To think it’s unhygienic to change bedding every six weeks?

[Lycidas]

Had this discussion with SiL. She insists we can do it fortnightly because we only have one DC (they have three), and it’s too much effort to do it more often with so many beds to change. Pillowcases do get changed weekly. She’s obsessive about cleanliness in most other domestic areas so it’s quite surprising to me...

I wonder if there's a difference between those who use cotton/silk/merino bedding and those who have synthetic materials. You would sweat more with synthetics, and I know the synthetic top I have smells nasty fast, whereas those with natural fibres are fine after a quick airing.

Were closer to monthly here, unless someone has been ill, but the beds are fine.

Calledyoulastnightfromglasgow Wed 25-Dec-19 07:44:37
Whenever these ridiculous conversations come up I am reminded me of life perhaps 60 years ago together with the fact we are becoming sicker - and possibly living shorter lives - because we are too bloody clean
........
I thought people were generally living longer and staying younger nowadays.

I'm seventy next week and my mum always changed the bedclothes weekly - in the days when people often had a washing machine with a wringer on top, later on mum graduated to a twin tub & eventually an automatic but I was adult then; I did the same though now I'm on my own it's maybe fortnightly.

It's not a chore to put them in the machine. I 'get' that if people had, say, four lots of bedclothes to wash they would take up a lot of drying space but they surely don't all have to be done on the same day and can be put in the washing machine at any time of the day or night.

GailCindy "decent household hygiene" and "C-sections" don't sound like scientific language, and caesarean sections aren't a "lifestyle change", but healthcare/ obstetric practice. What public health report is that?

Bluerussian obviously it's not putting fabric into a washing machine that's time consuming, rather striping and remaking bunk beds especially. Once kids strip and remake their own beds it's faster. I always wonder what the motivation is of posters who disingenuously misrepresent household tasks as consisting only of the least demanding and quickest element of the task (typified by posters who say that cleaning a house is a quick and easy task as "how long does it take to run a hoover 'round?" (ignoring the fact that a paid cleaner would be paid for at least 4 hours work per week which wouldn't include the daily "as you go along" tasks nor any tidying).

I sometimes think this type of post must come from someone who's partner is a sahp or part time worker, who has an agenda involving expecting that partner to do all the domestic worker and not expecting to be appreciated because it's practically nothing...

I have no problem with this either, might do more frequently in the summer when I can get them dried outside and do pillowcases more often but certainly don't do duvet covers more than once a month. This is the kids though, I do ours every 1-2 weeks but that's because I am a sweaty betty overnight.

Roughly weekly here. 6 weekly would be far too long for us. But each to their own.

I don't wash them more often than that. We all wear pyjamas that are washed frequently

I change monthly as life is too short. Though I will do more often if the weather is hot in the summer.

I really don't sweat in the night. Despite other menopausal complaints I have luckily never had night sweats and would just find changing sheets more often a complete waste of energy and time.

I knew somebody who washed hers once a season! She said she liked her own smell lol.

Pillows and sheet weekly. Duvet cover every two weeks (flip it weekly). Otherwise, ew. Sweat and skin flakes and fluids...

I do mine once a week take them off in the morning and wash and they dry by the evening on the airer

notnowmaybelater, you have a point, I hadn't thought about it in that way but, yes, actually stripping the beds and putting on fresh bedclothes is time consuming. Not so bad if you work in pairs. I hate housework by the way :-).

Hope everyone has a happy Christmas.

Mine are changed weekly. My cleaner does it so that makes it less annoying :-)

I wonder if there's a thread about this on a male dominated forum on Christmas day. My god, get a bloody life.

No c sections in my house so we can be as minging as we like - yippeee.

That 'public health report' sounds utter bollocks and I cannot raise a tiny flying fuck over how often people change their sheets. Nope, cannot make myself care. Lucky me.

Every six weeks is far too little.
Yuk.
I change mine every two weeks.

I'm confused. Your header says six weeks but your OP says two weeks?

Just do what you want to do, and leave everyone else to what they want to do. My DSS, who got told he now has to change and wash his own bedding just over a year ago, has not changed it since getting told this.

Now THAT is disgusting. But even he showers every morning and is fresh to start each day, and it doesn't seem to have done him any harm.

I don't go near his room though, it's an absolute tip. It's the one part of the house he's responsible for!

We kept warm in the winter with a complicated arrangement of layered bedding. Soft cotton sheet, then cellular blanket, then itchy woollen blanket where you couldn't feel it, another sheet of some kind, all covered over with an authentic 70s bedspread
This is what my Granny had but with a wee thin old fashioned quilt and the essential candlewick bedspread of course! Apparently you could put your thick blankets outside on a frosty night to freshen up etc without washing them fully. Only good if you had a spare blanket though.

I have no idea how often ours get done, dp does it and I don't count the days in between. Oh and the dog sleeps on our bed too, so extra yuk points on MN for us I expect

When I was in my twenties with no washing machine or drying facilities (apart from the local launderette) I would let it go 6/7 weeks without even thinking about it. I’m in my fifties now with a well fitted and spacious utility room and do them once or twice a week. I’m no healthier as a result but I do feel like I’m winning at life.

Incidentally, I was recently away for a month and came back to DH changing the sheets. When I challenged him, he sheepishly admitted that was the first and only time he’d done it.

Weekly here

@LadyMinerva

That was poor wording from me. I meant that my family changes them every fortnight.

That's about what I do. I don't really take much notice of it, just get round to it when it seems necessary.

Weekly here.

3 times a week? 90 degree wash? Talk about extreme