AIBU about changing my sheets?

[CarmineRose1978]

I had a conversation at work this week with a few of my colleagues about how often we change out bedding. I and several of my friends say they should be changed once a week, once a fortnight at least. But a couple of my younger colleagues (I'm talking 28, so not teenagers!) said they change theirs every couple of months to every four or five months. Ditto their towels because "they are clean when they get out of the shower". Were we unreasonable to a) practically boak and b) tell them they're old enough to know better, in no uncertain terms? Should we have held our peace instead of hoiking our judgey pants sky high?

Change sheets every week - especially as I have a thing about crisp, white, cotton bed linen and it does tend to look a bit crumpled and sorry for itself (even though still clean) if you leave it too long. Towels changed once a week, on the day before my lovely Lithuanian cleaning lady comes, as she'd frown slightly if she thought I was still using last week's towels (obviously Lithuanians are more hygienic than I )

When I was a kid there was just one disgustingly grotty towel hanging in the bathroom, used by parents and us three kids. Bed linen not changed for months. My parents were both depressives and usually too occupied being ghastly to each other and us than attending to basic household jobs. Or clean clothes for us kids. It was grim. ( Probably explains my fetish for white bed linen)

I change my sheets weekly and towels regularly but certainly not after every use.

But what really baffles me is the angst on mumsnet about the horror of using a towel that someone else has used. Nearly all my towels are white; when they've been used and hung up to dry I have no idea if it's the one that I used or the one that dh used or DD used. But here's the thing.The dc lived inside my very body quite happily for several months, and dh and I have been known to do things much more intimate than sharing a towel, so the idea that I might be in some way contaminated by wiping my clean body dry with a towel that one of them has also wiped over their clean body, well, that's a little strange to me!

You have a good point there, Devere. Maybe I should leave it folded back when I'm at work!

Yuk. Normally once a week for sheets etc but due to hot weather it gets to day 5/6 I have yo change them at the moment. Winter it goes the whole week. Towels twice a week.

whatthe - The irony of asking these colleagues for advice on how to be professional! One of them has recently been disciplined for doodling in meetings, the other for doing her nails and checking her texts while she should be working. And seriously, do you go on every thread to complain when people are talking about their workmates? You must be very busy on AIBU.

And since I'm "slagging" them off on here, on my own time, I'm not quite sure how that's being inappropriate in the workplace. We were holding a conversation - it wasn't an interrogation that they were unwilling to participate in. I'm guessing from your overly enthusiastic defence of them that my comments have hit a nerve... you really don't change your sheets very often at all, do you?

Beds every week, towels usually every use, sometimes every second.

My mattress however, is disgusting. We have had it five years and my waters have broken on it twice, I have slept in fake tan etc. I want to get a new bed soon but will have to carry the old one out under cover of darkness I think.

When I was younger and lived on my own, I would often reuse towels though. And I only change my bed because I love having fresh sheets. I'm quite dirty left to my own devices. My husband and children have changed me.

Do most people use mattress covers? We have one on our bed, but I never used one before I moved in with my DP.

You asked whether you should have held your peace or been judgey. It would have been far more professional to have held you peace.

You stated that you told your colleagues 'they were old enough to now better in no uncertain terms'. That is not behaviour conducive to good working relationships, really, is it?

I realise that you don't like to acknowledge that, hence the banging on about how often I change my sheets.

StrawberryMouse just wrap your old mattress up in the plastic from the new one and tape it up. Another way of getting rid of the plastic as well if you're carefull taking it off.

I hope people who wash towels after every use are doing something to offset their enormous carbon footprint. Even hotels ask you to use towels more than once.

I will stop washing towels after every use when people give up their cars.

That does sound revolting. Imagine how dirty that bedding must be.

Every week here. Towels more often.

"One of them has recently been disciplined for doodling in meetings" blimey carmine where do you work?! I literally can't concentrate in meetings unless I am doodling. In fact there was a study that showed doodling helped concentration content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1882127,00.html

That's what I keep telling my boss, anyway!

Anyway, back to the thread - sheets & towels once a week for me.

Jesus wept. I live in a studio flat with no space to store masses of towels and bedding, it takes ages to get anything dry and we're on a meter for the leccy so I am wary of running the washing machine too much. I change the sheets about once a month, my towel and hand towel once a week. DP can do what he likes.
Having said that I shower every day (twice a day in this weather), wash my hair every day and wash my hands obsessively about 20 times a day. We all just have different hang-ups about cleanliness!!

The mention of the gray head spot in the pillow case made me vomit a bit.

gamer that is irrelevant really ...it should be about doing the best you can...and don't underestimate the impact of frequent washing

First there is the electricity use

Second the water use - I think lots of people don't understand that in order to get that water into your taps, clean enough for you to drink, takes a lot of resources - energy, chemicals. And then the water that goes down the drain into the sewage obviously then needs processing too.

Washing products - even environmentally friendly stuff has to be manufactured, packaged, transported.

Wear & tear on machine - washing machines are designed/manufactured to last a certain no of washes. Your machine will break down/need replacing sooner. And energy & resources needed to make the machines, transport them and dispose of them.

Same on your clothes (bedding/towels) - more frequent washing causes more wear and hence they will need replacing more frequently. With all the associated production, manufacturing, transport costs.

And obviously if they are tumble dried you have the electricity used, manufacturer of drier, disposal of drier...

I will stop washing towels after every use when people give up their cars.

This is a rather vague defense of single-towel use, isn't it? What if someone's car footprint is less than your towel footprint?

it's all relevent in my head.. I will stop washing towels after every use when you give up your car. Otherwise i'll carry on the way I always have ta. :)

gamerchick
Seeing as you have mentioned car use, I don't have a car, largely in part to environmental reasons.

I assume you will be reusing towels forthwith? [smil]

Towels shouldn't be shared because of the risk of spreading infections from conjunctivitis to various others - just google it. If one member of a family or household contracts an infection you greatly increase the chances of everyone else in the house getting it if you share towels.

And I thought that was something everyone knew. It's the main reason towels should be washed at high temperatures.

Cue other posters saying they only ever wash towels at 30 and 40 degrees.....

I admit I have too much time on my hands.

I wash our sheets daily, we sleep naked, have sex and even with a quick swill after, (no penis beaker or sex towels) there are often tell tale marks on the sheet or quilt cover.

I do have a bit of a thing for bedding and if I only changed the beds every couple of months some of it wouldn't get used from one year to the next.

Oh and towels after each use in the summer, the radiators are turned off so not able to dry enough to stop them going stinky.

Wowfudge, we all have color-coded towels in our house - this is how I named and shamed everyone into hanging their towel properly. And, what sort of infections are you talking about, besides conjunctivitis (I'm not sure about anyone else, but that hasn't visited our house in about 8 years).