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Airing My Dirty Laundry.

It's no secret that I hate laundry. It is one of my least favorite chores and I typically struggle to keep on top of it, simply because I don't enjoy it. Does anyone really enjoy it? Some may, but those people are crazies.

I think the reason I despise it so much is because there is no end to it. Just when you get to the base of your hamper and realize that yes, your hamper actually does have a bottom, someone takes a shower and *sigh*, here we go again. Never. Ending. As long as we have clothes and as long as we wear them, there will always be laundry. It simply can't be helped. It's the vicious cycle of life.

This is why I'm still holding tight to my idea of disposable clothing. Cute, cheap, and throw it away at the end of the day. Sheer genius!

But until someone out there takes my idea and runs with it, we'll have to deal with washing, drying, folding and putting away.

It's part of The Curse.

Husby and I had this washer/dryer set that pieced out on us a couple years ago. They still work, but every cycle in the wash takes only 10 minutes (no matter which setting you use), and every dry cycle takes at LEAST two hours - and at that, sometimes you had to start it again. Maddening, I tell you. Absolutely maddening.

It literally took all day long to do a couple loads of laundry, which meant that I was NEVER caught up. Ever. My hamper was billowing and my patience was worn smooth. So, about a month ago we knew it was high time for a new set.

A beautiful set.

A sparkly set.

An intelligent set.

A set that actually washed for longer than 10 minutes and dried in a decently timely manner.

Meet My Beauties:

photo

Y'all. This washer and dryer has CHANGED my life. I have to say, I was absolutely giddy doing my first loads in these bad boys. They are Whirlpool High Efficiency Top Loaders. And. I. Love. Them. The size inside is enormous and I can fit more than double than what I could in my last. The soft gentle "ding ding ding" soothes me at the end of the cycle instead of the horrific "BUUUUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ" that my last one did that made me irate and Levi cry. Oh, and all the different cycle options? HEAVEN!

The top is clear so you can SEE your clothes as they wash. When we first got them, Husby and I stood in there for ten minutes and just watched the clothes in their cycle. No lie. It was weird. We were mesmerized. And there's even a light that you can flip on to really see the action going on inside. It is just too much fun.

I have to say, this new set has changed my laundry life. I keep up with it every day and most every night the hamper is .... wait for it .... EMPTY! It's a complete MIRACLE. I hope that this is a lifestyle change and that I am morphing into my Mom and Grandma - - The Laundry Queens of the World.

No, seriously. They do laundry all the time. There is never a stitch of dirty clothing in their laundry rooms. It's amazing. It's like they have little secret laundry elves that do nothing but laundry all day, and then they take the credit. I don't know how they do it. They are pro's. And I know their secret: Do it daily and do it as often as needed.

I have started doing a load in the morning and a load in the afternoon and voila - caught up!

I was discussing my newfound laundry life on Facebook the other day and someone asked, "how on earth do you have enough laundry to do a load every day?"

I was a little taken aback by this question, because I have enough laundry to do TWO loads per day. I told her that we are the family that uses a fresh towel for every shower or bath, and fresh jammies every night. That alone is a load in itself! Then you add in other clothes, undies, sheets as needed, blankets, etc., and we always have a load! I was pretty flabbergasted that some families don't!

Then I polled my FB friends and asked them if they use a fresh towel after each shower or bath, and if not, how many days they use them. I was SHOCKED at how few people use a fresh one every time. My family is definitely in the minority, but it's something we love. Nothing beats a good fresh towel after a long hot shower.

So now I'll ask YOU: Are you a fresh each time person or a re-user? How long do you use your towel before getting a new one?

Oh, laundry laundry laundry. How can I talk for so long about something I don't even like? Ha!

Weigh in with your laundry woes and victories! :)
I am a modern day homemaker with a passion for family, cooking, celebrating, decorating, travel, and memory making! The Lord has blessed me with the desires of my heart in my husband and our two sons. We recently built our dream home and cultivating a loving and happy haven for my family is where I find so much joy.

