The Great Mumsnet Laundry Debate, Part I. £300 Love2Shop voucher to be won NOW CLOSED

[PoppyMumsnet]

To celebrate Fairy Non Bio’s sponsorship of the Mumsnet Talk App, we’re launching the Great Mumsnet Laundry Debate – as with all great series, it's a three-parter. Part I is about how often you wash your bed sheets (as we know, always a hot topic on Mumsnet).

We all know that washing bed sheets can be total faff: there’s stripping the bed, then there’s putting the wash on (are you a warm 40C or a hot 90C type?) Then there’s hanging it out and the struggle for drying space (unless you use the dryer ?) After that there’s folding - and, for the super-keen, perhaps even ironing. Finally, there’s getting the darn things back on the bed.

So - how often do you wash your bed sheets? And how often do you wash your DC’s bed sheets? Do you have a specific process? Perhaps you change pillow cases weekly, but sheets and duvet covers every two weeks? How often do you change your mattress protector ( again)? Do you use softener?

Whatever your bed sheet-washing process, do share it with Fairy Non Bio in the thread below, and maybe even give us a live update from the Mumsnet Talk App as you're waiting for the load to finish .

Everyone who posts will be entered into a prize draw to win a £300 Love2Shop voucher.

Thanks and good luck!
MNHQ

T&Cs apply

We don't have a set routine. Every couple of weeks. Wash on 40 or 60. I do prefer bedding and towels on 60 but worry about colour fade. Recently started using fabric conditioner and powder- much better for machines!

Hang on line. Finish in tumble dryer. Never iron- life is too short!
Partner helps fold and remakes the beds!

3 DC.
In theory we change them every 2 weeks, in practice it probably is less often - more like monthly
Kids change their own. (youngest aged 8 has help) Which is a battle, which is why it is sometimes less often!

Wash on 60. Used to wash on 40, but repeated nits from school and cat flea issues, mean I now routinely do them hotter to kill off anything lingering. Can't do them on 90 as some sheets are poly cotton.

Sort washing into darks and lights. Asda's own colour care powder, fabric softener.

Tumble dry. I only use tumble dryer for sheets and towels.

No ironing, smooth and fold

mattress covers? hmm. Annually? When they look grubby?

Fortnightly. White cotton at 60, everything else at 40. I iron duvet covers and pillowcases but have fitted sheets.

That all sounds a lot more organised than it looks up close

My Bed washing process, step by step:

1. Every other Saturday, after my lie in and when the kids are out and about, I strip the bed cover, sheets and pillow cases from all the beds in the house.
2. Put the load on at approximately 60C, and wash (with Fairy Non-Bio, of course).
3. Either hang out to dry if we're lucky, or straight in the tumble dryer.
4. Spritz with some lavender oil.
5. Iron if needs me and finally,
6. Back on the bed they go, ready for a great sleep :)

We wash ours roughly once a week, 60 degrees ego cycle unless the sun is shining and then I choose 'speed perfect' to make the proverbial hay.

Baby DS' bottom sheet is changed when they need to be - several times a day if omitting etc, every couple of weeks if not. His sleeping bags are washed whenever the appropriate colour wash is going on; he has enough for a fresh one a couple of times a week.

I've only once ironed bedding in my life and that was when I was desperate to entertain myself whist waiting for labour to start - we also had spotless cars and oven.

When I was a student I had had a few too many drinks one night but came home early to look after my usually tee-total housemate who had not realised the punch may contain alcohol . I plonked her on the loo where she sobbed about not making her bed after washing the sheets earlier that day so I located the dry sheets and made her bed; appreciative she was not! My usually wonderfully sweet housemate was suddenly full of rage that I would dare to make her bed without first ironing the sheets I got an earful and many hugs in the morning.

Once a week, at 40, Lidl biological powder and a splash of Napisan. No ironing unless ds feels like doing the pillow cases.

Mattress protectors get done when they look a bit grubby tbh

Ours get done all at the same time, so 1 superking and two singles. Every 2 to 3 weeks. Bedding and towels all washed with bio liquid/powder/tabs and vanish oxy powder and extra softner all at 90 degrees. Towels done twice a week generally.
All tumbled and ironed then put away as have lots of sets, though will hoover the beds and air before covering up again!! Surprised to see peoplw wash at 30/40 degrees tbh!

Dc's get washed on Thursdays.
Ours on Fridays.

Protectors get washed maybe monthly. Duvets get hung on the line in summer and tumble dried in winter MAYBE monthly but it depends on how lazy I feel.

Sheets/towels get washed on 60. Duvets on the duvet cycle.

Wash them when I realise they've not been done for ages (at least 4 weeks) - ours- or when covered in snot (about fortnightly)-kids. Wash at 40 in non bio, usually with soda crystals or limescale tabs in. Dry on line or over airer (no tumble drier here).
Cant imagine having time / inclination to wash them all weekly.
Mattress protector -rarely. (kids if they wet bed)

In my head I do it once a week but the reality is more like every two to three weeks. I need to up my game!!!

