Silly Question but Curious-how Often Do You Wash Your Bath Towels?

We agree with the idea that all you're doing is blotting clean water off a clean body, so the towel is not dirty after a single use.
We hang them up to dry, and reuse the same towel until it starts to smell funky, then throw it in the wash.
We don't have a schedule for washing bedding either. We wash it when it gets too hairy ( we have five cats and a dog in bed withus most nights).

I only wash towels/sheets once a week unless they get particularly dirty. I do change the hand towels midweek.

I generally only do laundry on the weekends & pretty much just grab all of the towels off the rack/hanger thingy when I do the wash. Sometimes I'll get a new towel mid-week, but usually only in the summer or if one of the kids uses my towel & it's wet already when I go to use it.

I guess I am totally gross because I wash sheets and towels every 2 weeks or so. We have 2 bath towels and we use them also to dry our faces and hands. They rarely smell, they just look bad with makeup residue on them. Do people really wash them after each use? I would only do that if guests used them.

I just wanted to add that several people thought it was gross to wipe certain parts of one's body then one's own face later. Ummm...so you have sex with your husband? Do you think your own clean personal area is really that gross? I mean, if my grandma and I were using the same towel I would be grossed out by that but just you and your husband?

I wash mine when they don't feel soft anymore, or smell a little funky. That translates to once a week, or for my husband's twice a week. I have to take my son's towels, or they would NEVER wash them because they don't think about that kind of stuff - same with their sheets!

I think I'm a little picky about how my towels feel...

Dawn

Towels usually once a week, some times goes 10 days, depends on how busy my life gets.

Hand towels & washclothes I change out every 3-4 days but we have a number of them so I wash them all with towels once a week but I change out for clean ones every 3-4 days.

Now I know someone that has a new towel for every day AND she has a hair towel and a body towel. It is just herself in her household but does her wash once a week so she has at least 14 towels.

So to each there own, partly it is what your grew up with and what you feel is best with your family.

so funny! I don't wash them 2x a week, but we switch them out on wed and wash on sunday! Sunday is our major wash day. I love routines, i dont think its weird at all! and after a week I think a towel would be way too musty to use.

we use a different towel every time we shower. personally i just find it gross to not because your drying your lower areas

I don't have any set towel washing day. I just wash them when I have enough for a full load. I do end up doing most of the laundry on Saturdays and Sundays though. Each one of us probably uses our towels about 3-4 times before they get washed. We go through washcloths and hand towels much more frequently.

I'm with Dawn. I don't have a schedule, but I certainly don't wash them after every use, either. I agree with your hubby, that they are essentially clean.. they just dried clean water off your freshly bathed body. But, if you shower frequently, or it is warm weather and the bathroom stays humid, or you don't spread it out properly so that it dries fully each time, then it can get stinky quickly. So I go by the "funky smell" rule most of the time. Or the stiffness. Or if we have had guests and have a load of other towels/washclothes I'll grab ALL of them, even if they've only been used once or twice.

I like a clean towel every day. Sure, you're wiping water off your clean body, but think of the places that you have to dry... what's the last place you dry one day, and the first place you dry the next? That's just me... my husband reuses a towel all week.

We change the towels out mid week to the hamper, unless the guys have been mud-bogging or something. All of the towels, in the hamper and on the drying racks, get washed on the weekend.

I LOVE soft towels, and I have about 20 in my closet to work with for my family of 4 plus a very muddy dog!

For bedding, I wash every 1 - 2 weeks depending on who's been sick, etc.

This is a great question! We, make that I, wash our towels after about 4 uses, hanging them to dry inbetween. We all shower daily, even kiddos, so I guess that means I am washing towels every 4 days. My hubby is constantly telling me I clean too much or that I should let things go more. If he had his way, we would wash our sheets once per year. I wish I were kidding.

Wash mine about 2x's a week. Yeah, you clean water off your clean body, but for some reason they still get a little funky, right? Especially since I have kids and they are known to not get into every nook and cranny when bathing. lol
L.

Clean towels after two uses
Clean face towel every day

Hmmm...I have no "hard and fast" rule for this...more of a Zen state that you just KNOW when you need a clean towel....usually 3-5 days. Hand towels get changed about every other day.

I dont wash them twice a week but we do change them mid-week (we have a few sets we use) then Sunday we wash all towels & bed sheets

If they get put in the dirty clothes I wash them. I work full time and am very busy during the week so the weekend I do my laundry. I'm like your husband and I will use mine a few times before putting it in the dirty clothes. My husband on the other hand, one time, hangs it up and will never use it again, always gets another towel for each shower he takes. As for bedding, I'm hating saying this out loud, but maybe once a month unless they are stinky or dirty or if our youngest pees in our bed.

My son will only use a bath towel twice before he throws it in the laundry. He now goes around the house collecting bath towels to wash every couple days so I guess I am only using them twice between washings.
:)

Ours are Wednesday and Saturday. My husband kept saying I did it too much, so I told him if he wanted to take over laundry he was more than welcome to. :)

I would say the towels get two or three uses before they are washed. If they are losing their fresh smell before that they go in the hamper.

