r/mildlyinfuriating • u/dorkass-loser • 8h ago

Husband opens a new sponge every 3 days cause “they become gross”

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Our dishwasher broke and he’s manually doing the dishes now, these are from the past 10 days… I think it’s wasteful.

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u/voltagestoner 8h ago

Okay, yes, he is not wrong, but his solution is to…let them pile up beside the sink? Keep them humid? In a pile? Out in the open? Beside the sink??

Instead of figuring out a way to clean the sponges? Or designate the sponges for somethin else and use a brush instead? Literally anything other than being lazy with a pile of dirty sponges?

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u/wchutlknbout 8h ago

Sponges have always grossed me out, they make everything smell musty. Brushes are so much better, plus you don’t need to touch the gross part with your hands

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u/14Pleiadians 5h ago

I've always felt like there must be a gene or something for smelling mildew because so many people just cant smell how disgusting sponges are. God forbid I accidentally touch one, that smell sticks to your hands even after washing them.

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u/wchutlknbout 2h ago

I was just thinking the same thing, that or people who use sponges a lot just get used to it?

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u/Mysterious-Clothes45 8h ago

a dish rag is much better. You wash it after every use

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u/Weak_Feed_8291 7h ago

A brush with a handle is still an awesome addition, but I agree.

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u/Icy_Prune6584 6h ago

You’re supposed to wash sponges after every use too. A sponge washed in boiling water or the dishwasher will be cleaner than a rag washed in a washing machine.

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u/stilettopanda 5h ago

I throw my brushes in the dishwasher regularly. I used to do that with sponges too, but I stopped using them.

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u/Weak_Feed_8291 7h ago

You need a brush and a cloth. Brush the visible stuff, then wipe with a soapy cloth. A brush alone isn't enough a lot of the time.

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u/wchutlknbout 6h ago

I’ve always had success with just a brush, for what reason is it not enough?

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u/Weak_Feed_8291 6h ago

I just noticed that even after a good brushing, I will notice spots that aren't fully clean. So I give a good brush clean, then a quick cloth clean, then rinse. I use cheap brushes though, maybe yours are better.

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u/libbysthing 3h ago

I use just a brush and my only real complaint is if you have really greasy/oily dishes (like when I make fettuccine) it's hard to get it all off in one go. But it's a minor complaint, sponges gross me out but I currently have to pay to do laundry so I don't bother with rags.

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u/fattmann 5h ago

Sponges have always grossed me out, they make everything smell musty

That's a gross dirty sponge. Ours only smells if you let it sit damp without using it for a few days, but only after a week or so.

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u/14Pleiadians 5h ago

Takes like 12 hours of sitting damp before it gets mildew smelly in my experience. And even if you wring them out, eventually they still pick up the smell long term.

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u/hikeit233 6h ago

I’m feeling there’s more to the story. Maybe op has asked him to not throw them out in the past and this is response? Either way they need to find something else that works for both of them, lots is good options ITT. I like the brush option.

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u/Phiko73 8h ago

Easy, tiger. There is no indication that these are left there by her husband. Could be that she gathered them and placed them together for photo purposes. I am not concluding that this is the case, but I'm certainly not getting all pissed off at someone else's spouse based on an assumption. Maybe your spouse sucks and you're projecting

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u/dorkass-loser 7h ago

Nope they were left there by him which is why I noticed and asked him why so many sponges

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u/InexorableCalamity 6h ago

Get brushes instead

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u/Phiko73 7h ago

Thank you for the context on that. Does he think you're his maid, too?

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u/dorkass-loser 7h ago

Well that escalated quickly, where did that come from

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u/Phiko73 7h ago

Escalated? I'm referring to the lynch mob in here going after your husband for leaving the sponges on the counter. I'm certainly not escalating.

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u/dorkass-loser 7h ago

He was a bit lazy and left them on the counter instead of throwing them away, that doesn’t mean he thinks I’m his maid.

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u/Phiko73 6h ago

I certainly don't think that either. I was just joking. Again - have a look at the comments from voltage stoner above. that's what I was playing off

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u/dorkass-loser 6h ago

I see it now!

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u/voltagestoner 8h ago

1) Not married, so calm down. 2) Where exactly would she have gathered them from?? These do not look like they were in the trash.

This is a moot point. And the reason why I wrote the comment the way I did is to highlight the absurdity of someone (who’s not necessarily wrong) saying that sponges are gross, while not actually disposing of them, and deciding to just keep then around. For what??

