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

I love a sheet discussion

All my bedlinens are white, thick, 600+ Egyptian cotton thread count so am a bit obsessive over them!

All beds (4) washed weekly. Sheets and pillow cases for each bed washed at a time so as to not overload the machine. Then the duvet covers washed 2 at a time.

(yup, I know this means I'm doing 6 loads of laundry / per week just for the sheets..... Haven't even admitted how many times I wash the towels...!)

Always washed on a 60 degree wash with Ecover laundry bleach, fairy non bio washing powder and fabric conditioner.

Line dried / rack dried if raining : sometime tumblr dried if need to make space for more things.

I always try and iron the pillow cases at least, there's something lovely about fresh clean ironed pillowcases.

If I have time, I attempt the duvet covers, but they're king size and heavy and trying to move them across the ironing board is an absolute pain!

Mattress protectors are washed every month

Weekly. It is a routine

every weekend

Kids beds weekly - 2 sweaty little boys
Our bed 14days or so, less when it's cooler, slightly more when it's warmer
40 degree wash with everything else in non bio powder & softener, tumble dry, no ironing unless my mil is staying , in which case she usually manages to iron a set before I notice and stop her.
We have at least 2 sets of linen for each bed so they wait til I need to do a wash rather than having to do a special one and I only have the energy/baby hands free time to do one bed at a time.

All of our beds weekly.
DD more frequently if she has been too dribblely, snotty, sicky or worse!
Mattress protector gets a fortnightly wash.
All on 30
Tumble or line dry depending on weather

And life is too short to iron sheets! IMHO

Every week :)

DD's cotbed - every week
Our bed - every 2 weeks generally. More often if the dog has been on there!

Fortnight my washing here-weekly in winter for our bed as its super King & when the weather is too crap to dry outside I take 4 loads to the laundrette & love it all ironed but too lazy to do it myself.

On the rare occasion that I've an extra 20 mins & it's a good drying day I'll wash ours weekly

Twice weekly, our kids are very sweaty sleepers. I just like a nice clean bed, DP is a sweaty sleeper too. 60 c, then hung outside if it's not chucking down. Lovely!

We wash all of our bedding once a week, every Saturday like clockwork. This is all the pillowcases, bottom sheet, duvet cover, mattress protector, everything. We do have dogs that sleep on the bed though, and I work days while OH works nights so someone is pretty much sleeping in the bed 24/7 so I feel it needs regular cleaning.

Every week, I sometimes do pillow cases more often. DD's sheets every night at the moment!!! I just use a fairy non-bio tablet and hang outside on the line to dry before work.

I wash everyone's bed linen every Sunday

That way we can all have a good nights sleep before a busy week

Sheets washed weekly at 60C and tumble dried. Ironed? Never knew people did that until Mumsnet. Would quite like a machine which dries, smooths and folds. That would be a worthwhile invention.

I do all bedding fortnightly but alternate so our bedding one week and girls' bedding the following week.
I usually tumble dry as I haven't got a line sorted in my new house yet. I don't iron but I'm planning to start as the creased bedding is driving me crazy 😩

I wash all the bedding once a week at 60

I'm a bit lazy and probably don't change them as often as I should.... it's been 3-4 weeks now!

I wash my sheets whenever they get too smelly I don't let it be less than fortnightly though. I wash at 60 and use Comfort Strawberry and Lily cause it smells like calpol

Ours get done weekly in this house. 4 beds worth!!

Wash at 40 degrees with softener, bio liquid, Dettol germ killer stuff and colour run sheet.

I hang stuff out if weather permits but always tumble my sons bedding as he has asthma induced by hayfever so can't risk pollen being anywhere near his clothes or bedding.

Then everything gets ironed. Crazy to some people but I'd hate to go to bed in crumpled sheets.

Nothing like crisp, lovely smelling clean bedding for a wonderful nights sleep.

I don't wash mine as often as I should, as it's just hard to find the time with both of us working full-time and not having the time, space or energy to do a sheet wash each week on top of all the usual laundry. But I do them as often as possible, more in summer, and even more if it's a nice day and I can guarantee being able to get them washed and dried and back on the bed all the same day. Otherwise, they just take up so much space for indoor drying.

There isn't a specific process. Sometimes I just chuck a sheet in with a normal load, sometimes I'll do a load that's just sheets and bedding if I'm doing a few at once, but I still do them on eco mode, which I think is 40 degrees, and I use my usual detergent and fabric conditioner.

Pillowcases probably get changed the most often, followed by sheets, and then the duvet covers are a low priority as I don't feel they really get dirty in the same way.

I change the beds once a week unless someone's ill or its hot. I always have a set of bedding that's been freshly laundered so strip the beds, that bedding goes on a hot wash with softener while I put new bedding on, by then the loads finished and hopefully it's a dry day so I can get it out on the line.
Mattress protectors as and when they need them, usually during summer when it won't take an age for them to dry.

Once per month

My bedding gets washed every week - 40 degrees - tumble dry till a bit damp and ironed with starch (beautiful expensive cotton bedding purchased as a treat to myself and a buggering bastard to iron)

Kids every 2 weeks as they are only here 4 nights out of 7

I have 5 cats - it needs doing that often because they refuse to stay out of the bedrooms

i used to do it about every month..absolute house keeping lazy slattern me...but now lovely cleaner does everyones every 2 weeks...

It's variable here - DH has night sweats so the sheets tend to get changed whenever that happens. Can be several times a week, other times can be a couple of weeks.

There's no real process to it - it all gets bunged in the machine, then either out in the garden or draped around the house depending on the weather. No ironing is involved - I don't currently even own an iron.

Mostly every Thursday for me, but I admit sometimes I can't be bothered and then they have to wait until the following week. I only wash at 30 degrees but do add laundry disinfectant. I hang them out if possible and I never iron them, they only get folded.