Does this matter to anyone else?

[SewingGreenMama]

My mom got mad because I used the wrong clean up rag to clean up tea because her cleaning rag would get stained. :hunh
I really don't get it, I'm confused, aren't clean up rags supposed to be used too...you know...clean up messes? And yes I made sure the rag was not new, and was a clean up rag.
I'm baffled...:scratch

[MarynMunchkins]

It makes sense to me, but I recognize it as a stupid thing to matter. :shifty

[jujubnme]

Ugh! I wouldn't have thought about there being separate clean-up rag, but can see why someone would have one. I'd hope, though, your mom would have grace for you not being able to intuit all of her little rules. You didn't know. :shrug3 Now that you do, I'm sure you won't make that mistake again. :rolleyes :hug

[BeckaBlue]

:scratch
I'm not comprehending.
All my clean up rags can be used for anything (although some are best for wet spills than others)
My cloth napkins, OTOH, have 2 stacks, one set for "nice" meals, so a few times a yr where they're rinsed right afterwards to prevent staining (:shifty) and the other for whenever, and can also be used for spills at the table :shrug
Napkins are show-offy, cleaning rags though, "rags" says there's nothing special about them

[FlyingBlueKiwi]

:crazy


:hugheart

[Can'tTurnLeft]

It makes sense to me, but I recognize it as a stupid thing to matter. :shifty

This. My rags have different levels of ragged. Of course I'm completely aware that is a bit obsessive and unimportant to normal people. :shifty

[Allison]

I can see how this could upset someone. All of my rags are rags-for-any-purpose. But, I can see having different levels of rags or different jobs for different rags.

I don't understand making someone who isn't aware of my system feel like crud over it, though. :no

[mamaeffie]

That would totally matter to me... :bag

But I do know it's crazy to prioritize rags. Once, my husband used the appropriate seasoned- thanksgiving at the time- tea towel on my oven to clean up spilled tea. I nearly bit my tongue in half trying not to snark at him :lol

[gerberadaisy]

Rags are rags in this house but they generally only go on the floor ir for dusting. Tea towels are not rags & if you use them in a wrong manner, like on the floor, i would be upset & possibly grossed out. Same with dish cloths. They are not for anything but dishes or maybe a counter clean up if they go in the laundry immediately after.

[Keeper-of-Mr.Monks]

I bleach every cleaning cloth so dont matter what i use :shifty

[Lily]

Kitchen rags at my house are all fair game for any mess. Mil has a system so I always ask which one to use (it drives her nuts when I ask and she snarks when I don't :crazy).

I don't mind following someone else's system if they can easily explain it. If there are more than 3 to 4 levels or if they are all mixed together, I'm not playing that game.

[nessnco]

Rags are rags in this house but they generally only go on the floor ir for dusting. Tea towels are not rags & if you use them in a wrong manner, like on the floor, i would be upset & possibly grossed out. Same with dish cloths. They are not for anything but dishes or maybe a counter clean up if they go in the laundry immediately after.

This is me

[Rabbit]

I have a system similar to your mother's. Guests who want to help are encouraged to stick to the paper towels. :bag

[cindergretta]

I have different rags for different purposes. So that part makes sense to me. :yes Getting upset with someone over using the wrong rag doesn't make sense to me. :no

Maybe raising eleventy million dc has mellowed me, but when people screw up trying to help, it just doesn't upset me. :shrug3 Trying to help is trying to help, whatever happens. (Last night dd4 dumped a whole pan of chicken carcass, bones, juices, skin, etc., all over the floor. Oh well. She was trying to put it up on the counter to help. :heart We cleaned it up and gave reassuring hugs. End of story.)

[AdrienneQW]

I have no problem with people having a system. I have a very specific sponge system:

Tier 1: When a sponge comes out of the package, it is used for dishes/pans only. Once it gets a little ratty, I cut a corner off of it and it becomes...

Tier 2: Used for scrubbing kitchen messes. Then, a second corner gets cut off and it becomes...

Tier 3: A bathroom scrubber (sink, shower, tub). When a third corner gets cut off, it becomes...

Tier 4: Used to clean the toilet ONLY.

I like this system because I can tell at a glance what tier the sponge is by how many corners are cut off. :shrug


...but I wouldn't expect guests to know it. Only a Tier 1 sponge would be out & accessible, and if a guest used that to wipe the stove or a mess on the counter/floor I wouldn't get upset. They don't know. :shrug

Now, why my 7yo and 10yo children have fully grasped the system while my 45yo husband feigns complete ignorance, that's another story... :rolleyes

[expatmom]

:scratch Aren't you living with your mom? Is her dishrag system not something you have noticed before?

[SewingGreenMama]

Yes I'm living with her, and no, most of her rags are in her closet and she goes and gets them for me. the only rags not stored in her bathroom closet are her nice kitchen cloths which she is careful with, if something on a dish might stain it she uses a green scotch bright pad.
I made sure it was a rag from the pile that she's used on dirtier messes but I still got it wrong. She wasn't home at the time of the spill and wasn't available to answer her phone, nor had she shown me what to use in the case of a spill while she was gone, now I have a pile of rags in my bathroom to use but still, she muttered about it for 15 min when she got home. That kind of triggered me and I shut down...she used to do that all the time, as a pre-teen I'd do something to help as a surprise, I'd get a quick thanks and then about 20 minutes of how I didn't do it right and what I needed to do differently next time...every time...so I stopped helping, if she asked me to do something I did, no more and no less, only what I was asked, I rarely volunteered either because I was tired of the hoovering and criticism. Finally stood up to her about it at 16, the only time my dad took my side.
Any way, I'm glad to know my mom isn't the only one who thinks like this, besides dish rags and body rags which, in my own home I keep separate for sanitation reasons, everything else is simply a rag it doesn't matter if the job will stain it. In fact most of my rags are white...well were white...bar rags that you can get from walmart so staining is inevitable.
I dunno, I just was curious if anyone else thought like her.

[cheri]

Can you just buy some paper towels and keep them for yourself for when you need to clean up a spill?

I have different towels for different purposes, and I don't like my nicer ones to be used for stain spills. Mostly because I don't have a lot of nice ones. I keep paper towels on hand because my dh can't tell the difference between a good towel and a junky towel.

[gerberadaisy]

Can you just buy some paper towels and keep them for yourself for when you need to clean up a spill?

I have different towels for different purposes, and I don't like my nicer ones to be used for stain spills. Mostly because I don't have a lot of nice ones. I keep paper towels on hand because my dh can't tell the difference between a good towel and a junky towel.

This is precisely why I don't own good towels. He knows if they have a pattern on them, he's not generally allowed to touch them.