How often do you wash your bath towel? Do you use a new towel every day? (Not here, I'm not running a hotel!) Seems like you're clean when you go out the shower? so as long as you hang your towel dry shouldnt it be ok to use it for longer?

Sure, towels smells after a while.. and I guess if it gets to the point of smelling, it's probably been dirty for awhile.

So how long? Every day? Every other day? Once a week? When it gets to smelling? Does it depend on the weather and whether or not you have A/C?


What's the right balance for cleanliness and enviro factors?

cj/

We switch towels every other day around here. Washcloths, every day. With 4 people, I wash a load of towels/washcloths every other day. Sigh....

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We each use a new towel everyday. I just love wrapping up in a fluffy fabric softener smelling towel after I take a shower. I also do laundry daily which is the downside

we all use one for a week then they get washed.

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BF changes his towel once very 2 weeks.(He doesn't take a shower very often and even though he works as a dirty sweaty welder he seems to never stink.
I have 3 towels .I use one for my face,one for my body,and one for my hair.They get washed once every 2 weeks.The hand towel same.We go to the laundry mat once every 2 weeks.I don't wash my clothes very often either.I don't sweat at all unless its that time of month ,so unless I have an accident it just gets hung back up and the next day I wear something else.I try to save wear and tear on my clothes because the laundry mat washers are very rough.Socks and underwear are only worn once. Being a welder bf's clothes are always dirty no matter how many times they are washed .He ruins a new shirt everyday,lol, and throws it on the floor. All his clothes are only wore once.By the time laundry day arrive his is piled to the ceiling.

For us, it's about a week. I don't have fixed days to do anything, that's why it's "about". The boys each sometimes throw theirs in the hamper before I pull them....I'm not sure why.....sometimes it's because their towel touched the other ones. LOL Sometimes if the weather is such that they are not drying out in a reasonable amount of time, I will wash after 2-3 days though.

cj/

bath towels get washed once a week here. my SIL who has 4 kids, all teenagers that sometimes take multiple showers a day, use new towels with each shower - yikes!

We will wash ours after 2 or 3 uses....I agree with the other poster we are not running a hotel here either

Christine

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Growing up as a kid, we re-used our towels. But when I got married, DH had never re-used a towel. So now for over 30 years, we use a towel one time and it goes in the hamper. The towel I use to towel-dry my hair gets re-used for the entire week. But we only use a towel once in our house!! As a matter of fact, I just washed a load last night and they're nice and fresh in the dryer right now!

about once a week here also for towels. Washcloths we get a new one each time.

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About once a week, here, too. I do laundry twice a week, but I don't do the towels every time.

Lisa

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Speaking of hotels, it's been years now that almost every hotel that I've stayed in posts notices about their efforts to conserve natural resources/water by not changing sheets and towels daily. This at very nice hotels including the deluxe Disney resorts, so I always thought it was OK by most standards to use a towel more than once. However, I've found that even if I hang the towel up to indicate my willingness to reuse, they replace it anyways.

cj/

We use a new towel every time. I do however use a "used" towel on the floor. We are a family of five and some of us take more than one shower a day.

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We use about two sets a week, but change more often if a towel stays damp and smells funny. He uses one, I use two, since my hair is long.

Once a week.

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New towel everytime. 5 people tons of towels and I have to wash them all. UGGG

Wow! It never even occurred to me that I don't have to wash my towel every time. I am going to have to try this as I am getting very tired of doing so many loads of just towels! I guess the towel dries over night... I mean it's not wet when you use it the next day, right? Thanks!

We use a new towel every time and sometimes DH showers twice a day if he's worked and then come home and worked outside. I usually end up with three loads of towels. When I was growing up I was terrible about using towels! We didn't have a bath mat for some reason so I put one in the floor so I wouldn't drip, wrapped one around my hair, and used yet another one to dry off. I couln't understand why this upset my mother but now I do. LOL

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I'm not sure my husband ever re-used towels before we lived together (and they had to use a laundromat so I can't even imagine single-use towels in that situation lol) but he just crams the towel into the rack, never hangs it up right. Seems like that would take more effort The kids are bad enough about not hanging up the towel after they use it! I hate doing laundry enough but hate running out of towels even more.

Once a week.

We use a new towel every time. There's 3 of us here and I have either 2 small loads of towels a week or 1 large load. But, when the girls go swimming, we hang those up for reuse. And with swimming and slip 'n sliding going on, I have more towels to wash. I normally wash towels once a week but twice if they're piling up quickly.

I wash our towels every 5 days (I know it's a strange number). It works for us. However, my husband's sister washes their towels after every use! That's what DH and his sister grew up with - my MIL apparently washed towels after each time - but I put my foot down and refuse to do it. Why??!? Just like another poster said, you're *clean* when you get out of the shower, all you're doing is drying off! Even if we had a smaller family, I still wouldn't wash towels everyday. I just don't think it's necessary. That's JMO!

Suzanne

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I wash all the laundry in the house on Sat. & Sun. every week. I use the same towel 1-3 times. If it doesn't smell like softener/detergent anymore, I don't re-use it.

Wow...I am shocked. I can't imagine ever getting my family to use the same towel twice. Right now, there are only three of us in the house and I do at least two loads of laundry a day! I do all our bedding at least once a week, so on the days that I do that....its at least four or five loads. On a good note, I don't use my dryer unless it rains, and even then, I use my drying rack, and throw them in the dryer after just to soften them a bit! Not using my dryer often really helps with the electricity bill!

