat anything else, including pasta, rice and pizza etc. This is incredibly fucking annoying but I do it anyway because if I invite someone into my home I would like them to have a nice time.

One stingy bathroom bin really isn't going to put you out, nor is it going to do much harm to the environment. Get biodegradable bags if you're that bothered.

BertrandRussell · 05/01/2016 10:43

So you expect a guest to wrap a used tampon in loo roll, then, if in my house, carry it through the living room between two sofas of people, then across the kitchen to the bin, then go back to the loo to wash her hands? Rather than you tying up the top of a bin liner?

PrimeDirective · 05/01/2016 10:46

So too embarrassing for you to do it, but fine for someone else to do it for you.
And I'm the one with the problem??

Surely you have walked into the bathroom with your bag so walk back out of the bathroom with it in your bag and there is no embarrassment?

If you are too embarrassed to walk to another bin, then surely you would be too embarrassed to leave your used sanpro in a bin for someone else to collect?

Guests can walk from my bathroom to my kitchen without having to walk past anyone else unless they were loitering outside the door.

NerrSnerr · 05/01/2016 10:49

Do people actually know there is a used sanitary towel in the bin when they change it? I don't have a good root around in the bin after friends have left and I just change the bag regularly. My hands only touch the bag so have never touched a towel or tampon. I also sometimes have a pad in my pocket so wouldn't necessarily have a bag to put my used pad in.

cleaty · 05/01/2016 10:52

No I don't usually carry a bag. I will walk into the bathroom with a tampax or towel in my pocket. I am not walking through a group of people to put a used towel in a kitchen bin. If that was expected, I think I would just flush it down the loo.

PrimeDirective · 05/01/2016 10:56

BertrandRussell If it is more suitable in your house with the room layout that you have a bin in your bathroom then that is absolutely fine. I am not telling anyone that they shouldn't have a bathroom bin.
I object to being told by other people that I am unreasonable in not providing one when there is absolutely no need to in my house.

I do make my guests comfortable but I don't agree that I have to buy a bin that I don't want, that doesn't fit to put in a bathroom for the odd occasion when a guest needs to change her sanpro and is incapable of using a different bin or her own bag. I don't have to cater for every single need.

Anyone remember the thread about Guest Sanpro? There was outcry at the suggestion that a host should provide sanpro just in case a guest needed it. I don't see the difference. Either way I would be expected to buy something I don't want or use for the convenience of other people who should be capable or providing these things for themselves.

PrimeDirective · 05/01/2016 11:05

Rest assured that my kitchen bin is in my utility room which is between the bathroom and kitchen. I don't tend to have people loitering in the utility room so you could easily get to the kitchen bin without the horrific embarrassment of anyone else in the house knowing that you had your period.

You can even put the radio on in the utility room to disguise the noise you might be making in the bathroom as it would be mortifying if someone were to hear you having a wee

wowfudge · 05/01/2016 11:08

When I have a period, it makes a mess changing stuff. I put used sanitary protection in a hygienic disposal bag (biodegradable) and straight into the bathroom bin. I don't always have bags handy so then it's loo roll. Then I clean up. Fully understand this may be tmi for some on this post, but that's life. Clean up ends when I wash and dry my hands. Stuff stays in the bin until the bin is emptied. I don't then want to have to find a suitable bin for it outside the bathroom.

I don't want to add additional unnecessary steps to the process, especially not at night on the way to bed. Why would you?

I also don't want anyone else in my house feeling like they have to take their own used tampons and towels off the premises, whether that's to the correct wheelie bin outside or taking it home with them.

Not providing facilities for guests to be comfortable is poor hosting.

xmasseason · 05/01/2016 11:12

Kitchens are often sociable places. I wouldn't want to be stopped for a chat with a bag of sanpro in my hand. I'd want to get it in the bin ASAP and then wash my hands. The bathroom is the right place for that IMO.

Lweji · 05/01/2016 11:27

I did say earlier I did. For tissues when I have a cold.

For other stuff, I usually am about to leave the room anyway and also take them with me.
Broken coat hangers, really? :)

cleaty · 05/01/2016 11:41

It isn't about others knowing you have your period. You are saying that those of us who want a bathroom bin are effectively prudish, that is not the case. I have no problem with people knowing I have had a poo, but I don't want to carry my po wrapped up in toilet paper past a group of people to another room.

maybebabybee · 05/01/2016 11:45

I don't have a bin in my bedroom. I don't like them in the bedroom as I hate manky old tissues.

But I have one in the spare bedroom, for guests.

Gazelda · 05/01/2016 12:00

It'd never occurred to me to have a bin in my bathroom. I lived alone for yonks, so used the bin in my bedroom for sanpro. I became peri-menopausal shortly after getting together with DH, so no sanpro needed. We've used the bedroom bin for the various bits and pieces of rubbish, or take the item straight to the recycling.
My teenage niece is coming to stay this weekend, so now I'm in a panic about getting a bin in the bathroom in time. (half-joking - I know it only needs to be a little thing, but I generally like things to be co-ordinated).

rabbit123 · 05/01/2016 14:51

wowfudge, you speak the truth! The great bin debate aside, it's kind of disgusting to wash your hands and then have to carry dirty sanpro to another room. The other alternative is to bin and then wash hands, but then you'd be traipsing through the house, opening doors, touching surfaces etc with hands all covered in...well...stuff that shouldn't be in a kitchen, let's put it that way!

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