I blogged the other day about how one of the first things I do every day is to make the bed, and asked everyone to comment about whether or not they make their bed every day. To my surprise, I got a lot of feedback! It was wonderful!!! 
So, this time we’re going to talk about towels. I think this one will definitely have me in the minority!
I wash towels on Tuesday (get the alliteration?!). Once a week. When we take a bath or a shower, we hang the towel back up and let it dry, to use it again the next day. I know a bunch of people don’t do that, they like to throw the towel out and get a fresh one. My husband was like that. It took him a while to “come around” to my way of thinking. We came from completely different backgrounds and totally different ways of looking at this. I came from a family of girls. We didn’t get that dirty and sweaty and nasty, and my mom’s philosophy was, you take a bath or shower, so you’re CLEAN when you towel off. You use the towel just to dry off your clean body. My husband, on the other hand, came from a family of all boys. And outside boys, they grew up on a farm and would often come in dirty or nasty after working, being in the chicken house, hunting, fishing or whatever. They used a towel and threw it in the dirty clothes to be washed. So, I explained my way to Tim and he agreed to try it that way. He understood the logic behind “you are supposed to come out of the shower clean, so the towel is just to dry you off”. Now, in the summer, when it’s really hot here, I do wash the towels more often. We’re not too gross. Well, maybe we are. That’s the point of this post 🙂
That’s today’s Question of the Day: When you use a bath towel, do you throw it in the dirty clothes or do you hang it up to dry and use it again? Do you want or need a new towel every time you get out of the shower? And, along the same lines, how often do you wash towels in your house? Leave me a comment and let me know!
We re-use our towels. I’m not going to say how often I wash them. 🙂 My cousins had the whole – ‘use it once and get a new one’ but I’d go crazy trying to keep up with the laundry if we did that.
We do it the same as you. We reuse our towels all week, unless they get really dirty and need to be replaced more often. In the winter, when the air is dry, they dry out fast, so usually they last closer to a week. But in the summer when it is humid, they don’t dry as fast and I usually replace them every 3-4 days.
My husband came from a family where their mom was always cleaning up after them, so he used to want a new towel all the time. However, since I got him to actually hang up his towel most days, he now does it the more ecological way.
🙂 Cute entry.
We also re-use towels. I agree, since you come out of the shower clean, then you just use the towels to dry off. I couldn’t imagine using a new towel everytime I take a bath/shower since we usually shower at least 2x a day. We would run out of towels that way. 🙂 We usually change the towels 2x a week.
We usually use them 2 times before washing them. I do my towels about once a week (we are a family of 4).
It depends — with the kids or myself, we hang them and dry them and re-use them.
DH works in a steel mill — so when he showers, ewwww — those go right down the chute! LOL
ps I just had a bowl of cabbage/veggie soup and it is REALLY good! I’ll be posting the recipe later today at:
http://likeaturtle.blogspot.com
We too came from totally different ideas on this. Growing up K used the same towel pretty much indefinitely until it got washed. I used a different towel every single day. I hate the damp mildewyness of a used towel. I have cut back because laundry piled up too much for me. These days I use my towel exactly twice before grabbing a new one. As for my husband, to be honest I have no idea what he does these days. He’s on his own – I stack up the clean towels, and he can grab a new one as needed. I think he typically keeps the same one until he feels like it’s getting stinky or gross.
Then again we live in a very, very dry climate. When we travel to more humid places (which is pretty much anywhere outside of NV), NOTHING DRIES and it drives me absolutely insane. I never, ever reuse towels in those climates. 😉
Oh, and I wash my towels (or try to) every 2 weeks, on the same weekends I clean the bathrooms. 🙂
I use a new towel everday. DH uses the same one for 2 or 3 days. Even though I’m clean when I get out of the shower, that damp towel has to hang in the damp bathroom, and may not be so clean when I go to use it again. I wash towels once a week when I do the rest of the laundry.
I reuse my towels. When do I wash them…when I can! But I have lots of towels, so I don’t run out.
Definitely re-use! Geez-I already average about 12 loads of laundry a week…can’t imagine having 5 people use a new towel each day! But also, like you I tend to wash them more than once a week during the summer.
We use out towels twice…I do towels…at least 2 times a week….I do a load of laundry daily…..laundry wears on me…..it’s my least favorite thing about housework…not that any of them are my favorite…Ha…LOL!
Great topic! Before I got married, I never used a towel twice. That’s just how I grew up, I guess. But once I had a home of my own and realized how much work it takes to keep it clean and tidy, I started reusing my towels. I may not do it *every* time, but probably 7 times out of 10.