Arent your down there parts clean after you shower? It is just a pat pat to dry....not a free for all in the down there parts....lol!!

LOL I posted about this a long time ago. My hubby and I also had conflicting ways. We decided that instead of certain days we go by how many times you use the towel. In the summer time we may get a new towel every other day depending on how many showers we take. I would let him get a new one when he wants one and you get a new one when you want one. But if I get a NEW towel my hubby decides he just HAS to have a new one as well. :)

Call me OCD but my bath and hair towels are washed after each use.

I wash towels once per week - BUT I change my towel for showering just about every other day. My daughter is 8 and she already has a "thing" - she wants a fresh towel every shower! lol - makes no difference to me. But I do get a fresh towel just about every other shower.

I use my bath towel 3 times on average before washing it. I couldn't imagine going a whole week!

Once a week in the summer more often in the winter as they tend to stay damp and start smelling must to me after a few days. I'm sensitive to smells though. I try to wash the sheets once a week.

About twice a week.

I only wash them once a week, but i have enough towels to do that, i too do laundry on Sundays. I would never reuse the same towel. Although our body gets as clean as it does with a shower or bath, the dead skin cells still come off on the towel. Hey if he wants to reuse his towel over and over again, let him. But do what is best for you. Oh ps, men will wipe their butts and you know what else rhymes with that, so ickie,.... lol..

I would say I wash them once a week and we change towels randomly throughout the week.

Hello, I wash my towels after each use. I don't want to dry my face with a part of the towel which has touched another part. :-)
K. K.

I only wash once a week, but we only use them about 3 or 4 days before we change them out. Yes, you're clean when you use them, but when you rub the towel on your skin, dead skin comes off and it goes into the towel. We hang ours to dry as well. I do my wash on Monday, so all towels get washed on that day. So, we have clean towels on Tuesday morning. Generally speaking, I collect them all Friday after they're dry and throw them in the dirty clothes. In the summer I change them out more often since they seem to never dry completely, especially if it's humid.

I wash sheets and towels once a week (unless something "happens" like they get dropped on the floor by the toilet), and new washcloths every day.

Once a week is our norm.

I was my towels after they are used 3 times. if its my hair, body or his body, its after 3 uses no matter what. Good Luck

towels and bedding washed Sunday afternoon.

For us, some towels get used once and other stick around longer than I'd like to know. I have a separate laundry basket for towels and I wash it every other week. I tend to turn my towels around more often than my husband.

I LOVE this question. We've had this debate many times as well. My family and DH family get a fresh towel every day. So I thought that was the norm. So we got a fresh towel every day when we got married. When kids came along and laundry seemed non-stop I started thinking about it - why do we need a fresh towel when we use it on a clean body?
For the most part, we still get a fresh towel every day. This means I do a load of towels about every other day.
Sometimes we try to reuse. But: DH's towel after use usually has toothpaste and shaving cream on it, so into the hamper. I usually use my towel to wipe down the mirror & counter when I'm done getting ready, so into the hamper. I try to get the kids to hang theirs up and use it 2-3 times, but I admit I'm not 100% successful.
However, I keep a stack of washcloths on the counter of every bathroom. Some of us will use the same one all day, some of us will get a fresh one every time. I don't care. Less germ spreading if we don't share hand towels.
As for sheets, every other week, unless there's a reason to do otherwise - accident, guest, etc. Based on these posts, I guess that's not often enough. LOL

I haven plenty of bath towels and wash towels about twice a month BUT change towels every 3 or so uses. Mine hang in the bathroom so they also get used to dry hands & mouth after brushing etc.

We Wash after every use! I know it's on the other extreme but ur not just drying off clean water. When u dry off u r removing dead skin that has been soften during ur shower. Plus who wants to dry their face off tomorrow with the part of the towel they dried their butt with yesterday?

Im in the minority- I get a clean towel everyday. My husband will reuse and the girls will sometimes too. That means towels get washed 2 to 3 times a week around my house.

Good question and something I have wondered about as well. We all have our own bath towel and they get washed 1-2 times a week. I also have a separate one for my hair, same thing washed about once a week. We have a hand towel that we all use and it gets thrown in the wash every 2-3 days. I get the point about dead skin cells but we are clean and I don't see the necessity of doing more laundry and wasting water and detergent more so than necessary. We all hang our towels to dry so no musty smell.

We use towels once and then they go into the towel hamper. Even if I am clean coming out of the shower, I want a fresh towel and I provide that for my family.

Don't worry about what others do, just do what is right for your family.

I use them a few times in the week, throw in a pile, and then wash when I have a full load. But it's not just water--its exfoliated skin as well. Eeeuuuwwww. : )

I do laundry twice a week so I wash whatever is there on those days, although one of the days is designated to bath mats and sheets etc. ANYWAY, I use a bath towel twice and then throw it in the laundry. I always think that after one use, I would just have so many towels to wash, but after two uses, they start to be less fluffy and I don't know, I just think they need to be washed!! That is just me :)

I'm laughing because I have a routine too and everyone thinks I'm crazy. : )

I wash my towels twice a week, on Monday and again on Friday (laundry days) and we hang them up to dry after using them too. My parents used to wash ours after every use and I can't imagine the giant pile of wet towels you would have every week! As long as they aren't musty and they dry between showers it seems to work out okay for us.

