Evidently I hoard towels.

[Acorn]

I can't believe how some of you live with so few towels.  How?

 

Let's start with pool/beach towels.

Do you reuse them after being in locker rooms and beaches?  But usually we only have 2-3 dirty towels a day.  So I wait to the next day where we use clean pool towels and then I have a load to wash.    If we aren't going a second day in a row then the first set of beach towels wait until the bathroom towels are ready.  Then, do you kids only use 1 towel at the pool?  Mine like 2 towels on days where there is swim lessons in the morning and then we eat a packed lunch and stay for open swim in the afternoon.  It's been kind of cold for swimming, so I am just going along to get through swim lessons the best we can.

 

Then, with the bath towels.  How do you only have one per person?  I had poison ivy recently and needed a clean towel each day instead of reusing.  Again, there wasn't a load to wash until a few days.

 

Or do you wash towels with clothes?  I used to when I was single.  I do think it can make thin knits pilly.  I also like washing the locker room/ beach dirt towels on hot water, but clothes are warm/cool. 

 

 

 

 

[MomtoCandJ]

I wash it all together :)

[Chris in VA]

How many kids do you have?

 

AFA beach towels at the pool, I hang mine on the fence behind the beach chairs, or on the back of the beach chair itself--they get dry pretty quickly. I also (used to, when kids were little) use swim cover ups made of terry. In TX it was so stinkin' hot that things dried quickly so no cover ups, but up in  Cape Cod, we always had cover ups. Only one towel, though.

 

We probably have two good towels per person at home. I wash towels every other day or so. 7-8 make a load.

[Rachel]

I wash towels weekly. One swim towel and about 1.5 regular towels per person. We just hang them to dry between uses. If one gets dirty before I wash a load of towels, I throw it in another load.

[73349]

I turn the water level to low and wash the beach towels and swimsuits together on cold. We use the pool less than once a week, and never all day.

 

We probably have 3 bath towels per person, but I often throw one in the morning's load of laundry and it's ready to be used again before anyone needs it the next morning. Or I wash them with the sheets.

[trulycrabby]

I have zombie towels; towels that are torn, ragged and stained, that won't go away! I put them in the rag pile, I have even put them in the trash, but they find their way back into the towel closet! :ack2:

[Amira]

We keep our stuff to a minimum in general. I do one load of towels a week. Swim towels are hung up to dry and reused. I expect them to dry people, not clean people. I don't think bath towels get that dirty drying off clean people, so we reuse them too and everyone in the house showers every day. It almost never happens, but if a towel gets nasty before the weekly load, I throw it in with a regular load. We've never had poison ivy or anything else that required a clean towel every day.

[zoobie]

Better towels than cats! ;)

 

Ours multiply too. We have beach/pool towels, bath towels, dog towels...

[Mommyof4ks]

I am a towel hoarder too lol. There are 6 of us right now, and I wash towels every day. We each use a clean towel after a shower, and we only use beach towels once as well. It is 100 degrees here, so we only need one towel for the pool no matter how much we use it, because they dry very quickly. I have no idea how many towels I have, but there are at least 36 bath towels (my cabinet fits 9 in a stack and I have four stacks, plus I have some extras), and we each have a beach towel plus a couple of extras for friends who forget their towels.

[Lisbeth]

We use each towel once only. Whether for showers, pool, whatever. My parents did the hang-up and re-use thing when I was young. A neighbor girl asked me: "So you could dry your behind with a part of the towel one day, and then use that part of it to dry your face the next day? Gross!" I kind of saw her point and never got over it, lol.

[Truscifi]

We dry and reuse pool towels, but not beach towels. Once they get sandy they have to be washed! Bath towels are usually one per person per week, with one or two extra usually because ds10 takes his to his room when he goes to change and somehow it winds up on the floor. (We have more towels than many here too apparently.)