I usually wash our towels on Sunday afternoon/evening. I let them dry while I take a nap. 🙂
I was taught to reuse, so I always have. We wash towls once a week, but we don’t have a specific day. Actually, my husband does the most washing since he messes up the most stuff. On a related note, I rewear all my clothes (except socks and undies) unless I’ve gotten really sweaty or been in a smoky place. So, I may be grosser than you:)
I like to reuse them at least once but the crew of kids/hubby at my house just about refused to do it! With 5 of them and 1 of me, it was always a MOUNTAIN of laundry……it seemed like they would use 1 to dry with, 1 to stand on (which I never understood since there was a bathmat) and 1 to dry hair with. Don is much, much better about it now and some of the kids will reuse them when they are here. But it still seems like I have lots of laundry sometimes! 🙂
I just added you to my daily reads…….I have enjoyed you so much….
New towel every time. Growing up (until I was in 3rd grade that is) we had to reuse our towels, which I really didn’t like even then. I was homeschooled and one day during my Health reading (ABEKA Book), the lesson of the day was about the importance of using a new towel after each wash. Reason being, when you dry off you are scraping off dead skin cells that didn’t completely come off during your shower. The towel, now having your dead skin cells on it, sits in a damp bathroom full of bacteria and microbes, which of course, attach to your towel to feed/live off of your dead skin cells. Therefore, the next time you shower, Yes, you were clean, but your towel is now full of bacteria that you rub all over yourself.
Gross!! So, after having read that, I quickly made the announcement that we were NOT going to reuse our towels. After that I became the towel guard, if I found I used towel hanging in the bathroom, I immediately put it in the hamper.
My husband quickly learned my way, one day, was all it took. I do admit that I’m a terrible house guest, if there are used towels hanging in someone’s house and there is a hamper in sight, I swiftly proceed to disposing the towels into their hamper.
I know, I’m terrible, but… I do a load of towels once a week.
REUSE those puppies! When the in-laws lived here it drove me batty that they had to have a new one everytime. I use mine two days (four showers) before I grab a new one and Jeff uses one towel per time home. I usually wash them like Susie…Sunday afternoon and nap while they dry.
You come up with the coolest questions!
I wash towels once a week. We reuse our towels all week, hanging them to dry in between showers. This is in general. But in the summer we often switch them out once during the week, due to the extra dirtiness and sweatiness of summer. But even then, I still only wash once a week.
I’m not going to be much help…DH and I hang ours back up and get a clean one about once a week. My kids, on the other hand, like to have a clean one every day.
I reuse my towel the next day but I don’t let my husband reuse his lol!
i am so in your camp, Stacy! if you’re *clean* when you come out of the shower, how would the towel be getting dirty! i usually use my towel two or three times before it gets tossed in the laundry — because i read somewhere that hanging in typically moist environment like the bathroom, tiny mildew spores can begin to grow after two or three days. that made sense to me & i don’t want to be wiping mildew all over my freshly showered self! and i just do a load of towels once a week. where my real towel issue lies, though, is in how they are folded & stacked in the linen closet! 😉
I would love a new one every time but I hate doing laundry. So….I typically use it once and hang it up for the next day. If it is moist the next morning, it’s in the laundry and I get a new one. But typically I use one every two days. DH is the same and one of my boys uses a new one every time, the other every few days. Weird.
We definitely hang them up to use again. Laundry is my nemesis! 🙂 Actually, I think when we began having the laundry responsibility ourselves we decided it would be best to *recycle* the towels! I really haven’t visited your blog enough…this question of the day is fun stuff!!!
re-use, re-use, re-use, till it’s gross then it gets washed……..I don’t have laundry all piled up……..very effecient, this one
I do use a towel twice. The first time I use it to pat dry my body. Then I hang it to dry. The second time I use it to wrap my hair and get a fresh one for my body. I have done this for years. My kids often use a towel just once which is why they all learned to do laundry at a young age. My hubby uses a towel twice, always has as far as I know.
Have a great tomorrow!
I tend to re-use towels. If they have hung up to dry, I have no problem with it. If they have just sat on the floor, then forget it! My bed doesn’t get made, though! Often, when I get up, DH is still in it, so it’s hard. Or I’m too busy getting out the door, to care.
We use the same towel all week. I have mine and he has one… at the end of the week I rotate them out with new ones. We NEVER throw a towel in the dirty clothes unless it has been hanging and is completely dry. It is way to humid in Tx and it would mildew.
oh yeah and we make the bed right before we get in it to sleep..lol Our bed is never made. My mom on the otherhand…does it every morning. I think it is a generation thing maybe?
I usually do all of my laundry on Monday (sorry, no alliteration there!), clothes, towels, sheets, everything! Both hubby and I use the same couple of towels all week. I have a linen closet full of towels but haven’t been used in at least two years. We have two smaller baskets of towels in the bathroom that get used instead. Maybe I should turn that closet into a mini library….hmmmm…
I hate to admit (because my in-laws would probably have a fit) that we’ll re-use towels for a couple of days. I’m like your mother in that you should be drying a clean body so the towel should just get wet and not dirty with use. I know I can come up with an argument against that (teen-age boys for one) but I guess I’m kind of lazy. No acutally, I’m very lazy. 😉 I hate doing laundry.
The only time a towel doesn’t get re-used is when it’s used to dry the dog after his bath.
Add A Comment