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Housekeeping

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Original poster

If you really do three loads of washing a day....

357 replies

Clary · 30/10/2006 13:42

That?s 21 a week, right? What are you actually washing? I?m not having a go, just interested (following ?how many times? thread) in how many people claim to do this much washing.

Yes, some days I might do 3 loads (if one of the kids has a night accident eg) but the next day probably none.
Are you mega washers really doing 21 washes a week? Are you all really dirty? what?s your laundry list, come on, I need to know if there is laundry I am failing to do.
(I have three DCs btw)

OP posts:
Adorabelle · 30/10/2006 23:11

Using a clean bath towel when you get out of the
bath is just 'normal' to me.

I would never use a bath towel that had already
been used by someone else, so I would never expect someone to use a bath towel that had been used by me, even though I know full well that it's claen.

Plus i'd never give a damp towel to my dd/dh, & we all bath pretty close together, dd & me do bath together so I wouldn't want them them to have a soggy towel!

Piffle · 30/10/2006 23:12

I use the lakeland ones
They are good
not for heavily soiled items - I do still spray with vanish or use vanish in wash for stained things.

collision · 30/10/2006 23:13

Clean towels every day!

I just redry mine on the radiator!

Piffle · 30/10/2006 23:13

I have a towel, dp has one, as do ds and dd
WE hand them on our towel rails or on the radiator or landing bannisters to air and dry
I would wash them twice a month at the most and they never smell.

hatwoman · 30/10/2006 23:14

i can understand not using a towel used by someone else (though personally, if it's dh or dds can't really say it bothers me) butwhat's wrong with using one previoulsy used by yourself?

Skribble · 30/10/2006 23:32

We each have a towel in use and it does a couple of days.

I think you do have to think of the envirnomental impact of all this washing. Says me with the tumble drier humming away . Oh and I draw the line at rinsing things in the bath . Would be hard to wring out and dry without it dripping everywhere.

Adorabelle · 31/10/2006 00:52

Dh & I have a clean towel each every night, a small guest towel, have never thought twice about
having a clean towel after each bath.

Dd also has a fresh towel after her evening bath,
I didn't realise this was so 'decadent', just seems natural. We are not environmental savages, we recycle everything from our jam jars to our junk mail to our old clothes (& we use cloth nappies) I just believe having a freshly laundered towel each day isn't that much of an extravegance. Please feel free to disagree.

ShinyHappyPurpleSeveredHeads · 31/10/2006 08:37

Ok tumble driers.. I only use mine in the Autumn/Winter months when I absolutely can't get stuff dry on the line. I do dry some stuff on the radiators/clothes horse but have to consider not allowing the house to be damp because of DS1's lung condition.

I am just waiting for my first (of what will be 2 today) economy washes of the day to finish so I can peg it out with a load I did late last night. On sunny days like today, you can get it dry on the line if you put it out nice and early, even in October.

With respect, would just like to mention that some of us can't afford good quality towels of the type you get in Lakeland. I love the feel of luxurious towels but have never ever owned even one! Some of our towels are 12 years old dating back to when we moved in together.

I would not expect people (within families) to re-use soggy towels.. but if you dry them out on the radiator or hang a big one up on the bathroom door, they dry off quickly and can be re-used. So yes, we re-use towels but if one looks or smells anything less than clean I put it in the wash bin.

Everyone is going apesh*t over clean towel overuse, whereas most of you seem to wash your bedding weekly which in my opinion (for grown ups and/or people without continence issues) is pretty unecessary. For an average sized family, washing (and often drying) a whole load of sheets and duvets sets = a fair amount of consumption. Doing it fortnightly would obviously halve that consumption so imagine the saving if everyone who changed bedding weekly went to fortnightly!

(A hell of a lot more palatable than using towels for longer than you'd rather...)

ShinyHappyPurpleSeveredHeads · 31/10/2006 08:38

*should say grown ups/children out of nappies re duvets etc

Original poster
Clary · 31/10/2006 08:46

Oh goodness what have I started?
Didn?t mean to get at anyone, sorry JARM et al. At least I have the answer to my question - you are all washing your towels! Yes, if I did towels every day I guess that would add 6 loads a week. I do mine once a week and honestly they are fine. They dry out after a daily use (and in fact I don?t bathe the kids every day - for ecxema (sp?) reasons among others.) Adorabelle, we all have our own towels thanks (ugh! at using DH's towel!)
The drying racks and ironing pile are massive in my house anyway, anything I can do to get them down.
But I WOHM 4 days/week so do do most of my chores in the evenings.

