How many towels/washcloths do you own?

[ChristusG]

I'm trying to pare down my linen closet. I have our sheets down to a number that seems to work well....2 per each bed. Not sure how many towels I should keep? Per person? What about guest towels? Beach towels? Infant towels? Separate towels for the dogs?

 

What about washcloths?

Pillowcases?

Blankets? Per person? For guests?

[aggieamy]

We've got three to four people living in our house at one time so I've got eight towels, usually each person gets a towel a week to use. This way I've got enough for company also when siblings and friends stay over. I probably have ten to fourteen washcloths, Little Librarian uses one every morning or night so I need a weeks worth. Four hand towels, one for each bathroom and then a spare for each bathroom. I'm a minimalist though so I'm sure that's probably on the low side of normal.

 

I have tons of dishrags though because we don't use paper towels and I go through a lot.

[elise1mds]

Not sure how many towels I should keep? Per person? What about guest towels? We have four 'adult' towels (oversized) and half a dozen 'other' towels, in matching sets of two. We have a family of four and only one bathroom, so this leaves half a dozen towels in the cabinet each week while four are in the bathroom being used. We don't have any infants here, and I never had separate towels for them anyway.

 

Beach towels? I do keep four towels as separate beach towels. They are stored with our swim gear. DS is on the swim team and we swim quite often during the summer, so separate beach towels are a must.

 

Separate towels for the dogs? I have four towels for 'industrial' use. They're stained, have large picks or small holes, or are too small for the family. I store them with the dust rags.

 

What about washcloths? Somewhere between 6 and 8.

 

Pillowcases? I keep two extra. The kids enjoyed tie-dying these for our guests, which we have only rarely.

 

Blankets? Per person? For guests? I have a really nice Brookstone Nap blanket as well as two or three others. I don't keep any of them separate for guests; they're just stored in the open for anyone to use any time.

 

I have three hand towels for the bathroom to match the sets of 'other' towels that I mentioned. We also keep one extra pillow stored away. DS takes it to camp during the summer and then we keep it on hand for guests since we don't have a guest room/bed.

[Laura Corin]

I have two sets for each bed. When guests come I just make sure to have everything clean so that I can use the ones that are normally in the wash. We have about ten washcloths because, with lots of men in the house, they get used a lot for shaving. We have quilts (comforters) for each season - about three each. When guests come, they get some combination of whatever is not being used. I have a couple of extra wool throws and four extra pillows.

 

I've got a few extra at the moment - just bought new as the others were starting to tear - so you've reminded me to have a clear out.

 

ETA: we also have about four rough towels that get used for the beach, swimming pool, etc.

 

Laura

[LisaKinVA]

I plan on having 2 towels per person, 4 hand-towels for each bathroom (except the powder room, which only has one sink), and 2 washcloths per person. I keep the really old, ratty towels in the garage (we have four large, four wash cloths, and four hand towels). We are a family of 7. I will also have Four/Four/2 of a set for guests. Beach towels... we have two per person, because the kids swim 4x a week. Summer swim is where they get most used (and swim meets, we usually take 3 for each child). I store those in the garage closet as well...)

 

We were just given a BUNCH of towels... I'm trying to decide which to keep and which to freecycle.

[rwjx2khsmj]

I have 8-10 towels in each full bathroom. In the upstairs bath I have about a half dozen wash cloths. In the master bath my dh needs a fresh cloth each day so there are probably twice that.

 

I try to keep just the pillow cases that go with the sheet sets we have. Somehow, I always seem to end up with a few strays.

 

Dish cloths and towels, I have 8-10 of each. I could probably get by with fewer but the drawer space is there and they are still in good shape.

 

I have 2-3 towels in the laundry room for heavy duty use. Also have 4-6 microfiber towels for mopping up.

 

ETA: I forgot about blankets, hand towels and beach towels. I have one blanket per bed plus a throw for my living room and one for the family room. Each one of the dc has a small special blanket from their infancy but those are loveys not really for warmth and definitely not for sharing.

 

I have two hand towels for each bathroom, one to use and one on standby. There are also some holiday theme hand towels for the downstairs 1/2 bath that my mother has given me over the years.

 

Beach towels are kept with the swim stuff. I think there are 6-7 in that box.

Edited November 17, 2011 by rwjx2khsmj

[KidsHappen]

I have three sets of sheets, blankets, and towels per person. That is room/time for one in the in use, one in the laundry and one ready to go. It also works out so that there is enough for guest when they visit. I do have a few old towels for clean messes, coloring hair, drying dogs, etc. All of my kids have a solid color comforter that matches their bedding that serves as their extra blanket that they also take on the road with them whenever we travel so they always have their own bedding. I have had both less and more and this seems to be the perfect amount.

