Being a mom to boys means I have the exciting job of discovering treasures like these in the pocket of bluejeans…
Those are a bunch of dirty shells Gage picked up on a hike to the creek behind our house a few weeks ago. Luckily, I found these before they did a number on my washing machine.
Finding unusual objects in the washer first became a reality to me with Jett. He was about three years-old and fascinated by anything that crawled or squirmed. After doing a load of his play clothes one day I noticed some small fragments which resembled yarn in the base of the washing machine.
After scrapping them up and examining them I quickly realized they were earthworms. Are you aware that dead, dried up earthworms which have been in a child’s pocket for several days will rehydrate in the washing machine? Well, take it from me… they do! And take it from me… they’re quite unpleasant!
What’s the weirdest thing you’ve discovered in the washer or dryer? They don’t have to be kid stories, husband stories will count as well!
Having three brothers and helping Mom with laundry, I learned to check pockets at a young age. My laundry rule: If you leave money in the pockets, it becomes mine.
By: Starwoodgal on November 14, 2008
at 9:11 am
Also raised 3 boys. Found the usual, bugs, rocks,etc., but after they got older, say 7th grade and up, I would find intersting notes!
ANd yes, I would read them.
My rule was much like starwoodgal’s about finding and keeping money, but my boy’s were aware of our laundry rule:
He who washes it, also keeps it, or reads it!
I found out alot about their relationships with girlfriends and friends and what was going on in their lives through these “forgotton” notes left in their jeans.
I NEVER went snooping, but they were forewarned about the laundry. That was MY TERRITORY!
After a few embarrasing notes that were found, they started doing their own laundry!
WHatever it takes.
By: SHerri on November 14, 2008
at 9:20 am
LOL that’s fantastic. OH, to have a picture of the handful of rehydrated worms! I have an “I don’t clean pockets” policy in my house which works most of the time, but failed us the day I washed Keith’s iPod. Don’t worry; Apple came out with a new version a few minutes later, and all was well.
By: Anita on November 14, 2008
at 9:34 am
Hi Brandi –
I love your blog because we do family nights every week & a girl can always use some ideas! My strange question is this: We visited your husbands blog the other day & my son loves his hair! How does he tell them to cut it?
By: Vanessa on November 14, 2008
at 9:42 am
ewww.. I can only imagine that was not fun.
The boys have pebbles on their playground at school and over the past few years I am suprised there is any pebbles left at school- I should have been saving them – I could have pebbled in our playset. But after reading your post I would rather have pebbles then earthworms
Between my husband and daughter I usually get about 10 cents a wash – Along with multiple receipts and his weekly paystub.
By: Dana on November 14, 2008
at 9:44 am
My crew’s favorite thing to do is, wash a load of clothes, then leave them in the washer for the next unsuspecting victim to put in the dryer.
I’ll admit I’m a meticulous, obsessive, compulsive nut. One day I find a load left in the washer. I ram then in the dryer, cut it on high and carry on. Unknown to me, there was a decorative throw in there that promptly came apart, filling the dryer with a ton of fine particles. Once dry, they got into the heat element and set the dryer on fire.
I better not tell the rest of the story. Needless to say, my subsequent tirade was not one of my finest hours.
By: Tommy Sircy on November 14, 2008
at 9:48 am
that is really funny — no crazy discoveries here (yet)
By: danielle on November 14, 2008
at 9:49 am
My husband works in ground to completion home construction. He eats sunflower seed ALL DAY LONG, and when he’s working inside a house he stuffs the shells in his pockets. He works in his old camo pants from the Marine Corps, and they have so many pockets that I never seems to empty them all. Anway, my washer…and dryer, are overrun with shells:(
By: Sarah Valente (kingdom twindom) on November 14, 2008
at 10:27 am
Bullets
Yeah, you read that right. (For those of you that don’t know, my husband is a detective.)
By: Jenni Catron on November 14, 2008
at 10:59 am
My mom had a home daycare when I was younger. One of the little boys she kept liked to stashed goodies in his pockets while he was playing outdoors. One evening, when he had gotten home, he pulled out his “prized possession” to show off to his parents. “I found this white rock today.”
It was a piece of sun-baked dog poop.
