How often do you replace your towels?

[BigPinkBall]

Both DM and MIL are quite house proud, always cleaning and buying bits and pieces for their homes but both have got an airing cupboard filled with manky old towels, they’ve all been used to death, feel like cardboard and are frayed. They’re all random patterns and I’m sure most are from the 70s & 80s.

My DM was with me recently when I was buying some new towels and was horrified I was buying white ones as she reckons they’ll get marks on them and white wasn’t a good colour for towels. It seemed beyond her comprehension that I would just buy some new ones when these start to look worn out.

How long do people expect towels to last?

Years! I’ve had most of mine (bar the kids beach towels and baby towels) for 10 years. They still look absolutely fine.

I keep em till they perish

I buy a couple of new ones each year in a dark colour. They go through stages of new to oldness, and get used as things like bath mats, gardening and dog towels.

I still have 2 bath towels I took from home when going to university in 1995. Both going strong and still soft!
Only recycle ones with holes or horrible stains.

DTDs still use the ones they had as babies (they're 11 now) and the rest of our towels were wedding gifts. We got married in 2004. When they wear out, I'll get new ones. None of ours are white though.

This is mn, you'll get a mixture of people who replace their entire towel stock every other day and those who haven't even washed their towels since the 70s!

Er, til they die! I still have the one I had when I started uni in 1991. And my first wedding ones from 1999. Actually, i still view those as "new. 🤣🤣

As long as they can still get you dry, I don't see a need to replace them. I do have one decent handtowel that I try to remember to put out if I know I've got visitors coming, but I'm not too bothered about what the ones I use everyday look like as long as they are clean.

every year if i can remember.

Old towels are invaluable when you have small kids. For mopping up bodily fluids.

Keepine as long as they act like towels.Feeling like cardboard is being over dried Inthe line, otherwise old towels are softer and v absorbent.
I do not buy new towels if they get a mark one ory DD bleaches patches of them with her acne cream

Mine are ancient, mostly white and washed daily. They still look great though they are like cardboard as I dry them outside. Have never liked soft towels. Don’t get the “marks” thing. Someone said the same thing to me about my white sheets - that they wouldn’t buy white sheets as they show “marks”! Wouldn’t you just wash your linen, who would want to sleep in dirty sheets?!

Regularly they harbour loads of bacteria! Also white is good as you do not get bleach marks like on coloured towels.

I get rid when they start fraying. Cheaper towels don’t last as long as quality ones. I’m still using a couple of bath sheets that we got as an engagement present......we’ve been married 27 years!

I reckon they dry better after a year or two of washing tbh.
I've still got a bhs one from my first student flat 17 years ago. It's indistinguishable from the more recent ones. No fraying.
My partner has one she nicked from her family home in the 80s. It seems fine too.

We’re still on our original first house towels. They’re 15 years old and I can see ho reason we won’t be using them in another 15 years. They’re plain cream mind you, not gaudy patterns

I think I had my last lot for about 5 years but they looked washed out and didn’t feel soft anymore. I suppose people’s idea of when they’ve reached the end of their useful life is different because I’d definitely chuck any out that were faded and frayed but MIL has the same brown frayed one in her downstairs loo every time we go over.

Mine are yonks old. Must be getting on 15 years at least and they're fine. A bit faded maybe but they do the job perfectly well.

I prefer towels that are a bit crispy anyway, soft towels are horrible!

I have bath towels that I bought when I left home 12 years ago (I don’t think I had them for uni but it’s entirely possible that I did, which would make them 15 years old).

I’ve bought a few new ones over the years but there’s nothing wrong with the old ones, they’re not stained, it’s only me that uses them, why throw them out?

In a similar vein, I have a duvet cover that’s 13 years old. It has a small rip in and a stain (highlighter pen, nothing gross) but it’s super soft and is my go to “comfort” bedding. Most of my bedding is more than 10 years old but I do treat myself to new ones periodically. I never get rid of the old ones though! They just get relegated to back of the cupboard and rarely used. It’s only me that sleeps in them so I can please myself!

My mum has towels which she bought when I lived at home 25 years ago, still in very good condition.

I think it totally depends on the quality you buy. My oldest towel is around 30 years and still in use as it was very expensive (all white btw). I bought towels inbetween and they haven't lasted similar as I think I looked more on the price.

We recently bought new ones, we have a grey baths so bought lovely plum coloured ones. Old towels are delegated to Scout camps and going to the beach, after that they live in the car for emergencies.

We (I) are using towels that were wedding presents ( married 28 yrs...) and towels that I took when clearing my parents house (DDad died in 2011)
They are still fine - the frayed ones get downgraded to the cats bed or to mop floors so I'm not keeping them indefinitely
DH is however also using 10year old plus towelling bathrobes which have had it - he's not bothered though and they are his robes.

I buy (white) towels every 1 - 2 years. I give them to an animal charity as soon as they're no longer soft. Even without a tumble dryer, I've found that Sheridan towels stay soft for much longer than other brands.

I will admit that I've developed a slight obsession with towels over the last year or two. Good quality towels and good quality bedding has become a bit of a fixation. Pampering to relieve work stress/worries.

I ordered some towels today for part of my Dad's Father's Day present. Maybe it's hereditary as he's also a little fixated on towels being soft (but that comes from his towels being rock hard and old and him asking me how to make them soft again. "Buy some bloody new ones Dad!")

I still have some that I took when I left home in 1998.... and they had been knocking round the airing cupboard for a fair while at that point!

I have a real mix of fairly new fluffy ones through to old threadbare ones. They all get used but our hand towels which are there for visitors etc are newish.

I have two hand towels that I got when I was seven... in 1982!
They have been dyed a different colour, as they had faded, but I did that in 2001.
They're fine for hand towels, and I like to have a decent number so they can be washed regularly.
All the bath towels are far newer (and softer) than those.