Pillow cases: how often do you wash 'em?

[Designgeek]

In another topic, someone mentioned pillow cases.

Every night you sleep on them for 8 hours, i.e. almost as long as you wear your clothes.

For that reason I've taken to changing them twice a week, and would change them 3-4 times a week if I could remember to do it. But that might be excessive...(no, really? I also put two pillowcases on each pillow, i.e. think of "double bagging" your groceries (where the pillow is the "groceries").

Question is, how often do you change yours & wash them? Do you wash your face before going to bed? (I assume that washing your face before going to bed gives you some extra time between changes of pillowcases.)

What washing practices do you follow for them?

Do you do anything different depending on whether you've got plain cotton or flannel or some other material, plus or minus differences for white/light/dark colors?

And how often do you wash your pillows, and what practices do you follow for those?

Do you do anything different when you or your partner are sick?

 

[Kevinpreston3]

Pillow cases

Always have had a second case under the first. Usually white.

I have also tried having a standard white under, then a zippered white over. Decorated shams on another set of non-sleep-on pillows can make the bed look nice and hide the white pillows.

By having all white has its benefits. You can wash them until they disintegrate, then just go and buy new ones without worrying about ruining your printed ones. The other benefit is you can bleach them, eliminating stains from the kids occasional bloody nose, pizza that they had to bring to bed, you know the drill.

I usually change my sheets and cases weekly, although there is nothing wrong with doing it more.

My grandma used to change all sheets in the house every week, wash them, and IRONED all the sheets. My mom still does iron pillowcases.

 

[westytoploader]

I wash the pillowcases and shams weekly, along with the sheets.

 

[toggleswitch]

Sheets weekly.
Pillowcases twice weekly.
Zipped white pillow ticks as the mood strikes but at least every month.

For me it's easy to remember these things. I do a darks wash on Wednesday with towels and pillowcases.

The good thing about a tumble-action of a front-loader as I have is that it does not pass lint form the towels to the darks asuch as black t-shirts and black jeans.

 

[lavamat_jon]

Pillow protectors and pillowcases together with the sheets every Sunday. However, seeming as I have a double bed, and have 2 pillows, I change ove the top and bottom pillows halfway through the week .

The coloured pillowcases get washed along with the duvet cover and bottom sheet, whilst the white pillow protectors get thrown in with the white kitchen towels (which I also wash every Sunday :-D).

Take care all,

Jon

 

[cehalstead]

pillowcases and sheets

Change the bed linens every Saturday morning. Wash the mattress pad once a month, and the bedspread quarterly.

 

[gansky1]

Pillow cases once a week with the sheets. We do a 'full-strip' monthly when mattress pads, comforter or the cover for my down comf. and pillow slips get washed. I try to wash all pillows annually and my down comforter is done twice a year, Spring and Fall.

 

[appnut]

Sheets/pillowcases changed on Sundays. I have two in my Queen size bed, so I can actually have 4 clean pillow surfaces in a week if I need. Mattresspad monthly. Blanket about every 6 weeks or less. Beadsperead, depends.

 

[alr2903]

LOL

Bob once scolded me for washing a mattress pad infrequently, It wont fit in our amana t/l. So i bought a couple more only 2 trips a year to the coin op. Yay... Sheets and pillow cases every week like on tuesday or wednesday, hot and extra rinse. boy do i miss a clothes line my mom hangs sheets and matt. pads, and airs her pillows in the hot mid- west sun.... best sleeping there is. Its kinda damp here for that though.

 

[kenmore1978]

schedule

sheets and pillowCASES every week. mattress pad and pillowCOVERS(the zippered white ones under the pillowcases) every other week, blankets once a season (I switch to electric blanket in winter, since we don't run the furnace at night), pillows twice a year.

 

[toggleswitch]

Who makes decent washable pillows that don't become a blob after washing? What is the approximate cost?

I can't imagine WHY my $12 "Martha" pillows don't take to the waher/ LOL LOL LOL

Seriously any suggestions? Can't stand the inevitable yellow of the BABA (spittle) all over them.

 

[toggleswitch]

pillow protectors

Here is an Australian site that sells stuff similar to what I actually found once in a local US supermarket.

I found plasticized pillow ticks (zippered, go under pillow case) that were a hybrid paper/plasic/cloth materal. It washes and dries as any ordinary cloth pillow tick.

http://www.miteyfresh.com.au/11442.html

 

[jasonl]

Every week in the Hettie

with the sheets, towels and underwear.

Whitest Whites cycle all the way. Hot wash, extended spin, 2nd rinse. They come out CLEEEEEN!

 

[tlee618]

Sheets and pillow cases once a week, pillow protectors and mattress pad once a month, down comforter which I usually only leave on the bed for about 6 months gets done once a year. I change quilts seasonally so they are done about every three months. Pillows not so often but I do put them in the dryer on air for 20 min. every week when I change the sheets. Terry

 

[DADoES]

Sheets I do weekly on Fri or Sat evening, except once in a while if I'm too busy it's two weeks. I don't do pillow slips any more often than that.

Blankets/quilts are done on an as-needed basis.

I washed a pair of pillows once, they didn't turn out very well, even though the label said they were machine washable. The pair I'm using now, which aren't more than 3 months old, could use some attention already. Wish I could borrow my friend Debbie's Hettie, or GW's Neptune (but ewww, it has mold! and it's unavailable at the moment, being in storage while his house is being remodeled).

 

[westytoploader]

Glenn--In the chatroom if you read this!

 

[launderess]

Cases every other day in summer, every three days during winter. Bed linens are changed Mondays in winter, twice weekly in summer. If someone has been ill, linens are changed each day including pillow covers and promply laundered.

