Biggest Laundry Mistake EVER

[emily]

So I'm in Sweden staying with a friend in Gothenburg. They have a very nice laundry system here in that every apartment complex has free laundry. You sign up for a four hour time slot and two washers and one dryer plus a drying room with dehumidifier and fan is yours to use. (However, this means that if you're traveling and don't have friends to stay with it's very difficult to do laundry as they have no laundry mats.)

Anyway, first I washed my clothes with a newly bought beach towel. Said beach towel dyed anything white pink including adding a pink hue to a pair of my hosts trousers and dish towels :eek:

But that's not the biggest mistake EVER, oh, no. Next I decided to wash my backpack as it's never been washed (I never really thought I could wash it) but then my friend washed his, so I figured "well, it is completely discolored where the straps lay against the bag, so what the heck?" So I put it in and off I go to the store. I return and pull my bag out which is covered by the evidence of being washed with a sheet of paper, again, it happens, no biggie. But then I see sticking out of a side pocket (the bag has two big water bottle pockets, the only pockets I didn't check!) one of my camera lenses!!! Now, granted it was hiding in this side pocket because it doesn't actually work with my digital camera (as I was led to believe it would), but this was my favorite of all lenses. An 80-300 mm zoom lens. And now it's full of dirty, soapy water, and I'm sure will never work again.

Wah!

On the plus side, Sweden in the summer time is absolutely gorgeous! 15 hours of daylight is amazing to be in, plus the beauty, friendly people and outdoor activities are incredible.

Thanks for the vent,

Emily

[Goin' Coastal]

OUCH! Hopefully this will be the worst disaster of the trip! Have a great time.

[lindrusso]

I hate those frustrating things that happen when all you're trying to do is get a boring chore done.

Sorry about your camera lens.

My worst thing to go through the wash was a piece of gum that got stuck on a lot of our good clothes. Little bits everywhere. I did manage to salvage quite a bit - I think I may have used Goo-gone.

Have a great trip!

[wallycat]

I am dying to go to Sweden.
YIKES on the lens.
I have done "big mistake" laundry things but not quite that expensive.

THe silk suit that I was just sure would work fine because it was "raw" silk :rolleyes:

[sharris315]

One of the funniest laundry tragedies happened to a friend about 20 years ago. She had a new cleaning person who proudly announced she had done the laundry as a little 'bonus" That would have been fine except my friend had put her husband's summer suit (Hart, Schaffter, and Marx :eek: ) down the laundry chute so she wouldn't forget to take it to the cleaners. So, the suit got washed in the washer...with a red t-shirt their dd had dyed at Girl Scout camp!!!! The white lining of the suit was pink. She took it soaking wet to the cleaners, they worked their magic and her dh never knew. SHE did, however, since the lining remained slightly pink. :)

As horrible as it was at the moment--It sure made a story that always got a laugh!

Shar

[LakeMartinGal]

Other than letting DH do the laundry :rolleyes: , my biggest booboo happened long ago, when I was a waitress! I washed my white nylon uniform with a ball-point pen in the pocket! Blue tie-died uniforms were NOT acceptable! (Stick-in-the-muds! :rolleyes: ) ;)

[tbb113]

My son found out that washing cell-phones is not a good idea either :rolleyes: He does check his pockets much more carefully now :D

[colleency]

(((Emily))) I have a tendency to wash pens.


Sweden sounds fabulous!

[cookieee]

My son found out that washing cell-phones is not a good idea either :rolleyes: He does check his pockets much more carefully now :D

Thats too funny, I'm sure not for your son though. I wish my DH would check his pockets more carefully. He's a marine mechanic and I find a lot screws and such.

Just curious, what is the most money anyone has ever found in the bottom of your washer? I think for me it was $7

[RunnerKim]

OUCH! Who knows maybe you'll get a really interesting distortion effect or something. And here I've only worried about dropping lens. That certainly tops any laundry issues I've had.

Kim

[KathrynY]

Oh, Em how sad about your camera lens! :(

I'm so jealous of your time in Sweden, though! One of my best travel memories is of the summer I spent time with a friend in Stockholm - the weather was fabulous, and the city was lovely. Enjoy your travels! :)

[emily]

Thanks for the sympathy everyone.

Kim, I actually thought about taking a few pictures with it, just to see the effect.

Ana - Sweden is incredible in the summer! (Note, I've also been here in the spring when it is not so incredible, in fact rather dark, rainy and bleak).

Kathryn, I liked Stockholm, am heading back Monday in fact to fly out. However, my favorite places have been the small towns.

Ok, off to a food market hall :D

Em

[Melman]

Emily - so sorry to hear about the lens. That hurts! Though not a laundry accident, my more expensive accident involving water was when I had my camera in my carry-on luggage....along with contact solution and shampoo in the same bag. I had no idea the air pressure could cause the two bottles to pop their tops enough to spill solution and shampoo all over the camera. I think I must have had it in the overhead storage. It continued to work for a while, but the camera repair place told me that once all those teeny tiny little working parts were wet, it was nearly impossible to keep rust from forming. I ended up buying a new camera.

My nastiest laundry accident involved a tube of lipstick!!! I really lucked out on that one though. I had a couple of jackets inside one of those Dryel bags. As it tumbled in the dryer, the lipstick fell out of the pocket and OUT OF THE BAG!!! The jackets didn't even have a slight stain of the lipstick...but my dryer STILL has a slight lipstick stain!! It took hours to clean as much as I could!!

Your trip sounds wonderful though! Enjoy!

[KimKelly]

I'm so sorry about your lense! I would be so upset!

But.... the biggest mistake ever is washing a load of shorts, your sons and your husbands favorite khaki shorts, and not checking the pockets. Who would have thought that said son would have place 4 crayons (red, blue, green and yellow) in his pockets??? The crayons do come thru the washer fine, but did you know that they melt in the dryer???????? Leaving said colors over EVERY item in the load? And, that melted crayon does not come off???? My husband didn't speak to me for a week after that one!

K