How often do you wash towels and how?

[JoyGal]

How often do you wash your towels? How do you like to wash them?

I just saw a video on MSN (http://www.msn.com/en-us/video/homechannel/are-you-washing-your-bath-towel-enough/vi-BBkHZH1) about how often. I've had this conversation with a lot of people for some reason too.

Bath towels --> washed every 1-3 uses. If they don't get hung up after using, then they go straight to the wash.

Kitchen towels --> changed every night. Same with placemats for that matter.

Bathroom hand towels --> changed every 1-2 days, occasionally I forget and it's longer, but that's rare.

When washing, I will put in 5-6 bath towels at a time or a load of hand towels, never packing them in so they get thoroughly washed.
Always on hot cycle.
Add OxyClean, detergent, and generous amount of vinegar. Thieves drops to the load if the sickies are going around.
Fabric softener sheets in the dryer for added fluff and to prevent static cling.
Always dried on hot for extra long.


If I wash any less and without this routine then I can smell the mildew on the towels and it sticks in my hair or skin.

My grandmother always had the softest and fluffiest towels! I have a couple of her hand towels that she got in the 80's maybe, and they still always was up so fine.

Do you have any tricks or routines to keep towels fresh?

[Kirkie]

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[KarenBoo]

I wash bath towels once a week, like my mother did. She teased my aunt (her sister) for washing them 2-3 times per week. The only time they ever get the stink is if the dryer "finishes" and they are still a little damp. Then they sit in that warm, moist environment until I get to them. And then they go directly back in the wash.

Kitchen towels - we go through several per day!:shifty

Rags, kitchen towels, and hand towels get washed 3-4 times per week (about every other day.)

I use organic detergent from Costco, hot water, and tea tree oil.

[milkmommy]

I wash when we have enough for a load which is usually at least twice a week. Detergent hot water full dry cycle.

[Aerynne]

We live in a desert, so while mildew is a problem it isn't nearly as big of a problem. I wash my kids towels every couple of weeks (they only bathe 1-2 times a week, so that's not as bad as you would think). I wash mine and dh's towels when I notice they smell. Kitchen towels and bathroom towels get changed once a week.

I'm feeling like a slacker now.

I just wash them with the rest of my laundry.

[Soliloquy]

JoyGal I follow pretty much the same schedule for washing towels. I wash them in hot with 1 Tbsp of Charlie's booster and 2 Tbsp of Charlie's detergent. I fill my washer to the max, though. I put vinegar in the fabric softener dispenser for every load, usually.

For my dish cloth, whenever I boil water for tea I pour the extra over that day's dish cloth. I find it keeps the funky smell away.

[gerberadaisy]

I wash towels when I have a load.

I don't use the same body towel twice. I will sometimes use my hair towel on my body for a second use.

I change kitchen towels & wash rags daily

I change bathroom hand towels at least once a week but typically more often as little guy seems to believe they belong on the floor.

Otherwise, I don't use any specific things in the wash, just what I have on hand. Always laundry powder & oxi clean. Sometimes essential oils. Sometimes vinegar.

My cleaning rags get washed totally separate. They get washed on hot & they typically get regular bleach, which is the only reason I even buy it.

[Aerynne]

For my dish cloth, whenever I boil water for tea I pour the extra over that day's dish cloth. I find it keeps the funky smell away.

This is genius!

[twoplustwo]

Bath towels --> I use a bath towel & put it in the laundry. Dh & the kids use theirs a few times.

Kitchen towels --> I also changed every night. We are a non-placementing family so we dont have those.

Bathroom hand towels --> Also, every day in theory. But I occasionally forget. When I watched after school kids, it was every day.

I wash mostly on hot cycle. Sometimes I need to combine a load & whatever is with it, I usually put on cold - so I go for cold. But its mostly hot.

Free & clear detergent.
No fabric softener since ds is allergic.
Dry on hot.

I have never had a mildew problem with towels.

And no tricks or routines to keep them fresh. Except when they start to wear out I downgrade them to dog towels.
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[Soliloquy]

This is genius!

I got the idea from Anne of Green Gables. :lol. Marilla told Anne to do that when she was done washing. And my grandmother used to scald the sink every night with boiling water.

[Kirkie]

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[ShangriLewis]

We have 7 people now and I stopped paying attention to how often. It probably gets done 1 or 2 times a week. But, we have a lot of towels now. I was tired of running out. I wash on hot and the longest cycle. Dry on hot.

I knit my own dishclothes and change at least once a day. We use mostly flour sack towels in the kitchen and they are great. The main bath has a hand towel up high where the little kids can't reach. I keep a basket of cheapie washclothes for the kids to dry their hands or wash up. They always ruin the hand towel. There is a bucket under the sink for them to toss their cloth in.

There is a hamper for just towels in the laundry area. My kids just put towels in there.

[Soliloquy]

That's the other thing. Unless I need something to be done in a hurry I always use the longest wash cycle for everything. On my machine it's 90 minutes - 2 hours.

[Kirkie]

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[Anne Ofalamo]

Each of my kids has an assigned day to do laundry, a few double up. They do their laundry once a week. Pillow case, hoodie and their towels gets tossed in every week (in summer their swimsuit too).
Every other week, we pull sheets, and blankets for deep clean.
Everyone showers everyday, because, they play hard and stink! hahah

kitchen towels, go into laundry every nite, and who ever does their laundry folds and puts away. I also have face clothes, every morning, I have them wash their face and it goes into the washer and yep...everyday, someone is folding face clothes.
I use a sponge in kitchen and it goes into the dishwasher with the load before bed and is smells lovely in morning. (air dried)
I do pull the towels in the bathrooms and do a load maybe twice a week, with my hubby and my towel. I do them by themselves. HOT water.

[ValiantJoy07]

I wash bath towels twice a week, I go through after I've used my towel twice and wash all the towels because I can never keep track and there is almost always tooth paste smeared on towels closer to the sink (thank you. 3 year old).

Dish towels get changed 2-3 times a day and I wash them in a special load twice a week with hot water and organic detergent.

[Tasmanian Saint]

I wash the kids' towels when there's an unusually low amount of clothes in the basket and I need to fill up the machine. About once a week. Or less, if someone has wet the bed or similar so we have extra washing. DH and I put our towels the rash when they get too wet - again, maybe once a week - more often when it's that time of the month. I wash everything in cold and line dry. If there's a smell, it doesn't bother me :shrug. Kids bathe second daily, so their towels usually have time to dry in between uses.

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