Are there really people out there who wash towels after only one use?

[meltedmarsbars]

Or am I a really gross slattern for thinking its ok to use a towel for a week before washing it?

I know the teatowels wouldn't actually harm us if left a little longer ... it's just that if I use one a couple of times and let it dry, then use it again to dry a glass, the glass tends to smell like very very slightly musty towel rather than like nothing at all. And it is a bit unpleasant.

So I just tend to chuck 'em in the wash I am doing, as I do one every day anyway (despite non-OCD towel habits ... we have a lot of food-encrusted, wet toddler clothes that cannot be allowed to fester).

That's why I buy graphite grey bath & hand towels for me & DH - no pressure to keep them gleaming white

We all have one towel each, never need to be cleaned more than once per week.

If towels are aired/dried properly after use there's no need to wash them every day (apart from swimming towels - agree about dirty changing room floors). Are people just not cleaning themselves properly when they're in the shower/bath??

Face cloths/tea towels/dishcloths fair enough, but every day for bath towels is a complete waste of energy/powder.

Yers there are. My MIL. ANd she had 5 children.

In fact, she washes everything, the whole appartment, top to bottom, every day.

She is Spanish though, so at least she can get it all dry.

I wash towels once a week. I change tea towels every day, sometimes more often if I have been working in the kitchen a lot.

Me and I wash and towels and bung the bathmat in with them i like clean towels rather using ones that have been left damp to dry

On a similar note does everyone just throw teatowels in with normal wash? my DM told me to wash them separately but it takes me ages to get a load together! WDYD?

Normal wash, but occasionally round up lots and do a hotter wash.

Throw 'em in with the normal wash.

I think it depends on how you actually use the towel though.

If I get out of the shower and just wrap a clean towel around myself my modesty's sake while I make the dash from our downstairs bathroom to our bedroom and I am 'air dried' by the time I get dressed then I would use it again. Maybe.

But if I get out of the bath after a long soak and give myself I thorough rubbing with the towel, do in between my toes, dry skin on knees and elbows, etc. then there is no way I would use it again! I wouldn't want to rub my dead foot skin (or worse) on my face next time I used it!

well i am an anti- slattern then and guilty as chrged

only if its after dd's bath and she's weed and pooed all over the towel

yep - only one use allowed then wash at 90 and a bit of teatree or white vinegar in the rinse. I try to pick an choose my battles with bacteria - I dont tend to sterilise much. However the kids are always picking up things impetigo, verrucas, and then there is dear hubby with occaisional athletes foot. The bathroom is the one place where I an a bit ocd. shower before a bath etc

only if someone outside immediate family uses it or someone in house is ill/infectious or something.

i wash my towels after one use, including handtowels, flannels and tea towels...my bathroom towels are all white...although am about to buy a differnt coluor, but cant see what that has to do with it. my mum is the same except we only have 2 of us, soon to be 3 in this house and she has 5 and at weekends 6. i just shove a white wash in every evening and then dry then in the morning. i dont like the thought of all the daed skin cells rubbed off all over them.

i tend to wash the towels used after a bath maybe 2-3 times a week but hand and face towels can be left for maybe 4-5 days i think. the reason for that though is the drying of the bum with the bath towels isnt a pleasant thought when thinking i may be drying my ladygarden with that corner of the towel in a few days time if i dont wash the towels regularly i do share my bath towels with DH so if we both have a bath/shower in the day the towel gets put in the wash that day

i also wash my bath towels after one use , change the hand towels every second day & change the beds twice a week , love to have things clean & fresh .

yes, I often wash after one use. Hand towels are changed every day and I wash the dc's towels after one wash. I wash mine every other day.

I'm a bit bug-phobic after a bad winter of D&V illnesses. Anyway the bathroom is tiny so there's not enough space to hang all the towels up so might as well wash them instead of having damp towels getting in the way.

Oh my god I feel a complete slob having read this thread. The only towels that are washed after one use are those we give to friends/family when they have stayed with us. DH and my towels get changed about once week as do those in the kitchen and downstairs loo. we have big bath sheets and all our towels are white so I would be constantly washing if i needed to change them after each use. I wash clothes (apart from jeans and big bulky jumpers) after one wear, but towels, definitely not...

I resolutely DO NOT feel like a complete slob, - quite the opposite, I think we are breeding a lot of OCD people who think they will die of a bit of dead skin cells from an unwashed towel.

Save the planet and your time, ladies! Wash your towels less often!

I'm with meltedmarsbars.....what about the environment . We all have a big bath sheet each, and those are washed once a week.Ditto bath mats. Hand towels in each bathroom (2) and downstairs loo washed twice a week and tea towels usually every other day but just bunged in with the wash of the day! There are other things to do in life! I suppose you all wash your bedding 4 times a week too! For the record I wash all our sheets etc about every 8-10 days and I don't think we smell. By the way I can't remember the last time someone in this house had a tummy upset or similar so it can't be that unhygenic.

as a vegetarian, non smoking, tee totler non driver i would say i am quite kind to the enviroment and i will continue to wash my towels every day

All towels apart from tea towels once a week. Tea towels everyday

I'm one of those people who talk about 3 loads a day too. Can you imagine doing them all every day

towels washed twice weekly
teatowels daily

all chucked in the general wash

I am unfortunate enough to have a job outside the home and do not need a second one as laundrymaid.

Scrub off the dead skin cells with a loofah/body brush, wash bums & ladygardens thoroughly then towels just have to absorb water