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?

I change mine weekly but then I have more sex than average in it
intrigued - what is average? (sorry, off-topic)

Weekly for my bedding, probably fortnightly for both ds, as they're still little and get bathed before bed every night. I love doing washing, and like Gemma look for things to 'freshen up' and get out on the line when it's nice weather. If was left to dh it would be next to never, but we have come to the conclusion that if we ever split he would have manky clothes and bedding due to hatred of laundry and I would have a manky bathroom as I hate cleaning the bath/sink etc with a passion :-)

There are 7 of us in our house, 2 adults, 3 teenage girls a 3 year old and a baby.

I do 1 wash per day(11kg washing machine). Maybe 2 on a Saturday for uniforms.

Our bed changed once a week,baby's cot every week or less.

Everyone else's beds every 2-3 weeks.

We all shower / bath daily.towels changed every couple of days but the large washing machine is fantastic for energy costs and the environment. I can fit in 2 double bed clothes plus a normal load.

I don't think anyone is wrong.its all personal choice. There aren't many 'dirty' people around any more!

Just changed the bed today...do ours and the DCs weekly. Do the mattress protectors monthly.

After starting this thread about a week ago, I was inspired to wash every bed in the house. It took days despite the weather being "good drying days" as my mum would have put it. In fact, the last of the ironing only got done yesterday evening.

What a thought that I need to start all over again!!!

What is a thread worm? Hmmm, I have no routine. As and when I think it needs changing/ I remember. Prob more often in the summer when can hang out. I hate having wet washing hanging round the house all the time. Blush to admit it, but once hoovered the bedding to save washing it

You are taking the proverbial surely?

If you don't know what worms are, then google.

all this stuff about not wanting wet washing- you do your sheets when it's a fine day! I even hang them out if there is snow as long as it's sunny and the temp gets above freezing.

I can do 1 load of king size and 2 single beds in a day usually- get each on the line. Takes maybe an hour to iron each- quick iron.

Monthly? I feel ill. That's disgusting. It is. No matter how much anyone bathes

Dontlaugh - We're monthly here too (sometimes even less often, no doubt - I don't actually write it down), and guess what? No one smells, no one has any diseases, or bodily creatures. The only beasties living in our house are clothes moths, which we inherited from the previous owners (thanks for that). Why the hysteria? I seriously don't get it.

As for the people who do 14 LOADS OF WASHING A WEEK, have no shame about doing everything on 60/75 degrees, tumble dry everything, and then say 'Well I don't give a shit because the big corporations don't care about climate change so why should I? I'll enjoy my freshly washed sheets while I can'... FFS. I don't get particularly het up about the environment, but that comment actually made me angry. If everyone stuck to 2 or 3 loads of washing a week, only tumble dried when absolutely necessary, did their washes at 30 or 40 degrees unless the load was particularly dirty - well guess what, people, that would actually make some difference. 'I'll enjoy my freshly washed sheets while I can'... Fuck's sake.

(For info - 2 or 3 loads of washing a week here, and that's 2 adults and 2 kids, including a 20-month-old who refuses to wear a bib at the moment, so every scrap of clothing he wears goes in the wash each day).

Beds usually weekly towels weekly dog. Beds and blankets 2 weekly ( the dont seem to mind)

Bedding fortnightly. Towels weekly. Of like to change mine weekly, but there's not enough time when we both work full time.

Out of curiosity, do those of you who wash your bedding weekly or more frequently air your beds during the day after use? It seems like lots of people I know don't do this

Sola Yes, for a while. I have the windows open pretty much year around too - so I throw back the covers as soon as we're up and they stay like that until I'm ready to go out, then I make the bed. So they get a couple of hours 'airing'. I can't stand to come home to unmade beds, so not all day, no.

I never realised you were supposed to vacuum the mattress Is this a RL thing or a MN thing?

Yes you turn back the covers to air the sheet.

