I am tired of the muddy clothes my husband brings home from construction...?

Question

Does anyone have any advice on what to do? These jeans are literally caked with mud. I have 2 jobs and 2 young kids. I can barely keep up with the normal laundry and I don't want to ruin the washer. He claims he cannot scrape off the mud before he comes in. I don't think that even makes sense!!! What do you think?

Answer 1

i think he should quit working and you should get a third job...seriously tho. ive been bringing home mud for 36 years and when its soft and fresh on your pants you can scrape it and move it around but it doesnt come off easy...and my wife didnt like it either...but she accepted it as part of my job...put a second hand washer in the basement or take them to the laundro-mat...we dont like trudging around in it any more than you like cleaning it...

Answer 2

I have gardeners at my house so I know what you're dealing with. The quickest way I've found is my hose outside my back door. I have my guys put their muddy stuff in a pile on the back deck. I have a hose nearby at the edge of the deck. When I'm ready to wash these things, I turn on the hose with a good quality spray nozzle on it, grab a pair of jeans for example, hold them over the edge of the deck and spray the mud off - well most of it - the sludge that will clog up your washer. I make a pile of the rinsed ones. The nozzle only sprays when I squeeze it so I don't have a hose running while I grab the next pair of jeans. Also works well with tennis shoes. I hope this helps. Over the years, it's the only way I've found to do it. Fortunately, my washer and dryer are just inside the back door. After the rinsed stuff has been left for a little while, most of the extra water has dripped off so I can get them into the washer without leaving a watery trail behind me. If your washer is further away, you can bring them in with a laundry basket. Once you have your husband trained to put his muddy jeans near your hose and your sprayer attached to the hose, this goes fast. Hope this helps. Maybe you can get your husband to spray too! 8)

Answer 3

My guess is that the mud is still wet when he comes in, so it would be much more difficult to scrape it off then, than it would be to wait until it's dried and can be flaked off.

Get a separate hamper for his work clothes. Be sure that he puts his dirty stuff in that hamper only at the end of the day. When the hamper is full, have him take the whole thing outside to shake off the big bits of mud & dirt. Once this is done, it should be almost like any other load of laundry, and shouldn't cause any harm to your machines (even lots of dirt shouldn't create any problems for the machines, since that's what they're made to do, really). A bigger problem is the nails & screws that are often left behind in construction workers' pockets!

If you feel up to the conversation, suggest that he wash his own laundry...Or perhaps he takes on the chore of doing laundry for the whole family. That would certainly help eliminate a bit of the workload that you're facing.

Answer 4

What's all this about looking after his unacceptable behaviour. You're not a slave but a partner in a relationship. He must accept responsibility for his actions. Get him to purchase several sets or more of work clothes. Make sure he has clean - not really smart - but clean clothes to change into before he leaves the site. He should put his dirty clothes into an outside, lidded bin for them to soak until his day off and then he can get on and rinse them before using the washing machine. Don't be a fool!

Answer 5

Let me get this straight. You have a husband who is working his butt off but cause he comes home dirty and muddy-you are complaining? Do you think he is doing it on purpose? Is he doing it just to make your life harder? Be glad you have him, throw his clothes in the washer as soon as he gets out of them. My father worked construction for 40 years, and though my parents never agreed about everything, laundry was no big deal. Living on a ranch, we had lots of things worse than mud going into our washer, and it didn't hurt it. Her washer was 20 years old before she replaced it.

Answer 6

If budget is not an issue, I'd take jeans this dirty to a laundry service. Most of them have commercial machines to handle things like dog bedding, horse blankets, etc. Could he change first and go outside to hose the mud off his jeans? A good blast from the hose should get rid of most of the mud.

Answer 7

Unfortunately, construction is work that takes place in a lot of mud. There is no way around that.

But maybe you can install a large sink of some sort for him to rinse the excess mud off in before he brings his dirty clothes inside? And let him take a spare set of clothing to work so he can change there.

Answer 8

Have him put the muddy pants on the mud porch and beat the dirt out of them himself when they dry. Then wash them, himself!!

My husband, now retired, worked construction for 25 years. He did his own laundry for all of those years. He still does his own laundry. His claim was that I lost some of his socks! which were found under the dresser later.

Anyway, he needs to be responsible for his share of the housekeeping chores and for his share of kid watching. If he isn't, you are a failure for not setting parameters sooner.

Answer 9

I think he is lazy---two jobs, two kids, let him take those clothes to a laundromat or atleast hose them off with water before he puts them in the washer and cleans them himself. I lived with a construction guy for awhile and I know about those clothes, ugh, not meant for a household washer

Answer 10

well at least he is making a living... what you can do that i do and so many i work with do... we have a used washer in the garage and that's where our dirty stuff is washed...i work in a foundry and am covered in back soot and sand... maybe what he could do to help you out is take his mud covered jeans to the clothes line and hose them down...i realized that after ruining my washer with my work clothes that it was more cost efficient to get my new one for the house and a used on for the work clothes...