diff --git a/PBot/ChanOpCommands.pm b/PBot/ChanOpCommands.pm
index becf40e3..f95271ba 100644
--- a/PBot/ChanOpCommands.pm
+++ b/PBot/ChanOpCommands.pm
@@ -9,9 +9,9 @@ use warnings;
 use strict;
 
 use Carp ();
-use Time::HiRes qw/gettimeofday/;
 use Time::Duration;
-use Time::ParseDate;
+
+use PBot::Utils::ParseDate;
 
 sub new {
   if(ref($_[1]) eq 'HASH') {
@@ -59,22 +59,9 @@ sub ban_user {
   if(not defined $length) {
     $length = 60 * 60 * 24; # 24 hours
   } else {
-    my $now = gettimeofday;
-    my @inputs = split /(?:,?\s+and\s+|\s*,\s*)/, $length;
-
-    my $seconds = 0;
-    foreach my $input (@inputs) {
-      $input .= ' seconds' if $input =~ m/^\d+$/;
-      my $parse = parsedate($input, NOW => $now);
-
-      if (not defined $parse) {
-        return "I don't know what '$input' means.\n";
-      } else {
-        $seconds += $parse - $now;
-      }
-    }
-
-    $length = $seconds;
+    my $error;
+    ($length, $error) = parsedate($length);
+    return $error if defined $error;
   }
 
   my $botnick = $self->{pbot}->{registry}->get_value('irc', 'botnick');
diff --git a/PBot/IgnoreListCommands.pm b/PBot/IgnoreListCommands.pm
index deffecfe..5e3d9d56 100644
--- a/PBot/IgnoreListCommands.pm
+++ b/PBot/IgnoreListCommands.pm
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ use Time::HiRes qw(gettimeofday);
 use Time::Duration;
 use Carp ();
 
+use PBot::Utils::ParseDate;
+
 sub new {
   if(ref($_[1]) eq 'HASH') {
     Carp::croak("Options to IgnoreListCommands should be key/value pairs, not hash reference");
@@ -44,7 +46,7 @@ sub ignore_user {
 
   return "/msg $nick Usage: ignore nick!user\@host [channel] [timeout]" if not defined $arguments;
 
-  my ($target, $channel, $length) = split /\s+/, $arguments;
+  my ($target, $channel, $length) = split /\s+/, $arguments, 3;
 
   if(not defined $target) {
      return "/msg $nick Usage: ignore host [channel] [timeout]";
@@ -69,6 +71,10 @@ sub ignore_user {
   
   if(not defined $length) {
     $length = -1; # permanently
+  } else {
+    my $error;
+    ($length, $error) = parsedate($length);
+    return $error if defined $error;
   }
 
   $self->{pbot}->{ignorelist}->add($target, $channel, $length);
diff --git a/PBot/Utils/ParseDate.pm b/PBot/Utils/ParseDate.pm
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2a85736b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/PBot/Utils/ParseDate.pm
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env perl
+
+use warnings;
+use strict;
+
+package PBot::Utils::ParseDate;
+
+require Exporter;
+our @ISA = qw/Exporter/;
+our @EXPORT = qw/parsedate/;
+
+use Time::HiRes qw/gettimeofday/;
+
+require Time::ParseDate;
+
+sub parsedate {
+  my $input = shift @_;
+  my $now = gettimeofday;
+  my @inputs = split /(?:,?\s+and\s+|\s*,\s*)/, $input;
+
+  my $seconds = 0;
+  foreach my $input (@inputs) {
+    $input .= ' seconds' if $input =~ m/^\d+$/;
+    my $parse = Time::ParseDate::parsedate($input, NOW => $now);
+
+    if (not defined $parse) {
+      return (0, "I don't know what '$input' means.\n");
+    } else {
+      $seconds += $parse - $now;
+    }
+  }
+
+  return ($seconds, undef);
+}
+
+1;