By: Dad on November 14, 2008
at 11:02 am
Ha! The above post is from me. Evidently my husband logged into MY computer to leave a message on son’s blog. I did not realize it til I hit the SUBMIT button.
By: Mel on November 14, 2008
at 11:04 am
Well, now it is not above, but lost in cyberspace. I better quit for today.
By: Mel on November 14, 2008
at 11:05 am
Not weird, but AWFUL–gum. It’s still stuck (dried) on the inside walls of the dryer.
By: Marla Taviano on November 14, 2008
at 12:03 pm
Charcoal. You may remember the charcoal story I told on my blog months and months ago. Olivia had dumped a bunch of it in the bottom of the washer and thrown clothes on top of it so I didn’t notice it. I finished putting clothes in and washed the whole load and then went to move them into the dryer after they were washed and chunks of black stuff was falling all out of them. It was the hugest mess ever!
By: Rachel Rowell on November 14, 2008
at 1:19 pm
BTW….I’m all the time finding money in there from my husbands pockets. I always keep it too I figure it’s my tips for being the laundry girl.
By: Rachel Rowell on November 14, 2008
at 1:20 pm
You win with ‘earthworms’. Nothing I’ve ever found even begins to compare with that! Ew!
We also have the rule about whoever does the laundry gets to keep the money. It’s encouraged more than one child to do their own laundry. (at least for a little while)
By: andi on November 14, 2008
at 2:25 pm
I reached in my washer and came out with a gel-like substance. It was stuck to everything imaginable. Turns out I had washed not one, but two pull-up diapers. Not fun, believe me.
By: Chelsea/PB&J In A Bowl on November 14, 2008
at 2:27 pm
I can handle earthworms the first time around, but re-hydrated?
I can’t imagine how many times I would have to rewash that load of laundry before I’d feel like it was clean enough!
By: gitz on November 14, 2008
at 2:42 pm
My girls were waitresses during highschool, so all the time I’d find one and five dollar bills in the dryer. I always gave them back the fives but I’m not gonna lie, I’ve been know to keep a few ones!
By: Robin on November 14, 2008
at 2:48 pm
Just yesterday I found a Snail,in the washer apperantly it fell out of the pocket & was stuck or hanging on for dear life to te wall of the washer. it actually still looked alive when I asked my oldest why there was a snail in his pockes. I donno was his answer so he took it and put it in his tank with his frogs! who knows what they are thinking
By: Heather2 on November 14, 2008
at 3:09 pm
nothing too strange, but not fun nonetheless – red crayon and cherry chapstick! You can imagine how fun that was to get out!
By: HOLLY on November 14, 2008
at 4:03 pm
Ick rehydrated earth worms..I would suppose in some places it would be a delicacy maybe without the soap.
It’s been so long since I’ve thought of this but the money in the pocket was always mine. I always did really well with my husbands ..I could have invested what I found..until I told him.
By: Barb on November 14, 2008
at 4:23 pm
The earthworms win! I would definitely write retell that story to every future girlfriend your boys have.
My worst dryer experience happened 2 Christmases ago. My daughter Allie was leaving for London the next morning with her high school band. Every piece of clothing she wanted to take along was in the dryer, and time for packing was running short. When we opened the dryer, we found that it looked like a ballpoint pen had exploded in there. All of the clothing and most of the dryer were covered in streaks of blue ink! Thank goodness I had a bottle of Goo Gone Pen and Ink Remover in my laundery stash. I doused all of the stains with it, using up the entire bottle, and then rewashed everything. All of the stains did come out, and we were able to clean the inside of the dryer too. I thanked God heartily that evening, because Allie is a petite little thing, and trying to replace all of her clothes hours before the big trip would have been total insanity!
By: janconnair on November 14, 2008
at 7:48 pm
the weirdest? nah, nothing weird. hubby first, he has this knack for stuffing pens into his pockets and i have the philosphy,he’s a grown man, he should empty his own. guess what went through the washer? guess what ruined 6! pairs of american eagle jeans?
my daughter likes rocks. there is always rocks in my machine. helps to keep the stone washed denim in shape
By: missy (from pa) on November 14, 2008
at 7:51 pm
okay this wasn’t exactly weird it was just very unfortunate! My nephew was over several weeks ago and was playing. He had borrowed a pair of my sons pants and they ended up in the wash with his ipod in the pocket. What a sinking feeling to see that ipod laying at the bottom of my washer full of wet clothes!:(
By: Rosyrose on November 14, 2008
at 8:30 pm
Brandi, just last week I discovered something awful: it turns out that dirty clothes go into that thing called a wash machine! I just assumed it was a “clothes fairy” that freshened up my clothes and hung them back up in closet. Turns out, it was my wife the whole time!
