How often to change the beds?

[dalziel1]

I saw a news article recently that said that about a quarter of people "admit" to changing the beds monthly. I do that and I didn't realise it wasn't nearly enough!

How often are we supposed to wash the pillow cases, sheets, duvet cover etc? The article implied weekly was about right. But in my case that would be around 3 more loads of washing every weekend.

That can't be right, can it?

Childrens beds every sunday morning. I would like to say the same for mine but in truth its more like every other weekend.

Washing? 1 white, 2-3 coloured, 1 DHs work clothes, 1 towels, 1-2 bedding, 1 household linen (teatowels etc). Probably 8-9 loads a week if nothing is out of the ordinary.

Monthly for sheets and only when I can hang them on the line. I bet a lot of other people only do it monthly too but don't want to say!

6 people.

1-2 loads every day, additional loads for towels and bedding.
No way on earth will I ever change sheets weekly.
We don't smell, our bed don't smell, and I am not squeamish about my own secretions or skin cells

6 in our house

Beds changed weekly, mattress protectors every 2 weeks.

Towels changed daily

Washing per week
2 x white, 4 x coloured, 2 x towels, 2 x bedding, 1 x hand wash dds gymnastics kit, 1 x farm overalls. Oh and 1 x wool wash in winter.

In my defense we do live on a farm and I have 4 sports mad kids, including 2 filthy rugby players. Machine is on permanently in this house

when it is needed. If there's been a bit of sweatiness for whatever reason, then more often. If there hasn't, then less often. But roughly weekly, not monthly which would mean they'd get very smelly.

bathing before bed rather than in the morning means you get into bed cleaner.

ditto towels; they go in the airing cupboard after use and get washed when they start to smell like they need it. Hand towels get done when they need it too, usually when they stop drying properly.

of course guests get into a set of fresh sheets and are given clean towels!

Weekly. But that's the cleaner's regime. If it was up to me, monthly.

ReluctantCamper vacuuming the mattress, spraying it with oust along with turning it round and over in rotation so the wear and tear isn't always in the same spot.

I need a life

Fortnightly, weekly when I wasn't working

no, you don't need to up your game, most people waste gallons of water doing excessive amounts of washing. Unless you sweat a lot or your bed sees a lot of action there's absolutely no need to wash bedding weekly, especially children's.

We were a family of 4 growing up and my mum did 4 loads a week, plus a couple more when she changed the beds (monthly, I think). 14 loads is a ridiculous amount for a family of 4, washing towels after one use is bonkers.

There's 3 of us and I do 2/3 loads of clothes a week, towels every 2 weeks, bedding every 4/6 weeks or so.

I really do think everyone needs to be on water meters, I reckon the amount of unnecessary laundry would drop like a stone.

Kids beds - fortnightly
My bed - weekly (incl protectors)

Mattresses are vacuumed & steam cleaned every couple of months.

As for laundry loads, I don't keep track but it probably amounts to 5-8 loads a week.

2 adults, 1 pre teen
3 adults, 1 pre teen when DS is back from university

Oh and towels are shared in this house (major MN crime) and are changed every other day.

How do you find the time for weekly washes? And the drying?

What with work and homework and chores and admin and blaaaaaaaaaaa. Another weekly task?!?

Weekly.. monthly is rank in my head.

But I'm a towels after every use person

Imagine lying in stale sweat and dead skin for a month shudder

daily towel washing?! Doesn't that mean the machine is always on?!

I do sheets etc weekly.
And my towels every couple of days.

Rooner, time? It's hardly time consuming. We don't use mangles and huge tubs anymore - it takes a couple of minutes to load the washing machine and set it going before I go out in the morning.

As for drying, I have a tumble drier, a washing line and big sheets/duvets can go over my banisters overnight (superking bedding which is too big and shrinks in the tumble drier). I transfer the stuff to the tumble drier when I get home and the stuff is folded and put away whilst dinner is on, or I'm upstairs running a bath, or whatever.

Every use doesn't mean washing them every day.

Unless you only have one towel each.

so you spend a load of energy and water on the washing and then a load more energy tumble-drying it? Climate change is clearly something that happens to other people, isn't it ?

Our DC and GDC are going to look back at our reckless energy consumption like this . All because some people have seriously skewed ideas about hygiene.

well, not 'all because' - I realized what a dim thing that was to say as soon as I posted . But really , I just can't get my head around it.

Do I use water to wash my clothes and energy to dry them? Yes, I do, rivertam. Do I feel guilty about climate change? Not really, no.

How on earth have you missed the other 652,000,064 threads on this?????

Sheets - usually twice a week, sometimes more in summer, never less than once a week.

Mattress protector & under pillowcases probably every 2 weeks, sometimes more sometimes less but never, ever, less than monthly.

Towels - (not shared!!) a new one after roughly every 3rd use, but I usually shower at least twice a day. They are allowed to dry then are put in the 'dirty towel basket' and washed when there's enough of them - every few days.

Tea towels - they get done as a load on their own, we use loads of them, they are allowed to dry then get put in the 't-towel wash bag' and done on a hot wash, on their own, about once a week.

Dark wash
Medium wash
White wash

Whenever there's enough to do a load or if someone needs something.

Don't count how many loads. Just do them, it's not as if I have to take it down to the river to do it

Rivertam - I think you should mind your own business really. I mean, if I was to get judgy about other people's habits I might would say how utterly minging only washing your sheets every 4/6 weeks is.

I cannot begin to get even remotely worried about climate change when the big businesses of the world contribute more to global warming than any other factor and most of them quite frankly don't give a shit (I know because I've worked for them). So I'll continue to wash everything as much as I like and enjoy my freshly washed sheets while I can.

All our sheets are washed weekly. Towels once a week. Hand towels & tea towels changed every few days.
I live in a hot country so can get washing on the line everyday. I do 1 or 2 wash loads a day. We are a family of 5. Mattress & pillow protector washed every few weeks.