From Yahoo.com - How Often Do You Change Your Bed Linen?

[launderess]

Interesting take on the changing and laundering of bed linen.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/quick-cures-quack-cures--when-to-clean-the-sheets.html

 

[jerrod6]

The article states that you need to wash sheets at 130F to 150F temps....yet everyone is running around encouraging the use of cold water washes--even the care labels.  Mine are only washed at 120F.

 

[hunter]

unless your machine has an internal heater ...

...you'll never wash that hot.

My duet (GRRR) would only ENGAGE the heater if you put the 'heavy soil'on. And even then it wasn't great.

Now the asko....sheets at 190F. Heaven

 

[aldspinboy]

I change my bed linens once a week in the winter.

Twice in the spring and summer I'm a sweater.

All linens are washed at 130f to 140f normally a set at a time

because of bundeling in a front loader.

I like room in the drum, low water level for a good drop and left.

Reduces wrinkling very well.

I have a Miele brochure that states 150f or higher 170f

for bed bugs and other nasty's that lerk in bed linen.

 

Darren k

 

[stan]

I see 6 pins on those Delores

*LOL*

 

[sudsmaster]

Once a week, whether they need it or not, and they get line dried.

Washed at 140 to 150F in a Miele W1065 with Sears Ultra Plus HE plus STPP.

They come off the line crisp and clean smelling.

 

[maytagbear]

Weekly,

if it's just me. If I have a "gentleman caller," immediately after he leaves, they go into the washer.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[kevin313]

Sheets get washed every Sunday - I love getting into bed on Sunday evening, no matter how much I'd like the weekend to continue, I get a good night's sleep with those fresh linens all around me.

 

[joelippard]

Change them every Saturday morning!  I buy several sets of the same color theme when I purchase them and then rotate the sets week in and out.  Washed weekly in the Rapidry Rollermatic at 160F.  I love having gas hot water.

 

[westingman123]

Once a week, on Mondays. I love my gas water heater, as well! Line dried, weather permitting. (Hail storms be damned)

 

[dj-gabriele]

Once a week in the winter for me too.
In the summer it depends: if I'm here in Bologna (no A/C) sheets get changed every other day / every three days, while in Salento (with whole house A/C) sheets get changed every week just like in winter.

Regardless of that whites are washed at 60°C with powder detergent and coloured ones are washed at 40°C with liquid detergent and once in a while they get a ride at a higher temperature to keep them nice and clean.

I also launder the duvet and pillows twice per season, pillow cover and mattress cover get washed once a month.

Of course when I have "guests" coming over sheets get a ride in the washer after any act has took place

 

[omono]

when they start to feel like they need to be vacuumed

 

[whirlcool]

What about sheets that specify that they need to be washed in cold water? I find that even 100% cotton sheets are packaged with directions that say "Cold Water Wash Only". Last year we bought a sheet set that said that. When we washed it in warm water they shrunk width wise! Nothing in this house ever gets washed in cold water.

 

[polkanut]

If a package of bedding says "cold water wash only" it stays in the store.  Something that comes in contact with as much of your body as bedsheets do needs a wash in hot water to remove body oils etc.  PERIOD!

 

[rayjay]

Our sheets get changed once a week. Washed in hot water if colors are white or light, warm for dark colors.
And for the most part, they are hung on line outside to dry. Nothing like fresh clean linens line dried.

 

[dj-gabriele]

sheets that specify that they need to be washed in cold wate

If the sheets are real 100% cotton the fabric will survive no problem continued boil washes, as I already said I have some old (think 50 and 100 years old) real cotton and linen sheet that are still new.

They say to wash in cold water because the dyes used in them might not withstand hot water but my guess is that if they can handle body temperature at 38°C, they are able to survive washes at 40°C.
Regardless of that as Tim/polkanut said, such things stay at the store!
As an example I have a set of firebrick red sheets that say they can be washed up to 60°C without problems.

 

[william637]

I'm with onumo

I have a bad habit of eating in bed..when I wash the sheets there are so many crumbs I end up with cake batter in the washing machine.

Ok, it's not really that bad. But I will let my sheets go longer than they should sometimes (it's just me in bed - hubby and I keep seperate houses just up the street from each other). I can handle my own filth - I just have problems if other people have to experience it.

If anybody is going to be in my house though, that's a whole nother story. The guest room gets completely stripped and EVERYTHING (mattress pad and pillows) get washed in 150F water as soon as they guest leaves. If I think the guest room has been sitting idle too long, I will do the same thing before guests arrive.

I am not sure though how I can be so carefree about the place I sleep when I am so completely neurotic with cleaning everywhere else in the house. For instance, I put on gloves to unload the dishwasher. And, if anything in a cabinet is touched by bare hands, it is considered dirty and has to be re-washed (meaning if you get a glass and then decide you really don't want that martini because it's not 1:00 pm yet, too late - the glass is dirty). My friends come over and touch glasses and leave fingerprints just to F*%$ with me. It seems to be a running joke with them.

Right now I am in the middle of spring cleaning which means everything in the house gets washed - all clothes and linens pulled from the closests and shelves. All dishes pulled from the kitchen and china closet. And all shelves get wiped down and drawers vacuumed and wiped out. The house is a disaster right now, but a relatively sanitary disaster (well, at least until you get to that box of Cheerios beside my bed...)

 

[yogitunes]

This is something I wanted to start in a thread........