Pillow protectors are changed at least bi-weekly. Duvet covers and fancy pillow shams (these pillows are never slept upon, but just dress up the bed. A concept certian men have a hard time understanding), are changed/laundered monthly (duvet covers) or once per season for shams. Should note we use Peacock Alley cashmere cotton blankets, so many times the duvet is not used at all for sleeping.

Launderess

 

[launderess]

Cases every other day in summer, every three days during winter. Bed linens are changed Mondays in winter, twice weekly in summer. If someone has been ill, linens are changed each day including pillow covers and promply laundered.

Pillow protectors are changed at least bi-weekly. Duvet covers and fancy pillow shams (these pillows are never slept upon, but just dress up the bed. A concept certian men have a hard time understanding), are changed/laundered monthly (duvet covers) or once per season for shams. Should note we use Peacock Alley cashmere cotton blankets, so many times the duvet is not used at all for sleeping.

Launderess

 

[peterh770]

Sheets and pillowcases bi-weekly. If they are light, they are washed at 140; 120 for the dark colors. Blankets, monthly. Matress pad and pillow protectors, quarterly. Coverlets and duvet covers, twice a week to keep the cat hair at bay.

 

[pulsator-power]

Guess what I did last night? Changed the bed. After this thread, I had to!
Jerry

 

[pulsator-power]

Let me rephrase that. It needed to be changed, but in the morning, the dog threw up on it. By afternoon, the cat also puked on some clothes that were in the room. Hint, hint, trying to tell me something?

 

[toggleswitch]

my smart cat?

I gave my cat years ago (who was a rescue from a friend moving to California) to mom and dad.My parents were in the beginning stages of a divorce after 20 years, and the resentments were flying!

Would you believe the cat picked up on dear-old-dad's evil vibe and puked only in his shoes, his pillowcase, his closet etc. I can't say he ever did antything outwardly nasty to the cat. Gotta gve her credit... she knew who to taget!

So Jerry... did you do anything to piss off your animals? But I'm sure your love them and they love you!

LOL LOL LOL

 

[user 12105]

they're vindictive i tell ya

My cat puked all over my comforter just when i had put it on the bed from the dryer! She has done this on more than one occasion.

There were times i almost punted her little a## like a football. I am not cruel to animals though. I love em, but it is like taking care of children who never grow up. OY!

Pat

 

[toggleswitch]

I was house/dog sitting in a beautuful large tudor home upstate in Westchester county (read: Money).

Checked with the home-owner who is a friend of a friend if I could wash the living room area rug @ the laundromat. (White wool FLOKATI.) Got clearance. Needed to do this to have the spouse join me (who is asthmatic and allergic to everything).

The biggest dog in the house was also the biggest wuss. He refused to go out in the rain to take care of business. The dog proceeded to have a huge dump on the rug just minutes after it hit the floor hot from the laundromat. Needless to say, he was let loose into the rainy yard just moments prior.

Why you ask? Apparenly from Max the dog's perspective, the rug is a huge piece of newspaper and the right place to go!

The homeowner, who is a shrink by trade, complemented me on my reasonong abilites. LOL

Althought mighty pleasing to fantasize about, the dog was not harmed, set-free from the yard or even reprimanded. LOL

 

[kenmore1978]

pets

"There were times i almost punted her little a## like a football. I am not cruel to animals though. I love em, but it is like taking care of children who never grow up. OY!"

That's EXACTLY what it's like, except that pets have the advantage of not talking back to you like children.

 

[programcomputer]

What I do...RE, Bedlaundry...........

For Brian and I's bed, bi-weekly- everything gets washed in hot, with cold rinses in the Frigidaire FL Set. Pillowcases, Sheets, Blankets, matress pad. We have a queen size pillowtop waveless waterbed so that's alot of fabric to clean. Every month- comforter, in cold/cold.

My dad, who lives with US now, has our old queen free flow waterbed downstairs does his own, whenever he feels the need to, or feels like it, ( every three weeks or so)...PS TOTALLY GROSS TO ME. However I did take over since he was ill last month I did all the changing of his sheets and pillowcases every day and washed them with HOT wash and switched the selector over to warm/warm for the rinses. Using bleach and extra detergent.

Martins youngest brother Andy lives with us in our garage apartment, he's 17 and has a bedwetting problem that is beyond any sane persons imagination, every night. I've had to rubberize the matress with a zippered matress pad, and rubberized pillowcases.

Thankfully he has the Westinghouse Space Mate Set right there he does his own, but I check daily when he's not there and at work to make sure there is no peebed left as I would flip out. So in that case daily for like 6 months now... My water bill has increased only slightly but enough to notice anyway.

I know TMI, but that's what we do for JUST bed laundry...aren't some of us insane when it comes to that...I love the smell of Downey sheets and blankets tho....

Chad

 

[toggleswitch]

All kidding aside, 17y.o. and a yellow wet-spot may be medical. It might be worth getting looked at.

 

[toggleswitch]

...and be wary of the doc who jumps to surgery as an option. Something like 90% of all illness are iatrogenic

(CAUSED by doctors)

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=iatrogenic

 

[toggleswitch]

LOL and you beter PRAY Andy doesn't read this thread or your A@@ is grass!

 

[toggleswitch]

Quote: My cat puked all over my comforter just when I had put it on the bed from the dryer! She has done this on more than one occasion.

Pat:

IIRC some fabric softeners have an ammonia type chemical in them. This registers to a cat as "pee" and "OK to pee here"

Cats dont like citrus.. maybe a white vinegar or a lemon additive to a 2nd rinse would cure kitty's desire to have you sleep on a wet spot!

Besides, the acid added to a base (alkaline) would certainly neutralize all remaining chemcicals.

Just my two cents..