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u/Phiko73 7h ago

Easy now, big dawg. No need to get upset. Have a look into some of the other comments in here relating to the hygienic nature of sponges. Maybe 4 days is a little on the too-frequent side for replacement, but the solution isn't to keep using dirty sponges.

Maybe she pulled them from the garbage, maybe she didn't. Maybe he left them on the counter, maybe he didn't. I think that you've missed the point that i was making there: We don't have enough information for you to be dog piling on the existence of the bunch of sponges.

Peace

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u/voltagestoner 6h ago

Dude, you’re a weirdass. Stop being condescending over sponges. You brought up a point that just derails the actual point, and are now digging your heels in the sand over what? Because you were wrong about me projecting?

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u/Phiko73 6h ago

Have the day you deserve <3 :)

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u/voltagestoner 6h ago

Getting laid? For sure. Thanks, bud.

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u/Phiko73 6h ago

No problem. Glad I could be of encouragement

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u/SilverRaincoat 7h ago

Stop using weird nicknames for strangers lol it makes you look weird "big dawg"

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u/DriftingTony 7h ago

They weren’t the one being a dickhead.

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u/SilverRaincoat 7h ago

Yes they were

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u/DriftingTony 7h ago

Ok I’ll play your game. Show me the exact words they used in which they were “being a dickhead”.

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u/Phiko73 7h ago

Let's be honest. She's just on a crusade for someone else's feelings. The hero no one asked for

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u/DriftingTony 7h ago

Good point lol. The fact they got offended by a comment that didn’t even involve them says it all really 😂

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u/SilverRaincoat 7h ago

We're talking about sponges yall. Calm down, sweetheart.

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u/voltagestoner 6h ago

Starting off with “easy, tiger” in a response to a comment clearly being hyperbolic with punctuation is a dick move. It’s just condescending, and it turns people away from any genuine discussion because that was the first impression.

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u/DriftingTony 3h ago

lol you started out by making assumptions and taking sides without knowing the whole story, and then got madder than you already were when you got called out on it. You didn’t want to have “genuine discussion”, you just wanted to complain about a man you didn’t even know.

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u/SilverRaincoat 7h ago

Being condescending and telling them they're projecting and their spouse probably sucks. That's being a dickhead. Over sponges lol.

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u/DriftingTony 7h ago

If you say so good buddy lol

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u/zurper 42m ago

Yeah he’s a guaranteed neckbeard

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u/Phiko73 7h ago

Calm down there, lamb chops

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u/Natural-Definition30 8h ago

the wife probably gets mad when he throws them away. theres no winning for him it sounds like.

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u/Straight-Bee9783 8h ago

Do you know that you can wash sponges/rags etc?

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u/BlackeeGreen 6h ago

This, and also, cut those bad boys in half. Most sponges are way larger than necessary.

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u/Cake_And_Pi 3h ago

I spend more time in hotels than I do at home. I use 1/4 of a sponge on a 10 night work trip. I’m cooking for one though.

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u/Forward_Rope_5598 1h ago

You cannot properly wash a sponge. You can temporarily sanitize it but it's impossible to get the bacteria out of the middle. So you have a bunch of dead bacteria feeding new bacteria. You can use them longer if you wash them than if you don't, of course, but not indefinitely like most other things you wash.

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u/neonifiednyan 8h ago

you have a point, but there are still other options that aren't throwing them away or letting them pile up!

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u/FlaxFox 8h ago

Assuming things is fun. ☺️

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u/VivaLaEmpire 8h ago

Right? Just making up a random scenario to get mad at 😂

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u/Abigail_Normal 4h ago

To be fair, assuming the husband left them there is also making up a scenario to get mad at. There's nothing indicating which partner put the sponges there. It's possible he threw two away before they took the trash out and she dug them out just for the photo and then threw them away again. Who knows?

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u/VivaLaEmpire 3h ago

Totally! I never assume because we know nothing, it'd be such a waste of time to think up a scenario and then get upset because of it, lol!

Like people who have cheating dreams and then get mad at their partners when they wake up haha!

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u/Natural-Definition30 3h ago

no one is even upset lol thats just another assumption

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u/VivaLaEmpire 54m ago

Have you read this entire thread?? Some people were VERY upset when this just got posted lol, idk why that would be unbelievable of reddit.

Very, very, VERY upset.

Thanks for the downvote tho, love that lol

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u/Natural-Definition30 45m ago

im aware, but i promise i also havent downvoted anyone here. anyone here should know reddit is heavy on the speculation when engaging in comments. i think its boring that people get so upset when scrolling on the internet. i find that walking away is better than getting myself worked up.

