# Bath Towels: How many is too many?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-towels-how-many-is-too-many/463057
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [September 11, 2008, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-towels-how-many-is-too-many/463057 "2008-09-11T02:23:18Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@FaerieBeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FaerieBeth)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2008, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-towels-how-many-is-too-many/463057/1 "2008-09-11T02:23:18Z")
I think I have too many bath towels. Tell me how many you have, so I can get a better gauge of my normalcy.
I’m not counting wash cloths or hand towels. Just full sized bath towels, and you may include beach towels if you keep them in the same place and regularly use them as bath towels.
I have 40.
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### Author:  [@IGJoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IGJoe)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2008, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-towels-how-many-is-too-many/463057/2 "2008-09-11T02:24:57Z")
I have 7 or 8 I’d say. Single guy, live by myself.
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### Author:  [@emmaliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emmaliminal)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2008, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-towels-how-many-is-too-many/463057/3 "2008-09-11T02:25:45Z")
Yes, you have too many. We have about ten in regular use, plus two reserved for guests, plus two or three ragged ones we use on the dog.
Repent, ye profligate!
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### Author:  [@BetsQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BetsQ)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2008, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-towels-how-many-is-too-many/463057/4 "2008-09-11T02:26:46Z")
I think we have 12. Family of 4. I’m pretty sure 40 would take up my entire linen closet!
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### Author:  [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2008, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-towels-how-many-is-too-many/463057/5 "2008-09-11T02:27:23Z")
I have seventeen. I like to have lots of towels on hand.
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### Author:  [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2008, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-towels-how-many-is-too-many/463057/6 "2008-09-11T02:30:15Z")
When I had a family, we had about 35…but most of them were small bath towels received as a wedding gift…not big, thick, fluffy ones, but motel size white towels I now use for carwashing…mother in law was a treat. Now that I’m alone, I have about 12 big fluffy ones…but I only have three hanging up and in use at any one time.
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### Author:  [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2008, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-towels-how-many-is-too-many/463057/7 "2008-09-11T02:36:35Z")
I think I have 8 or 10. I purged the ones I still had from college that were threadbare and close to 20 years old, but that was still maybe 6? Yeah, 40 sounds like really a whole lot!
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### Author:  [@FaerieBeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FaerieBeth)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2008, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-towels-how-many-is-too-many/463057/8 "2008-09-11T02:41:13Z")
> [@emilyforce](#):
>
> Repent, ye profligate!
Thing is, I really can’t remember buying any of them, except the beach towels…and they account for only 6 of the 40. There aren’t too many white ones, so I haven’t inadvertently stolen them from hotels, either.
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### Author:  [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2008, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-towels-how-many-is-too-many/463057/9 "2008-09-11T02:41:57Z")
I have four. I used to have three, which would have been enough for general use, but if friends stayed over or if I needed to go to the beach I found myself wanting one more, so I bought one. Seems to be a good number for a single guy. Get several uses out of each before washing.
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### Author:  [@Kayeby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kayeby)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2008, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-towels-how-many-is-too-many/463057/10 "2008-09-11T02:53:46Z")
I have 9 towels for a family of 2.
2 sets in regular use.
1 set and 1 non-paired towel as gym towels
1 set that doesn’t match the decor but was a gift so I keep it in the cupboard except when the cat tips over a vase of flowers or something.
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### Author:  [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2008, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-towels-how-many-is-too-many/463057/11 "2008-09-11T03:15:19Z")
I think I have 9. Three are nice and I bought them for guests (and only guests use them). Two are huge white ones that my mom got on sale somewhere. The other four are crap old ones that my mom gave me when I moved out. I use those.
I also have a beach towel that I share with the dog (only a clean dog!) and a ratty towel for a muddy dog.
I am a family of one.
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2008, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-towels-how-many-is-too-many/463057/12 "2008-09-11T03:54:57Z")
I live alone, and have six.
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### Author:  [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2008, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-towels-how-many-is-too-many/463057/13 "2008-09-11T03:58:45Z")
I have about 10.
40?!! Admitting you have a problem is the first step. Thassalotta towels.
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### Author:  [@lindsaybluth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lindsaybluth)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2008, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-towels-how-many-is-too-many/463057/14 "2008-09-11T05:07:28Z")
> [@FaerieBeth](#):
>
> I think I have too many bath towels…
>
> I have 40.
How big is your family? While I’m at school and have just 3 (two for my use during the week, one for a guest), my family (4 of them, including 2 teenage boys) has at least 30. And probably about ten more bath sheets, for my brothers’ swim meets.
But uh…this is an a accumulation that they never even get through a third of them all before a laundry cycle resets it all.
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### Author:  [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2008, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-towels-how-many-is-too-many/463057/15 "2008-09-11T05:16:51Z")
> [@FaerieBeth](#):
>
> I have 40.
That sounds like a lot to me. Where do you store them all?
I have about 8.
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### Author:  [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2008, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-towels-how-many-is-too-many/463057/16 "2008-09-11T07:03:07Z")
About twelve, of the 60cm/1 m variety.
In a fit of decorating frenzy two yeras ago, when I wanted a red theme for my bathroom, I bought another set of about twelve red towels. I had them in the bathroom for a while, but they really weren’t getting any use, so now the red ones are in the closet awaiting better times.
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### Author:  [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2008, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-towels-how-many-is-too-many/463057/17 "2008-09-11T07:09:51Z")
I have about 20, but that includes the beach towels as well as the Christmas ones. This is for two people.
I usually go to the pool several times a week so that is an extra towel I"m using.
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### Author:  [@Waenara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waenara)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2008, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-towels-how-many-is-too-many/463057/18 "2008-09-11T08:11:20Z")
I have two bath towels (plus four hand towels). I live alone. I use the two bath towels on alternate days/showers (I don’t always shower every day if I’m not going anywhere), and I launder them after about five or six uses (i.e about every two weeks).
I also have a large beach towel that I use if I go swimming, and a large garbage bag full of towels that I got from a friend who was buying a new set of matching towels and was getting rid of her old mis-matched ones. Occasionally I’ll use one of those extra towels if needed, but that’s infrequent. I don’t keep those extra towels in my bathroom because I don’t have a lot of storage space.
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### Author:  [@madrabbitwoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madrabbitwoman)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2008, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-towels-how-many-is-too-many/463057/19 "2008-09-11T08:13:44Z")
Hmmmm…
About 6 bath sheet type which I use on regular rotation
3 beach towels
Maybe 10 “nice” towels for guests or had been gifts I haven’t had the heart to relegate to pet towels yet
Pet towels 20ish for lining carriers, washing and putting on the base of the bunnie’s cage (3 at a time).
About half a dozen dirty jobs towels (not quite rag bag material but getting close)
I am single with 2 cats and a rabbit. Caretaker to community garden guinea pigs.
Am I winning?
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2008, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-towels-how-many-is-too-many/463057/20 "2008-09-11T13:24:11Z")
From prior threads on towels, there seems to be two schools of thought on towel use: use them only once between washings, or use them for a few days between washings. Which camp you’re in makes a big difference in how many are reasonable.
We’re a two-person household & use the wash weekly method. We have 3 sets of two bath sheets = 6 total. For guest use we have one more set of 2. Then theres a few beach towels for beach / boat use only & a few oldies laying around for car washing, major kitchen spills, etc. So the active count is really 6.
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