Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Hubby wears same clothes every day. Wife not happy

Dear Dr. R.V. Shrink:
Now that my husband and I are on the road full-time, I have a hard time getting him to change his clothes. He says we meet so many new and different people, no one notices he has the same clothes on for a week. I don’t mind doing laundry, even though many laundromats we stop at are the pits. We work as a team and can usually knock out our washing and drying duties in a couple hours. I like him to wear work clothes while he is doing his constant maintenance on our rig, but I find him wearing his good clothes for those chores because he doesn’t bother to change. He has dozens of outfits, but he is just not fashion conscious. All his outfits end up turning into work clothes. I think I need to paste a post-it note on his forehead but he would never notice it. I don’t think I am writing you for any advice, I just need to vent a bit. —Dirty Dozen in Denton


Dear Dirty:
If your husband is happy and keeping your rig in constant repair I think you should put it into perspective. You can buy a lot of new clothing for the cost of having your rig repaired at an RV service center. For every hour your husband clocks on the rig, ring up a hundred dollars on the clothing register. I’m not saying you shouldn’t be upset about him ruining his good clothing but don’t make a federal case out of it. Buy him some nice clothes at a second hand shop, hide a couple good outfits so you can take him out in public on occasion, and think of his outfits as disposable work clothing. As for laundromats, I agree. Many are the pits, with little or no management. With many RV needs today, there’s an app for that. There are actually a couple websites that review laundromats so you can see what others have discovered before you commit your quarters to thieving machines that steal your money and deliver no hot water. If you are the type of travelers that stay in commercial RV parks, you will usually find better maintained machines. If you do have a problem you will be able to find management to correct it. The only other thing I can think of to solve your husband's lack of clothing concern would be to get on the RV nudist campground circuit were clothing would be optional. Then you would just have to make sure he showered on a regular basis. Good Luck.

—Keep Smilin’, Dr. R.V. Shrink

##RVT854

5 comments:

walt66 said...

or iron his birthday suit so there are no wrinkles.

Anonymous said...

Age of your husband could also be a factor. Lots of older men do not like to change clothes.

Nancy said...

The problem I would have with this situation is the musty odor that dirty clothes seem to absorb when worn repeatedly without laundering. Yuk!

Pat DeSpain said...

"There are actually a couple websites that review laundromats..." Could you please provide the website information or the names of the apps?

Joann said...

Is he resisting taking showers too? It might be a pattern that many individuals have when easing into Alzheimer's. Watch for other eccentric behaviors. Sleeping in the day, up all night. No interest in etiquette anymore. Unpredictable angry outbursts.