AIBU to say the washing sheets/towels and toilet brushes argument may have been solved...?

[WineAndTiramisu]

Saw this today and immediately thought of all the arguments on here over the years about washing towels, bed sheets and the horror of toilet brushes!

amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/feb/21/self.html

I'm definitely more dirty than the cleaners verdicts!

[MammaSchwifty]

I read that and quickly realised they'd canvassed the opinion of a load of germ-o-phobes

[WineAndTiramisu]

That was my opinion as well, who has time to wash towels after every use? The environmentalists seemed more reasonable

[ILoveMaxiBondi]

I’m certainly no germaohobe but I wash towels after every use. It doesnt really take much time, I’m baffled that anyone would think it does. You just throw your towel in the wash basket with your clothes and then stick a load in when it’s full.

[APurpleSquirrel]

Those cleaners are excessive! This is what leads to superbugs & antibiotic resistance, surely?

[WineAndTiramisu]

@ILoveMaxiBondi how many towels do you own?!

[Lweji]

I only trust the experts:

"Sally Bloomfield, a professor of hygiene at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, says that towels and bed linen need to be “hygienically cleaned” at 40C, despite the environmental benefits of a 30C wash. If you are dropping the temperature, using a powder product or tablet, she says, will “boost the hygiene efficacy” because it contains active oxygen bleach. Bloomfield thinks a weekly towel wash would suffice, but reiterates: “Don’t share towels.”"

[NutElla5x]

How many are there in your household though ILoveMaxiBondi because that would be an extra machine load a day if I washed towels after one use?

[Lweji]

I wash towels after every use. It doesnt really take much time, I’m baffled that anyone would think it does. You just throw your towel in the wash basket with your clothes and then stick a load in when it’s full.

A bath towel is about 1/3 of a washing load. You end up having at least 2 extra loads per week just by washing one bath towel every day.
One extra load if you stuff them in the machine.
Still, for a family of 3, it's 3 extra loads per week...

[DrWhy]

The towels in this house basically make up one full load (3 bath sheets, a baby towel, 2 hand towels) - if I washed them daily that would be an extra 6 loads a week on top of the once they already go through. They are not shared, they are used to dry clean bodies then hung up to dry themselves, when they are washed it’s on a 40 and occasionally 60 to ensure any bugs are thoroughly killed off. There is absolutely no need to use the water, power and chemicals involved in cleaning them 6 more times a week - over 300 more wash cycles a year!

[ILoveMaxiBondi]

how many towels do you own?!

No idea, I’ve never counted

How many are there in your household though ILoveMaxiBondi because that would be an extra machine load a day if I washed towels after one use?

1. Me DS(13) and DS(9) I use a hand towel for drying. DS13 prefers a bath towel but I hide them so he has to use a hand towel. DS9 uses those square baby towels with the hood. It also depends what size of drum your washing machine is whether it’s a full load or not. I have an 8kg drum so not a full load for me.
   

*A bath towel is about 1/3 of a washing load. You end up having at least 2 extra loads per week just by washing one bath towel every day.
One extra load if you stuff them in the machine.
Still, for a family of 3, it's 3 extra loads per week.*

Not in my experience. I also don’t consider laundry “extra” loads. It’s just the normal washing. If I was washing the curtains it would be an extra load.

[Lweji]

I also don’t consider laundry “extra” loads. It’s just the normal washing. If I was washing the curtains it would be an extra load.

You should calculate how many loads you do per week, then how many would you do without the towels.
Try to put all the towels together as one load (I do it anyway, because the cycles tend to be a bit different from normal clothes) and see how many towel only loads you do per week.
If you wash 3 bath towels surely it's pretty much 1 load, and you just add a few items of clothes. If so, you could be doing just 1 load of towels per week, plus 1 or two 2 of clothes, in a total of 3 loads per week, instead of 7 loads!

[buttermilkwaffles]

I wash towels weekly at 40c, no way I would wash them every day, after only one being used once to dry off a clean body after having a shower. Even when staying in a hotel where it's done for you, I re-use towels. I don't share them though.

Hand towels which are shared maybe different though as not everyone is equally thorough about washing their hands after using the toilet etc. (I currently live alone so not a consideration.)

[dementedpixie]

Washing a towel after 1 use is wasteful. It has dried a clean body so why would it need washing again?

[reallyanotherone]

Even when staying in a hotel where it's done for you, I re-use towels. I don't share them though

Hotels i’ve stayed in recently all suggest you reuse towels if possible. It must make a huge difference to time and electricity bills if every guest uses a towel twice rather than once.

If everybody in the uk used a towel twice it would make a huge, huge difference to national water and fuel supplies.

[ArmchairTraveller]

If I washed towels every day and no one shares, that’s 4 bath sheets and 3 hand towels. 28/21 a week. Plus drying in the winter.
Nope.

[Pascha]

Me DS(13) and DS(9) I use a hand towel for drying. DS13 prefers a bath towel but I hide them so he has to use a hand towel. DS9 uses those square baby towels with the hood.

Erk ! You hide towels? Why?? Why can't your children use a bath towel?

[AnnieOH1]

I'm not a germophobe (I hope not anyway!) but I wash towels after every use (partly because they get covered in baby powder) and we use paper towels for hand drying. I don't want bath sheets hanging around (and who has space to hang them properly anyway?) nor do I want them getting musty in the hamper waiting to go in the machine.

[elliejjtiny]

I would love to do 7 loads of laundry a week. I normally do 4-5 a day and that's without washing towels after every use!

[LikeACowsOpinion]

@ILoveMaxiBondi how is a hand towel anywhere near big enough to get dry comfortably?
Why do you hide bath towels?

[ILoveMaxiBondi]

You should calculate how many loads you do per week, then how many would you do without the towels.

I should? Why?

If you wash 3 bath towels surely it's pretty much 1 load,

Good thing I don’t.

Erk confused! You hide towels? Why?? Why can't your children use a bath towel?

Erk, yes. I’ll just not put them in the hot press so that when he opens the door he will lift a hand towel. Why? To reduce laundry, obviously.

It has dried a clean body so why would it need washing again?

So why wash it at all if it’s always clean?

[ILoveMaxiBondi]

how is a hand towel anywhere near big enough to get dry comfortably?

I suppose it depends on individual body size. For me and my kids it’s enough. You could try it and see if it works for you.

[ILoveMaxiBondi]

At a push I can dry myself with two flannels

[LikeACowsOpinion]

The article won't open for me, but...

There's only me and 3yo DD. We don't share a towel and have a new one every 3 days.

I'm slightly neurotic with bedding though. I change the beds every day.
Strip, wash, tumble and back on the bed within a few hours.

It's absolutely nuts but I cannot sleep if I haven't changed the beds.

[LikeACowsOpinion]

@ILoveMaxiBondi that's a talent!!

I would struggle, but only because I love my big, fluffy bath towels.
Plus, I'm lazy and sit in the towel for about half an hour once I'm dry.