If you have a busy daily schedule, you likely do your laundry only once a week, preferably during the weekends when you have some free time on your hands.
Unfortunately, this is a practice you should rethink since there are some items in your home that need to be washed more frequently than once a week. These include your household linens.
Having the wrong bedding, bathrobe, and towel cleaning and washing habits can cause damage to your precious household linens, along with some health issues.
But with the right practices, you can ensure these items are safe and comfy to use and won’t cause you any health problems.
Recommended Frequency of Washing Household Linens
As mentioned, some household linens require more frequent washing than others.
Below is a guide you can follow for washing your home linens correctly and creating a better laundry schedule:
1.Towels
Bacteria, fungi, dead cells, and other microbes live on the surface of your skin. These microbes are part of your skin’s microbiome, helping protect your body against harmful pathogens.
Whenever you use a towel to dry off after taking a bath or wiping away sweat, these microorganisms, together with the moisture from your skin, stick to the fabric.
The dead skin cells and moisture on the towel become food for the harmful microbes, allowing them to multiply on the fabric.
When these microbes remain on your damp towels (meaning they are unwashed) for a long time, they will multiply and thrive.
The more often you use your unwashed towel, the more likely you incite the growth and spread of these microorganisms. You also spread the bacteria all over your body.
To ensure you have clean towels you are comfortable using, wash them after three to four uses.
Bath towels aren’t the only ones you should wash with regularity. Since you use hand towels often, you need to replace them and put the dirty ones in the laundry every two to three days.
If you are using face and tea towels, wash them after each use. When you reuse your face towels, you might transfer and spread bacteria and other harmful microbes to your face.
Additionally, bacteria tend to thrive in damp tea towels, which can lead to mold growth if they are not washed after every use.
You can also prevent bacteria and other microbes from living and spreading in your towels by making sure they are dry before putting them in your laundry basket.
Ensure your towels are completely dry before using them again or prior to folding and storing them after doing your laundry.
2. Bathrobes
Bathrobes are often made with the same materials as towels. This means that if you put one on after taking a bath, you need to wash it after three to four uses.
When you reuse your bathrobe more than four times in a row, you leave more dead skin cells and bacteria on it. The dampness of the robe can cause these microbes to grow, which can get transferred to your skin.
However, if you only wear your bathrobe over your pajamas every morning, you don’t need to have it cleaned often.
You do have to wash your robe when you spill coffee on it or wear it whenever you cook immediately to get rid of stains and dirt.
3. Bedding
Your bedsheets, pillowcases, blankets, duvet, duvet covers, and other bedding require different frequencies of washing.
Although these items may not show any stains or marks or smell, your bedding is full of dead skin cells that attract bed bugs that thrive on these substances.
Because of this, any bedding that comes in direct contact with your bed and body has to be washed once a week. These include your blankets, duvet cover, pillowcases, and flat sheets.
You have to follow this laundry schedule religiously if you let your pets and young children stay on your bed.
If you use a top sheet and don’t have pets and kids, you can wash your duvet cover every two to three weeks.
If you are unwell, you need to change your bed sheets every other day to prevent the spread of germs and bacteria. You need to continue doing this for the next several days as you recover.
4. Clothes
Like bed linens, garments also require different frequencies of washing.
A general rule of thumb you can safely follow is to wash clothes based on how you use them. You need to wash garments that stick to your body and that you wear all day after each use.
These include your underwear, socks, sportswear, workout clothes, and swimwear.
You would also do well to wash whites and silks after each use since these items tend to get discolored and blemished easily by sweat stains.
Certain fabrics require different frequencies of washing as well. For instance, polyester fabric tends to develop odor faster than other textiles. As such, it is best to put clothes made of this material in the laundry after every use.
Garments made of thick fabrics, including your jeans, jackets, blazers, and wool sweaters, have to be washed after four to five wears.
Advantages of Using Professional Laundry Services
Washing your household linens and clothes more than once a week can be time-consuming and sometimes impossible if you’re busy every day.
However, you don’t have to let your laundry pile up and keep reusing your already dirty towels, bathrobes, and bedding if you don’t have the time to wash them. You can use a professional laundry service.
Regardless of how many household linens you need washed and how often in a week, you won’t have to spend time and break a sweat to get them clean and ready for use again when you use a laundry service provider.
With the right service provider, you can even have your laundry picked up and delivered. You won’t have to bring them to the shop and get them when you’re done.
You can save time on getting your clothes wrinkle-free and looking more presentable as well since professional laundry companies offer ironing services.
You also won’t have to worry about your items getting damaged or lost since the laundry service provider will take good care of them.
Moreover, using a laundry service is a more affordable option. You won’t have to buy detergents, fabric softeners, and other supplies you need to have properly clean bedding and clothes that smell great.
You will also save money on your energy and water bills since you won’t have to use your washing machine.
With the right laundry service provider, you can follow the right household and clothes washing schedule that ensures you have clean, safe items to use every day.
