to as how long ‘stuff’ lasts for you and your family

[Merryoldgoat]

I’m doing to laundry after a week of sickness so we’re folding a mountain.

My towels are looking threadbare.

Underwear has developed holes

Stuff looks old even though it not.

I need new sheets even though the current ones are only about 2 years old.

I feel like I’m constantly replacing stuff. Am I the only one?

I don’t buy cheap stuff but it’s not the most expensive you can get. All 100% cotton etc.

Are we just hard on stuff or is this standard?

Our towels are about 4 years old and they are starting to feel like cardboard. They need replacing.

We were given some sheets from my mum for Xmas about 3 years ago and I've just replaced them.

It depends how many of each item you have and how many people use them, how often they get washed and at what temperature.

I have towels that are 15 ish years old, now need replacing, only from Tesco!

Sheets last a good few years too, try and buy 200 plus thread count

I have just got rid if knickers that were 10 years old, mostly in good condition

How often do you wash these things? And in what temp

I tend to use stuff as long as it's functional...

Oh just thought. I've got some towels that my mum gave me when I left home 30 years ago.. and they were old ones of hers!

Do you tumble dry stuff s lot? That reduces the lifespan of stuff.

Just thought as when you said towels were threadbare I thought how?! Mine develop things like edges coming off before they get theadbare.

Other thing is I tend to get decent quality (in the basis I only need a new one... Actually not need, want when I see a nice pattern or something) about twice a decade! So that may be a factor as well.

It's not just you OP, I live alone and I'm careful with things, but, always having to replace stuff like duvets, pillows, bedding and clothes! Don't know how I do it 🤔🤔.

Is it the tumble dryer? I don't tumble dry and on the whole my stuff lasts longer than that. It can vary massively though, even for similar items, with no real pattern.

Oh sorry you said decent quality.

Tumbledrying?

Towels and bedding seem to be indestructible here.

Pants and socks yes v fragile these days. Annoying.

Socks go through in no time.

Might last marginally longer if the kids would Cut Their Fucking Toenails more often! That go through at the hell as well though. Quality is shit these days.

I have towels that I bought for university almost 15 years ago and they're still going strong.

Bedsheets we've had four years (when we got our current bed) and likewise they're just fine.

Underwear tends to last maybe 2-3 years but they're worn and washed much more often than any other items of clothing.

What temperature are you washing stuff on and how often?

My towels are Asda and Dunelm and both 16+ years and absolutely fine. I don't tumble dry anything
Bedding I've had similar amount of time
Knickers tend to wear more quickly (I'm guessing as you're washing them more!)

DH and I are both using towels we were given for our wedding 25 years ago. We were given 8 and we've only used 2 of them!

That said, socks don't last for any time at all. I'm always buying new ones.

My bed linen and towels are from 2004 (wedding gifts). All John Lewis. It's beginning to show its age.

We have kids bed linen that must be about 24 years old. Gift to a cousin then handed onto us.

My Dad is still using towels that I have wrapped around me in baby pictures (I'm early 40s)

My bedding and towels are middle of the range Dunelm. They last forever, I wish they wouldn't then I could justify buying new. Duvet covers 15 years old and perfectly ok.
Clothes as well. I have clothes that I wear every year older than my children (20s).
Socks, pants and bras on the other hand seem to last a year.

Gosh... I've got towels I've had for 15 years and they're honestly like new.

Ditto bedding.

I don't tumble dry anything though.

Oh, and I don't wash towels every time they touch my body! Once a week.

Could be a silly point but I wonder whether washing in hard or soft water makes a difference? You really feel the difference in hair condition so maybe fabric too?

The nice tk maxx bedding 200 thread count is still fab and in the time I have had that I've chucked two cheap ones (one Tesco and one Aldi) that alternate with it. The next ones that you get two in pack are also lasting really well.

The Matalan and Asda towels are running thin but the other ones (department store brand but can't remember which one) are still as new.

The cheap summer duvet I bought last year is suffocating me (as abs not breathable) so I'm buying a goose down one.

I've decided I need one set of towels per person every 2 years (one out one in the wash) and the same for duvets.

It is so annoying spending money on these things.

Buy cheap buy twice is never truer!

Towels from 2009, bed covers from 2012. I've recently downgraded some towels for cat-drying and wiping up yuck and bought some bamboo-cotton mix towels online (big mistake, they take ages to dry). I do not use a tumble drier.

This is going to be the new MN chicken isn't it!

OP you're doing EVERYTHING WRONG.

I have towels that were woven in 1758 and they are still fine! We use them for everything-

Tents for camping
Protecting plants outside over winter
Lining the compost bin
Mopping up split drain cleaner
Testing the sharpness of garden forks by shoving them through the towel into the lawn

A quick wash and they're good as new!

Some people tut tut.

I would say 10-15 years

Towels last ages. We were given some 16 years ago and they're still fine. I tend to buy duvet covers every 4 or 5 years but I probably don't really need to.
The only thing I have to replace a lot is pillows. No matter what brand we buy or how expensive they are they never last more than a year before they are flat and uncomfortable. Perhaps we just have heavy heads!

What are you doing to it? We only buy high street stuff (Ikea, supermarket, Dunelm) and it's all quite old - some stuff is 10-20 years old or more and still in decent condition.

Sometimes I wish it would wear out faster so I could justify replacing things if I fancy something new or am tired of the colour.

@Pinkicecream

Could be a silly point but I wonder whether washing in hard or soft water makes a difference? You really feel the difference in hair condition so maybe fabric too?

We are super hard water here.

Tbh some of you would probs bin my towels. I was brought up with slightly cardboard towels and never knew any different!

First time we went to s hotel and they were soft I was... Woah!

So I'm used to it and DH mum did a good line in cardboard towels as well so... There you go!

@Pinkicecream

Could be a silly point but I wonder whether washing in hard or soft water makes a difference? You really feel the difference in hair condition so maybe fabric too?

Maybe not a silly point at all. We have very soft water - can get away with using normal dishwasher tablets with no salt and I've never descaled anything in my life.

Our dishwasher, washing machine, kettle etc lasts an average of at least 10-15 years. People in hard water areas seem to be endlessly battling limescale and it can't be good for appliances that use water and maybe the extra chemicals/detergents needed with hard water are bad for material.

We don't tumble dry unless desperate because it makes things creased and shrunken, so maybe there's something in that too?

towels - we still use the ones that were our wedding present - 15 years
bedding seems to start to thin after about 10 years. though we have a few sets that are much older.
no tumble dryer everything is line dried

We tumble dry, but I'd say we wash stuff on the lower end of the frequency spectrum That probably helps.

I’m guessing it’s the tumble dryer then - I tumble nearly everything.

The towels are fraying and pulled in places

Little holes are appearing on underwear and t-shirts etc

Maybe I need a washing line.

Towels and sheets around 15-20 years if reasonable quality to start with. I don't wash things that often and usually only at 40 deg in mild detergent. Underwear quite variable but a few years. Clothes -some of them are older than me and I'm nearly 50. Those aren't used very often though. Some clothes if I wear them a lot and wash them a lot it's more like a couple of years.