Hoovering the mattress helps keep dust mites and their poop under reasonable control. A good indicator of too many is if you waked up with a blocked nostrils or stuffy nose that clears once you're up. Each dust mite shits out around 20 dung pellets each which you then breathe in while you sleep. There are many mites in a mattress/pillows etc.

*per day

I love chuckling my way down the thread (worm...)
Generally we aim for a weekly change. We shower/bathe daily. Towels are washed weekly - we each have our own but sharing occurs - eek... (Didn't realise that was a problem?!). We wash at 40 degrees, we are on a water meter, as much as possible when the sunshine is in our area the washing is on the line. I love getting into a clean bed & if I won the lotto I would have a clean bed everyday (a long with a few other luxuries). Slightly decadent? In my defense our machine is one of those large eco ones, 'tho it's still on daily, but then we are a family of 7 (including 3 teenage boys who 'do' loads of dirty sports and a DH who is a "manual" worker).
But each to their own. A few dust mites and thread worms are probably good for the immune system in the scheme of it all. Dare I admit - I have friends who let their dog sleep between them under the covers... So who am I to judge!! God knows how often they change their sheets

I wash mine one week (double bed) and the kids both the next week (two single beds). Towels are put into the wash after a couple of uses (by me) usually once by kids who just dump them in wash without thinking (well seen they don't do the washing and ironing). I don't have tumble dryer and living in Scotland it isn't always possible to hang washing out, so livingroom looks like a laundry most nights. I probably do an average 7 - 10 washes per week......working full time, I do a little housework every night and have a blitz one day at weekend....life is too short to be worrying about how often you wash your bed linen compared to your neighbour.......and to be doing housework all the time....believe me it is never ending no matter how much you do..........

BTW, it's rubbish that you need to wash everything to get rid of thread worms. Two doses of those little pills all round and you're done.

You are aware that the eggs are sticky and have to be physically removed don't you? They get into dust and stick to door handles,computer keyboard, remotes etc.

What's the point of taking pills when you can just pick up a stray egg and start the whole thing off again?

Bedsheets - once every 2-3 weeks depending on how much time we have and how much other washing needs to be done.

Towels - weekly.

Never used to have any sort of routine, would just wash things when I got round to it. But mumsnet guilted me into doing more washing...

Understand people who live the feeling of fresh sheets so do it weekly, but for me the pleasure of fresh sheets is cancelled out by the drudgery of stropping/washing/remaking the bed!

Threadworms and bed bugs are rare, surely?

I've never experienced threadworms and the only time I ever encountered bed bugs was in an auberge in France. (And I wash monthly, unless something is visibly dirty, or the person who sleeps there has a cold etc.

My DC brought threadworms back from nursery and school, probably once per child. Little children not washing their hands after wiping their arses and before eating, bless 'em. The first time, i was told I would have to disinfect my doorknobs and deep clean my house from cellar to attic. This turned out to be utter nonsense. The pills work, though the pricier ones work faster than the own brand.

Sadly threadworms are not rare.

40% of all children under 10 have them at some time.

My DCs kept picking them up at school and even though I'd wash the bedding, wash Pjs, treat all of us with medicine, damp dust and vacuum the bedrooms and the whole house, they kept catching them.

I wish there was less ignorance about this. They are highly contagious as the eggs are invisible, and can hang around on clothes and under finger nails. All it needs is for a child to touch a book, bag, pencil that another child has used then eat something without washing their hands and they can be infected.

This is why I get cross when other people don't care and can't be arsed to wash their bedding - the worms come out at night to lay their eggs and your child's bedding and PJs may be covered in the minute eggs, which are then passed on to other people.

Daily because of my menopause and everyone else in the house every 4th day just because.

Mehsmum I posted before reading your post. Yes medicines work but have you never heard of re-infection? Unless you get rid of the eggs, your child will pick them up again, and probably pass them onto other kids. And many children ( and parents) don't know they have them. An itchy bottom is the sign but not all children will have this.

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.

What a selfish, short-sighted attitude! And to others who are washing towels after one use, everything at 65 degrees etc, then wow. Just wow. You ARE affecting climate change by doing that. Ridiculous.