Two adults in my home we chance towel every day,I do laundry twice a week I have very thick and large towels

My Mom and Dad would re-use the towels for 2 weeks ( so I did too growing up) When DH and I got married he refused to use a towel more then once....his parents never re-used a towel.....so now we all only use a towel once, then it gets washed. We go through a ton of towels, especially since some of us have to shower more then once a day and we are a family of 8. Not only do we wash a ton of towels, but since they are washed so often, we also buy a ton of towels because they wear out so much faster.......

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O-H-I-O

There's me and two kids in my house and we only use a towel once before washing it. I thought it was an accomplishment just to get my daughters to not grab an extra towel just for their hair! lol

We buy the big packs of towels at Costco and just have a ton of them...I do laundry of some color pretty much every day tho.

My DH is a shower freak!! He says he can't "wake up" without taking a shower. Even if he is going to go fishing or mow the grass, he takes a shower first. It really ticks me off! For most of our 17 year marriage, he used a different towel each time (sometimes 3 stinkin' showers a day). Well, after my DS was born (5 years ago next month), I put a stop to that. I wash clothes everyday and it does take much "life" out of a towel getting washed so much (and much life out of me too! ).

So....I have "convinced" him that if he is just going out into the yard to sweat, there is really no need to shower "just to wake up" that the heat and sun should take care of that for him! And, he actually uses a towel TWICE before it goes into the dirty clothes. I would absolutely LOVE to convince him to use it more but.....baby steps, I guess! Maybe in the next year or so.... As for my 14 yo DD--she's a once a day shower like myself so we usually only use the towel once because I don't like to have a bunch of towels hanging around to dry out after using it. Same goes for my DS.

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DH and I only use a towel once...Then it goes right in the wash. The kids will sometimes use a towel more than once and just hang it on a hook on the back of the door...I usually gather it up when I'm doing the wash because I can't stand smelly, gross towels...I wash towels at least a few times a week...I just bought some new ones from Kohls yesterday during their big sale...They are so soft and nice! ~Lisa

i wash towels every 2 to 2.5 weeks even with 4 kids have no time to have them wash it more.

Two baths, four people. DD and I use a washcloth daily for just face washing. Washcloths used in the bath are used only once. Each person has their own handtowel that are washed twice a week or as needed. Each bath has a large towel for drying and a regular size towel for hair that are washed weekly.
For goodness sakes!! You're clean when you come out of the tub. Hang the towel up to dry and use it again and again.

We use them for a couple of days and then they go in the laundry.

Rebecca

Washclothes get changed every day. Before my SO moved in I thought he was nuts until . . I seaw one of his washclothes after he used it. The junk that came out of his hair (the eithnic gel stuff) turned me off. Towels as long as they get hung up and dry out will get changed 1 or 2 times a week. Depends how they "look" to me.

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Next time we get a thread going on money-saving tips, I have an idea. Lots of towel washing going on!!!

cj/

Sorry, ladies but I want a clean towel when I come out of the shower. But we take 5 minute showers so I guess I save water that way. My kids reuse their towels. Guess when they were in college they did not like to wash them.

Every Shower.

We use a new (clean) towel and washcloth each time we "shower" or have a bath. 2 bathrooms and 3 people in a trailer, there is not enough space Or out sight space to hang up to dry inbetween using times. and dh and I grew up only using once and put into the wash households, dh washes once a week on Sat. normally.

Wet or even dry towels go on the towel bar in the tub area. Shower doors have towel bars. You can sling a wet towel over the shower curtain rod.
Don't you have towel bars? Shower doors or shower curtain rods?

New one every time here. 5 people, at LEAST 5 showers a day and they all have a new towel. When the girls use one for their hair too I tend to get one their case. We wash a ton of towels daily.

Pool towels do have to get hung on the line until they are dirty, inevitable they fall on the ground when they are soaked. I do feel like a hotel but I do like a clean towel myself too- guess I am as guilty as the others.

I reuse my towel until I don't like the smell. Usually a weeks use at a time. My kids have use one per shower since they have been bathing on their own, before when I washed them I would reuse their towels too. My dh thinks he uses a new one everytime but I pick his up off the floor where he throws it and hang it to dry where he grabs it the next day.

Only use a towel once. all I do is laundry but there isn`t two much I will reuse without washing it.

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We only use our bath towels once or twice, then I wash them. I tend to wash them and hang them right back up.
I change our hand towels once or twice daily depending on how much use they've had that day. I also change our kitchen towels and dishcloths once or twice a day.
I figure those things are the germiest ~

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Donna

We use a new towel each time we take a shower or bath. I guess that is my "weird" thing that I have to do.

ok.... We are a family of 4. We each take a shower once sometimes twice a day and always use a new towel. I never thought of re-using the towel. Like another poster, I like the feeling of a freshly new fluffy towel. Yes, that means more work for me. We are super clean freaks here. My husband jokes he says that we live in a highly sterile home, at any given time an operation could be performed in any part of the houose. He says that I am somewhat over the top with my cleaning habits.

I do however, like the idea of using a towel more than once, after all you are drying off a clean body.