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?

Decades. Some of my towels are 20 years old. Knickers get holey after 3-5 years.

No tumble dryer though! Pulleymaid instead

I don't remember ever buying towels. Maybe when I went to uni - 20 something years ago? No idea what brands - nothing very expensive though. Sheets, duvet covers and pillowcases - bought most recently 5 ish years ago and they're fine. I agree with a pp about pillows though - they get flat very quickly!

My stuff is ancient, and a lot was secondhand when I got it, but lasts ages. I wonder if it could be tumble drying? I don’t have one and not intending to get one.

Bed linen lasts for years - I have just thrown out some single sheets bought when the dc moved into single beds from the cost because they had worn thin so over 20 years ago. We had new duvet covers for our bed about six years ago, bought two sets, and they are showing no signs of wear. Our wedding towels wore out years ago - married 30 years.

Good quality feather pillows last for about 10 years here. Wash and tumble occasionally.

I tend to tumble linens and towels to no adverse effect.

I have just bought a couple of bras and knickers from M&S and whilst the price has been held, the quality/fabric is much thinner. They will not last and I'd have preferred to have paid more for the quality to be maintained.

I think it’s all about what people mean when they say “it’s fine” or “it’s perfectly ok” - in my experience some people think things are fine when they look very old and worn, but don’t yet have holes in. Everyone has different ideas about what looks ok.

I'm so careful with everything and I've got once beautiful bed linen that is old and needs replacing. Two sets are my favourites

I have a favourite towel which is over 30 years old!! Sometimes, when they get rough, they just need to go through the tumble drier

Wash underwear towels and bedding at 60c, get pulled threads from puss.things seem to last, tho buy good stuff and never white.
Heated airer, tumble driers strip fabrics

You need a socktopus for the baby stuff. Much quicker.

I don't mind pegging out. It feels more like pottering in the garden than housework.

OP, most people don't use fabric softener on towels because it stops them drying as efficiently. I wouldn't get white towels, but I don't have white anything because I'm too good at spilling things on me or attracting stains and I CBA with washing that requires more than just shoving it all in on a 40 wash (I do use the handwash cycle for my bras and jumpers but everything else just goes in together).

I only like cardboardy towels, anything soft and fluffy doesn't feel absorbent to me so my kids know no different. I've also dyed a whole lot of old towels to match a new colour scheme, easy peasy with Dylon pods.

Totally agree with that. In a tumble drier they come out all soft and floppy, then end up feeling slimy and non absorbent.

So much prefer line dried

@CatAlice

I reckon it's the hard water. I posted above that my towels and bedding last for years, what I didn't think about was that the towels are very course and rough. They are like that after a few washes. Our water is so hard if you descale the kettle you can see scale again within days. I know tumble drying softens towels a bit but I rarely use the dryer.

one of the BEST things I ever did was buy a water softener. Expensive to buy and fit but it makes towels and bedlinen feel nice and, I guess, last longer. It saves massively on stuff like soap, shampoo, detergent. Cheap to run too. I have got a filter tap for drinking, nicer hot drinks and no kettle scale. the filter units last well and are recyclable.

Our towels and bed linen were wedding presents in 1999 - all still going strong.

No tumble drier or fabric conditioner, though.

However, we kill kettles on an almost yearly basis - hard London water and idiot teenagers who rip lids off..:

Ooh and I promise I don’t work for them but I have 5 pairs of pants from Bodas that have lasted me 16 years. They’re a bit faded but otherwise fine! They’re amazing. Sadly I’ve outgrown them lately due to perimenopausal weight gain/ lockdown/ hotel chocolat addiction

Towels are John Lewis from 2007. Still fine. Sheets and bedding from about a decade to more recent. Wedo have some old sets that are from 20 years ago. Used for guest beds on the floor etc.

Underwear lasts a few years much less for the dc. I do have bras that the hippo wore on the ark. Eventually I either grew out of or grew sick of bras. Clothes ditto but t shirts get holes in.