Comments

  1. Omg. I cannot imagine doing laundry every day. I don't have a child, but we do household laundry maybe 1 day/week. And often every 2 weeks. We wash our towels after about 4-5 uses probably.. We are clean when we use them and they still feel fresh and dry!! And it cuts down on laundry and water use so is good for the environment :)

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  2. I use a towel for two showers. That's my limit. My son's towel gets used 2-3 times. I have no idea how many times my husband uses a towel though. I never asked!

    I will tell you this though (and it will probably freak you out) - I don't shower every day. I live in an extremely dry climate and showering every day is so hard on my sensitive skin. It's not like I'm out working in the yard every day or getting all sweaty though, so I swear I don't smell. :)

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  3. Fresh for me and my daughter. Even if she takes three baths in one day. That is three new towels. My husband likes to use his for few days though. He has different towels just for him. I too have enough laundry to do two every day. I got a new set about six months ago. I too love them.

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  4. I'm one of those crazies! Laundry does not bother me at all! The smell of fresh clean clothes, and clean fresh bed sheets after a long hot shower! LOVE!
    And I am so not a towel re-user! A new one each time!

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  5. No wonder you have got a new lease on your laundry life, that set is gorgeous!!!
    As for towels - we each use our towels twice before they go in the wash. I would be a once a time user but we live off tank water and I already do two loads of washing a day as it is.
    I'm one of those crazies that doesn't mind the laundry, but I love my washer and dryer so that might be why. Which means you are going to be one of those crazies now!! :)

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  6. I do a load a day! In fact, I keep a basket in the laundry room and simply toss things in there as they get worn and used throughout the day (which I guess keeps our hampers pretty empty, ha ha!). I sort it when the basket gets full, and wash accordingly, sometimes twice a day. Poor Lydia is an expert spitter-upper, so her burp cloths and clothes alone make up for quite a bit of the load--and our washer and dryer are big! Sigh. As for towels, they get washed every other day because I shower every other day. :) I used to hate laundry, but I don't mind it now, as long as I do it every day. If it piles up ... then I mind!!

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  7. I do laundry about 4 days a week, never feel caught up, especially if you factor putting it all away! We use our towels about 3 days before we grab a new one. I think I could really fall in love with laundry if I had a beautiful bells and whistles set, oh and an actual laundry room (ours set is in the garage) I don't mind the folding (as long as they are hot) I am a continuous re-fluffer, I keep restarting the dryer swearing that THIS time I am going to fold them!! I hate putting them away, that is the worst.

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  8. Laundry is my nemesis. And washing the dishes. We don't have a dish washer. *sigh*

    We have an old washer/dryer. We live in Scotland and they barely hold a load of laundry! The dryer takes 90 min to dry. 90 FREAKIN' MINUTES!!! I can't use the washer at the same time as the dryer so, 1 load of laundry takes me 2.5 hrs to do. I always have full baskets.

    What I wouldn't give for a laundry room. Here in the UK, they put your washer in the kitchen, like it's a kitchen appliance or something! AND...wait for it....they don't vent out the dryer. So this means that if I don't open all the windows in the kitchen and the bathroom next to it, and open the doors...I get condensation ALL OVER MY KITCHEN.

    I really hate laundry. For this reason we use our towels 4-5 times before we use a new one. I'd love to use a fresh one everyday but, it just isn't possible. UGH.

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  9. I don't mind washing the clothes, it's the folding that I hate. And Sundays are the days I change out my towels but some days we don't take a shower (like Saturdays when we don't leave the house) so on average they get 5 uses before I wash them.

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  10. I'm so happy you have a laundry solution! I love doing laundry.

    We live in the UK so we don't have a dryer (not enough space, the washer is front loading and sits under the kitchen counter) so I use drying racks OR if the weather is nice (which is rare) I hand dry them outside.

    I LOVE the smell of clothes in from the clothesline.

    As for towels, we use them way more than once. We each have two towels and I'll wash them both once a week.

    I tend to switch the hand towel next to the sink every day, because hands and faces get dried on that continually, and my hubby works in a lab so when he washes his hands after coming home from work he just puts the towel in the hamper and gets a new one.

