Gransnet forums

House and home

What household chore have you got completely wrong?

(48 Posts)
Faraget Mon 26-Oct-26 19:03:12

Cooked oats o simple in the microwave didn't put milk into managed to set microwave on fire when I was 9

Cossy Mon 26-Oct-26 19:05:25

Probably most things over the years 🤣😂🤣😂

Washing and dryer messes probably the worst!

CarrotTop Mon 26-Oct-26 19:26:12

Giving my DH's favourite handmade alpaca Fair Isle pullover a "good hot wash" in the machine to spruce it up a bit. It dried into a hard effigy of half a man, about 5 sizes smaller than it went in.
Better than my Gran, though, who boiled Grandpa's woollen long johns on top of the stove. They turned to jelly. shock

midgey Mon 26-Oct-26 20:00:13

I washed the lettuce with soap flakes aged about five.

AGAA4 Mon 26-Oct-26 20:08:54

I didn't notice a red sock in my son's football team's kit that I offered to wash for them.
They had to play in pink shirts for the rest of the season. The boys were not impressed.

MT62 Mon 26-Oct-26 20:09:34

Leaving all my clean white blouses in the machine until I had my lunch, instead of hanging them straight out.
My sister came along & threw in her dark jeans & set the washer off. We fell out big time🤦‍♀️
Oh how I wish she was still here so we could make the same mistake, I wouldn’t give a flip 😞

Fallingstar Mon 26-Oct-26 20:35:40

When we moved to our Victorian terraced house I used the hoover to suck up lots of soot disturbed when the workmen blocked off a real fireplace in one of the unfinished bedrooms. I promptly took the hoover downstairs to the finished part of the house with pristine light coloured carpets and got a black bin bag to empty the hoover in, of course I should have done it in the kitchen, and of course I should have asked someone to hold the bin bag, but you know what is coming next, I emptied the hoover contents which missed the bag and landed on the beautiful carpet. We managed to clean it up by hoovering all over again, several times, but was quite shocking.

Greenfinch Mon 26-Oct-26 20:37:44

Washing my daughter’s white lab coat with a pair of green joggers. Well she was the only one in the class with a green lab coat !

JenniRen Mon 26-Oct-26 21:48:32

Years ago making soup in the pressure cooker, I was too impatient and took the weights off the top before it was ready. The soup shot out like a volcano.

Putting a lovely mohair cardigan in the washing machine. DD had paid a lot of money for it from a craft shop when she was on holiday. It came out in a tight tangled ball.

FriedGreenTomatoes2 Mon 26-Oct-26 21:58:09

Ordered a bean bag on line years ago and went for the cheaper option of putting the THOUSANDS of tiny polystyrene balls into the fabric myself from a huge plastic bag of them. Crikey. They whooshed out of that bag they were so slippery! I kept finding them in the room for days afterwards.

ClicketyClick Mon 26-Oct-26 22:20:16

Was pleased with how well furniture had polished up using a new spray polish. Then realised I'd been usung6fly spray.

ClicketyClick Mon 26-Oct-26 22:20:37

...using fly spray

Sarnia Mon 26-Oct-26 23:18:42

FriedGreenTomatoes2

Ordered a bean bag on line years ago and went for the cheaper option of putting the THOUSANDS of tiny polystyrene balls into the fabric myself from a huge plastic bag of them. Crikey. They whooshed out of that bag they were so slippery! I kept finding them in the room for days afterwards.

How I enjoyed your post. It brought back such memories.
When I was about 10, my Granny had made some new pillows from cotton ticking and she wanted me to help her fill them with feathers. Similar result to your polystyrene balls. grin

eazybee Tue 27-Oct-26 06:38:51

Washing my daughter's white shirt loaned from a department store where she was doing work experience, with a traditional yellow duster. It took several washes with stain remover and finally some bleach, and most of the night, to return it to (almost) white.

MrsQuigley Tue 27-Oct-26 07:26:30

The most recent mistake was putting the house clocks forward on Saturday night. Even with the ‘spring forward, fall back’ rhyme going round in my head. Bit confusing in the morning, had to go round re-adjusting them all.

mimismo Tue 27-Oct-26 14:06:42

Stood on a stool to open a tap at our butcher's sink at about age 5, only to have the stool move away leaving me stranded, feet dangling, and shouting for mumgrin

Cgto2 Tue 27-Oct-26 14:24:16

Faraget

Cooked oats o simple in the microwave didn't put milk into managed to set microwave on fire when I was 9

My daughter did exactly this but with Readybrek. She was around 9-10, microwave didn’t catch fire but smelt a bit burnt inside for weeks!

MirandaIV Tue 27-Oct-26 14:56:05

When I was grooming the dog I put silicone detangling spray on her and everywhere she lay down was like an ice rink. I’ve been skidding around the house for months and it doesn’t seem to wipe off.

kittylester Tue 27-Oct-26 15:28:45

Just after we got married DH spilt curry on a new Aran sweater. I put it in the bath to soak.

Fartooold Tue 27-Oct-26 15:44:26

I decided to light the fire for my grandparents and put newspaper in front of the grate (as we did in those times) to roar the fire up and set the chimney on fire. They lived in a 3 story house! They were not impressed the fire brigade were not either!

mokryna Tue 27-Oct-26 15:45:59

MrsQuigley spring forward, fall back I have never heard this rhyme, so handy, even if you made a mistake.

Romola Tue 27-Oct-26 15:55:24

Four years ago, after DH died, I had to get ready for winter. I thought I'd turned the cock for the outside tap to OFF. But I hadn't, I'd turned it ON And also, I hadn't understood that the tap itself had to be ON to let out remaining water. So of course the pipe burst when it froze, then there was a flood, then a bill from a plumber.
I hope I've done it right now.

Susieq62 Tue 27-Oct-26 15:58:14

At the age of 16 My daughter didn’t put any water in the egg poacher pan and wondered why it caught fire . We had gone on holiday to Cyprus and left her in charge of the house. We still remind her at the age of 45.

Gwyllt Tue 27-Oct-26 15:59:43

Many years ago one of my son’s friends came into the kitchen and told me he had been stung by a be. As husband was a be keeper at the time I reached for what was called Stingoes I think it was called. Gave a quick squirt and sent him back out. Only when I came to put it away did I notice I had used the early version of Neutrodol. Lad said he felt fine when I asked. The mum asked me what I had used as her son usually reacted badly to stings. You never know what products have alternative uses. Or is it the placebo effect !!

glasses Tue 27-Oct-26 16:09:33

I made marrow chutney but forgot to rinse the salt off before cooking.