Bathroom towels. Aibu?

[Lou780]

How does everyone handle bathroom towels? Does everyone in family have their own towel? Or do you all share whatever towels are in the bathroom?

We share. So that is me and my two adult sons.
You shower, dry off on which ever towel is on the heated towel rail and rehang it to dry. If it is still wet there is a basket of fresh towels in the bathroom where usually a cat can be found fast asleep, remove the cat and help yourself to a dry towel then add it to the towel rail.
No set pattern for washing as we are adults and can see and smell if a towel needs washing and add it to the wash basket.
hand towel by the basin again for communal use and always a flannel by the basin. Fresh one in the draw to be changed again by anyone who sees it needs washing or has used it to give their bum and bits a wipe over.

Hand towels, we have one in each bathroom (we have 3) which get changed twice a week. For towels used for bath and shower, these only get used once then put on a 40 degree wash. We don’t have our own designated towels. I’m beginning to think I’m a bit overboard now though...

I read somewhere online that you should change it after using it 3 times. So after 3 showers, it goes into the laundry basket.

But did you read it on the Persil website (sole aim: get consumers to use more washing powder)? Or on the online peer-reviewed Journal of Advanced Household Hygiene Studies (doesn't exist but YSIWM)? Think of all that water & electricity wasted if it turns out you were just an easy victim of a marketing campaign.

I wash mine every 2-3 weeks at 30 degrees. We have one each but only so we don't squabble over wet towels. I really don't mind using a towel that someone else in my family has used. I think most people do far too much laundry and are far too worried about hygiene.

DDog has his own towels. The rest of us share. Washed every week/fortnight-sometimes I lose track as they mess up my system by getting clean ones out 🙄. Hand towels changed weekly.

I am not a clean freak at all- at all! But when I went to my very fucking OCD neat and tidy and naice ex in-laws and saw that they had a communal towel system I was like WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK? You want me to dry myself with something any other person in this house could have dried their arse on?? And you won't let me wear shoes into the house because they 'might make the carpet dirty' are you insane??
(Short answer- yes, yes they really are hence the ex part of this)

Own towels, get changed weekly ish.

It doesn’t matter how many times I read threads like this (and it always crops up every few weeks), I can still never quite believe people wash their towers after each use. I mean, what is dirty about your clean body you’ve just dried? It’s such a waste of time, effort, energy, water etc.

Much of what I read on MN cleaning/washing threads I find OTT; I am no slave to domesticity or a clean freak but sharing damp, used towels isn't nice, sorry. I don't think you need to be washing them too often either, we do need to save energy and resources, but one each washed less often would do that. 4 people sharing one towel is yuck.

We have a full ‘menu’ of towels in each bathroom, options are Turkish, Waffle or Fluffy. For myself and my husband, if we use it more than once, we tend to have different tastes in towels (he likes the fluffy ones!) and separate heated towel rails. I tend to change mine out every couple of days, dh keeps his for a bit longer as he has a less active job. We have a special basket concealed in a cabinet in the bathrooms where damp used towels go, contents are washed, dried twice a week. All other laundry goes in a different basket, to avoid smells.

Gosh some of you must spend far too much of your life washing towels

As well as wasting water and vast amounts of electricity.

Everyone is supposed to have their own towels but the kids all use each other's and then take dh's. I have my own bathroom and generally no one takes my towels. I change mine twice a week, shower and hand, kids and dh put theirs in the wash whenever and I change the downstairs loo towel twice a week too but now I'm wondering if I should change hand towels daily? Kitchen hand towels are charged 1-3 times a day.

We all have our own towels in our own bathrooms but still would have colour coded towels if sharing a bathroom .. sharing towels is grim and no need to wash after every time if coded .

We have own colours. I was every day? I am starting to think this is excessive but I thought it was the norm?

There is a pile of clean towels in the airing cupboard.
I get one out when I go for a shower,use it then in goes in wash basket.
Everyone in the house does the same so a full load of towels goes in the washer usually every other day

purplereindeer you was daily and wash towels daily so presumably cleanliness is important to you. But your DP washes once a WEEK??? Oh dear god. What's the deal here? Do you actually still get intimate with him? Gagging.

Have to admit that I’m a bit that people share towels!

One set (bath sheet, face towel, flannel if alternative not used) each here, colour coded, washed at least once a week but usually 3-5 days. Communal hand towels changed every couple of days. Each member of the family has 3 sets of towels each for ease of replacement. Extra sets of towels are kept for guests.

We all share. Washed when I can be bothered. The environment thanks us and we're never, ever I'll because we're not mental Mumsnet germ-phobes.

We have our own towels that get washed every 3-4 days. I never even knew that families knowingly sharing towels was a thing. Sometimes my DH will get them mixed up and use mine, and (when I pick it up to use it and notice it's damp when it shouldn't be) it goes straight in the wash. I don't know why but the thought of sharing skeeves me out.

Never, ever ILL that should read. The kids also sometimes drop their food on the floor of the bus and then pick it up and eat it.

Towels are bane of my life. It's a free for all here and I constantly find damp towels in various bedrooms
Sick of reminding DCs to hang them up - I need a system!

We each have our own bath towels. We share a hand towel.
I also have my own hair towel and my own face towel because I'm a princess who requires 4 separate towels (I don't want the oil from my hair to get on my body or on my face, I don't want the 'germs' from the hand towel on my hair or on my face)

Always separate bath towels - all white so have different hanging spot. Washed every 4/5 days. Shared hand towel washed with bath towels.
Can’t imagine using a bath towel someone else has used. Realise this may be ridiculous qualm for some.

Clean hand towel put out each morning, and a clean towel each time we shower/bath. It’s a habit I can’t break. Shoot me down in flames!

I'm wondering if I should change hand towels daily?

Why would you do that?

Kitchen hand towels are charged 1-3 times a day

Why? What are you doing with them?

I'm not a germaphobe just don't like the fact I rub my fairy and bum with the towel to make sure it's proper dry. Why would I want to use it again the next day? Never thought I'd be writing this on mumsnet but here I am. Just makes me feel a bit grim I know I'm clean but it's just still?

So if you daily towel washes go on holiday, self catering, do you take or demand piles of towels?

Is this 'clean towel every day' supposed to make you feel you are in a hotel ?

Why on earth would you want to wash a towel after using it once to dry yourself after soaping yourself in the shower, or having a bath?

No wonder the planet is in such a state with all the fuel being used for pointless laundry.