Cold weather and washing

[cicero]

I'd never heard of people not reusing towels until I joined FlyLady and she suggested reusing towels as part of limiting Mount Washmore.

We've always reused towels in my family - as have the other Danish and New Zealand families I know well enough to know such a thing about. I never saw any reason not to.

well, all i can say is that in my ex husband's family, they thought that my way was weird because the towels were "used" and you don't re-use your dirty clothing so how can you reuse your "used" towel. I thought "they" were weird because i only use my towel on my clean body so it's not dirty anymore. Of course, they used to just jumble them up in a corner of the bathroom so they would get all smelly and mildewy so that migh have been an issue too - in the house i grew up in we would hang them on a rack and air out the shower after using it.

[MariaE]

I'd never heard of people not reusing towels until I joined FlyLady and she suggested reusing towels as part of limiting Mount Washmore.

We've always reused towels in my family - as have the other Danish and New Zealand families I know well enough to know such a thing about. I never saw any reason not to.

well, all i can say is that in my ex husband's family, they thought that my way was weird because the towels were "used" and you don't re-use your dirty clothing so how can you reuse your "used" towel. I thought "they" were weird because i only use my towel on my clean body so it's not dirty anymore. Of course, they used to just jumble them up in a corner of the bathroom so they would get all smelly and mildewy so that migh have been an issue too - in the house i grew up in we would hang them on a rack and air out the shower after using it.

I'm with you - towels are for clean bodies, so they are still clean (clean'ish anyway) afterwards. But then we were always taught to hang our towels on a rack after use as well.

[kherbert05]

I'd never heard of people not reusing towels until I joined FlyLady and she suggested reusing towels as part of limiting Mount Washmore.

We've always reused towels in my family - as have the other Danish and New Zealand families I know well enough to know such a thing about. I never saw any reason not to.

well, all i can say is that in my ex husband's family, they thought that my way was weird because the towels were "used" and you don't re-use your dirty clothing so how can you reuse your "used" towel. I thought "they" were weird because i only use my towel on my clean body so it's not dirty anymore. Of course, they used to just jumble them up in a corner of the bathroom so they would get all smelly and mildewy so that migh have been an issue too - in the house i grew up in we would hang them on a rack and air out the shower after using it.

I'm with you - towels are for clean bodies, so they are still clean (clean'ish anyway) afterwards. But then we were always taught to hang our towels on a rack after use as well.

I use medicated soap sometimes, and basically am dealing with wound care because of my skin, so I need fresh towels and wash cloths each day.

Pool towels/beach towels were treated differently we reused them - until one of the parents (a doctor) figured out why the kids on swim team had pink eye so often. The kids were sharing each other's towels. Then those started to be washed in hot water daily. But we had a huge collection of towels.

[Sophia]

I have a large capacity washer by U.S. standards.  I can wash a king-sized comforter in it, and it still has room to tumble.  I've also washed curtains in it. 

[lady_disdain]

I use medicated soap sometimes, and basically am dealing with wound care because of my skin, so I need fresh towels and wash cloths each day.

That is an excellent reason, kherbert. I do think it is wasteful to wash towels after a single use on a clean body but of course there are situations where that is necessary and sensible, like yours.

[baritone108]

Now I'm curious about washer sizes! I have a large washer by UK standards, which will take a 9kg (19lb) load. Most washers here take 6 or 7kg/13 or 15lb load. How much would a US washer take?

Copied from another website: Capacity
Have you ever weighed your laundry? A regular capacity washer (4.0 cubic feet) typically holds 12 to 16 pounds of laundry per load. Large capacity home washers (4.5 cubic feet) hold up to 20 pounds.

[Lynn2000]

US Midwest. It's generally a humid region, especially in the summer, but for whatever reason my apartment tends to have low humidity. I use my towel for a week and then get a fresh one. I always hang it up on the towel rack after use and I've never noticed it still being damp when I want to use it again, except maybe a small part where I left it crumpled instead of unfolded. Damp towels skeeve me out! I remember staying with my friend in San Francisco for several days and "my" towel was always damp, with cat hair on it.

As I was reading this thread, I realized that when I stay with my parents, I use a new towel every day! I never really thought about it before, even after my dad remarked that they always have more laundry when I'm there. I guess you can't be too subtle with me. Though, in my defense, since there are three people sharing that bathroom, the used towels are always getting moved around, and I don't have a particular one "assigned" to me. They have a three-rod towel rack but also a basket, and my mom has a complicated system of how long the towels stay in each location, because they do have problems with mildew at their house. And then my dad is in charge of doing the laundry, so the used towels randomly disappear sometimes. It just seems easier to me to grab a fresh towel from the closet every day, in that situation.

[TootsNYC]

I wash my towels because of skin cells, not because of water. About once every 4 to 5 days

[cicero]

As I was reading this thread, I realized that when I stay with my parents, I use a new towel every day! I never really thought about it before, even after my dad remarked that they always have more laundry when I'm there. I guess you can't be too subtle with me. Though, in my defense, since there are three people sharing that bathroom, the used towels are always getting moved around, and I don't have a particular one "assigned" to me. They have a three-rod towel rack but also a basket, and my mom has a complicated system of how long the towels stay in each location, because they do have problems with mildew at their house. And then my dad is in charge of doing the laundry, so the used towels randomly disappear sometimes. It just seems easier to me to grab a fresh towel from the closet every day, in that situation.

When I stay at relatives' homes while traveling, I take my towel back to my room and drape it somewhere where it will not cause damage ( plastic chair, my suitcase etc). This way it doesn't get mixed up with the family's towels or routine

[Hmmmmm]

I grew up using fresh towels daily. I think it was because my mom did not like seeing towels hanging and we had 4 girls all using the same bathroom. She'd rather we threw the used ones in the laundry and they'd go into the washer/dryer a couple of times per week. I'm pretty sure she also switched out the face/hand towels daily. I had never even heard of anyone re-using a towel as routine. The only time I remember it happening was when we'd go to a lake cabin and I figured it was because there were so few towels.

Then we all went off to college and learned to re-use towels or do laundry a lot more often. Now I pretty much use the same towels for a week unless they get a little musty smelling.

[violinp]

Between me and Cabbage (when she's home from school), we have plenty enough towels to use in a week without reusing any. We don't use washcloths for the shower - or at least, I don't. I use a scrubber with my body wash, and I use washcloths to wipe my face when I wash my face after the shower.

I do the towel laundry once a week, and that's when I change out the hand towels in both bathrooms (our bathroom and parents'). I can usually fit both sets of towels and washcloths, plus the dish towels and cleaning rags, into the washer. The only pain in the butt is that one of my towels and washcloths has to be put on the delicate cycle, so I have to wait until Thursday, when I do all my clothes laundry, to wash those.

Right now, the air is so dry here (dry and pretty cold), that I can leave laundry to hang, and it'll be dry in an hour, tops, unless it's very heavy.

[bridalviolet]

I change bath towels twice a week more or less, and hand towels every day. Sheets once a week with the rest of the laundry.

[Thipu1]

We have plenty of towels and we both know where they're kept.  If you want a fresh one, go get it and dump the old one in the hamper.