Having such a hard doing laundry with contamination OCD - help!

I have the same issue. I have to wash my hands between each step to avoid spreading the germs and contamination. So simply throwing in the laundry is 15 minutes when it used to take 3 min.

That’s cool to know that I’m not alone with feeling that our dirty laundry is dirty. Most people seem to not wash their hands after doing laundry it doesn’t make sense to me lol

Once my water heater broke when I was staying at my bfs place for a couple weeks and when I got back and noticed it there was mold in the walls! That sent me into a spiral cuz that stuff could actually kill you if inhaled I was worried I contaminated almost everything in my house I just wanted to leave all my stuff there and move and start over I did move and ended up throwing a lot away but not everything I kept that stuff I needed in a separate area and moved it a few times ( i move a lot) I finally just got rid of it after my last move I just have two storage containers now of dirty stuff I’ll eventually disinfect.

I know it's hard for you but keep doing your laundry.

Do you use gloves? That’s what I do. What is your contamination issue with laundry?

This is so relatable - I often have to put things through the machine five times or more before I can take them out again, and takes me ages to get them in there in the first place. I think it helps to put things on hot washes because that'll kill a lot of things which would contaminate clothes etc. Most things will hold up better than you'd expect in a hot wash. Personally I put everything in a bag I know will survive the machine and then I just chuck the bag in so I can avoid touching the items individually where possible. Then after the first wash I can separate them out a bit. Whatever happens, you do need to force yourself to do it - you'll thank yourself in the long run.

Agree with you Shana though one way to probably fight the compulsion is knowing that most people don’t do what we do yet they are still perfectly fine. Hard to do but just a thought

Y’a thats true but then again I feel like I touch all dirty things together that maybe others don’t. Like I’ll touch dishes trash dog poo etc and laundry therefore spreading germs to everywhere I feel is dirty but yeah you’re right it should still be fine although maybe I shouldn’t touch trash and laundry with the same hands or gloves ha

It’s like I’m confused how much germs will actually harm me and how much of an amount will and whether or not those germs die after a couple days or once dried etc