DeclutteringHealthLifeTips

What Happens When Bottles Are Not Labeled

So, funny story..remember when I told y’all that hubs tossed in a load of laundry before I even woke up on Valentine’s Day? He has been known to do that here & there so it wasn’t a total shock to me. What WAS a shock was when I discovered a new bottle of liquid laundry soap sitting on top of the dryer.

What Happens When Bottles Are Not Labeled

That night when hubs was getting in bed, he remembered that he never switched the laundry over to the dryer because there was a load in it already. No problem, I said, I’ll get it. When I went to do it, that’s when I noticed a new-to-me bottle of laundry soap as well as liquid softener. I switch the loads out and start the dryer then went and asked hubs if he bought new laundry stuff.

Normally I use soap nuts and 1 or 2 dryer balls as well as dryer sheets, so this is why it stuck out to me. He complains about them and wants “good smelling clothes” so I assumed he went out and bought the ‘new’ bottles.

Here’s how that convo went down:

Me: “Babe, did you buy some new laundry soap?”

Hubs: “Uhh, nooo? Why are you asking me..wait, what did I use?!”

Me: “Oh my God, babe, you used the empty bottles that I had filled up with water!” HAHAHA “Did you leave the little bag of soap nuts in the washer?”

Hubs: “No, I took it out! WHYYYY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!”

I could not stop laughing, and then I remembered I had just put that load in the dryer. Crap..

Y’all are probably wondering that same thing as hubs and some of you may already know that answer. I had learned a long time ago living in Florida how to deal with Hurricane season and disaster preparedness. Filling up empty bottles of soap, without rinsing them out first, makes water to be used for washing your hands and body during a time when water is not available. This has happened in the past to my in-laws during Hurricane Charley for about 2 weeks since they had well water and no electricity. Plus, ya know, if the zombie apocalypse happens.

Hurricane and Disaster Kit Tips >> Daily Deals from a Nerd Mom

The bad thing about this is that I never labeled the bottles after filling them up with water! I have many bottles out in the garage unmarked and it looks like I’m a laundry soap hoarder. I would have had many many more but I left them when we moved a few years ago because I didn’t want to lug them with us. I keep them away from the washer and dryer area but apparently he was searching for soap.

Thankfully, this was a funny story and not a tragic one.

Imagine if it was bleach or some other cleaner in the bottles instead of water?! Imagine if a kid got a hold of something that wasn’t what it said it was on the bottle and something horrible happened??

Something like this happened to me as a kid but most of the blame is on me being a sneaky little brat. I was probably about 10 years old and my little sister, who was probably 6,  and I would have to take showers together so it was easier. Our stepdad was home with us while our mom was at work at that time. I snuck (is that a word?!) out of the shower and grabbed a small spray bottle that my mom had on the dryer right outside of the bathroom door. It was unmarked and so I assumed it was water. Why, I have no clue what she did with that bottle and it looked like the ones hairdressers used to spray water on hair. So I grabbed it, took it in the shower and sprayed all over the shower walls, curtain, the air, etc. When we finished showering, my sister grabbed her towel to dry off and immediately felt like she was going to throw up. She started crying and my stepdad started banging on the door wanting to know why she was crying and why it smelled so strong in the bathroom.

Guess what? It was NOT water..it was BLEACH!

How we didn’t smell it ourselves I will never know. Our stepdad freaked out, made us get out of the bathroom ASAP, gave us bread and milk (maybe he thought we drank it?? I never understood that), and called our grandmother over since she lived right next door. I never felt so horrible and embarrassed in my whole life. All my 10 year old brain could think of was that I almost killed my sister. At least the bathroom was nice and clean.

We joke about it to this day because, thankfully, that story ended OK.

Mom told us that she didn’t think she needed to label it because we were old enough to know better than to touch it. She was sadly mistaken.

The moral of the story: LABEL YOUR BOTTLES IF YOU FILL THEM UP WITH ANYTHING ELSE – ESPECIALLY CHEMICALS!

Spread the love

Jess Benoit

Jess is a homeschooling mama of 3, wife, gamer, Whovian, Nerd

8 thoughts on “What Happens When Bottles Are Not Labeled

  • That would be something that would happen here but I don’t usually put things in other bottles, good lesson learned.

    Reply
  • Although I can see why you would fill empty bottles with water-so it becomes soapy water or whatever else was in that bottle. As for me I save empty water bottles and Large Dunkin Donuts cups filled with water and freeze them!! Much safer!!!!

    Reply
  • All bottles should definitely be labeled, especially if the bottle is being reused. Great reminder!

    Reply
  • I actually don’t fill up bottles with anything. Once it’s done we just throw it away. Much safer that way to me. We stock up on water by buying it and keeping it since we have hard water and it tastes so nasty, no need to keep it unless it’s to bathe with, but I do agree with labeling things if you’re going to be putting it in a different bottle.

    Reply
  • I live in FL but thankfully I haven’t experienced a hurricane (knocking on wood right now). Hopefully I never have to, but filling the bottle with water is a great idea!

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.