Sounds to me like you may be overloading washer/dryer and/or tumble drying a lot?

Both reduce the life of linens.

I've stuff I've had nearly 15 years that looks good as new still and it's cheap supermarket/primark/wilko stuff too.

White towels look a little dingy but that's it.

How full do you make the washer/dryer? Should be no more than half full when you initially put the stuff in to allow sufficient space to work properly

I think you do need to spread doing the laundry out. Use indoor airers too, I have a simple radiator airer which easily holds half a load and I can get a load dry on there in 2 days easily even in winter.

Fabric conditioner is actually bad for towels

I don't use it as I'm allergic

@Hardbackwriter

Takes 5 mins to hang stuff on the line or airer.

It doesn't, though, does it? I am using the tumble drier much less at the moment because I'm trying to be green and I'm on mat leave so I'm around to put it out and take it in but sometimes I feel like I spend half my life either pegging or unpegging loads full of baby and toddler clothes that take me ages to put out piece by piece but which I could have just chucked in the tumble drier in literally 10 seconds.

It does for me, I don’t have a baby though so I guess my washing loads are made up of fewer but bigger items. We used to have a tumble drier but gave it away as half the stuff couldn’t go in it and separating it out took longer than just hanging it all up, plus no need to iron stuff that’s air dried if it’s hung properly.

My towels last a while, but I don't replace stuff unless it breaks. H is desperate for a new toaster, but the one we got in 1998 is still going- so it's staying!

Most stuff comes from M&S as most of my family work there so we get the 20% discount.

I inherited the contents of DMIL’s linen cupboard. When we were clearing the house I looked in and realized every shelf was three layers deep!
So some of our “stuff” is 50+ years old and very sturdy. You can boil wash, bleach and abuse it, all except the 1970s tablecloths which seem to be more handkerchief style cotton and rip easily.
But I do buy modern “stuff”. I like the Italian brand Mirabella for bed linen (12yo) and usually get a new set of quality towels every year with supermarket points (brands like Cassera or Somma).
Cheap IKEA polycotton duvet covers wash very well but I find their cheap cotton goes a bit floppy and creased, even more so if tumble dried.
Tumble drying kills anything elastic IME (so underwear goes on the line to dry) and I’ve replaced it on quite a few fitted sheets. It also “cooks” face cream into pillowcases… I occasionally make my own replacements to match a duvet cover.
Hard water turns white things grey in only a few washes. Vanish or Oxi slow the process down a bit.
Men’s sports socks from Decathlon seem to last the longest (5 years?) but women’s socks are just new from the supermarket every season. Very bad quality and shrinkage.

5 year white company ones are okay, not as fluffy but still good. Wash every 2 wears and tumble dry!

I always use a tumbler, I haven't ever had a line and I'm in my 50's.
I honestly think its the fabric softener, I have towels from when I was small ( dog towels now) and they are still in really great condition.
I don't/haven't ever used softener as I'm allergic.

Ive got Ralph Lauren sheets and towels which I brought back from the USA in the late 1990s. Still going strong.

For towels - no fabric softener is best. If they have been repeatedly already washed using softener you can soak in vinegar before washing. Napisan is a traditional product that is/was popular with terry nappy users. It can be used to perk up white towels other attributes listed in description. I would soak grubby white cotton sheets in it also before throwing out to see if they could be revived.
www.wilko.com/en-uk/napisan-non-biological-stain-remover-800g/p/0193665
If you don't love the puckered look of a tumble dried towel avoid purchasing the ones with a band.
Re holes in laundry you may need to measure the powder/liquid more carefully, too much detergent if you are a splash and dasher ( help yourself and buy cheap measuring spoons or cups that measure the amount you would normally need so you are less tempted to overdose the wash )
The main culprits for holes are listed here
www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/help/fix-it-yourself/washing-machine-washer-dryer/3672-holes-in-clothes-the-main-causes
Do up and lock zips if washing with other items all helps in avoiding holes.