How many uses can a man find for a clean tea towel?

I only use tea towels for drying the washing up. Am I some kind of a freak?

My DH uses the nearest thing to hand no matter what he needed it for. I try, and fail, to keep separate cloths for clean and dirty jobs.
He also fails to see when a cloth might need washing and just hangs it back for me to judge it's cleanliness or lack of!

DS tends to grab a tea towel for anything. I've got a stash of old ones in the cupboard but rarely get to him in time with them. At the weekend he waved a couple of my towels at me and said could he use them for his guitar (renovating guitars is one of his hobbies) I sighed and said yes. Anything he does with guitars always seems to be very messy but I was handed back two pristine tea towels which seemed to have been just used for dusting!

grumppa

Now that's what I call sexism!

Hear, hear!
Are people saying women never grab the nearest thing or do any of these things?
(I don’t think DH was ever guilty of the above while he was alive either )
But as an aside, I do dislike this jokey “men are so useless” type of generalisation. It’s like saying women can’t park, or Essex girls wear white stilettos and blondes are dim.

Is mine the only man who uses a tea towel for the proper purpose? Besides grumppa of course?

He irons them beautifully too (yes, I know ?)

I use clean ones for drying fruit & veg after washing, draining blanched vegetables before freezing (then straight to the wash). Covering baking etc.

I rarely dry up.

I have silicone mitts to use when removing pans from the oven and grill. OH prefers to use a fresh tea towel. As a result the tea towels get badly stained.
He is very good at spraying chopping boards with bleach but will then wipe the excess spray off the worktop with a tea towel bleaching it in the process.
He has the cheek to comment about the amount of tea towels and hand towels I buy but happily takes the old ones to use in the garage. Wait a minute, could this be a deliberate ploy?

My husband used a clean tea towel to clean the windscreen on his car. Never got the marks out.

Callistemon21

Is mine the only man who uses a tea towel for the proper purpose? Besides grumppa of course?

He irons them beautifully too (yes, I know ?)

I use clean ones for drying fruit & veg after washing, draining blanched vegetables before freezing (then straight to the wash). Covering baking etc.

I rarely dry up.

Mine uses the tea towels for their proper purpose too but is not terribly familiar with the iron.

I don't iron properly, apparently, GSM

It's a good ploy ?

Aha! Thanks!

My DH is the other way round. He won’t use a tea towel to dry up but uses kitchen towel which he says is more hygienic!
He also uses the argument that washing tea towels is bad for the environment.

MawtheMerrier

grumppa

Now that's what I call sexism!

Hear, hear!
Are people saying women never grab the nearest thing or do any of these things?
(I don’t think DH was ever guilty of the above while he was alive either )
But as an aside, I do dislike this jokey “men are so useless” type of generalisation. It’s like saying women can’t park, or Essex girls wear white stilettos and blondes are dim.

I'm certainly NOT a sexist only an ex-teacher and I think when an intelligent person does not learn after 40+ years of suggestions there is something wrong in their attitude to the other sex they are the sexists." A lot of his attitude was learned at work.
My DH's profession allowed him to ask and be given anything he wanted, he never had to collect , sort anything, or tidy up after himself. I was warned by friends what it would be like when he started to help.
I am very thankful for all the help he now gives around the house which is a lot.
I meant the post as light-hearted and tongue-in-cheek. Why did I bother, although quite a lot of people seem to have a similar problem?
My DH certainly isn't useless at anything except grabbing the clean tea towel to do any job. My father forces trained never had the same problem.

My father forces trained never had the same problem

Perhaps we should bring back National Service - they don't just learn how to march, they learn not to clean their boots with the cook's tea towel!

Callistemon21

^My father forces trained never had the same problem^

Perhaps we should bring back National Service - they don't just learn how to march, they learn not to clean their boots with the cook's tea towel!

The majority of ones in the 40's and 50's never learned how to push a pram or change a nappy. Young men of today are certainly much more hands-on with their babies and children. Maybe it's a good job we have disposable nappies though, that tea towel might have come in handy.

Polishing the splash back
Swatting flies
Drying the worktops
Dusting the microwave top
I am sure there's loads more too!

Oops Yammy - I did nearly all these. Have put them aside and use micro cloths now - one box for 'clean' jobs and one for dirty and then hot wash.

I had a guest who broke the cafetiere, used a special tea-towel to mop up, and then threw it away without telling anyone.

Lots of use fly swatting over the last few weeks!

This is so true yammy, I even see it at work. The tea towel is soaking wet and filthy at work and the men still just put it next to the sink even though the washing machine is right next to the sink and there is a cupboard FULL of clean tea towels

Callistemon21

I don't iron properly, apparently, GSM

It's a good ploy ?

I'm not familiar with that iron thing either

Lagging the outside tap over winter. Then bringing them back inside in Spring and insisting they will be fine after a “ rinse” ?

Its not only men. I have a neighbour who pops in for coffee, and as she leaves she rinses her cup under the tap, wipes it dry then proceeds to dry her hands on the tea towel and carefully hang it up.
I used to be awed by her because her house is always tidy and sparkling, but now I think of her tea towels and feel happier in my cluttered, lived-in, clean teacloth house.

I'm certainly not letting DH see some of these answers they will give him more ideas.
As for the ironing, he can iron shirts but only the front and collar that was the only place that showed under the white coat. I worked with men who left dirty mugs lying around and when we complained they wiped them out with a Tea towel.
Our neighbour saw him fly swotting and gave him a plastic hand on stick!

I and my husband use tea towels for many things. None of which are drying the washing up.
If he would use one to wipe his hands while cooking that would be great. He just rinses them and wipes them on his shirt!

Made me laugh what a funny post.