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!

But whyyyyyy? It's not dirty after just one use.

If it’s not dirty after one wash then why would it be dirty after two or three or seven or ninety?

For people who don't have anything better to do than to worry about washing towels after 1 use.

I don’t worry about it at all

*do I win the most disgusting person on the thread award?

You share germs with a man?!! ewww!

It actually horrifies me that people would wash towels and bedding after one use. Breathtakingly selfish and wasteful environmentally speaking. And utterly neurotic. How on earth people imagine we survived several thousands of years without washing machines and tumble dryers... It's completely bonkers to be so worried about 'germs' and indicative of real mental health issues. Please, please stop wasting resources so casually!

Here's the problem with people saying dirty. Dirty suggests visible signs of dirt which a towel really shouldn't have on anyway as you know, you should be clean.

The reason you wash the towels is to kill the bacteria that are transfered and grow on it. And make it smell all funny etc. This won't happen after one day .

I wash mine once a week and tbh think that is too much but my partner insists

If you hang a towel up and it dries properly after each use you probably could use it for two weeks or more. I doubt a towel is going to make you actually ill - probably you’ll get spots if you rub a minging towel on your face every day or if someone poos all over it you might pick up an infection but I’ve never heard of anyone getting ill after using a damp smelly towel. One of my friends would be dead by now if that were the case.

ILoveMaxiBondi

Do you mean a hand towel?!

Are you not thinking bath towel vs bath sheet? I mean a hand towel is only the size of two A4pieces of paper....

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!

What do you wash?!

There are 4 of us. One white, one hot dark, one cool dark, one delicates wash a week.

Plus one towel/sheet/extra load.

So probably max 7 loads per week, usually all done over the weekend or on a nice day so i can get it hung outside.

Your washing machine must be on permanently?

I suspect that the people who say it's no issue to wash towels after every use probably have fewer baths.

We all have baths/showers once a day. That would have been 5 towels to wash every day, which clearly is an extra wash every day.

How on earth people imagine we survived several thousands of years without washing machines and tumble dryers.

Good point. Do you use either of those?

@lillighters85 I'll have a word with myself and tell my 'real mental health issues' to shape up then shall I?

*Do you use either of those?
*

God this thread is depressing - can't understand how people can be so wasteful

Of course I have mod cons. But my point is that we didn't all die when it was actually impossible to wash towels and bedding constantly so it seems madness to think that after 1 use things are so dirty they can't be used again now, in 2019. How do you think your great grandmother survived with all those slept in beds and used towels?! Hardly anywhere in the world would this be considered normal or acceptable.

If it’s not dirty after one wash then why would it be dirty after two or three or seven or ninety?

Because of slow and gradual build-up of dirt on the towel over multiple uses. Obvs.

and who has space to hang them properly anyway?

But you have to dry them after washing surely?

Washing the bed linen every day and towels every use?

I just don't believe this nonsense.

So utterly unnecessary and wasteful.

Those of you who feel the need to wash towels after each use may find you are able to reduce the frequency of this if you start to wipe undercarriage and bum with a bit of loo roll to dry off, rather than use the towel for those bits.
Just a thought.

LaFreaka nope, I’m claiming that award. I have a dislocated shoulder and DH has been away a lot, so my bed sheets haven’t been changed in 3 weeks 🤢 I could strip the bed and wash the sheets, but then I’d be sleeping on the matress.

I have washed the pillow cases.

And I am able to shower

Do none of you ever get, erm, bodily fluids on towels? When you're drying your bits? I always wash adult bath towels after one use, might recycle the kids' ones.

And if a bath towel is 1/3 of a load, you need a bigger washing machine!

@ILoveMaxiBondi drying with a smaller towel---that's freaking genius!!!

I'm always looking for ways to cut back to be green and this would be one way.

People may think its nonsense that I wash my linen everyday but I cannot sleep unless I do. I physically cannot sleep in a 'dirty' bed, that's the way my mind works.
Sorry that it doesn't fit in with your 'norm'.

But if you drive a car, eat meat/dairy, buy non local produce, shop online, leave appliances plugged in etc... then you are in absolutely no place to judge anyone else on their habits. Very easy to point the finger at others instead of looking internally.

This is a link to a ted talk explaining how few people in the world actually have a washing machine. Feeling very fortunate to be living here and now.

www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_and_the_magic_washing_machine?language=en&utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare

I wash towels after every use

and what about the planet?

Oh my goodness, some of you lots are going to love me. We're a family of 2 adults and 2 children, we merrily share towels and I'm not sure how often we wash them. Maybe once a week, give or take. We don't have a towel-washing schedule.

We all have a shower or bath every day and have several towels on the go so there are always dry ones available. We don't have a tumble drier so dry indoors / on radiators / outside on the line.
Any time there's space in a wash we grab a towel to fill it. If there's one that smells damp / musty then that's the one that goes in.

It's heartbreaking that there are so many people out there who clearly don't give a single shit about the environment. I presume most of these daily-washed towels are also tumble-dried for hours?!

Seriously, any bacteria that might grow in a few days on a slightly damp towel that's been used to dry a clean body are not going to do you any harm. In fact, they are probably essential to the working of your immune system.

Honestly I've used the same towel for the best part of two weeks (camping, some luggage lost, long story) and suffered no ill effects. I also only change my bedding about once every six weeks and guess what... No I'll effects either. (Though I do change pillow cases weekly and use a sheet between me and the duvet.)