    My hubby has really bad dust allergies, so he gets a new pillowcase every day (although we have lots of spares) and the sheets get washed every 3-4. I think bedding is my least favorite part.

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  11. i use a fresh wash cloth daily, but bath towels are used for 4-5 days. I don't mind doing the laundry at all, but kind of hate the water waste and environmental issues. In the summer I like to dry things on the line or rack outside. Wonderful fresh smell and again, good for momma Earth :)

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  12. Oh, goodness, I can't believe that this is making us sound disgusting? I never thought of it as odd. I actually love doing laundry, do almost a load a day, but usually only wash the towels once a week. Maybe twice. Depends if I'm filling a load. My son's towel is every other day, though. Now I feel weird...

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  13. I'm single and live alone so I do two loads each WEEK. :) And I only wash my towels once a week!

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  14. I'm ready to move so we can get our new washer & dryer put to use! We are a daily load of laundry house, and before we got married I used a new towel each wash (it's the way I grew up). Now I go every 2 showers because I essentially shower twice a day (before work & after gym). There's nothing like a warm, freshly washed towel though!

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  15. Fresh towel everytime!! I do at least 1 per day... have too. I can't stand to see the dirty clothes in the basket. It comes as quite of a challenge with working full time + 2 wonderful busy girls but I get it done :)

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  16. We (my 2 daughters and I) are a 1 time towel user. I could do laundry everyday. A 7 year old and a 7 month old and me. New jammies each night too. You are not alone. :)

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  17. Wow I'm feeling so filthy now! Our sheets get washed every fortnight and our towels get washed every week. Hmmm maybe I need to rethink this :) Though if I had one of those fantastic American washer/dryers and a laundry room I would be much more inclined to up my washing. Ours is in a damp grotty cellar and tiny English washer/ dryers. I dont mind washing, drying, folding or putting away but hate and despise ironing!! Shirts, sheets etc etc - ironing is definitly the task I love least!
    Now off to quiz my own family on friends on towel useage to see if I really am that filthy :)

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  18. I have laundry issues...in that I love clean laundry and if that means *doing* more laundry, so be it. Towels are used once, and honestly the thought of using them more than that is kind of gross. The towels we use are smaller, though, so its not as much laundry as you would think. We bought a house with a pool last year and after dealing with kids using multiple beach towels (which are huge and take up a ton of space) and having people leave towels here I bit the bullet and bought bulk white towels--like what they have at a health club or towel service for pools at resorts. It was a bigger financial outlay to begin with (they're not expensive individually but there was like a ten dozen minimum) but I'm SET for the next several years, and when we have people over I just bring out a big basket of them and I don't care how many get used since I can fit something like 15 of them in a load.

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  19. I don't mind the washing of laundry, it's the folding and putting it away that I cannot keep up with. We wash our towels once a week. Which means our towels get used 4 or 5 times. We try not to shower or bathe every day. Of course, sometimes of the year, like summer, it is necessary!

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  20. We reuse but only about 2-3 times. We don't have any babies yet so I'm sure that cuts down our laundry significantly, but as of right now I reserve all laundry duties until Saturday. I am one of the weirdos that really enjoys laundry... I LOVE to fold! We also got a new washer/dryer lately and it makes me so happy! It's so quiet and has a million setting - my absolute fave is steam dry! No ironing for me!!

    Raegan
    www.frillylittledetails.blogspot.com

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  21. Towels go once a week along with sheets in my household. Then again, it's just and the hubs.

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  22. I was afraid to comment earlier because we use towels for a week, and then I saw other people admit it. So, there. Towels used for a week. Hand towels and kitchen towels are changed daily. Sheets are washed once a week.

    And I try to do laundry only on Mondays. I'm up to about 5 loads of clothes for our family of 4 right now. The washer and dryer we have here in Germany are super efficient, but they take a lot longer to go through their cycles, like 90 minutes each.