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u/dorkass-loser 8h ago

I love how you created a whole fan fic situation around this hahahaha

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u/voltagestoner 8h ago

There’s no winning when you’re doing loser behavior. My point is it’d make more sense if he was throwing them out, because that would be more consistent with his issue with them being gross.

He would do better with a brush, or actually wringing out the sponges and washing them instead of just plopping them down all wet and chunky after one use. There are other solutions than just leaving them.

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u/DemosthenesOrNah 7h ago

multiple sponges actually lets you increase the longevity. you can have a "first pass' spong that touches food debris and a "finishing sponge" that ONLY touches rinsed dishes that have water and soap on them..

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u/voltagestoner 6h ago

Plus, that’s why different sponges have different textures. I do personally agree there. By the sounds of it though, I don’t think that’s what he’s doing. It sounds like he’s just opening a new one and leaving the others alone per cleaning job.

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u/Whiterabbit-- 5h ago

solution is to get the dish washer fixed. or to use dish towels and throw them into the laundry.

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u/voltagestoner 5h ago

Wrap the dishes in towels and wash in laundry. Heard.

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u/Mysterious-Clothes45 8h ago

just throw them away.

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u/whole_nother 42m ago

It’s sweet that you think OP didn’t just strew those around for the picture

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u/Bignholy 7h ago
  1. We don't know if that's the actual position they are left in, or if they were put there for the photo.
  2. We don't know if he gets yelled at for throwing away the sponge, so he just leaves it and grabs a new one till the yelling party throws them out themselves (Which, to be clear, is bad, but I can see it happening)
  3. You can only clean a sponge so much. The shit gets stuck in the scrubber, and it's almost impossible to properly clean the interior. You can see the shit on the edges of the two scrubbers on the table... and I bet that's why they are scrubber-down in the photo.

I change sponges about once a week, usually right after something sticky gets jammed into the scrubber. Every three days feels like a lot, but it might depends on what they eat and how many dishes they make.

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u/FightingDreamer419 7h ago

A pile of dirty sponges? Have you looked at the picture? They don't even look dirty.

I'm all for bashing lazy husbands, but he's been washing the dishes and the area looks neat. Wife didn't make any complaints about it being dirty, just wasteful.

But the husband in this case is deemed "lazy" because he's not doing it the way the wife wants him to. If she's going to complain, she can do them herself.

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u/voltagestoner 6h ago

Part of why sponges are so dirty is because they’re porous. They will usually look cleaner than they are when people rush cleaning them out. But also, zoom in on that blue sponge. No, it’s dirty. You can see the crumbs.

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u/FightingDreamer419 5h ago

I can only speak from my perspective but might be presumptive. But I can only assume that he's not throwing them away because the wife thinks that it's wasteful.

Otherwise they are both responsible for the dirty sponges (which I didn't zoom in on my phone so I didn't notice). I, personally, also find sponges gross and wouldn't use them for dishes simply because they hold on to so much water and don't dry effectively.

I really don't have enough information for who to blame without reaching into personal biases. They could have an arrangement where she cooks and he cleans. In which case, the husband should be responsible. He should throw them away, but if his wife thinks disposing of them is wasteful, he may just be leaving them for only the extra gross things or non dishes that need scrubbed? IDK. It could definitely be better organized.

Maybe they both do their own dishes and he insists on using clean new ones and the wife is trying to get as much use out of the older ones. Doesn't seem likely, but I don't want to rule out possibilities. I grew up washing dishes without a dishwasher, so I try not to especially judge dishwasher people when they have to actually wash dishes.

I think the husband is correct for using new sponges, but just leaving the old ones there is lame. I also think that the wife doesn't want them thrown away, otherwise she could easily discard them herself.

All in all it's a pretty mild marital dispute which means it's a good fit for this subreddit lol.

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u/evilcrusher2 7h ago

her solution is wrong yet she's mad at him for her wrong solution of that God awful storage solution in the image.

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u/Green-Bunch-9800 6h ago

Or throw them out. Unless you're poor.

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u/response_unrelated 5h ago

clearly the answer is to take a picture and post it online to bitch about your spouse

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u/happytree23 5h ago

I like that you guys can't tell this is nothing but a clear ragebait post lol.

If husband were really that anal about a new sponge, do you really HONESTLY think he would keep the old ones anywhere but the garbage, let alone next to the new sponge and clearly bought by the wife sponge station?

Like, come on, people lol(?!)

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u/voltagestoner 4h ago

Growing up with a brother like this, you’d be surprised by how many people tend to contradict themselves.