Random rainy day question. I made the grave mistake of buying white towels and we honestly are filthy people so they're gross. I'm also frugal and don't want to be wasteful.
But I think it's time...
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When they get gross for sure! White towels are just impossible to me. I got some beige ones from amazon basics (just looked them up and realized it was 2 years ago) and they’ve held up.
ETA I think you can donate stuff like old towels to animal shelters If you are looking for a way for recycle
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@bhbee: thanks, are they super absorbent? I'm trying to find like old school towels I had as a kid that are cotton and absorbent. I volunteer for a local agency that always needs towels so I have no excuse for beigey white towels.
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Every 18months to 2 years. I used to buy nice towels (and get them monogrammed!) but they got gross so fast. So we started getting them at Costco and now I don’t feel as bad replacing them. I always buy white bc you can bleach them (which doesn’t save them but helps) versus colored that get weird stains from face wash etc.
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I probably hold on to towels too long, maybe every three years?
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@pachamama: I’d say you get what you pay for with amazon linens
perfectly adequate for me but not amazing!
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Our current towels are from Target from our wedding registry, so 5 years old
Maybe my towel standard aren't very high?! They are in pretty good shape, good color and still soft and absorbent.
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uhh... way too long apparently. I never really noticed my towels getting gross so they just keep going. We've probably had them since shortly moving into the house 8 years ago. We also have 6 in rotation between the two of us right now so I guess each only has 2.6 years of use?
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We have been using the same eight towels for the past six years. They are Macy’s Home collection and have held up nicely.
ETA: when I eventually replace them I will go with Turkish towels since they will take up less space
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Not very often, but I like to buy higher quality ones that will last. I mean not like $50 each but not cheapies either.
We had our towels for about 5 years before I replaced them. Could have even kept them but I just felt like a color refresh when we moved. -
Probably not often enough! My "newest" towels are Lands' End bath sheets we got for Christmas 2 years ago. I opened this thread out of curiousity over what others do, and it looks like I wouldn't be wasteful/crazy to want to replace my towels soon.
I'm surprised by the lack of love for white towels - I love them b/c they're bleachable!
We have some of that beige/cafe au lait color posted above, and while I like them for not showing dinge, we've had bleach accidents with them, and I think stain removal is actually trickier!
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I always buy from Costco and I can’t believe it never occurred to me to look on Amazon!
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We still use the same towels from our wedding registry, seven years ago!
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@PinkElephant: I always grew up with white towels that we would bleach and loved them! But now we have a septic system so we can't use bleach...
Our current towels are probably 4 years old? But we each have three in rotation so the use is spread out.
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@PinkElephant: dumb question.. what's the best way to bleach them? I have a good front loader but the results were not great last time. Meaning I've only done it once in 1.5 years
. Still dingey looking. But my husband uses "teenager strength" face wash so white does work in that sense. ..
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@pachamama: Instread of bleach, have you tried Oxyclean? I put some of that in every load of towels I wash and my whites have held up well.
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Hmmm I think our oldest body towels are 7 years old, we've added a few more over the years, but we have like 8 so maybe they get better rotation?
For hand towels, we get white, bleach them every so often, and replace about every 2 years. We use the old ones for kid projects or handy-work.
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@LemonJack: yes I loooioive Oxy clean. I will try that!!
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Most of our towels are from our wedding registry, so 7 years old. They are off white and tan and have held up fine. I have some from even before that! The only one I’ve had a problem with is the one I use for drying my hair- it’s gotten stinky. But I probably keep them too long I guess! They were middle of the road bed bath and beyond- not super cheap but definitely not high end.
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Uhhh, never basically...when they get holes? I bleach them if they start smelling funky...which isn't very often. I'm confused what makes towels gross to people. Im pretty sure my mom still has some in rotation from when we were growing up.
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@kiddosc: agreed! We also have way more towels than we need so it’s not like the same are constantly being used. I wouldn’t get rid of them unless they have holes. We both have some towels that predate living together so at least 8 years old and then some from our wedding which are 5 years old.
This is a good reminder though that I should pick up some oxiclean because some of our hand towels are looking really dingy.
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Just replaced our super gross white towels after 5 years-- I got the Fieldcrest Reserve towels from Target. I work with textiles and I think the quality is actually pretty nice, they're a good value. I thought they were significantly nicer than the regular Fieldcrest towels but they were only like $1 more each.
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I just replaced our wedding ones this year. Seven years. Went with pottery barn, white to bleach, and am hoping for five out of them at least
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When they look dirty and it doesn't wash off, or when they're ratty around the edges. Most of ours last for years, but I've had to retire a couple after a year or two. Especially white towels!
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@petitenoisette: Maybe it's because I don't have white towels? Or because I have a whole closet full of towels, so no one towel gets used too often. Also, I bleach my non-white towels and have only really gotten a bleach spot on one of them... which we still use.
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@kiddosc: mine smell like mildew and the white isn't so much white as 'toasty cappuccino'. Otherwise I'd use a towel for like 20 years like I had as a kid (my favorite turquoise one
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I think our last set we had for 5-6 years and then we bought new ones this year. They were definitely getting stained and old looking when we decided to get new ones. We probably kept them too long, but buying towels isn't something that crosses my mind often
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@pachamama: I have the same problems with our white towels. I haven't successfully solved the dingy color issue, but I started stripping ours with vinegar in the wash and it has worked wonders on the stank.
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@waterbear: what’s your process with the vinegar? Do you have to run two cycles?
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@SweetCaroline: Yep, 5 year wedding registry towels for us too. Plus one left over from college. I guess I thought they were like clothes. As long as you are washing them properly and they do not smell (so they aren’t growing bacteria), then you’re good.
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@waterbear: yes, enlighten me about the vinegar process. I have an HE front loader.
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@kiddosc: Haha, many of mine still in rotation still have holes! I had no idea replacing towels was a thing. As long as they dry, I'm fine with them, although I do keep one nice one around for the downstairs bathroom.
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Ha, we're still using the same three sets of towels we got for our wedding 11 years ago. I do want to get a set to have on hand for guests, and I'll need to buy a new set for my oldest daughter because she's too big for the hooded towels we got her as a baby.
My parents are still using towels that they got when I was a kid, and I'm 32 now. I feel like it's something that higher socioeconomic classes do, replacing towels all the time if they get dingy or have perceived dirt on them.
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I am really hard on my towels in terms of using bleach on them, so they do start to show wear. I think I replace them every couple of years, but they do become rags at that point...same thing with my husband's white tee shirts.
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@avivoca: totally replacing towels was never a thing for us but my mom always buys us towels for Xmas or birthdays for the kids. When my towels get thin I throw them in the kids bathroom because we use them on the floor during baths and whatever. