I probably wash mine only every couple months. My Aunt claims they should be washed every week (ha ha.)
So how often should sheets be washed? Basically, I’m looking for the longest interval of time before my sheets begin to get structurally damaged from my body oils, dirt, etc. Of course, washing too frequently probably shortens the lifetime of your sheets. Is anyone capable of quantifying the tradeoffs between infrequent and frequent washings?
Reports from anyone who had not washed sheets for X months and had the sheets fall apart are particularly welcome.
Seriously? It depends on how sweaty and grimy you are. If you’re a construction worker or gardener, probably once a week. If you’re a toddler who doesn’t wet the bed, you could probably go for months, barring Kool-Aid spills.
There’s no rule. Just whenever they start to look gray (or you start to feel itchy).
Washing sheets and clothes is the most damaging thing. You wash them to keep them clean.
Yes, the rule when housewives had nothing better to do was to wash them weekly no matter what. I would say I wash them “as needed” which means, more or less: More often in the summer when I may sweat more and sleep naked, much less often in the winter when I sleep mostly covered. Still, you need to air the sheets and clean out hairs etc very often. If sex was had, then washing is in order. The lower sheet generally needs more washing than the upper one. And the pillow case needs very frequent washing as the oils from the face and hair make it dirty fast. You can see there are many variables. I also take into account the convenience of using the washer. If I am going to do a load and have some space I might throw in one or two sheets even if they could have waited.
But, to repeat what I said in the beginning: washing clothes is what shortens their life the most. Today clothes are cheap and people stop using them before they are old, just because styles change but if you want them to last don’t wash them more than necessary.
Hmmm, a good rule of thumb? Imagine you meet the woman of your dreams. You get incredibly lucky and she goes home with you. Does she, upon entering the bedroom, curl up her adorable nose in disgust and flee? Wash your sheets a couple of weeks before that would happen.
Wash them between girlfriends (no, I don’t mean scrub them using a girlfriend on either side). If a new girlfriend appears and sticks around, she’ll provide guidance on washing intervals - she may even take over the task entirely! If girlfriend departs, you don’t really need to wash’em again until a ressurection of your love life appears imminent. If the transitional period lasts a couple of years, buy new sheets.
Damage schmage! This is preposterous! I’m NOT prepared to believe my children’s health isn’t being damaged if I DON’T wash all the sheets once a week, and all the bedding once a month! Ewwwwwww is all I can say!
SERIOUSLY, I once let a vacuum salesman into my home skilliondy years ago, when I didn’t have to worry he’d attack me with said ‘hose’ and he vacuumed the sheets on my oldest son’s bed, and then emptied the contents on a black velvet cloth, oh man! It was SOOOoooo gross! I didn’t buy his vacuum, but I’ve washed sheets every week ever since.
We wash/change our sheets at least every week. I am willing to bet that most people that don’t are either single or arent getting any.
Even so though, I would still change them every week or so just since you shed so much dead skin and hair, and sweat too. I have even been known to drool
I wash mine when they no longer bend, or when they begin sticking to me, whichever comes first.
One guy I know at college hasn’t washed his sheets in about a year and a half. It’s disgusting. I slept in his bed one time (on TOP of the sheets, thank you) and when I rolled over the next morning, there was a big ass booger staring me in the face.
One time I had sex on his comforter on the floor (I was inexperienced, and it was a waterbed, not a good combination) and I don’t think he even washed them after that. I think he just let it air out, then crumpled it up until it was no longer stiff.
Seriously, though, I wash mine every two or three or eight months.
EWWW! What about all the little buggies that live in the bed and bedding in such massive numbers? Geez, I wash 'em weekly just to keep the mites at bay. Whenever you itch when you’re in bed it’s those nasty bugs eating away at you. Microscopically of course, but the just the thought is bad enough!
According to Cheryl Mendelson, author of Home Comforts, you should wash your sheets at least once a week. The body oils and grit that collects in sheets is as damaging as the washing. And the dust mites are a health hazard at worst, and yucky at best.
And Homer, if you had sex on that guy’s comforter, you should have washed it.
if it were up to me, I wouldn’t wash my sheets (that might just be because I don’t like doing the wash…not really sure) but my mom usually gets me into washing the sheets every three months or so…
EWWW! What about all the little buggies that live in the bed and bedding in such massive numbers? Geez, I wash 'em weekly just to keep the mites at bay. Whenever you itch when you’re in bed it’s those nasty bugs eating away at you. Microscopically of course, but the just the thought is bad enough!
that’s being paranoid…dust mites are microscopic and feed off your dead skin flakes (I think you lose more than pound a day, I’m not sure.) They’re what keep your sheets from getting stacked in dust (which, coincidentally, is made up mostly of dead skin)
Well, part of the problem for me is that I have a waterbed. Waterbed owners know what a pain in the ass it is to change the sheets on a waterbed. The sheets and mattress cover have to be tucked in very well at every point all along the edge of the mattress.
So, I put it off, and change the sheets less often than I probably should. And, since the mattress covering comes untucked every time I remove the sheets, I wash it whenever I change the sheets, so at least a sheet-change means totally-fresh bedding at my place.
I’m NOT prepared to believe my children’s health isn’t being damaged if I DON’T wash all the sheets once a week, and all the bedding once a month! Ewwwwwww is all I can say!