[Slartibartfast]

We do reuse towels, if someone had a rash I would advise against reusing towels but otherwise just reusing once or twice shouldn't typically be problematic. I won't *share* towels though, that skeeves me out. Dh is always using someone else's towel and it drives me crazy.

 

I wash towels together in one load. Sometimes I will wash sheets with them but not usually. I won't wash towels with clothes, that is hard on the clothes.

 

I don't know how others shower but I wash my behind. My behind is clean when I use the towel. I wash my face separately in the sink anyways. 

[Sara in AZ]

We have so.many.towells. I could, and often do go two weeks without washing them. (They pile up in an overflowing laundry basket in the bathroom and it overwhelms me to think about transporting it to the laundry room aka garage.) Last week we had the vomit apocalypse at our house and when it started almost all the towels were in the dirty pile in the bathroom. I had to do a lot of laundering and made a vow to do better at staying on top of them! A lot were wedding gifts that I kept in storage and slowly added to the circulation. I always wash towels with towels in hot water.

[momacacia]

Towel hoarder confession here, too. And they are all well-loved after a decade of marriage. Our updated master bath deserves new ones once it is finished and I'm seriously considering having kids towels monogrammed and they get 1 body towel and 1 face/hand towel, which are washed once a week.

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

Towels get washed in towel only loads, on hot with white vinegar.   Line dry in summer, dry in hot dryer rest of the year.

 

 

Pool towels dry at the pool usually.

[maize]

I wash some towels almost every day, they go in with everything else. The only things I separate out in the laundry are whites that need to stay white, like dh's dress shirts.

[candicane]

I only use 1 towel when we go swimming in our pool in the backyard, my parents use 1 towel each. There's only the 3 of us, so there's no need for tons of towels yet we have tons.

 

Bath towels. I have a washcloth, hand towel, bath towel, and a hair towel. That's it. Parents have the same (dad doesn't have a hair towel). My bathroom also has a guest set (minus hair towel) and I have two other sets (different colors) that I switch out every sunday with what is dirty.

We wash our towels, sheets, and whites on Sundays. Clothes are every other day as necessary.

[Pawz4me]

I always wash swimsuits immediately when we get home from the pool.  Any beach towels used go in with the swimsuits.  I'm normally a pretty strict sorter of wash loads, but I make an exception for this.

 

The good bath towels are washed twice a week.  I typically gather up all the towels, hand towels, wash cloths and bath mats after everyone is up, showered and dressed.  I wash, dry and rehang them for use.

 

If anyone has poison ivy or any other issue that requires a clean towel for each use . . . that's one reason we keep just a few old but still serviceable towels.

[DawnM]

I have a bazillion towels!

[creekland]

Bath towels get washed once per week in general.  My plan is that people showering are supposed to get clean in the shower - then dry off - putting clean water in the towels and that evaporates as it dries.

 

And if I'm incorrect, it doesn't really bug me.  We live on a farm and are used to a bit of dirt.

 

If towels appear dirty, they do get tossed in the wash as needed.

 

We have more than two towels per person, but generally reuse the same one as I hang them back up in the bathroom after getting them from the dryer.

 

Beach/swim towels get washed after every use (usually).  Ditto with camping towels.

 

Hand towels definitely get washed more often - as needed.

 

Towels can be washed alone or with other things - esp sheets.

[Tap]

Any towel that touches a locker room floor or a public pool surround, gets washed at the end of the day.  No reused fungus towels please!

 

At home, We will reuse towels a time or two, it just depends on the person and the towel. I won't reuse one from the kid bathroom, but I will from my bathroom.  I wash towels whenever my towel hook is full, so every 3 days or so ( I have 8 towels in my master bath for 3 people). By this time, adding the kids bathroom towels and kitchen towels will certainly make a load.  They are all washed on hot water or on cold with bleach to kill any funk that has embedded itself into them.

 

 

When my son was a competitive swimmer and i had other kids swimming too, towels were washed every other day. 