[AHASRADA]

We probably have 10-12 towels and about the same number of washcloths, not counting beach towels.

 

Really, that's the number I have because that is how many will fit on the "towel shelf" of the linen closet. I used to have many, many more but sent them to Goodwill while packing for a move, because I was so sick of them taking up space for no reason.

 

Depending on how often you wash the white load, I would have 2-3 towels per person, plus a few for guests.

[sixpence1978]

I just had to clean out our linen closet as well.

 

I brought it down to 3 sets of sheets for the kids' beds (1 set is flannel for the winter), 2 sets for the guest bed (1 set flannel), and 2 sets for my bed (1 set is flannel). I would really like to get one more set for our bed so that we can have a backup during the warm months.

 

We basically have 2 towels for each person, and 2 towels in the guest room. We don't really use washcloths around here, so we only have a few of those. Every bathroom also has 2 hand towels. We have our 4 beach towels and 4 spare towels that we use for washing the dog or cleaning up spills and mud/snow on the floor.

[2squared]

1 bath towel/person

few washclothes (everyone shares)

2 hand towels/sink

1 swimming towel/person

1 dog towel

0 infant/baby towels (don't use)

1 pillowcase/pillow

2 lap blankets/person (1 blanket each in family room & living room)

1 blanket/bed

 

We live in MN, and our house is cold. We have an excessive amount of blankets, but we use them.

 

When we have guests, they use one of our towels and the kids share. They usually share anyway, so it's not a bother.

 

I wash laundry every day.

 

After I buy sheets for the kids, we will have 1 sheet set for each bed. The kids sleep on mattress protectors with a blanket on top. It's all they've known, but I think it's time for the older ones to have sheets.

[nukeswife]

I'm really surprised at how few towels everyone has.

 

We don't use wash cloths so I only have a few of those for when company comes. As for towels,

 

DH and I have 14, 2 per day for a week, this works ok because he's often gone much of the year on deployments or underway times.

 

For my kids they have color coded towels (green for oldest, blue for dd, and red for youngest) and they each have 8 towels.

 

We don't reuse towels, they get used once and then in the wash they go, I know I'm probably weird that way but I don't like the thought of what can grow in that towel while it hangs to dry between uses.

 

For this reason I also have 7 hand towels for each bathroom except the kids one they each have 8 of their colors and they get changed out daily.

 

I use bar mops for my kitchen towels and have 14 of those a set of two for each day.

 

Now sheets I'm ok with just 2 sets per bed because we're usually freshly showered when we climb in bed. I also tend to strip the bed wash and put that set back on, so the extra set is for in case of emergency, such as a spill or sick child.

[athena1277]

You can never have too many towels! Seems there are times when we use a lot, like when a kid decides to vomit in bed or run to the bathroom while vomiting:glare:. And there was the time a couple weeks ago when dd managed to stop up the toilet in her bathroom so that it overflowed.:glare:

 

Sheets it's ok to have about 2 sets per bed. But towels are always in need!

[2squared]

I'm really surprised at how few towels everyone has.

 

We don't use wash cloths so I only have a few of those for when company comes. As for towels,

 

DH and I have 14, 2 per day for a week, this works ok because he's often gone much of the year on deployments or underway times.

 

For my kids they have color coded towels (green for oldest, blue for dd, and red for youngest) and they each have 8 towels.

 

Oh, my gosh! Where do you store all those towels? In our family that would be 8 towels x 5 kids = 40 + 14 for dh & I = 54 towels. Yikes!!

 

Our towels only get used once in spring/summer/fall (our house is too damp for them to air dry), so our one towel/person gets washed and dried the same day it is used. The littles usually share towels since I get them out of the same bathwater at the same time.

[Wabi Sabi]

We're a family of four and probably have 8-10 regular bath towels plus 4 hooded little kid sized towels as well. I'd guess that we have about 8 beach towels too.

 

We never throw old towels away so we probably have a couple dozen of those on a shelf in a basement. You never know when you're going to need an old towel for cleaning up a big spill, vomit, washing the dog, laying underneath a kid who you're afraid is going to pee the bed, etc. Some of them are quite raggedy and if they get particularly nasty we treat them as disposable (ie: when our kitten recently had to have enemas and large amounts of laxatives, then had horrible diarrhea for two days those soiled towels were just tossed, but I made sure to use the oldest, most ragged towels we owned in the first place.)

[SweetMissMagnolia]

oh gosh......we have a whole large shelf full of towels-guessing I'd say about 25 maybe LOL....fewer wash cloths-I need more of those......blankets about 2 light ones and 2 heavier ones-(not kiddie but king size)-two really good sheet sets and about 3 "emergency" sheet sets (good but not what I like LOL)--pillow cases maybe about 15? not sure some of those are kid cartooney ones that don't get used lots....