tifu, so, today i decided im gonna dye my hair, give myself a haircut, you know all that lovely stuff. After sitting around getting the dye in, washing it out, cutting my fringe and doing some lovely beauty care. i sit down and go to straighten out my bangs, to find my hair straighteners on, i am the only one that uses them. i haven’t used them in around 7 months. They were under my bed and have burnt a hole in my carpet. Now all i can think about is what if i hadn’t found them, thats a fire hazard! and all i can think of is how much that’s been contributing to my electric bill! i am too embarrassed to even tell anyone yet. Please reddit, i need some help on how im gonna explain this absolute fuck up to the people i live with!
TL;DR: I found my hair straighteners that had been left on, under my bed for approximately 7 months.
EDIT: hey guys, can you stop being outraged at me as if i have no idea what i did wrong, yes i understand and i have learned from this situation although id like to clarify it was on an extremely LOW heat when i found it as well as the fact that i do usually tend to unplug stuff, unless of course i am being rushed around, i am autistic and when people try to ruin the way i planned stuff out in my head i will forget things due to being overstimulated by shouting
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Do you happen to have a pet that could have turned it on?
Wow! Luckily you found them!
No chance they were on for 7 months and you have a house left
I had a house in AZ with a bunch of bathrooms, one that was convenient for our little daughter to use. I never, ever went into that bathroom, but as we’re closing up to move, I discovered a half-dissolved bar of soap in the upper deck of the toilet, keeping the valve open. So, water had been running out of that toilet at a rapid rate for god knows how long. I felt bad because: 1. Arizona and 2. It was going to a septic system.
on the bright side you’re all still alive
I would worry about worse stuff, Like how your memory shut down for 7 months. Like Imagine if it was something worse on a serious note.
How do you leave them plugged in under your bed?
Haven’t you seen an electric bill in the last seven months?
So I don’t use hair straighteners, but I know two things of them:
They smell like something is burning when they’re on.
They get plugged into a wall outlet, which means they generally should be unplugged when their use is finished, like with an iron or a blow dryer or any other electronic that can start a fire if left unattended.
Did you not smell something burning? Did you not unplug them after you were finished with it last time? You say it burned your carpet, so do you not keep it in a place where you can actively see it?
Oh girl, that’s scary! Just be honest, accidents happen.
There’s no way to explain this that won’t involve you telling your housemates that you fucked up. It was incredibly stupid and preventable and you’re lucky nothing worse happened. People who live with you will probably be pissed.
You need to thank whatever prophet you believe in because, wow.
Don’t most of them have auto-off features? Are they plugged in under the bed? I always unplug mine when I’m done with it just to be sure it’s not on. I do that with everything and it cut my electric bill down 🙂 I’m glad that no one was hurt!
Were they still hot?? Most modern straighteners have an auto shut off. Could it have been possible that the burn marks were old and you didn’t check if they were hot and just assumed they were?
It’s not that much of a fire hazard if it’s been on for 7 months and only burned the carpet. It’s more of a testament to the fire resistance of the carpet.
Bet you won’t leave it on again when you finish using it though…
Have no fear, I’ve got a spot on my carpet that looks suspiciously like mascara leaked on I t, and a fair sized red waxy mark on the wall that came from a candle that fell over and splashed.
No more unattended candles and uncovered makeup in the house. Take the lesson and be more careful
Straight up tell them. The truth is best.
Wow, you are super lucky.
You know your people the best.
I’m sure you’ll handle it with grace.
Wait, what? Your hair iron doesn’t have a 1 hour auto shutoff?
Bald man here, lol, My wife says they have an automatic shutoff.
You might want to consider unplugging them each time.
Get the wavytalk straightener. It shuts off after minutes of being on and not sensing use. It also straightens my crazy thick and curly hair in about 15 minutes.
Definitely need to start unplugging them when not using them!!! So lucky they didn’t light the carpet or bed on fire!!!
So thankful my straightener has an automatic timer to turn it off after like 30 minutes, dear lord
You put them under the bed without unplugging them first?? Anything that I’m not constantly using every day gets unplugged in my house. I’ll never understand the women who leave their hair dryer and curling iron plugged in and then store them in the bathroom sink.
None of this makes sense. How do you plug a hair straightener in under the bed? Let’s start with that F**ckery
Just practice checking that you unplug stuff when you are done with it and using it in an appropriate location such as a bathroom countertop. You are learning from this.
Edit: people want to know that you have learned from this and that will make them more understanding of this.
I am glad it wasn’t worse. When you do decide to tell the people you live with I don’t think I would tell them you left them on for 7 months.😂.
Just say I walked away while waiting for my straighter to heat up and they fell. Or I forgot and left my straightener on and burned a hole. I’ll pay for the damage.
If you’re afraid they will kick you out maybe don’t tell them until you have other arrangements.
I personally wouldn’t kick someone out over this but I don’t know what the people you live with are like.
As for the electric it probably wasn’t that much if you didn’t notice the increase.
Lastly I hope you’ve learned to be more careful.
bro this happened to me with a hot glue gun, a really cheap one that I simply forgot about at some point. it was on for probably 5-6 months. still warm and the glue had turned black. i cannot believe it didnt start a fire…. i’m insane about making sure things are turned off now.
Yep, next find a carpet company have the carpet repaired. Situation un-fucked.
Always unplug appliances with heated elements when not in use.
Things like space heaters, hair straighteners, irons, steamers etc. Don’t just press the off button or flick the switch at the wall, physically unplug the cable.
At least it’s under your bed so you have time to think about the explanation. No one will see it till you leave… that said, they say honesty is the best policy.
You learned a lesson without paying a huge price.
Yikes, glad you’re safe! Be honest, explain to roommates
Ok first of all glad you’re ok. Also, crazy story time but my mom has a hella good sense of smell and over a decade ago called the fire department repeatedly and had them search nearby buildings. It turned out that somebody had ironed clothes on their bed, then slept on their bed, and didn’t notice that the bed was burning from the inside out because some springs or something overheated. This could be me being overly anxious, but I would stay cautious and not rule out that the heat might have risen to your bed. Chances are low but might be worth checking out.
Um, don’t tell them would be my advice. No need to really and all it will do is make them not trust you.
Spitballing here- maybe if you’ve had a few power outages, it turned on every time when the power came back on, and the auto shutoff feature kept doing its thing? Like not long enough to burn the house down but like?? Idk
How does it even get under there
I’m wondering if they got jostled on and off a few times over a course of time. I doubt they could stay on for seven months straight even on a low setting and not create chaos damage.
Technically, you may not have fucked up today, you could’ve fucked up a little over a period of months. You definitely fucked up seven months ago by not following the instructions to unplug your devices when not in use. I kinda want to give you a pass for not realizing, but for over half a year you didn’t manage to clock it when cleaning, rearranging, or even dropping something by accident in that area of the outlet?
The main thing is that you’re all SAFE, and while you may feel a little foolish or embarrassed, you came out on top of things when everything is said and done.
I’m glad you’re still here.
you don’t use that electric socket for 7 months??