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  23. Apparently I'm disgusting, because we reuse towels about 3 or 4 times, AND I don't shower every day (hubs does so he probably goes thru more towels than I do). I also wear jammies and clothes in general more than once per wash, even bras, but not underwear, that's where I draw the line haha.

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  24. so funny! i am definitely a new towel each day kind of girl and i was SHOCKED when i got married and learned that my husband is not. he will use the same towel for a week (gross!) or until i secretly swipe it and wash it FOR him - haha! :)

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  25. It depends.. eek!! But I do laundry EVERYDAY!!! I love those!!

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  26. I can't even process the concept of a new towel every single day. I'm clean when I dry off aren't I? Otherwise why did I shower?!? Same with jammies! But I shower at night so that I can see being split.

    We have laundry about every 4 days because of my husband's job, but towels, sheets, etc those are 1x a week things only!

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  27. LOVE your new set! I use my towel for 2 showers. And that's all. My hubby on the other hand, more like a week. Laundry doesn't bother me too much except for when it piles up and stresses me out a little. I try doing about a load a day on average. Some days I miss doing a load, other days I'll do 2 or 3. Our laundry room is right next door to our nursery, so it's hard to do laundry when my youngest little man is sleeping. I know I would stay on top of it more if it was in a different location!

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  28. Nice new set! We definitely use our towels a few times before washing them. I see the appeal for fresh towels - but I can barely stay on top of the laundry as is with three little ones under 5. Plus there is the water and energy waste to consider with washing towels so often. I probably do two large towel loads a week. So we do let laundry pile up briefly around here, but I find it reduces the number of loads if I wash things in groups rather than everything together at the end of the day.

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  29. Beautiful appliances! (I liked vacumming for a while when I got my new Dyson too - LOL!) We wash the towels once a week! They get hung up neatly after every use and are dry by the next shower. Since it's only two of us now, I generally only have two loads per week, so I don't mind it very much! o:)

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  30. Ooooh, they are so fancy! I definitely don't use a fresh towel each time. I think that stems from my college days of not ever wanting to do laundry. When I lived at home and mom did the laundry, that was a different story. :)

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  31. I do laundry once a week, usually on Wednesdays. I start early in the morning and have everything washed, folded and put away by 3pm. Then I don't have to think about it again for a whole week. I do about 5-6 loads for our family of 4. We use our towels and sheets for a week, but kitchen towels are changed daily. I have to do laundry all in 1 day or I forget about it and have to rewash or am stuck ironing everything left in the dryer.

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  32. We use the same towels for a loooong time. We probably wash the towels 2 or 3 times a month. However, because we have a Great Dane who thinks he owns our bed, we have to change our sheet every night or every other night...

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  33. Isn't it amazing how a new washer and dryer set can change how you feel about laundry? I completely understand as we got a front loader steam set 4 years ago and I.Would.Never.Go.Back!!

    As for your question on towels, we use our towels for a week but we have two towels each - a morning and a night towel. I absolutely hate to use a wet towel and many times I like to shower twice a day. Especially on gym days! So we have a double towel bar that holds four towels.

    As for laundry, I do the "main" laundry on Saturday or Sunday (really whatever day I end up cleaning the house) and usually do a load or two during the week on a day I work from home. I also iron everything (except sheets and underwear) before it gets put back in the closet, usually on laundry day. So laundry day is also cleaning day and ironing day and takes ALL.DAY.LONG!! But it is worth is for my boys (r.e. my husband and son) to have ironed clothes with creases :) I think I'm in the minority for that though.

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  34. omg - two loads a day! Impressive and terrifying at the same time!

    I do one load about every other day, for me and and my husband. And of that, I usually do one load of clothing and then one load of linens. I wash our towels every 4-5 uses. It helps keep our water bill lower and majorly helps me keep my sanity when it comes to chores!

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  35. With this family of 5... I could easily do 2+ loads a day. But I HATE laundry. It's not the washing. It's the folding and putting away. Ugh.

    As far as towels... I think 2-3 uses per towel.