I have to say that yesterday I washed the big sofa throw (as DS2 had wiped his tomatoey hands on it lol) with all our dark colourede that were in the basket. Then I did the towels. That left half a load of kids coloureds (I wash separately as use non-bio for them) and ditto kids whites, plus a few of DH?s shirts. If I had put that lot together and done a third load ( at the idea of mixing coloured and whites) I would have no washing today! Maybe we are dirty. Last night I rescued: DS1: school trousers; DD; School skirt and cardie; DS2: trousers. Me: work skirt. DH: jeans. Everything else went in the wash tho.

OP posts:
ShinyHappyPurpleSeveredHeads · 31/10/2006 08:50

As a general rule of thumb, and with exception to underwear and socks, I'd suggest that clothes that look clean and smell ok can be re-worn. Can anyone think of a reason why they should not?

Bucketsofbloodydinosaurs · 31/10/2006 08:53

So, those who wouldn't use the same towel as their DP, do you never get up to anything unhygienic with your him? Fair enough not using a damp towel but if all your towels are the same colour and they don't look or smell dirty, how would you even know who had used it last? Surely by automatically slinging a towel in the linen bin after each use you are perpetuating your own problem? Would it really make me people feel worse - knowing they had shared a towel with their DP even if it meant they had less housework to do? What's the worst that could happen?

Bozza · 31/10/2006 09:03

I do agree with you bucket. However DH and I have an en-suite that is only used by us. We have a 3-rung towel rail. His goes on the highest, mine goes on the middle one and the hand towel goes on the the lowest one. Problem sorted. And we do share the hand towel.

DS and DD are generally the sole users of their bathroom (we have a downstairs toilet so most visitors use that except when the kids friends are playing upstairs). They have a handtowel hung by the sink which is virtually unused and a bath towel each. DD is 2 and finds the need to assert herself by using whichever towel DS wants to use - so they end up swapping all the time.

ShinyHappyPurpleSeveredHeads · 31/10/2006 09:05

En suite bathroom! [blatant ]

Loshad · 31/10/2006 09:24

SHPSH, absolutley - anything that looks/smells ok goes back on - both the youngest DS's went in yesterdays shorts today to school, and i have on yesterday (and the day befores) jeansbut as i don't have the heating on i couldn't get the wet mud to dry on the older 2's trousers, so couldn't try to brush it off, there were added grass stains anyway, quell surprise

Original poster
Clary · 31/10/2006 09:24

hahah bucket!
All our towels are different colours (but in toning shades of blue and green ) so we know who's is who's.

OP posts:
Trinityrhino · 31/10/2006 09:26

goodness, the towel thing is a suprise to me, I thought that using a towel to dry your CLEAN body meant it wouldn't matter to anyone to share with their kids and dh/dp. We sure do, quick dry of your self bung on towel rail, kiddies might use it at bedtime.

Original poster
Clary · 31/10/2006 09:27

oooh should that be whose is whose????
at terrible grammar error and worse still, not knowing.....

OP posts:
Original poster
Clary · 31/10/2006 09:28

actually we have separate towels becauase of excema/impetigo (had it in the past) worms (ditto) etc. Don't really want to pass all that lot around more than necessary.

OP posts:
Trinityrhino · 31/10/2006 09:31

you can't catch excema

Bozza · 31/10/2006 09:33

I don't know why DH and I keep seperate towels. We usually shower one after the other so obviously need two towels on the go, but would not harm to interchange. I think it might be because my MIL washes towels after each wash and so this was my compromise with DH to train him into less frequent towel changes.

As for DS and DD, they share the bathwater so interchanging towels hardly seems a biggie.

misdee · 31/10/2006 09:35

no but infected eczema is nasty, and if you have 3 kids and dh with eczema and one person infected, its wise to keep towels seperate.

Trinityrhino · 31/10/2006 09:37

point well taken misdee. my two have both had their excema infected at some point, and yes obviously you woudn't share towels in that instance. the post just made it sound like her reason for never sharing on an everyday basis.

Bugsy2 · 31/10/2006 09:43

Heavens above, no wonder we've got global warming!
I can understand people having to do more if they have special reasons, but excessive washing isn't good for fabric, skin or the environment.

I probably do a load a day, maybe slightly less. I don't have a tumble dryer, so when I wash things, I have to think about how they'll dry too.

ShinyHappyPurpleSeveredHeads · 31/10/2006 09:46

Yes, I think maybe having a tumbler makes us more inclined to wash stuff that doesn't really need washing yet..

Today I am in a less stroppy mood and this thread, although judgemental in places, has made me think twice about what I casually bung in the wash. I'm going to try to cut down further.

(My two loads are blowing beautifully on the line!)