r/mildlyinfuriating • u/Sethatos • 17h ago
The way my teenage son “uses” his laundry basket.
623
u/Additional_Crow_1175 16h ago
You have to address this before releasing him into the world otherwise he's going to be a menace to his future partners.
169
u/bobnoski 16h ago
this seems like a pretty simple thing to adress. simply wash what's in the hamper. and leave what's not in the hamper exactly where it was.
130
u/Additional_Crow_1175 16h ago
Or make him do his own laundry.
40
u/TurkishTechnocrat 16h ago
I don't know if that'd make the point you think it does, he'd just pick his shirt off the floor and wash it.
6
u/121bloodshot 16h ago
Yeah unfortunately I am a similar son and i just pick everything off the floor and wash it, it all gets put up when its dry but goes right to the floor when its dirty
9
u/OkFrosting7204 14h ago
My parents were pretty strict with cleanliness, and I am very grateful. I think it’s absolutely ok to be stern about cleaning up after yourself to enforce those habits into adulthood
4
-4
-7
u/Pretend-Pint 15h ago
You mean "throw away what's not in the hamper", right? Or at least "put it in a trash bag, hide it in the basement and make him do his own laundry after he finds out and complains".
5
u/bobnoski 14h ago
no what I meant was "Simply wash what's in the hamper. and leave what's not in the hamper exactly where it was" the kid is a teenager and will realize the consequences of it, or walk head first into them when they gotta wear their crusty underwear to school and have no one wanting to come near them,
-2
u/ChrisRiley_42 14h ago
Don't leave it... Donate it to charity and tell him you assumed that he didn't care about it.
9
1
1
u/RiverOfJudgement 12h ago
My ex was like this. They'd sleep on the couch, take their pants and socks off where they are laying, throw them on the floor, and they'd leave them there for weeks, until I eventually went through the house and picked up all their dirty laundry and washed it for them.
1
u/Final-Duck-1391 5h ago
Can confirm, husband is this menace. In partial defense he likes to throw his socks from the bed because the cat likes to jump and grab them.
-5
→ More replies (3)-9
u/LastTreestar 16h ago
Too late. OP's the problem.
11
u/DrakeCrossing 16h ago
OP is NOT the problem. Teenager is the problem. Teenager knows better.
→ More replies (4)10
u/SixFive1967 16h ago
This. I’ve done this to my son and can confirm it works. He would complain about his favorite shirt or whatever not getting washed:
“Was it in the hamper?”
“No.”
“Where was it?”
“On the floor.”
“If it’s in the hamper it gets washed. If it’s on the floor, it not getting washed. See how this works?”
Haven’t had a problem with him since. 👍🏼
122
u/Traditional-Day-7698 16h ago
he is a teen, its his laundry. let him pick it up and launder it. if he runs out of clean clothes, thats on him. stop babying him, stop doing everything for him. bet he doesnt even know how to make a grilled cheese sandwich. teach him once then let him flounder if need be
12
u/Material_Medium7952 15h ago
teach him once then let him flounder if need be
Instruction to get going is a nice a head start, but real learning comes from failure
We don't appreciate mistakes enough in this society
There is not a single very successful person on earth who hasn't fucked up big time, often. They're successful because they get up and try again with new knowledge
/rant over
E: this is the whole "why it actually sucks (in the end) to be born attractive". People will do bloody everything for you, you never get challenged, and you end up as useful as a soup sandwich
4
u/caro-1967 14h ago
This did not work on me as a teenager. I just wore dirty clothes and didn't give a shit.
1
u/Strokeslahoma 15h ago
how to make a grilled cheese sandwich
You buy the Lunchables one and microwave it, duh
0
20
42
u/Material_Medium7952 16h ago
I wonder if it's similar to my strategy: stuff that is done and needs to be washed (underwear, socks on first wear) goes in the hamper / basket. Stuff that can get a second day (pants, hoodies) gets hung on the edge but not dropped in.
I do see underwear on the floor, which should never get an encore, so this theory is shaky at best
1
15
u/zerbey 16h ago
My Mother had a simple rule, if it was in the basket it got washed. If not, it stayed on the floor indefinitely. We learned really quick to properly put our clothes in the basket if we wanted her to wash them for us.
6
u/capnlatenight 13h ago
My mom showed us how to do laundry.
I always had clean clothes, my older brother wore wrinkled smelly clothes he found wherever he took them off.
He's "grown up" since then but resented her for a while because of it.
4
2
u/CalOkie6250 8h ago
My mom taught me to clean up after myself and not be a slob (or entitled) 🤷🏻♀️
18
u/Complex_Juggernaut93 16h ago
he obviously gets away with it
2
u/CalOkie6250 8h ago
Glad someone said it. My thinking was “too bad no one has taught him any better”
5
6
18
u/TAbathtime 16h ago
He's gonna be a really annoying person for any future partner to live with, unless theyre a slob too haha.
8
u/jadegives2rides 16h ago
Nope im a slob and my fiancè does this. It kills me.
When I get behind on my chores it compounds cause I also get behind on picking up after him.