Wash between 1-2 weeks depending on how bad it looks (white bed linen). Always washed at 40 and never with fabric conditioner, I hate fake smells and just think it's a waste of money really.
If it's dry outside it's pegged out, I actually get pleasure from seeing it all flapping in the breeze . I always iron it, I like it to look nice for one thing but also I love getting into bed when the linen is crisp and freshly laundered.
If I won the lottery it would be top of my list: having the most expensive bed linen and someone coming in every day to change it for me.

All sheets, pillows, duvet cover and mattress protector washed fortnightly, in a 40 degree wash. Couldn't possibly do any more frequently because of the sheer quantity of laundry I have to plough through anyway. I average about 2 loads a day. Dried in the tumble dryer unless it's scorching hot, in which case they go on the line. I don't have time or space to leave washing hanging around. Small house, lots of laundry, it would bug the hell out of me.

I was musing to DH last night that I don't know how people coped with having to go to laundrettes. I would have to move in!

Changing the bedding is a pain in the proverbial and my DH hates it when he discovers that I have 'taken it upon myself' to strip our bed . I always make him fit the bottom sheet on our mattress to save my nails. I use Fairy Non Bio actually as it doesn't aggravate DH's excema.

I try to do the beds every 2 weeks and get the washer on constant on my working from home day. Our bed has white 100% cotton sheet and pillow cases that I tend to wash at 60. The duvet cover is of lesser quality so I wash that at 40. The DC's bedding I do at 40. Each bed has a spare set of covers, but I hate the washing basket to be full of bed sheets (as it alwasy looks full then) so try to wash them as soon as I strip the beds.

I love my tumble dryer, so when the weather is poor in they go. When the weather is good they go on the line outside. The smell of sun baked sheets is lovely and I think the sunshine helps to bleach the white sheets to some extent to get rid of the grubby look when they haven't been washed as frequently as they should have been .

Fortnightly bed changes. I hate doing it.

Moses basket gets changed every two days (lots of spare sheets, so a few get washed at once with) Toddlers bed every week when she's at her Dad's, so it all has time to dry.

Mine gets done every two weeks - unless I'm seriously tired with new baby lately and it might be a little longer for the duvet cover but the pillows and sheet, every two weeks max.

All bedding gets done on the "Baby/Toddler Clothing" cycle on the washing machine Which is like 90 degress for three hours or something silly!

Hang it out where possible but do have a dryer - it makes it fluffy

It's never folded, it's grabbed in a heap and thrown on the bed until I'm mentally prepared to have to make it. Superkings are horrid.

I've used Fairy Non-Bio on all my washing since DD1 was born but I do put scent booster thingies in for my bedding.

Try co-ordinate a bed change with a nice bath! Nothing beats the feeling of clean body and clean sheets!

I aim at weekly but sometimes it stretches to two especially when OH and I are on opposing shifts and it seems like there's always someone in bed asleep (I work the late shift but he has some weeks of nights)
Wash at 50 lots of fabric softener and whenever possible dried outside as they smell and feel so much nicer that way.
Iron bedding? Good heavens NO !

Fortnightly. And we have a process. I do mine one week, and the dc's on the opposite week. So one king-size bed set one week, 4 singles the next.

Once a fortnight at the very least, weekly if I have the time. I have flat sheets so the duvets get washed less often.
40 degree wash because that's what the label says.
Hung outside if possible and tumbled in the winter.

Bedding is washed at 60 degrees weekly sometimes twice a week depending on the weather. I like to do them in a Sunday so we have fresh bedding for the new week ahead.

I wash them weekly most of the time unless we have been away for a few nights somewhere else then its every two weeks. I always use Fairy non-bio as we seem to have a sensitive skin family and its the only one that doesn't initiate itching or rashes. I always use a softener and its usually comfort. I prefer line dried - what is nicer than seeing clean sheets blowing in the wind and the smell when you get in bed after they are remade is fantastic - just cant beat it. Sometimes I get in just for the sheer hell of getting into a clean bed!

I wash all the bedding together every other week, on a long slow wash at 40C. I usually prefer to use the tumble dryer- it's very rare that the weather is hot enough to dry the bedding quickly and to keep it smelling fresh. I don't iron as the type of sheets we use seem to be crinkle free, and they sit nice and flat when I put them back on the beds.

Wash every 2 weeks here except for when DH is muck spreading - then it's whenever he's sat on the bed without washing.

It's about every 2 weeks, at 40 degrees economic 1 hour wash. Always use non-bio, as ds excema-y
there is NOTHING on earth as wonderful as a clean-sheeted bed. nothing.

I don't wash anything at 90 degrees!! seems a bit environmentally irresponsible nowadays? All washing stuff is formulated to 40 or 30 now, isn't it?

I change our bed weekly and wash the sheets at 40 degrees then tumble dry then for quickness :)

Nothing better than climbing into bed at night and the sheets have been changed that day :)