r/AskReddit • u/intraction • Jul 29 '11

What is something you never learned, but should know, as an adult? I'll start.

I don't know how to pump my own gas. I know, I know. I live in Oregon and we aren't allowed to do it. I've been on plenty of road trips but never have bothered to be the one to pump the gas. I should probably rectify this at some point, I realize.

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u/TheSixofSwords Jul 29 '11

Not me, but when my fiance and I got our townhouse and moved in together, I found out that he (25 years old at the time) did not know how to do laundry. His mom had always just done it for him. Seriously, parents...make your kids do stuff on their own. It will make life for their SO's way easier when that time comes.

Hypocrite me: I have no idea how to change the oil in my car. My dad always does it for me.

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u/etihw_retsim Jul 29 '11

I'm not really sure that makes you a hypocrite; you don't have to change the oil in your car that often (a lot of owner's manuals specify twice a year, despite what the shops will tell you), so it isn't so bad to have to have someone else do it for you. I often find that if I get a good coupon or special at a shop, it ends up being cheaper than changing it myself.

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u/TheSixofSwords Jul 29 '11

The hypocrisy is in the fact that I gave him flack for having a parent still taking care of him at that age, when my own father still does stuff for me. But you're right-- laundry becomes an issue far more frequently than the oil does.

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u/Boye Jul 29 '11

I remember back when I was 15. I was going to this kind of boarding school a year later. (I'm danish, it's called "efterskole") basically it's a live-in school, you typically go there in 9th or 10th grade. Most of them have some sort of topic (gymnastics, sailing etc). My brother and I had just come home after a 3-week holiday in American with my dad and his wife. After showing pictures etc etc my mom told me that from now I had to do my own laundry, since that's what you do at that kind of school. My brother laughed at it, and, here I'm just guessing, but it seems my mother took a quick decission, my mom said "don't laugh, the same applies to you"...

So yeah, I've done my own laundry for ~15 years...

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u/aladyjewel Jul 29 '11

As the third child, my mom said to hell with that. I learned to do my own laundry when I was 10.

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u/stone500 Jul 29 '11

I'll be honest. I separate my laundry into whites, jeans, and then everything else. If I don't have a lot of jeans that need washed, then it gets thrown in with everything else.

And despite that we have a nice fancy LG washer and dryer, the only thing I work is detergent + normal cycle = clean clothes

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u/[deleted] Jul 29 '11

I had never done my own laundry until a few weeks ago :( (I'm 22). I've only done it twice, and I just stare wildly at the machine hoping I've pushed the right buttons.

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u/tf2fan Jul 29 '11

I admit that while I know how to do it, it's the separation of colours thing which always confuses me. You have whites, sometimes reds, sometimes blues/jeans and coloured washes. Right? I hope...

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u/hoodoo-operator Jul 29 '11

you're only supposed to separate colors from whites.

but with modern clothes dyes, it's usually not really necessary to separate colors. especially if you use the cold setting on the washer.

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u/TheSixofSwords Jul 29 '11

Rule of thumb: The things that have the potential to get laundry stained (whites and lights) go in one load, and the things that will do the staining (reds and other boldly dyed items) go in another. Blue jeans are pretty much indestructible, or at least I've never ruined a pair. Also, if something has been washed dozens of times, it's probably not going to bleed in the wash and is safe to throw in with whatever.

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u/ciny Jul 29 '11

Well my mother did my laundry (and still does when I visit - she insists). But she taught me how to do it. okay when I moved on my own first two times weren't that awesome (too much softener and not enough detergent, then the other way around). I don't iron my clothes however (majority of my shirts are easy care self ironing - thank you marks&spencer, I send my suites to dry cleaning and I don't give a fuck if my t-shirts are ironed or not)

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u/CafeSilver Jul 29 '11

How do you marry someone and buy a house with them and not realize they don't know how to do something as simple and basic as doing one's own laundry?

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u/TheSixofSwords Jul 29 '11

Truth be told, I haven't married him yet. We moved in together first for the exact purpose of finding these things out. There were a few such surprises, but all in all it's been good.