 

Any towel in the kids bath could have spent time on the floor by the toilet to soak up wayward bath water, so I never reuse a kid bath towel.  :ack2:

[creekland]

 that's one reason we keep just a few old but still serviceable towels.

 

We keep some old towels around for when we come in from outside sweaty/dirty and just opt for a quick wipe off rather than a full shower.  Usually we're headed back out after a quick break from the heat or for lunch or something.

 

Then there's this morning when I was out with the ponies - breeding - and Mr. Stallion decided to make a nice "I'm the STUD" show of himself by pawing/prancing, etc, and getting us all covered with mud. (Gotta love mud season on a farm...)  I certainly wasn't going to take a break from chores to shower, but I also didn't feel like wearing it all morning.

 

Old towels are rather useful at times.

 

These do tend to get washed after use - in loads with other work clothes like similarly dirty jeans and/or shirts.

[Amira]

I'm thinking some of you dry off far more diligently than I do.

[abacus2]

I have a ton of towels. I really don't like to reuse towels although I do sometimes.

[creekland]

 And underwear... well, I wear it with the tag in the back all day. I don't wear it one way half the day and then flip it.

 

Wait!  You mean people don't do it this way??? But, but, but... Then the next day we're supposed to turn them inside out, right? Or are you telling me that's incorrect too?

 

 

[Laura Corin]

I wash bath towels once a week on hot - it sterilises the front loader as well as cleaning the towels (white).  I have the same number of towels out as people, but we all use the nearest dry towel, then hang it up.  People don't 'own' towels for the week.

 

Swimming - not a big part of our lives.  We have about five old blue towels that are used for swimming and drying off the dog.  

 

L

[nd293]

Everything gets washed together (including bed linen if it overflows from the dedicated bed linen wash), on cold.

 

We don't shower in the locker rooms at the pool - it's too much hassle, we just dry off a bit, put gowns or clothes over swim gear, then shower at home. At the beach we wash sand off, then do the same.

 

We dry beach or pool towels on the line and reuse several times. The exception would be towels that had got exceptionally sandy or salty-wet. I wash and dry on a day we aren't swimming. In summer, when we might swim every day towels would dry overnight, anyway.

[Miss Peregrine]

I'm thinking some of you dry off far more diligently than I do.

Yeah. I wipe my arms and legs then wrap the towel around and finish getting ready. There is no drying of " bits"

[rmtzc2009]

I wash it all together :)

Yep, it all gets washed together.

[regentrude]

Each person has specific towels which are reused, unless a family member has a skin disease. The towels are hung up and dry completely between uses. We reuse beach/pool towels as well.

I usually wash all towels together in one big load, but if only a single towel needs washing, it goes in with the clothes.

[Brilliant]

I, too, am a towel hoarder.  I don't have time to count them now, but between bath towels, hand towels, beach towels, and worn-out bath towels that I've saved to dry the dog - it's probably 100.  (I'm not counting anything in the kitchen)

[regentrude]

I have a question about hot water washing though.  Unless one has a washer that heats the water hotter than what comes out of the faucet, is it really getting hot enough to sterilize?  I have my doubts. 

 

No, it won't sterilize at faucet temperature, but in a normal household, towels do not need to be sterile. They just need to be clean.

[BarbecueMom]

I wish I could get away with the reusing of towels. As it is, used bath towels always end up getting reused for mopping up spills or dripping water, little boy bathroom misses, and muddy footprints. They also end up as cat beds, forts and tents, wrapping "paper", makeshift islands on the dirty carpet, and blankets.

 

The crazy thing is that we have a basket of hoarded towels specifically for all those messy boy things and pipe fixing and water play, but we go through those so fast I just end up grabbing the nearest bath towel. Then I end up with a load of towels every two days.

 

It doesn't help that the boys have swim lessons twice a week and swim for fun 2-3 times a week (sometimes in the creek), plus DH is training for a triathlon, so we go through a lot of swimming laundry.