Are we heading back to the 70's, energy crisis, and cold washing....like thats not bad enough......but were repeating the need of a DETERGENT for every kind of garment or washing label.....

we need one for COLD WATER wash, and WARM, and HOT, and Colors, and Bleeders, Sturdy Fabrics, and Delicates........ETC.....

the main one that gets me is specifiacally made for COLD WATER, like Tide.....and yes the formula has changed, and this is nothing new, whatever happened to ColdPower....or ALL Temperature Cheer...we already had this stuff that disolved in cold water and worked....

and the maufacturers make it like we can't use COLD water Tide in Warm or Hot..........ues must buy something else.....

just make one detergent, that handles and does it all.......thats where one would save money....

this is like telling you, that you can't wash your face, hands, head, feet, body and butt with the same bar of soap......but keep it in that order for thought!

and tell the Government to take a shower in Cold water to conserve our resources....just keep in mind, of the last place I had that bar of soap, and the first place they use it......gives new meaning to a spare "guest" bar of soap!

 

[logixx]

Bedding gets tossed into the hamper once a week and washed when enough has accumulated - usually after five weeks. I currently use Tide CW and wash at 140F. Tumble drying. Pajama gets changed two to three times a week.

 

[hunter]

Yup

I hear you.

Frankly, though, I feel like I am healthier when I wear clean clothes - so I'll continue to wash clothes at appropriate temperatures, and save money on medical bills I don't have . Even washing at 90C with my asko is still consumes < 2KW of electricity, and proportionally lower at lower temperatures, so I'm not too worried. (This is cold water inlet and having the machine heat the water from ambient temperatures).

As for cotton sheets: I've had best luck buying India made cotton sheets from Overstock.com, wash them at 90C before putting them on the bed and they are fine. The ones that I have gotten from there seem to be sized for shrinkage.

 

[vacbear58]

Taken this very day

I took advantage of what feels like the first dry day for weeks!

Like most here I am once per week change person, maybe twice in the heat of summer. I wash at 40c (104F) in Persil and line drying is my preference too.

For me one of life small pleasures is getting into a clean bed

Al

PS Yes my CKs got and airing too LOLOL

 

[Ultramatic]

Weekly, regardless of time of year.

<span style="font-size: medium;">My room is always kept cool, I can not sleep in a warm/hot room. Usually use 100% cotton sheets of at least 400TC. The percale sheets I use are sets I bought back in the early 80's. After so many launderings, they are so smooth and soft! The only thing that makes me happier than clean, fresh smelling linen on the bed, is a clean, fresh smelling hubby IN bed. </span>

 

[twintubdexter]

we have "free" speed drying here

My sheets get washed every Monday without fail. If you were to choose line drying and it's a "warm" day by the time you used the last clothespin you could go back to the first one and start taking the laundry down. Even your undies dry fast when it's 118.

 

[cehalstead]

once a week

in winter. Bed is stripped every Saturday morning. Sheets are washed in hot water year round and line dried in summer. Bed is changed on Saturday and Wednesday during the summer months. Mattress pad and 100% cotton bedspread are washed once a month. I use Tide powder (original) and Oxi-Clean. Sheets and pillowcases are washed in load by themselves....no other items added. Sometimes, I will wash two sets in one load, but most of the time, it's one set of sheets on "medium". I won't buy anything but white cotton and sometimes light colored cotton sheets. I find the best ones at Target....(I don't like high thread count....I try to buy 300 or less).

 

[ronhic]

Weekly....

...always.

 

[xraytech]

For me I wash bed linens weekly, including the comforter. This is always done on Sunday in 2 loads 1 of the comforter, and another for sheets and pillow cases, I wash in all hot water, about 140-145 degrees and I use a mixture of Borax, Fels-Naptha, and Wisk. After washing it is out to the clothesline to dry(I do this year round unless it is snowing or raining).

I find it most enjoyable to start off the work week with a good nights sleep in crisp fresh line dried bed linens.

In summer when it is very humid and I sweat alot or if I spill food in bed as I too have a habbit of eating in bed then laundering is done more often.

 

Lucky for me I only use quality vintage muslin and percale sheets than can stand up to hot water washes, they are all white background with various floral prints

 

[michaelman2]

Twice a week, Laundered in Sanitary Cycle (I am guessing this is HOT) and then either line dried or dryer, then ironed.

 

[stan]

Borax Fels Naptha and Wisk

and line dried!

You can beat that! Bet they smell really nice!

 

[thomasortega]

During the summer I change sheets every day. (I sweat a lot, even with the A/C.)

During the winter, every 2 or 3 days.

Wash them at Electrotrash top loader washer/dryer only to see the machine crazy trying to get rid of the huge mess tangled around the main agitator.

To dry them, of course at Ecoturbo dryer... if I dry them in the top loader washer dryer I only need to throw a rubber band in the drum so the sheets will come with pony tails.
THat s**t also creates innumeous patterns of different ties during the drying. almost an art sculpture. It can transform a king size sheet into a perfect bow tie in only one cycle.
Unload the machine is easy. i can unload it using two fingers.... grab a random part and pull, everything comes together.

At least one thing... the Electros**t top loader washer dryer washes amazingly well and the rollover is fabulous.
It can also be useful to mix, blend, make bread dough, mince, shred, slice, chop.... all in one machine. Oh, and it also mixes concrete.

I'd never put shirts in it. It does what it promisses... you load it with stained shirts, after the cycle you won't see any stain... and any shirt too. LOL

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Once a month, especially during the Summer months!

But the baby's bed at least once a week!

-- Dave