Rampant towel usage driving me mad

[TwigTheWonderKid]

This seems such a minor thing but it's doing my head in and I can't work out how to solve it. My two teenage sons take a new towel from the stash in the bathroom each time they have a shower, rather than bringing the one they used the time before and then a pile of damp towels grows on their bedroom floors.

I can't keep up with the washing and environmentally it's really wasteful for them to have a clean towel each time they have a shower. I appreciate some people will disagree with that, but those of you who re-use towels once or twice before washing them, how do you manage your towels?

Hide the towels. Put them in a box under your bed and don’t tell them. Then when they need a new one they can ask for one. Seems harsh but you’re not a hotel.

Using a towel only once is insane. How dirty can it get if you're just removing water after washing your body? Minimum one week between washes.

@TwigTheWonderKid

So sit them down and tell them the rules.

Each teen gets his own set of two towels tonuse during the week.

The towels are not going to be dumped on the floor after use because that is slovenly, smelly, and leads to mould. Hooks or rack available.

The towels are going to be hung after use, and re-used.

At the end of the week, on Saturday or Sunday, any towels used during the week can be washed - by them - in the machine along with all their other clothes. No machine washing can take place during the week. They get one chance to wash and need to prioritise what they need washed.

If they want to wash more frequently then they will be charged £10 per week for the privilege of doing their own washing using your machine and utility account. Or they can find a laundrette.
If you think £10 is a bit steep, then do £5.

They need to do their own washing, and they need to understand that someone is paying for it. It's nonsense that you do their washing just because they would rack up a huge electricity bill or water bill otherwise. Make them do this the way you want it done.

I hear you OP. Once found 8 wet towels in DD's bedroom
Drives me mad so have locked them all away and rationed them out. Seems really petty but this time of year especially is nightmare for drying them.

Another one who found 8 bath towels in a teen bedroom.

They will soon hang their towels up to dry and re-use if the only one they have is wet

I air them and fold them up and put them back in the bathroom. Change them over to clean ones every week.

I keep the nice ones in my bedroom for me to use.

Like some PPs, in this house everyone has their own towels (each person has a different colour, two each) There is a heated towel rail in the bathroom and towel racks on the bedroom radiators. I put a clean handtowel out everyday. All the towels get washed and dried on Fridays. No exceptions.

Get the thin gym style towels from ikea. Then they don’t take up much space in the washing machine. I have 2 teens who seem to think I own 100 towels.

I have 2 girls under 8, towels get hung back up in the bathroom and washed every 10 days, I refuse to wash everything after one use, such a waste of electricity.

Get name tags for the big towels. They have two named each one at a time. The rest are put away, either a different location or get a padlock for the towel cupboard.

They get one a week. And it's kept hanging up to dry in their room. Get a hook or bar behind the door. Then apart from hand towels, everyone has their own named bath towel.

They will moan a lot until they realise it's up to them.

It stops it in its tracks, four teenagers at once.

The next issue is wearing clothes (including hoodies) once and dumping in the wash. If they change twice a day then that's a vast amount to wash and dry.

I've started putting the dirty laundry back in their rooms. I can't physically get two loads a day dry. They should be re wearing trousers and hoodies. I try to do each person a single wash a week weather permitting.

That's not going down well either.

This. Our 'in use' towels are hung on the ladder we use for the loft, which is outside the bathroom. Or on the bathroom towel rail, but that's quite small. When I decide they've been used enough, I wash them and put out clean ones or let people find them. DH and I have our own towels that we hang on the bedroom radiator to dry and then hang up on the back of the door.
We don't have towels on floors, despite 3 teens. Not enough floor space!

If clothes miss my Saturday lunchtime deadline, they don't get washed until the following week unless people wash their own. I do a wash or two on my day off on Wednesday as well, but usually my work stuff, bedding, towels etc.

Weekends are one dark/cottons wash, one synthetics and one white/light cottons (we have a 10kg machine). Sunday evenings they all collect their laundry from my bedroom where it's been sorted into piles. I don't go into their rooms to either get laundry or give it back.

We're a family of 5 and most weeks I do 5 loads of laundry. I have quite low standards though compared to most of mumsnet. I will happily change bedding once a month (still a lot more often than mine was done when I was growing up!).

Colour per person.

Get them to do the washing sometimes. Not just put it on but hang out/dry and fold. Maybe when you catch them with a pile festering in their room, maybe just when you both have th headspace. Gives them a bit more respect for it.

I think as everyone else has said, don’t leave the fresh ones in the bathroom.

On another level though, why are they permitted to leave dirty wet towels lying in a pile on the floor? I don’t mean to be harsh about it, but that doesn’t sound good enough to me. My kids know dirty things go in the hamper, sports kits right in the washer etc. I would be having a really good chat about these types of habits and stopping pocket money if it continues. Teenagers are old enough to be responsible for some simple tasks such as laundry! And presumably the reason they take a fresh one each day and dump dirty ones on the floor is because the cleaning fairy magically ensures that there is always a supply of nice clean ones. I don’t like the attitude at all. You’re not a slave.

I’ll be honest, I thought this was going to be a thread about a woman sick to death of watching her husband vigorously floss his undercarriage dry. 😳

I'm sorry to disappoint you!

I just put them straight back in the cupboard without washing them (I have my own).

God no, don’t be. I’m relieved! I still clicked on it though!

The towel situation here is breaking me. I want to strangle my kids. Towels everywhere. Exacerbated by all the showers after sports. I think I am going to invest in colours.

Also love the title " Rampant Towel Usage". It was a thread made for my family.

Get them to wash their own towels

Bunging in the washing machine is the easy bit!

It's getting towels dry in a house where radiators are barely on. I don't want wet towels going into the tumble dryer for ages. Tbh they don't really care about the state of their towels anyway.