Thursday, December 4, 2008

Continuing the Theme . . .

Yesterday we discussed Hated Household Chores. Today's topic may very well cause division amongst the ranks, but I'll be brave and introduce it anyway, because I think civilized discussion about differences is healthy. Unless you disagree with me, and then you're just WRONG. (Just kidding!) (Sort of.)

And NO, I am not going to talk about the cleaning that I am still not doing . . . LALALALALA--I CAN'T HEAR YOU.


Okay, onto the point. Finally.


I read a random thing about re-using bath towels yesterday. As in, some people re-use, and some people only use them once and then chuck 'em in the laundry basket.

Now. I suspect this is one of those things that people might get a little worked up about. Like, the people that only use them once think it's totally grody to the max to use a towel more than once. And the people that re-use towels think it's really stupid to wash a towel after using it once to dry off what should be a clean body, because HELLO! You just got out of the shower! Where you presumably cleaned yourself!

Can you tell where I stand on this issue?

Yeah, we re-use. Over and over and over and . . . well, you get the idea. I do not wash our towels much. In fact, I may as well admit that I don't even wash them every week (and NO, I DO NOT SMELL*). This is partially a result of living for so long without an adequate water supply for excess laundering, and partially because we just don't care about it that much. But I do understand that people get skeeved out over the damnedest things. For instance, I HATE dirty sheets. I don't sleep well when my sheets are dirty.

BUT ANYWAY.

I am interested to know--are you a re-user, or is the very thought of re-using a bath towel enough to make you hurl? Do tell.


* Do I? You'd tell me, right?

19 comments:

Leslie said...

I subscribe to your camp - but with a twist. I actually change out the towels twice a week. It's worked out pretty well for us.

Anonymous said...

People change their towels? When did that start?

Drew @ Cook Like Your Grandmother said...

Damn, Anon totally beat me to it.etic

Drew @ Cook Like Your Grandmother said...

Umm, ignore those random letters after my comment above. That was the Blogger captcha ... the cursor moved while I was typing ... you stopped caring about 13 words back, didn't you?

Anonymous said...

I was raised in a use-the-towel-once household, but switched over to the re-use camp once I got to college and realized that DAMN, that makes a lot of laundry. My parents are CONSTANTLY washing towels because they still do the use-once thing. It's one of those little things that drives me nuts when I'm at their house: I'll go to take a shower & when I look for the towel I used the morning before - POOF! - it's gone! And usually washed, dried, and folded in the linen closet.

Yeah, you can thank my parents when the Earth runs out of water. Sorry about that.

Anonymous said...

I'm a reuser too. As long as they don't stink I use 'em...and sometimes even then in a pinch!

Anonymous said...

Re-use. And the toilet paper has to come over the top of the roll.

Anonymous said...

Reuse but wash regularly (towels and sheets). And we all know how I feel about germs, so that should say something. Although, the person I live with doesn't see the need to wash her things regularly. We don't share a bathroom these days, so she's responsible for her own hand towels anyway. But kitchen towels? Ugh. Some don't seem to understand why you shouldn't put the towel on your shoulder and then use it to dry clean dishes with it. Blech.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, Drew! Actually we do change our towels. I do twice a month. My spouse takes care of his own laundry, bless his heart, and has his own bathroom, thank god for a large house. I notice that he uses the "stiff enough to stand on their own" rule to determine when to wash his towels. Anon (Mary in MN--too much in a hurry to get to work this morning to self-identify).

Anonymous said...

You have got to be joking. Only a once use? Hey - I'm clean when I use them. I wash my towels very week-ish. Maybe every 2 weeks. But, I do wash hand towels much more often (like from the kitchen and bathroom). 'cause those get dirty faster

Moi

It's me said...

Re-use.
And since you mentioned beds... I love clean sheets, but HATE sleeping in a bed that's been made. When Husband is gone I never make my bed. I like to come home and see a comfy, cozy, nest waiting for me. Even when he's home I try to do as little as possible - perhaps just throwing the top cover sorta over everything.

Mary said...

I re-use mine for a week, DH has to change his every couple of days because it starts to smell. No idea what the difference is...

jean said...

I re-use but my husband and son must have a clean one each day. Laundry day is once a week and I'm usually the only one with a towel. Oh well, they can do the laundry just as easily as I can.

Sweet Bird said...

I reuse until they don't smell so fresh and so clean, clean anymore - which is usually two or three days. And by fresh and so clean, clean I mean I can't smell my fabric softener anymore.

On another topic that cropped up, I have to make the bed every single day and I wash the sheets at least once a week. I'd wash the duvet too if my washing machine was big enough.

Chiot's Run said...

We reuse. Mine more times than Mr Chiots (he says his get "hamstery" whatever that means). I wash mine when I need an extra towel to fill the load.

Julie said...

I reuse, but I'm the only one in the house who does. My hubby does most of the laundry (yeah all my underwear is greyish pink, but it's clean dammit) so I don't complain about it too much.

Julie said...

Sorry if that was TMI about my underwear.

FinnyKnits said...

Totally reuse.

What are we? So boring that our lives should be absorbed with so much laundry?

No.

Once a week, we wash the towels. And when I say "we" I mean - we each individually wash our towels and whoever gets to the machine first washes the bathmat and hand towels.

However, the sheets are apparently *all mine*.

I'm so lucky.

Hannah@CraftsAkimbo said...

My parents are total germiphobes and we threw our towels in the laundry after every shower.

Since meeting my husband and seeing that he uses his towel 4-5 times before it gets washed - I thought gross! - but now (4 years later) I do the same.