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  36. We are wash our towels once a week type people, I couldn't imagine doing laundry every day I would Lose.My.Mind haha but bravo to you! I'm a little jealous of the washer dryer they look huge and sound awesome! :D Have a great day!

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  37. I am a crazy person who actually likes doing laundry. :) I have a nifty little laundry schedule and everything.
    As far as towels go, we use them twice before tossing them in the hamper. The same for jammies too. I can't justify only using them one time, but after two times, I feel like everything starts to smell.

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  38. oh my. I CANNOT handle doing laundry every day. I do laundry once a week. I usually have 10-12 loads, but when I'm done, I'm DONE for the week!

    We usually use our towels for a week- with four kids, plus my husband and I...and my daughter uses two towels every shower... oh my.

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  39. Uggh... if I had to do laundry every single day, I think I would run for the hills! Hahaha... It's just me right now, but I just do 2 loads of laundry a week. I reuse my towel 2-3 times, so I usually only have 2 towels at the end of the week, plus clothes. When I change my sheets and blankets, thats another load. I just do a one day laundry day, and then it is done, done, done!

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  40. Oh my gosh. You use a new towel every time? But you are clean when you get out of the shower! Well, obviously I use mine more than once. Usually for at least a week. Same for jammies. I still do a lot of laundry because husband and I work out 3-4 times a week and those clothes will get super funky if the sweat doesn't get washed out.
    Congrats on the new washer/dryer. I still remember five years ago when I got a new washer and dryer and no longer had to go to the laundromat! So wonderful:)

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  41. We are fresh towels each shower kind of people. My husband showers two times a day and sometimes so do I... with a family of five that is a LOT of towels. But it grosses me out to reuse... I mean clean or not, I don't like the idea of drying my face off with a towel that recently dried "other" parts! lol Now sheets are another story...

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  42. Yowza, I'm in the minority, but I only do laundry once a week. I love having ONE day set aside for staying home, staying in our jammies, and doing laundry lazily all day long. Love it! Tuesday is laundry day, and I (lamely) look forward to it all week--ha! ;)

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  43. I have two kids and do two loads each day. Towels and sheets will easily push it to two loads a day. we use our towels two times and then wash. OUr towels still feel fresh and dry or else we'd wash them daily.

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  44. I couldn't imagine doing laundry EVERY day!! That sounds terrible. We are a family of 4 and I only do laundry once a week. Every Sunday. We re-users. You are clean when you get out of the shower so your towel shouldn't be dirty after one or two uses. That just seem like a waste of water.

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  45. Once a week on laundry, maybe two days if it takes me longer. I don't like to waste if we can help it. We re-use towels, change out once, maybe twice a week. Hand towels get changed more frequently...
    We recently got HE machines (not as fancy as y'alls), but they are wonderful. My laundry has never smelled more amazing. Sometimes, I just throw my face in the laundry as it comes out of the dryer and inhale.
    Love it!

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  46. Fresh every day :). I agree-there's nothing like using a clean, fluffy towel after each shower. Though I'll admit...sometimes I use two...one to wrap around my head and one for everywhere else.

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  47. We are 3 time users and I only do laundry on Saturdays or Sundays. I also am a weirdo that enjoys doing laundry, I just don't enjoy putting it away...

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  48. I don't use a fresh towel for every shower or fresh pj's every evening, but I had an aunt who had 6 kids and my Mom remembers that she was constantly doing laundry because they used fresh towels for every shower. And they sometimes took multiple showers every day.

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  49. REUSE! REUSE!! REUSE!!! We are a family of 6 (kids aged infant-6 years), and there is NO WAY, I would wash towels every day. I generally bathe the kids 2-3 times a week, and I use the same towel to dry them all off! I hate doing laundry. That's why I do it! My hubby gets a new towel each time, but I use whatever's hanging in the bathroom. I never thought about it before, but I probably rarely use a fresh towel. HA HA HA!! (Now I wish I was commenting anonymously!)

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  50. I use my towel for a week! Except if I showe @ the gym and that is a separate towel. I only do a few loads of laundry a week (but its just me! Well until I'm married in May).