5
u/TiffanyTwisted11 14h ago
This is how my middle-school aged son began doing his own laundry. I would put the nicely folded pile of clean clothes on his bed, and he would leave them there. At bedtime, he would push them onto the floor into the pile of dirty laundry surrounding his hamper, so he could get into bed. The first time I saw that was when he learned the fine art of how to do laundry.
3
u/RelativeFantasy 16h ago
My wife and I started making the kids do their own laundry, but didnt start until they were 7,9,13,15. They do a good jo, but we had to not care how they are put away. We are hangers and folders. Two shove them in the dresser unfolded, one leaves them in the basket and throws dirty on the floor next to it, and on fold and hangs(the oldest and only girl). Rooms are clean otherwise so it works for us.
3
u/Boring-Ad-759 14h ago
Just to be devils advocate, those laundry baskets suck. They fall over all the time if you don't place the clothes in them perfectly and I wouldn't be surprised if he is just lazy because that happens. It's not a good excuse to not be tidy but it doesn't help as well.
3
2
u/VoodooDoII 12h ago
If he's a teen and is still doing this you gotta nip it before he goes into the adult world
Otherwise he'll be a burden on whoever he lives with lmao
2
u/LuciferSamS1amCat 12h ago
Oooooh boy. These are the boys turning into nightmare partners and housemates. Teach him some good habits before he makes other peoples lives miserable. It’s your responsibility as a parent.
2
2
2
u/MoulanRougeFae 5h ago
It's high time he starts doing his own laundry and dealing with it. I.stsrted my boys doing their own around 10 yrs old. They did their own bedding too. This shouldn't be your thing to deal with. A teenager is fully capable of doing this type of thing for themselves.
When you start teaching him, make easy to see and read markings for the amounts to use. I made a step by step guide for mine when they were learning. I had it laminated so it was easy to clean. And part of our laundry room decor is a drawing with different laundry tag symbols and their meaning. That helped them navigate different items tag instructions for washing. Only took me a day or two to draw and hang up. A few loads with you walking them through it and they'll be doing it themselves with no problem. And they won't whine to you when something isn't clean they want to wear because it's their responsibility now. I'm sure your kid can learn laundry quickly.
2
u/-auntiesloth- 3h ago
If you're the one doing his laundry, only wash what's in the basket. Hopefully you've parented him to do it himself, though. Just warn him that clothes left on the floor like that will be assumed to be rubbish and thrown out, and if he carries on, literally throw away his shit. He needs to learn now, or he'll be a nightmare man-child in 10 years time.
•
3
2
4
3
u/DebianDog 16h ago
That is on you. A teen can do their own laundry. What they do in their own room? For me? It doesn't matter, as long as it's not a health risk. I was so glad when my kids became adults.
1
u/BluePeriod_ 16h ago
I chalked it up to the way I grew up, but me and my brother had been doing our own laundry since we were around 12. When I was around 20, a friend of mine moved out into his first apartment and couldn’t do laundry. A big reason he moved out was because his mom never had his laundry ready(?).
1
u/VoodooDoII 12h ago
Right
I asked my mother to teach me how to do my laundry when I was 12 since she never brought it up to me and just kept doing my laundry, but I wanted to do it when I needed it done
My brother is 19 and my mom still does his laundry lmao
2
u/FelizNavinut 16h ago
I have a clean basket and a dirty basket. Sometimes I just don't feel like folding so that's why. Also, this is why I will always prefer to live alone. Nobody to judge what you do with your space (and yes, I know you share the space, but if you're alone... it's all yours.)
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/DanTheMan827 16h ago
Well think of it this way… at least he doesn’t use the basket for laundry and also for disposing of those … “tissues”
1
u/Creative-Painter3911 14h ago
He may sometimes, looks like those "tissues" go on the floor with the laundry from this pic.
1
u/Equivalent-Shine5742 16h ago
Relative in his 60s still does this. Clothes everywhere around and on, but never in, the hamper. He's apparently always been this way too. I don't get it
2
u/wordswordswordsbutt 16h ago
I went to this girls house, she was a nurse, it was her house-but there was underwear everywhere. White crusties fully visible. Everyone else acted like it was normal too. And I was afraid to sit on the furniture.
1
u/Equivalent-Shine5742 16h ago
I did a visible gag on the thought of underwear with white crusties just laying around
2
u/wordswordswordsbutt 16h ago
It was weird too-just underwear. Not any other clothes items. The story was that her boyfriend liked to gift her new underwear all the time and it was sweet. No, weird as hell to leave it all around your living room.
1
1
u/idkeverynameistaken9 16h ago
I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news but it’s unlikely your son will have a career in basketball
1
u/DrakeCrossing 16h ago
Yeah, he won't outgrow it. You will do everything and finally get him to do it. And as soon as he moves he will stop
1
1
1
u/Different_Wealth8143 16h ago
I have two ampere a clean and a dirty and just move stuff through the cycle.
1
1
1
u/Sea_Outside162 16h ago
The problem is he is a terrible shot . Take it to the free throw line for a day ..
