What's the strangest thing you've found while doing the laundry?

[sassenach]

With this group, this is bound to be funny.

 

Today, I found a bird's skull (totally clean).  Ds found it at the beach awhile back.  I'm not really sure why it was in his laundry basket.

[Cera]

A live frog.  It was the first time I was ever happy that we have so much laundry that I have to do it every day.

[unsinkable]

My DS ran on a horrendously muddy CC course. The mud was so thick, it pulled off his sneakers so he finished the course in his socks. He put his mud laden socks in a plastic bag and when I pulled them out, there was a live earthworm stuck to his sock.

[trulycrabby]

WARNING! This one is EEEEEK! if you are scared of spiders.

 

I was pulling clean, wet clothes from the washer, and a big Brown Recluse spider crawled out from the pile I was holding. Yes, it survived an entire wash cycle. :ack2:

 

Thankfully, I am not afraid of them.

[mathnerd]

 there was a live earthworm stuck to his sock.

 

that is gross  :eek: 

[Cinder]

I've never found animals of any sort. Usually there are boring things like tissues and money. Yesterday's wash yielded a pen and pencil, though.

[Excelsior! Academy]

Spiders and a June bug, fortunately not at the same time.   It doesn't help that our laundry area is in the garage.

[plansrme]

An entire jar of peanut butter went through my washing machine unscathed.

 

And yes, we ate the peanut butter.

[AimeeM]

Found while doing laundry? Nothing really.

Well, it wasn't funny but after a trip to Tony's hometown, and after a 14 hour drive back home, I accidentally washed his work iphone. Another time I washed his wallet. I *found* them after I washed them. Luckily before I dried them :D

 

What's funnier are the things we've "lost" to the laundry cycle. Apparently Tony went under the dryer for something, and the mess of things that came out from under that things is INSANE.

 

I'm boring. I don't find things in the laundry. I lose them in the laundry.

[Heatherwith4]

I found eggshells. Apparently, DS8 was gathering eggs and put one in his pocket. Then he got in a tussle with DS7, who bumped him hard enough to break the egg.

 

DS said he threw the broken egg in the woods, but he didn't get it all out of his pocket. I should have checked, but live and learn. :)

[countrygal]

Our laundry was in the basement and once I found a small snake under a pile of clothes on the floor.

 

We also farm so I've pulled coffee mugs, wrenches, pop cans, and syringes (with needles) out after washing DH's clothes.

 

Also, I just pulled out an exploded diaper that was washed in the washing machine - what a mess! That was the worst of all... rinsing clothes in the bathtub to get little gel beads off.

[Night Elf]

If I ever found anything live in the laundry, I'd make my DH do the laundry from then on. Egads!

[Seasider]

When I went to transfer a load of teen son's baseball clothes from the washer to the dryer, I found the washer barrel covered with grass shreds. When I asked him what that was about, he grinned and said, "Oh, sorry, that was my XXX Stadium grass!"

 

His varsity team had the privilege of playing a game in the pro stadium and while he was fielding he snatched up a souvenir.

 

There's a phrase I love regarding pre wash pocket checks that came from an old boardie here, but now I can't remember who it was.

 

"I'd rather find it clean and dead."

[Seasider]

Oh, I don't count syringes and needles in the laundry, they're so common. As long as the vial of vaccine isn't in there, I'm good!

Yeah, but, do you have to handle the laundry with tongs? You farm gals are made of stern stuff!!!

[Miss Peregrine]

Bullets. I usually find them in the dryer. :eek:

[AmyontheFarm]

One day I found a $50 bill.  I pull it out of the washing machine tuck it into my pocket, figuring someone would complain loud that they had lost it.  A few days goes by.  I find a $50 bill in the washing machine again.  What luck!  I stick it into my pocket thinking I am going to go shopping since I now have $100, but I wait to see if someone complains.  A few days later..... I find another $50 bill.  Wow!  Now, I'm concerned about why someone is losing these things and not getting upset by it.

 

The next day I say something quietly to hubby.  Telling him that I've now found $150 in the washing machine, so he tells me to go get it.  I can only find the one $50 bill.  That's when I realized there only was one.  I was doing my laundry and it was coming out of my pockets, and secondly, I really was sleep deprived from an infant.

 

My family had a great time laughing at me and my tendencies to "launder" money.

[Seasider]

Oh Amy, that is hilarious!

[Guest]

I just found an ear plug and a Bud Light cap. Not sure if those came out of the same piece of clothing.

[sassenach]

Found a baby kitten, fortunately BEFORE starting the laundry. Seems momma cat had one in the laundry basket. She then proceeded to have the rest of them in a different laundry basket and we didn't know about the first one.

Dh's family loves to tell the awful story of the time he gave the cat a bath in the washer.  Sadly, his mom didn't find the cat before the spin cycle flattened it out.  Dh hates that story.  