A lot depends on the time of year. In the winter we use them and hang them in the bathroom near the radiator. They dry quickly, so can be used a few times. In the spring, it often only gets used twice.

In our house, towels get used once and then off to the laundry basket...I'd say I'm throwing a load of towels in every 2-3 days. I'm with the others who thinks it's gross to reuse them, just feels cleaner to start with a fresh towel each day :-)

Gee R. I am with you! Totally gross to be using the towel again after private areas have been dried off. I don't care if I do have to the laundry more often!

I read once they should be washed every three days.

We have quite a few towels but we only use them twice and then they are dirty to us. Most of our wash is done on Saturday or Sunday but sometimes during the week if needed.

ha, ha...great question!
We live by the beach and it takes FOREVER for a towel to dry! I wash them more than I'd like to, because they get a little musky (couple days). When we lived away from the beach, I would change them out every 4 to 5 days, or sooner if someone was sick, had a rash, etc. Sheets are on Mondays :)

I wash our towels after each use. Every once in a while I might reuse a towel, but mostly use fresh ones.

sometimes after 1 use.
Just depends. i have 3 kids. so, frequently they aren't as clean as just drying water. Plus, they can get a "funky smell".

I use my towel about 3x before I wash it, my hair towel as well. I put a clean hand towel out every other day. DH will use anything in the bathroom that's handy.... clean, dirty, doesn't matter ! LOL

Towels and bedding washed once a week...

My husband and I use a new towel each time we shower. Our 5 and 3 -year-olds share a towel then it gets washed, or I dry and reuse each of their towels once before washing.
Its interesting reading about what other people do, I never really thought about it that much.

I used to do it only once a week (or more as it was needed). But a few years ago one of my kids got MRSA from a neighbor and passed it to the rest of us. It took FOREVER to get it out of the house. We would think it was gone and it would pop up again. So now, everyone has their own towel and it goes through the wash every other day (it used to be every day). I still only do their bedding once a week though just because it's too much to do that much laundry every day on top of clothing etc. Occurrences are extremely rare now (haven't seen one in 6 months) so I'm thinking about pushing it to every three days now.

This is not silly! I know a lot about fabrics and the answer of how often a towel should be washed: depends on how wet the terry cloth becomes when used, the fabrication and weave of of the towel, moisture level of the room the towel is hung in, and air circulation around the towel as it is drying. So in one way your husband is correct - you are drying your clean body...but in another you are right, you should dry it with a clean towel!

Truthfully, I sniff my towels before I jump in the shower. Any musty smell on the towel will transfer to the skin - and god knows what germs come along with it! I will use a fresh towel if I take another shower before the first towel is completely dry.

But as a someone who has been happily married for 27 years. I do have a suggestion for you. Gently ask your husband "What does it matter to you how often I am willing to do laundry?" As long as you like your routine, you should follow it.

I am not the domestic type - I don't clean unless I have to, I don't cook unless I have to and I only do laundry so my husband won't shrink my shirts. (I work full time, my husband cooks) Before I got married I changed my towels and sheets when I remembered to change them. Now I change my own towels maybe once a week. I'll change them more if they get musty. My husband changes his own towels when he wants a new one and we change our son's towels every week. I agree that we're drying a clean body and there is no need to waste water doing laundry all the time. We try to do as little laundry as possible because of the drought and our high water bills. Unless we need something urgently we do the laundry when the hamper is full. We have enough towels to go a few weeks. We do sheets every other week when the cleaning lady comes to clean the house and change the beds.

You really have to do what you're comfortable with doing. If it makes you happy to clean your towels twice a week, then do it.

Probably once/twice a week, most of the time. If any of the towels start to get a musty smell, I do a special towel load with vinegar or ammonia, because once that gets in it's hard to get out. Then, I'll wash them more frequently until I'm convinced it's gone. But, under normal circumstances 1 or 2x per week.

I change my towel maybe once a week or sooner if it gets really damp. but i dont know how oftern they get washed. i dont seperate things like that what ever is in the hamper goes in the wash

I don't have your schedule, but I get a clean towel every couple of showers. It's not just about how the towels are used, but the fact they are hanging out in rooms that don't get a lot of fresh air, especially in winter. Warm, wet towels with no air flow? Guh-ross!, lol. I'd say he can keep his germy towels until Sunday, but mine are getting washed as needed.

DH's mom would wash their towels each day..... When we first got married, he asked me why I didn't do that, LOL.....

We compromised on washing them once a week, or more often if needed (you know, sometimes you just want a fresh towel). We hang them up after every use, and the bath towels are used every day. My thinking is that: If you're getting out of the bath or shower, you're clean, so the water's clean, and the towel then is just wet, not dirty. So it's good for several uses.

The hand-drying towels (from washing hands) are changed more often, like 2 or 3 times per week, or if someone is sick, then they are changed daily.