How Often Should You Wash Beddings, Towels and Other Home Linens?

You have to admit it. You don’t often wash your beddings, right? Of course you would think that you only get to use it at night and that you don’t think dust would accumulate. So, why wash often? But here’s the thing, your beddings, towels and other home linens may be more than filthy than you think they are. How often then, you may ask, should one wash their home linens?

Before we get to that, let us define first what home linens are so you will get the idea of which should be washed more often than you first thought you should.

What are Home Linens?

When you hear of home linens, you may probably think of your beddings. While beddings are considered home linens, there are actually more items that go with them.

In general, home linens or household linens are those items you use in your home on a day to day basis, that are made of cloth. Most of the household linens are made of cotton but there are also other types of fabric being used in home linens. Other types of fabric used in home linens are silk, polyester, nylon, rayon and even the trending, bamboo.

The frequency of washing them though does not solely depend on the type of fabric that they’re made of.

How Often Should You Wash Home Linens?

To determine how often you should wash your home linen, you have to assess its use and its exposure to dirt and germs. This will give you an idea if your home linen would require a more frequent washing than the standard, so to speak.

Let’s look at some of those home linens that you use daily.

Beddings

Beddings include bed sheets, blankets, pillowcases, pillows, duvets and comforters. To sum it all up, beddings are anything that you use in the bedroom that’s made of fabric. As a standard practice, beddings should be washed every one or two weeks. This is the ideal frequency of washing beddings especially those that come in contact with your skin such as bed sheet, blanket, pillowcases and pillows. For duvets and comforters you can wash them less often. Pillows too don’t require as much washing as long as you don’t sleep on it without their pillowcases. It would help too if you cover them with a pillow protector.

You might be wondering why beddings should be washed that often when you only get to use them at night. You see, germs and dust mites can breed and accumulate in your beddings without you knowing it. They feed on your dead skin or hair that tends to build up every time you sleep on your bed. All the more it will be exposed to germs when you sweat a lot at night or if you just jump right on to bed without washing after a day’s work.

So, if you don’t want to be sleeping alongside dust mites and all those germs, then get them to the laundry weekly.

Bath Linens

Towels, hand towels, washcloths are all those that you call bath linens. It is recommended to wash them after four uses. You may have that notion that since you use them in the bath, sometimes even with soap, in the case of washcloths, that they’re basically clean. Towels, you use them when you wipe yourself dry after a bath when you’re supposedly clean. After using them we just hang them on to the racks in the bathroom then use them again the next time we need to. Why the need to wash them often, you might ask?

Towels and other bath linens are damp, if not wet, when you hang them inside your bathroom. If these are not aired out, you can expect that damp and musty smell. This is a sign that germs and bacteria are breeding. Before that happens, better get your towels to the washer.

Also, keep in mind that it is strongly advised not to share your towels and other bath linens with other members of the family or other people in general. It can become a mode of transmission of infection.

Kitchen Hand Towels

The kitchen is a breeding ground of germs. Foot traffic is high and germs from all the food preparation and wastes are abundant. The more people that gets into the kitchen, the more hands also come in contact with that hand towel you hang in the fridge door or in a kitchen cabinet door. Using the principle we applied in bath towels, the hand towels can be a breeding ground itself of germs and other bacteria.

It is for this reason that you must wash your hand towels every two or three days. Wash them immediately if they get soiled. It’s good news too that they come really cheap. It really wouldn’t break your bank to have even a dozen extra on stock to be sure.

Curtains

Yes, your lovely curtains that are draping over your windows are also home linens. And, unless you are living in a very dusty area, your curtains wouldn’t be accumulating too much dirt other than the simple dust. Still, they collect dusts that can bring problems especially to people that are prone to allergy attacks or asthma. The standard frequency of washing curtains fall on twice a year or every six months. You can wash them quarterly if you have a family member that’s suffering from allergies.

Curtains also come in different types of fabric so the recommended way of washing should be followed to keep them in good condition. You can also vacuum them in between washings to remove dust.

Wash the Troubles Away

Sometimes, it’s the burden of washing that keeps you from doing this chore. But if you have your health and your family’s health as top priority, you wouldn’t mind going through that. Washing your home linens as frequently required can do you good. Just look at it as washing all your troubles away.