[Dory]

Right now we have a few clothes that smell faintly like Halls. For some reason a package of them ended up with the wash. I found them before the dryer at least or it would've been a pretty sticky mess. I keep saving robot parts from my ds's laundry. My dd has sent flowers through the washing machine. My youngest ds had a bunch of gears and wires that I missed. It would seem wire is a bad thing to wrap around a washer.

[Critterfixer]

Not really strange, just annoying. I use mechanical pencils almost exclusively, and I tend to shove them in a pocket so that I've always got something to write with anywhere I go. The number of pencils I've had to take apart and dry is ridiculous.

[Acadie]

For some reason hubby likes to put supplements in his pocket.  One time I found fish oil capsules…but only after the wash cycle had run and the whole load smelled like a salmon cannery.   :toetap05:

 

The live creatures definitely take the cake.

 

Amy

[Desert Strawberry]

Baby geckos. It never ends well.

 

Toothbrushes. Often.

 

Little notebooks. Sometimes I catch them, sometimes i don't.

[DawnM]

This is completely gross.......

 

Dh's firm has a secretary.  She has 3 children.  She talked one day about her 14 year old son keeping used condoms in his pocket and throwing the jeans in the laundry and she would find them.

 

Another co-worker quickly responded with, "I am beginning to see the value in Jim homeschooling his kids!"  :lol:

[Library Momma]

I found a handful of the little circular plastic pieces that go around the top of hangars in stores to indicate sizes.  Evidently my son "collected" them on a trip to Marshall's.

[kewb]

Nothing particularly strange.  A silver fish one climbed out of the laundry I was folding.  I screamed.

I have found candy wrappers, my daughters vitamins that she swore she took, bottle caps, money, dh's debit card, and once I washed his wallet.

[kbutton]

Bandage shears, and I think a couple of other kinds of shears that were more pointy. Crayons, gum still in the wrapper.

 

My mom once rewashed sheets that were hung up outside because it was a really buggy summer, and she'd left them out after dark. When she was transferring them to the dryer, she pulled out a "sock" that turned out to be a drowned bat.

[alisoncooks]

We found a dead lizard at the end of a wash, poor thing.  Since he was a CLEAN dead lizard, I just disposed of him, then dried the clothes and put the them away (without a 2nd wash -- DH thought this was gross but whatever. :p)  

 

Well, apparently the lizard lost his tail in the course of the wash, which I found a week or so later, caught up in youngest DD's clean undies drawer.  It had gone through the dryer and was quite dehydrated/mummified.  :wacko:

[Dmmetler]

A shed snakeskin. Amazingly, it held together.

I also have a friend who probably never will volunteer to help out anyone again after she pulled a load of laundry from my dryer and saw a snake tail poking out. Fortunately, it was plastic-but the poor woman still got quite a shock.

[Zuzu822]

I washed a Magic Treehouse book yesterday. DS5 and I stripped his bed in the morning, and I just dumped the sheets right in without looking. Lucky it wasn't a book we really cared about!

 

Cleaning up the aftermath wasn't so fun, though. Bits of soggy paper everywhere in the washer!

[sassenach]

I have to admit, there's a lot more animals in y'all's dryers than I expected.

[Mom in High Heels]

I don't know how weird they are, but I have found a list (a 'laundry list' hahaha!) of things.

 

Pencils

Rocks (dug up by Indy on his "excavations")

Bullet casings (James Bond)

Candy wrappers (also James Bond) from various countries

A small jar holding sand from the beaches of Normandy-it was sealed, so it survived

Nuts and bolts

Legos

Spoons (why?)

Worms, both dead and alive

Dog treats

The wooden sticks from ice cream bars

Feathers

[Unicorn.]

I washed a Magic Treehouse book yesterday. DS5 and I stripped his bed in the morning, and I just dumped the sheets right in without looking. Lucky it wasn't a book we really cared about!

 

Cleaning up the aftermath wasn't so fun, though. Bits of soggy paper everywhere in the washer!

Hey, I washed one of those, once. I think that was the last time i just dumped a basket in without checking it.

 

kids pockets...  bullets, bones

 

Our washer is in the garage, and one day i started the water, added the soap, carefully loaded the laundry, and just before i closed the lid, I see a giant tarantula climbing up the inside of the washer.  I didn't do laundry for weeks/months after that.  And our new rule is that the lid must be kept closed!!!!!!

[Ewe Mama]

Child sized hangers (on multiple occasions) that were nice and clean by the time I found them.

[Kathryn]

One day I found a $50 bill. I pull it out of the washing machine tuck it into my pocket, figuring someone would complain loud that they had lost it. A few days goes by. I find a $50 bill in the washing machine again. What luck! I stick it into my pocket thinking I am going to go shopping since I now have $100, but I wait to see if someone complains. A few days later..... I find another $50 bill. Wow! Now, I'm concerned about why someone is losing these things and not getting upset by it.

 

The next day I say something quietly to hubby. Telling him that I've now found $150 in the washing machine, so he tells me to go get it. I can only find the one $50 bill. That's when I realized there only was one. I was doing my laundry and it was coming out of my pockets, and secondly, I really was sleep deprived from an infant.

