Why Edwina Bartholomew is banned from doing the washing in her household.

Doing laundry is one of those things that, in theory at least, seems ridiculously simple. We even have machines to do all the hard manual labour for us these days.

However, you’d struggle to find anyone who hasn’t accidentally turned a white sheet pink, or completed a jeans/dark colours wash only to discover a rogue tissue’s trail of destruction.

Basic laundry failure is one of those character-building rites of passage. But if you’re prone to the stuff-ups when washing your clothes — or more pertinently, a loved one’s clothes — take comfort from the fact you’re in good company. Very good company, in fact.

Edwina Bartholomew has laid bare her own laundry shortcomings in an all-too-relatable Instagram post.

Having spotted a basket of her partner (and fellow journalist) Neil Varcoe‘s clothes, with a note informing her he would have them professionally cleaned, the popular Sunrise presenter was left questioning her abilities as a “washer woman”.

Dear @neilwrites, I can see now I will never become the washer woman of your dreams. Where did I go wrong? Was it the time I shrank your smalls? Or the time I turned your white shirt, blue? Perhaps it was the melted gym shorts? I will take this note as a final sign that I am never to wash your belongings again. Yours, Failed Housegirlfriend

A photo posted by Edwina Bartholomew (@edwina_b) on Apr 17, 2016 at 10:13pm PDT

“Where did I go wrong? Was it the time I shrank your smalls? Or the time I turned your white shirt, blue? Perhaps it was the melted gym shorts?” Bartholomew pondered in her ‘open letter’.

“I will take this note as a final sign that I am never to wash your belongings again. Yours, Failed Housegirlfriend.”

We’re old hands at the shrinking business, but melted gym shorts? That truly is a next-level achievement.

Though on the surface this post seemed like another endearing glimpse into the 32-year-old’s off-screen life, many of her followers saw it for what it really was: an ingenious avoidance of laundry duty, masked by ‘innocent’ error.

Watch: Those Two Girls have laundry hacks sorted. Well… kind of. Proceed at your own risk. (Post continues after video.)

So very, very clever.

“Your cunning plan has worked, you are now free of being his washer woman,” one commenter pointed out.

“Much to the disgust of a lot of people in my life, I dont iron anything. On the contrary, my husband is very happy with this because according to him ‘you can’t iron for sh*t’,” another added.

When one commenter asked why Varcoe doesn’t simply wash his own clothes, Bartholomew pointed out that he does — it’s just that her own “helpful” efforts had apparently been in vain.

“I just try to be helpful sometimes and throw on a load. Turns out it’s not very helpful!” she joked.

“I have also received some similar feedback in the ironing department.”

You know, we might just put this into practise in our own homes and see what happens. If you’re going to be banned from anything, it might as well be the laundry…

What’s been your biggest laundry stuff-up?