Spinoff of changing linen - changing towels

BetsyTacy

Wed, Oct 29 2014, 11:18 am

To answer the amother with the towel questions:
Yes, everybody has their own design. They don't match, but they do all work together in the color scheme of the bathroom (or at least close enough). We did add an additional rod to the bathroom. Two of my kids have to share a rod but it is wide enough. I have never understood bathrooms where all the bath towels match, unless people do wash their towels after every use. I would not want to wash my towels that often, but I do want to be assured that each person gets their own.

Scrabble123

Wed, Oct 29 2014, 11:24 am

BetsyTacy wrote:

Bath towels are kept in a closet, and the hanging towels that match are just for aesthetic purposes.

Barbara

Wed, Oct 29 2014, 11:38 am

Squishy wrote:

I wash bath towels after each use and bath mats once a day. I change the hand towels several times a day in the main bath. I wash kitchen hand towels after each meal. If I see a guest not using soap after toileting, I slyly change the towel.

Not sure how you see a guest not using soap, or why they would use the towel if they didn't use soap, but that's besides the point.

Lest you feel alone, my mother (a"h) also changed towels after each use, and my father still does. I still think of that as normal and appropriate. But when I went away to college, and had to lug the laundry down 4 flights of stairs, across the courtyard, then down another flight (and up again), I decided that towels could be used a few times. If I had my own washer and dryer, I'd definitely go back to washing after every use.

Tablepoetry

Wed, Oct 29 2014, 12:00 pm

To the previous amother - a lot of thought needs to be put as to where to hang towels if you reuse.
Some of my kids have hooks on the wall behind their door. You need more than one hook so the towel is spread out.
Others use the special bath rods in the bathroom, which are placed far from the sink, so no guest uses them to wipe his hands. There are special hand towels on a rod adjacent to the sink, so not much room for confusion.
I don't like the idea of hanging towels over the bed, because that means your feet will be on them half the night.
Oh, and to answer the previous question- I have lots of different coloured towels. Each person chooses one whenever they want or need, and they just hang it in their designated zone. The towels don't match, but most of them do somehow coordinate with overall style of my home.

Scrabble123

Wed, Oct 29 2014, 12:08 pm

Table just reminded me that growing up all of our towels had our names on them. I would never have used my brother's towels, but I realize how silly that is now especially since they were washed after every use. As for hand towels. We had those because paper towel is a waste of money, but after each person used it, he/she would just go dump it in the laundry shoot. We probably went through over 30 hand towels a day. Wow, this is sounding ridiculous! I'm almost embarrassed to type it, but it does make sense.

Chayalle

Wed, Oct 29 2014, 12:12 pm

I puff-painted my DD's names on their towels. They know which is theirs, and they each have a designated hook for hanging them to dry.

I have several kitchen towels, and those get changed all the time and the dirty ones go in the hamper.

I go thru loads of dish towels. I tend to use them when I wipe the counters down, after supper dishes, and then whatever dish towels are around go to the hamper and new ones come out.

I wash a towel load about once a week (more if necessary) and I just swipe all the house towels from hamper and hooks (except the cream ones in my master bathroom, those get washed separately) and wash them.

MaBelleVie

Wed, Oct 29 2014, 3:15 pm

supermama2 wrote:

My mother who is a nurse claims that if I knew what was on a bath towel even after scrubbing in a shower, I'd never use the same towel twice...not that I followed her advice...just something to think about.. shock

That's true. But also, if we knew what was on all of our everyday surfaces we would never want to touch anything. I think God made bacteria invisible to the naked eye for good reason Wink

Frumdoc

Wed, Oct 29 2014, 6:25 pm

I change them once a week, we have individual bath towels, but if I notice a bath or hand towel is v damp or smells/ looks dirty, I will change it. We have a heated rail with several hand towels in each bathroom (color coordinated embarrassed

!) so when one has been used and may be damp for minutes/ an hour, there are others to use. They rarely look or smell dirty by the end of the week even when I do change them, as they dry quickly and don't stay damp and are not used to wipe off visible dirt, we wash our hands well, shake the excess water off and then dry. Or I do.

If bath towels are not aired/dried between use, they smell musty, so one of my big bathroom needs is adequate airing space for each towel. They don't smell by the end of the week, ever.

I can't imagine changing towels after every shower or washing hands, seems excessive to me, but each to their own. We all have harmless skin bacteria, like gut bacteria, you can't eliminate it, so I am just careful when I have a cut or whatever. At work obviously I wash hands incessantly, before and after seeing each patient and wear gloves and aprons much of the time.

We live in a world surrounded by bact inside and outside our bodies, so unless there is an immune system reason to be paranoid, I think a normal level of hygiene, ie remove visible dirt, is adequate.

There are various hypotheses about under exposure to bacterial/ viral agents being associated with hyper allergic states, or diseases such as asthma, although I am not convinced of the science, it is certainly something interesting to consider.

And there is no evidence for the use of antibacterial hand wash or sprays outside a sterile medical environment being of any actual benefit, it is a great marketing tool feeding into a hygiene paranoia. Good handwashing with soap will remove the vast majority of disease causing organisms both inside and outside hospital. (Eg, did you know c diff, the highly infectious diarrhea often precipitated by antibiotic therapy, is not removed or neutralised by such antibac wipes or sprays, but is by good old soap and water?)

sky

Thu, Oct 30 2014, 10:16 am

Scrabble123 wrote:

I would think the cost of washing the towels (warm or hot water + detergent + electricity + wear and tear on the towel) would be more expensive then a single piece of paper towel.

33055

Thu, Oct 30 2014, 12:26 pm

Barbara wrote:

In my community the sinks are located outside the toilets. Many guests will wash their hands with water only. If they choose to wash in my kitchen, they are turning on my kitchen faucets with hands direct from the bathroom. If I don't watch this I can have unclean hands if say I go to rinse pasta or something. It is usually the same people and it seems to happen when I am busy in the kitchen.

Barbara

Thu, Oct 30 2014, 12:29 pm

Squishy wrote:

Thanks for the explanation.