 

This minimalist does not like all these towels hanging around, but I can't see a way around it until these little Pigpens move out.

[regentrude]

That is what I figured.  My husband was kinda wigged out over the fact I didn't wash in hot water.  I said well first of all the water is not heated in the washer (I guess his mother had a washer that did heat the water) and second I dry the stuff in a hot dryer.  I think that's good enough.  His mother tends to hang stuff up (although she did have a dryer too). 

 

In Germany, the technology is different: washers take in cold water and then heat it to the desired temperature. So, whites are usually washed much hotter than a typical water heater temp.

Hanging up washing outdoors is actually a great way to kill germs because of sun's UV.

 

[Walking-Iris]

I have a bazillion towels. More than a family of 5 even need, and they are used up way more often than a family of 5 should use them, so I have to wash them way more often than is even safe for my sanity. I don't wash them with clothes because of the lint. 

 

I also have a ton of old ratty ones for clean up of major spills on the floors, drying the dog after a bath or if he has an accident, and so on. Everyone has come to recognize my wrath if a "bath/shower only" towel gets used for any kind of housework incident!

 

 

[Walking-Iris]

I know some people who actually think they don't have cross colonization of fecal bacteria to numerous body parts. And even less realize that in a healthy individual there is a low level of all sorts or 'scary' bacteria and other micro flora that are critical to their overall health. That was some of my confusion on the prior post. How can one avoid this in practice? They really can't.

 

That's why I'm personally on the lax side with cleaning and sterilizing. We're not immune compromised and nobody is overly filthy. Normal washing and cleaning habits work fine here, including reusing sheets and bath towels. We cloth diaper, too, and I'm under no illusion that even a sterile wash cycle is removing all bacteria from the prefolds. Not even stripping. Very little short of a bleach soak would do that but it's good enough for the butts of my kiddos :D

 

The only time I would worry about using a towel would be one that wasn't dried properly. I'm not concerned about sharing germs with my family, but dampness...ugh. We all use our own towels as well. No one dries off with the same towel. 

[Slartibartfast]

To each their own. After eating out my dh and I got ecoli once. And ecoli is from fecal matter getting in the wrong place. I would not wish that on anyone. And of course our toothbrushes are at risk at all times, so of course we're not safe. I sanitize my toothbrush with Efferdent but not everytime someone uses the bathroom. I'm aware there is only so much you can do.

 

 

 I keep toothbrushes in a holder in a cupboard. They aren't out in the open.

[LisaKinVA]

I keep TRYING to reduce towel usage here...it's an uphill battle.  I do have a lot of pool towels (14...two per person), but they aren't all in use at the same time.  I try to limit each child to one a week, and then rotate.  We have extra for "just-in-case" situations...like it rains, and all our towels hanging outside get wet.  Bath towels...2 per person, 4 hand-towels per bath, 2 wash cloths per person, kitchen towels...I have 10 dish clothes, 10 hand towels, and 5 drying towels, so I can change these daily, and still have a couple just in case.

 

I just bagged up a TON of extra towels for storage/get rid of...because I have way too many towels (most of them were gifted to me)

[Slartibartfast]

Every holder I've ever owned has little holes or gaps in it and according to Myth Busters they found fecal matter on toothbrushes in a cabinet in another room! lol

 

:willy_nilly:  :willy_nilly:  :willy_nilly:  :willy_nilly: 

[Slartibartfast]

I wash everything on cold.

 

I don't know what the distinction between cold water and regular detergent might be, I am allergic to Tide so I don't buy it. I usually buy seventh generation or unscented detergents.

 

[Renthead Mommy]

First it's towel hoarding.  Next thing you know, you're buying giant metal chickens.....

 

[Acorn]

First it's towel hoarding.  Next thing you know, you're buying giant metal chickens.....

Love it.