 

My family had a great time laughing at me and my tendencies to "launder" money.

I laughed out loud at this one and woke the nursing baby.

 

I've only ever found boring things: rocks, candy wrappers, Legos. I did find DH's phone once. Oops!

[lavender's green]

I haven't found anything that interesting.  A dumbphone and lots of tissues and receipts, all from DH. 

 

But I know someone who got hissed at when she opened her washer!  A bat had decided to live behind the drum!

[RanchGirl]

Nothing alive here thank goodness!  I do regularly find sunflower seeds in the washer and a few weeks ago, an iPod.  Baseball pants are the culprit in both these cases.

[sassenach]

Nothing alive here thank goodness! I do regularly find sunflower seeds in the washer and a few weeks ago, an iPod. Baseball pants are the culprit in both these cases.

Yep! So many sunflower seeds this time of the year.

[MiMi 4under3]

Silly putty melted all over DS's sheets when I took them out of the dryer.

[Melissa in Australia]

just yesterday my front load washing machine stopped working, inspection in the check for things in the water pump hole found unshot bullets :glare:  :glare: . MAchien worked as usual after the bullets were removed. Dh18 could not understand why I did not want to let him dry the bullets out in the oven :glare:

Usually I find a dollar coin, or once a pocket knife

[Guest]

Yep! So many sunflower seeds this time of the year.

I have a funny, though OT, sunflower seed story. Last year, baseball season, I had a Costco pack of Sunflower seeds in the car, mainly so the boys would stop buying them over-priced at the concession stand. One day, DD's friend rode home from school in our car. She asked if she could have some of the seeds and I said sure. After a few minutes, I notice that she is eating awfully crunchily and I wondered what she was doing about the shells. DD says, "M, what are you doing? Are you eating the shells? People don't usually do that." Friend pauses mid-chew and says, "Oh. I did think they tasted kinda bad."

[fraidycat]

Nothing really strange.

 

But, I have washed DH's old-school iPod -TWICE!! That was when we lived in NC, so pre-2009. It still worked after. The metal is all bent to heck after the spin cycle.

 

We still have it and it still kind if works. It will turn on and play, but will stop by itself. Not sure if it's age or the cleaning that has rendered it pretty much useless now.

[Ausmumof3]

Bullets. I usually find them in the dryer. :eek:

Same as mine... A magazine clip

[Ausmumof3]

Also a wallet and two USB sticks... Luckily they still worked after drying.

 

For the gel nappies if you do a second wash they come out pretty well. ( don't ask how I know )

[bluemongoose]

Hmmm.

 

Tinker toys

Legos

Forks

butter knives

spoons

money

puppets

fall leaves (saved for future crayon rubbing)

crayons

bouncy balls

erector set

box elder bugs (they were live in pocket)

paper

stickers (I HATE THE STICKERS)

chap stick

captain america

matchbox cars

 

Many of these things are put in by children after the load has started. They wait for me to leave and add things to the cycle to get washed. Lucky me!

[Truscifi]

Various critters. Oh, and I always manage to dry my nice Burt's Bees lip balm in my pockets so not only does it destroy the lip balm but coats my clothes in wax. :glare:

 

When I went to transfer a load of teen son's baseball clothes from the washer to the dryer, I found the washer barrel covered with grass shreds. When I asked him what that was about, he grinned and said, "Oh, sorry, that was my XXX Stadium grass!"

His varsity team had the privilege of playing a game in the pro stadium and while he was fielding he snatched up a souvenir.

There's a phrase I love regarding pre wash pocket checks that came from an old boardie here, but now I can't remember who it was.

"I'd rather find it clean and dead."

 

I can't remember who it was either, but this has been my laundry motto since I read it on here a few years ago!

[nd293]

A cockroach. A big cockroach.

 

I had grabbed a beach towel or something from the chair it was hanging on outside the back door and thrown it straight into the wash.

 

I now know that cockroaches can hold their breath for a long time...

[TianXiaXueXiao]

When I was 21 I found a missing person while doing laundry. I was the at the laundromat and there was a missing person poster on the cork board. When I looked out the window the person in the poster was standing right there  on the sidewalk! I got him to come in and have a candy bar while we waited for the police. He was an autistic adult and his family had been worried sick. I know it's not what you meant, but it happened when I was doing laundry ;)

[Kathryn]

When I was 21 I found a missing person while doing laundry. I was the at the laundromat and there was a missing person poster on the cork board. When I looked out the window the person in the poster was standing right there on the sidewalk! I got him to come in and have a candy bar while we waited for the police. He was an autistic adult and his family had been worried sick. I know it's not what you meant, but it happened when I was doing laundry ;)

That's awesome!

[eternalsummer]

When I was 21 I found a missing person while doing laundry. I was the at the laundromat and there was a missing person poster on the cork board. When I looked out the window the person in the poster was standing right there  on the sidewalk! I got him to come in and have a candy bar while we waited for the police. He was an autistic adult and his family had been worried sick. I know it's not what you meant, but it happened when I was doing laundry ;)

 /thread, you win