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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to say the washing sheets/towels and toilet brushes argument may have been solved...?

344 replies

WineAndTiramisu · 21/02/2019 10:18

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! Grin

amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/feb/21/self.html

I'm definitely more dirty than the cleaners verdicts!

OP posts:
Lweji · 21/02/2019 14:16

I normally do 4-5 a day and that's without washing towels after every use!

WTAF?

I don't do as many over one weekend. OK, it's just me and DS, but it's still two double/king size beds.

Are you a SAHM trying to justify staying at home while your children are at school or something? There is just absolutely no need for so many washes.

SaturdayNext · 21/02/2019 14:17

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!

How on earth? Do you have a million children?

Lweji · 21/02/2019 14:18

And if they are tumble dried, then it's even worse.

QuestionableMouse · 21/02/2019 14:18

@Caticorn if I have my period, I'll use a flannel for any leaky regions. On normal days, I just put my robe on and have a quick blast with the hair dryer before my pants go on.

lillighters85 · 21/02/2019 14:19

Cowsopinion I don't think anyone wants to make you personally feel bad, and I think we are all much more environmentally conscious than we used to be, and you're right that we all have areas to improve on. If this kind of feeling you experience crops up in other areas of your life, (the cant sleep unless thing) I wonder if you have some anxiety type problems that therapy could helpful with? Truly, not meant to sound like I'm picking on you, and it sounds hard to live with. But can you recognise that its irrational and bad for the planet to wash towels/bedding every single day?!

Myusernameismud · 21/02/2019 14:21

Speaking of wasteful, did nobody pick up on the poster on pg 1 who said they not only wash towels after one use, but use paper towels to dry hands. @AnnieOH1 I believe.
How completely, unnecessarily wasteful. You must have money to burn and not give a shit about the environment

Lweji · 21/02/2019 14:23

But if you drive a car, eat meat/dairy, buy non local produce, shop online, leave appliances plugged in etc

Do you?

At some point, do you just say fuck Earth and don't care about any aspect of saving energy/CO2 because others don't live like cave people?

LaurieMarlow · 21/02/2019 14:23

Wow, some of you clearly hate the planet and love spending time doing washing. I wash towels weekly. I do far too much washing as it is (2 small boys) I'm absolutely fucked if I'm doing 7 times that amount. None of us are ever ill.

LaurieMarlow · 21/02/2019 14:24

use paper towels to dry hands.

I saw that too. Absolutely shocking waste.

Badtasteflump · 21/02/2019 14:31

God I cannot believe the amount of washing people do with changing/washing beds and towels every day you must spend all day doing housework!

Here towels get washed after a few uses and beds get changed every couple of weeks. As far as I know we're all healthy enough and I don't have to spend every day chained to the laundry room!

Dexra · 21/02/2019 14:33

When I was at uni, I left my bedding on my bed for two years without washing it. I think I had a couple of colds but nothing worse than what I get now washing the sheets every couple of weeks.

reallyanotherone · 21/02/2019 14:36

But if you drive a car, eat meat/dairy, buy non local produce, shop online, leave appliances plugged in etc

Not an argument. Every little helps. If every single person does 1 thing, be it eating less meat, doing less laundry, buying locally, making one less car journey- the combined impact is huge.

It’s not about everyone has to make every effort, or there’s no point bothering.

MammaSchwifty · 21/02/2019 14:37

When my now infant DD is fully grown, and scratching a mean living off the thin dust that covers the insect-devoid arid land, in constant threat of the super-bacterial infections that tear through society on a seasonal basis, she'll come to me in my tent where I lie on my death mat, and I'll whisper through my chapped and leathery lips:

'I'm so sorry darling, but people of old simply couldn't sleep on anything but freshly washed and tumbled bedding, once dried with a daily clean towel'

And as my consciousness drifts to blackness, I'll see the puzzlement and betrayal on her face as the last thing I see on this planet, and I'll hear her voice for the last time:

'Mother, what is 'tumbled' and what do you mean, 'towel'??'

vasillisa · 21/02/2019 14:38

Once a week but 40 or 50 degrees. Apart from if we have a bug, then I would do more often. It's hard surfaces you have to watch though. handles, phones, keyboards, loo seats. I think our house is fairly clean but I am a lot more squeamish when it comes to loos/doors/tables service stations or coffee shops. I know the stats about men and handwashing. There was a big survey a few years ago. Grim. Wet wipes to the ready.