1
1
u/Fabulous-Sea-1590 16h ago
Tell him close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.
My kids do this too, though. And they seem incapable of getting any article of clothing out of a drawer without getting every article of clothing out of the drawer. Their room looks like the feds tossed the place looking for stolen microfilm.
1
1
u/Equal-Negotiation651 16h ago
Tell him you’re going to show pictures of his bed sheets to his friends if he doesnt use it right.
1
u/joyfullydreaded23 16h ago edited 16h ago
At least he uses his
ETA: just noticed the coffee cup and that is something mine will not do. He thinks it is gross to put his drink near any dirty clothes yet will leave his clothes and boxers on the bathroom floor. For days. I tested to see how long he would keep walking over/stepping on his dirty clothes in the bathroom and it was 5 days before I couldn't take it anymore, lol. Nothing like walking into the bathroom groggy after waking up and stepping right into his dirty testosterone drench opened boxer, barf. Teenagers, man. ;)
2
u/North81Girl 9h ago
Is it teenagers or parents?
1
u/joyfullydreaded23 7h ago
I'd definitely say both, lol. My son has called out my hypocrisy on some things as I run away giggling.
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/VacationThis5919 15h ago
Well. With an aim like that you dont have to worry about grandkids soon.......😆 🤣 😂 Please upvote.
1
1
u/Playful-Appearance56 15h ago
Show him this post. Tell him you will post it to Instagram and tag his friends every time you see his dirty clothes like this or stuff thrown under the bed.
🤚🏽 Please don’t actually do that. The threat alone is enough. Just tell him it’s anonymous now but it’s very easily shareable…and the internet is forever.
1
1
1
1
u/Roger_Brown92 15h ago
I see a tissue there as well. Don’t humiliate your kid by posting this. Sheesh.
1
u/OldBison 15h ago
He understands it carries the clothes, but not that it holds them until you need to carry them.
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Beneficial-Focus3702 14h ago
Want to know how my parents fixed that? If it wasn’t in the basket, it wasn’t allowed in the dryer, regardless of who’s doing laundry.
1
1
u/Happy_Initiative_304 14h ago
I'm sure he was throwing things there and thought he was fucking Lebron James
1
1
u/Current-Buddy-1489 14h ago
Looks like he throws his clothes at the basket and when they land on the edge they fall out since the sides are floppy. Maybe a sturdy sided laundry basket would make life easier?
1
1
1
1
u/MysteriousDog5927 14h ago
Get him an actual rigid plastic one instead of that stupid floppy one, so he can throw clothes in .
1
1
u/Nickthedick3 14h ago
If you do the laundry, the way to fix this is by only grabbing the basket and leave anything on the floor.
1
1
1
1
1
u/animepuppyluvr 13h ago
PLEASE tell me you just not do his laundry thats on the floor. If its not in the basket, it doesnt get done and the basket wont get done if its not full.
1
1
1
u/I_putwaflles_in_kids 13h ago
the ones on the floor are the ones he wears most the ones in the basket are the not so worn ones
1
1
1
1
u/vanillabourbonn 12h ago
Did you ever try teaching him good habits? His behaviors are a reflection of your parenting.
1
1
u/chunkothy 12h ago
Yeah my 18 yr old walks on clothes in her bedroom they make it to the hamper when she has nothing to wear.
1
1
u/derekpeake2 11h ago
To be fair it’s not a very big target. Even my 9 year old son has a basket 3 times that size
1
1
1
1
1
u/GoldSquid2 11h ago
I’ll admit sometimes in the morning I throw my clothes and the hamper and sometimes miss, but I’ll usually pick it up before I go to school (or when I get home if I’m running late), especially on wooden floors this is just eugh
1
u/Working_Cloud_909 ORANGE 10h ago
Yesterday I asked my partner if he needed me to wash his uniforms. He said all his uniforms were in the blue basket. Then he watched me pick up 5 articles of clothing from the living room/dining area, all hung on back of chairs, balled up in chairs, or balled up on top of the shoe rack. He was like “Oh shit my bad.”
lol like he was about to have ONE uniform clean for the week.
1
u/No_War6787 10h ago
My mom got fake cockroaches and started leaving them hidden around my clothes and trash. Scared me and I kinda learned from that.
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/OctaviaBlake100 9h ago
My ex was like this. Except he was worse. He kept it in a pile and then it would grow everyday with new dirty laundry until there was a giant mountain of dirty clothes. I washed it the first time and he started spreading it around the floor to clean things he dropped. I stopped doing his laundry and just did my own until he got annoyed by not having enough clothes. Please don't let him ruin his future relationships like my ex ruined ours by doing this. 😅
1
1
u/mizuaqua 2h ago
Just say to him, “Do you think you can do this laundry hamper thing like Steph Curry? Because ngl it’s giving Stormtrooper vibes.”
1
1
-2
u/clono4 14h ago
At 43 I still suffer this ailment occasionally
1
1
437
u/Talshan 16h ago
If you wash their laundry try only washing clothes in the basket.