By: Nate VZ on November 14, 2008
at 8:32 pm
Brandi, I met you several weeks ago at Angie’s bible study. I was wondering if you could tell me where the new picture was taken on your blog. My husband and I are looking for somewhere just like this to do our Christmas picture. Thanks!
ms_caldwell06@yahoo.com
By: Sarah on November 14, 2008
at 9:05 pm
3 kids here (oldest is 12) and I think I’ve washed most of what has already been mentioned here, including snails, clams, pens, gum, and sunflower seeds. Luckily, no ipods. Yet.
My husband has an excavating business and got oil all over his favorite work pants when changing the oil in an excavator a few years ago. I dumped them in the wash and let them soak. Still nasty so I washed and re-treated…let them soak a whole ‘nother day. Finally, got them clean and heard a ridiculous sound in the dryer. His keys, with the beep-thing to lock/unlock my car on them. Oops. He walked to the garage and pushed it and BEEP – it still worked!! We were amazed!
By: kathy on November 15, 2008
at 1:03 am
Oh Brandi, you take me back with the posts about your boys!! My son is 13 next month and I have found many interesting things in his pockets over the years. And the pockets get checked faithfully….you only have to wash silly putty once to learn that lesson.
I often wondered what he was thinking putting things in his pocket. Was he saving things for later? Did he think they would come in handy some time?
The strangest thing I ever found in a pocket was about 200 twist ties from the grocery store produce section . Not only was I mortified that he *stole* these but mystified by what he was planning to do with them.
Other than the silly putty, I once found part of a bike chain in my dryer when I heard it clanking in there. Another thing he found in his daily travels and felt compelled to pocket I suppose.
Thanks for sharing your boys with us.
By: Steph on November 15, 2008
at 1:22 am
Dead lizards.
After a day in Malibu, at my Moms, we pile the towels in the garage to go in the dryer. They run into the garage and snuggle in the towels I guess….
It’s really icky to fold a towel with a lizard stuck to it!
Poor guy!
By: 3 Newport Beach Girls on November 15, 2008
at 1:26 am
The worst was red crayon in my daughter’s pocket. The most recurring is change, airline stubs & guitar picks…guess who???
By: Rachel Beavers on November 15, 2008
at 8:50 am
This incident took place many, many years ago. My aunt always threw everything in the wash together; whites, darks, fiberglass curtains, etc.
Well, she went off to work one day and my cousin wore pants to school that had been dried in the dryer with the fiberglass curtains. Yes, I know, I didn’t know they used fiberglass in curtains either, but this was back in the 60s. Anyway, he ended up the in clinic itching with a horrible rash all over the lower half of his body.
They called my Mom to come and pick him up. Tiny pieces of fiberglass were embedded in his skin.
I guess my aunt was more careful after that!
By: Brenda on November 15, 2008
at 8:59 am
I’ve found rocks, shells, crayons and raisins among other things…and just like @Chelsea… pull-ups too! Not a fun mess to clean up!!
By: Alison on November 15, 2008
at 1:36 pm
I washed my i-pod just like Rosyrose, but believe it or not I put it through the dryer too and it is still working.
http://breezyneon.wordpress.com/
By: Breezy on November 15, 2008
at 10:50 pm
lipgloss. compliments of my teenage daughter.
business cards – compliments of my 12 yr old, obsessed with business cards, boy.
and rocks, earrings, hairclips, GUM
, crayons 
, money 
By: tam on November 17, 2008
at 12:22 am
Does a cat count? He was in the dryer… just hanging out.
By: Amy from Texas on November 18, 2008
at 12:26 am
When I was married my husband was the biggest offender of not cleaning out his pockets. I went through my archives and found this for you.
http://takingbackthepower.com/?p=815
Sunflower Seeds and a washing machine are not a girls best friend!
By: CRG on December 5, 2008
at 1:21 pm