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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To wash bed linen and towels once per week?

108 replies

permaquandry · 01/11/2012 13:41

Hmm wondering if I am unhygienic or about average. We all have our own towels and separate hand towels (I change these 2-3 times per week), Also, we all wear pjs in bed and I leave the covers back with windows open for at least an hour per day.

What does everybody else do?

OP posts:
Reky · 01/11/2012 20:40

No, not kidding

greeneyed · 01/11/2012 20:46

Oh I'd love to be like you, I love clean sheets, clean towels - the reality is 2-3 weeks for bedding Blush once a week for towels just do not have the time, nor to iron bedding - does anyone seriously iron towels?

WhereMyMilk · 01/11/2012 20:48

If you're not kidding then you being a right scutter!

Wait till GetOrf comes here, and tells you all how she does her sheets, towels etc daily!

I do bedding weekly in winter, twice weekly in Summer. DS every other day though. He sweats so much his bed is like the Turin Shroud if I don't bless him.

Towels every other day.

Tea towels, dish clothes daily.

FelixDaSouza · 01/11/2012 21:05

Your sheets must walk themselves to the machine! Do they not smell a bit funky?

FelixDaSouza · 01/11/2012 21:05

That was to Reky by the way!

prettybird · 01/11/2012 21:06

Dh's and my bed: bottom sheet weekly, duvet cover fortnightly, pillowcases weekly or fortnightly depending on how much other washing I have to do (although I have two sets of bed linen, I prefer the 100% cotton set so try to wash, dry and iron them in a day).

Towels: when they look grubby, which means for dh's and my ones, which are white, about once a fortnight but for ds' towel, which is dark blue, whenever I remember Blush and/or there is space in the "coloureds" wash. Wink

Ds' bed linen: when I remember Blush his room is on the attic floor so "out of sight out of mind" Wink

Oops. Grin

McHappyPants2012 · 01/11/2012 21:09

Towels after every use as I can not stand damp towels hanging around, bedding mine once a week, ds everyday as he is a bed wetter and dd every other day as it gets the nappy kind of smell from her dry nights.

2cats2many · 01/11/2012 21:12

Towels weekly and bedding every other week. I'm too lazy environmentally concious to do it more often.

McHappyPants2012 · 01/11/2012 21:13

Also ds has a new quilt every week, I am sick of buying quilts.

prettybird · 01/11/2012 21:16

....our towels are kept on the bathroom radiator, so dry really quickly.

VivaLeBeaver · 01/11/2012 21:16

Towels between a week and a fortnight.
Bedding between 3 and 4 weeks.

McHappyPants2012 · 01/11/2012 21:18

I haven't got a radiator in the bathroom, after dd got badly burnt on it and the HA didn't see anything wrong with it I got it capped off.

VerySmallSqueak · 01/11/2012 21:18

Depends on the weather,the time available,bedwetting,whether the cat/dog has got on the bed with muddy paws etc etc.
I have no set routine so on average about every week to ten days for bedding,and few days to a week for towels.
I would say it was less usual for people to change the bed more than once a week,so I reckon once a week must be more than average,not less.

VerySmallSqueak · 01/11/2012 21:20

reky you are pushing the average up though Grin

FWIW I can see that perhaps people who bathe before bed could go reasonable periods of time before the bed really needs changing,so long as it's aired.

Marzipanface · 01/11/2012 21:20

Bedding gets changed every Sunday, sometimes midweek as our toddler sleeps with us and we get the odd drink spillage/leaky night nappy. Towels get thrown in the laundry basket after a few uses then washed and dried quite frequently.

I can't imagine doing it less. Our bed would pong!

marriedinwhite · 01/11/2012 22:36

Our bed once a fortnight, the dc's beds once a fortnight. I interchange the weeks. Towels - we all have our own and I wash them weekly.

The DC have clean shirts daily as do DH and I and we all bath or shower daily. Would love to change bedding weekly but I just don't seem able to manage it with a full time job.

The guest room linen is washed as guests depart and made up again immediately. MIL arrives on Saturday Sad

MrsTerryPratchett · 01/11/2012 22:38

I wonder if the folks on DadsNet are discussing how often they wash their sheets? Turns out no. Curious.

RawShark · 01/11/2012 22:42

YANBU or YABU - could go either way!

I always wash sheets between guests (hmmmn that sounds slightly wrong)

BUt bed linen on my bed - I'm not even saying. And I don't iron it either. BLimey

DS gets his done weekly or more , depending on snot/dribble

And i'm with bettyboo on the towels.

KnickersOnOnesHead · 01/11/2012 22:45

never understood why some people wash towels after one use. Surely you are only drying yourself on them after you are clean so not actually dirtying them.

Each to their own though. Towels here are washed once a week, as is bedding. Unless ds has had an accident then obviously more often.

AdoraBell · 02/11/2012 01:23

I do bedsheets weekly and towes twice a week. This is because we have nowhere for DDs to hang their bath towels in the house and they do sport/gym at school 4 days each week. Hand and tea towels get changed daily.

AdoraBell · 02/11/2012 01:34

Doh! I always post halfway through typing when I'm tired [hblush]. Anyway, DDs use a fresh towel for each shower because of the no hanging sitch, and I bought loads of cheap small hand towels for the bathrooms so we don't end up with smelly towels , that means I have enough dirty towels for two machine loads each week.

Bogeyface · 02/11/2012 01:48

I have one full set of vairy naice and vairy expensive bed linen that we got as a wedding present. So it is done about once every 7-10 days depending on when I can strip, wash,dry and remake in 12 hours!

Towels are white so I wash them whenever I am doing a white wash, which given that there are 8 of use in the house, is every day. I try to get a few uses out of them but the kids tend to use them and chuck them in the basket which means that they pong after a day or so.

Bogeyface · 02/11/2012 01:50

8 of us not use!

Mutteroo · 02/11/2012 01:58

Towels every couple of days unless they're on my teenagers bedroom floors, then it's whenever they can be bothered to pick them up.

Linen every other week but more often in the summer. Again one DC is told to change her bed linen every other week but in practice does it once a month if we are lucky. If our cleaner had her way the sheets would be changed weekly all year round but my washing machine is constantly on the go anyway!

Dishcloths are every other day and T towels about the same but sometimes a little longer.

Fluffeh · 02/11/2012 08:28

Bedding gets washed 1-2 times a week but never ironed.
Towels after each use. I have a thing about skin cells being on them after use. My DP will use my bath towel right after I have but I wouldn't dream of using his because of the skin cells (I'm obsessed with them).