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  51. We use a fresh towel every day and I always have enough dirty to do a load or two every day.
    I LOVE your new washer and dryer :-)

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  52. It is sooo wasteful in terms of water and electricity to wash your towels after one use. If you are wiping off a clean body there is no reason to wash them that quickly...they're not even dirty.

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  53. We're a family of three and I can only handle doing laundry once a week, so we use our towels for a week between washing. Our sheets we change every two weeks and we wear pajamas twice before throwing in the hamper.

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  54. Oh wow.. a new towel every day?! We do 3 loads of laundry a week, I wash the towels once a week.. good for the environment! I thought this was pretty normal? :)

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  55. I would LIIKE to have fresh everyday, but am increasingly aware of wasting God's resources. Same thing in hotels when they request that you put out the card if you want the towels or sheets changed daily. It's sure tempting, but idea of all that waste helps me in check :)

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  56. I am an empty nester, but even when I had all 3 kids at home I only did laundry 2 times a week.
    As for using a fresh towel after every shower/bath, that is such a waste of water, electricity and soap to launder after every use. Not to mention the wear and tear on the towels and your washer & dryer.
    If you are doing what you are supposed to in the shower the towels are not dirty....just wet. We use 3-4 days before washing.

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  57. As for using a new towel everyday and washing them daily, I find that wasteful....water is a huge issue, and many people arent fully aware of how limited it really is. I live in an area of Texas where we HAVE run out of water, and it sucked to put it plainly. So, water conservation is a big deal around here, and it should be like that everywhere. Contrary to our society's belief, water is not unlimited. I use towels for two or three days. Regardless of what I am washing, I always wash full loads, never small ones. Sure, we have laundry in our baskets waiting to be done, but I just cant do small loads for such a minor reason. I do about three to four loads per week (it's just hubby and I). I do get fresh pajamas every night, though.

    I was also very excited when we bought our new set last month, which is very similar to yours. Our old ones were not efficient, and drove me crazy, especially the horrible buzz!

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  58. We're another family that uses a towel only once before it gets washed :)

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  59. We reuse our towels for a few days. It saves water which I'm all about, and there is no way we could afford to do that much laundry. We'd end up going broke :/

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  60. We usually use towels for a week, unless they get extra dirty for some reason. I figure that they are clean when you use them, and saving water is always a plus. And it's easy to keep track of washing everyones towels together once a week (I use a towel and a robe though- I got it for HS graduation and have loved it for 9 years since).
    My kids usually get new PJs every night. Sometimes I will reuse them one night if they stayed very clean, but if we eat breakfast in PJs that is usually not the case. I usually wear the same pjs for 2-3 nights, sometimes the same pants 5 or 6. But always fresh socks.
    Our washer is in our creepy basement so my husband frequently helps with laundry, especially if a load needs to be changed over at night. But I do all the sorting and putting away. (Except his socks, he plays sports so there is usually grass folded in and I got sick of dumping it out while sorting all the clothes. So his socks get put in a basket for him to deal with later.)

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  61. I do 1-2 loads a day, and we have three little ones in the house. We only change the sheets and towels once a week- I honestly don't think I could deal with less often!
    Summertime always means more laundry, because the kiddos dirty themselves from head to toe every single day. Our water bill is higher too :)

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  62. I hate laundry too because it's so hard to stay on top of! This makes me want to get new washer/dryer set too. And we re-use our towels too. 2-3 times.
    Lacy

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  63. I don't want to judge but I agree with Melinda - clean towels every day seems excessively wasteful in light of today's environmental awareness. I hope you will consider using your towels at least twice - that would reduce your water and electricity consumption considerably (especially with a growing family that will soon host 2 teenagers).

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  64. Fresh towel everytime!! I do at least 1 per day... have too. I can't stand to see the dirty clothes in the basket. It comes as quite of a challenge with working full time + 2 wonderful busy girls but I get it done :)

    over door towel rack

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  65. Well actually yes it depends. Most of the time I too frequently do laundry. Because I hate dirty clothes.

    Drain Hose

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