Twinstitute on BBC did an experiment about hand gels vs hand washing. Hand gels used as prime means of cleaning hands wipe out all bacteria even the good ones on the skin and allow dangerous ones to flourish. 20 seconds with the soap and warm water and cheerful vigour came out as much the best way.

vasillisa · 21/02/2019 14:43

Don't get me started on loo brushes though. Or toothbrushes.
Just to say if I was ever made prime minister (unlikely) it would be 3rd on the list, after peace and poverty reduction had been tackled.

Yeah I know, crime and education can wait.

The NHS would be a project for day 2. Don't worry, I've not forgotten it.

But mucky horrible bog brushes...!? (not against clean ones, and regular replacements, just the minging ones)

reallybadidea · 21/02/2019 14:47

My mum has had the same toilet brush since before I left home 22 years ago Envy

OftenHangry · 21/02/2019 14:54

I wash towels once a week (that's 4 sets, 2 each) on 60 with mix of washing powder and vinegar. Washing after every use is just incredibly wasteful.
Were you all super washers doing it during drought too? Shock

Badtasteflump · 21/02/2019 14:55

Loo brushes should be banned!

Instructions for poo splats:

Scrunch up big wodge of loo roll
Stick your hand down the loo and rub off poo
Flush
Poo gone forever with nothing hanging around to remind you of it!

Maybe I should get that made into one of those 'life' signs people have on their walls Grin

SapphireSeptember · 21/02/2019 14:59

I wash my towels every couple of weeks (I have three bath sheets and one bath towel I use in rotation, I can make one last a week) and I probably change my bedding once a month (because I have a shower before I go to bed.) I couldn't dry myself with a hand towel, they're called hand towels for a reason! I have one hand towel that I barely use, and several flannels that I don't really use much either.

Do I get the thread minger award? Grin

Added to that I use environmentally friendly washing powder and fabric softener, most things get washed on 40C, except for my work stuff which goes on a 60C because by the time I've finished an eight hour shift I'm sweaty and covered in food!

OftenHangry · 21/02/2019 14:59

Wait. You all change loo brushes regularly? Not just when they break? Shock

dementedpixie · 21/02/2019 15:00

I don't use toilet brushes for poo splats, I use the toilet roll method. I do use them when cleaning the toilet. Squirt cleaner down toilet, leave for a while, brush and flush

CoperCabana · 21/02/2019 15:01

As a previous poster, can’t remember ever washing towels or sheets at uni. And I survived. I either must be super human or you lot are destroying the planet, wash by wash, tumble by tumble.

ILoveMaxiBondi · 21/02/2019 15:01

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.

Yes a hand towel. Not bath towel or bath sheet. My hand towels are not as small as 2 A4 bits of paper though.

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

I bath about twice a year. Shower daily.

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

How does the dirt get on? if it’s not getting on with the first use I can’t see how it would get on with the 2nd/3rd/4th use. I think what you mean is that it isn’t dirty enough for you to feel it needs washed after one use and you’re happy to let it get a bit dirtier before washing. Which of course is your prerogative and I have no issue with that. I don’t think you’re disgusting or anything. I just prefer a fresh towel for every use.

Feeling very fortunate to be living here and now.

Me too. For many reasons. I’m grateful everyday for the luxuries I have.

LaurieMarlow · 21/02/2019 15:02

Stick your hand down the loo and rub off poo

See, i don’t want to do this. And loo brushes mean I don’t have to. Win.

Loo brushes aren’t hard to clean.

AntoinetteOuradi · 21/02/2019 15:04

This thread is batshit 😂😂😂

The only person I know who thinks towels need washing after one use is my DD. She uses about 45 towels for one shower, then leaves them on the floor "to be washed".

I, too, need to start hiding them.

As it is, I dry all wet towels above the Aga and re-use them until I need to make up a wash at some point.

We are still alive.

I have never counted my weekly laundry loads, either. It gets done when I notice that the basket is full.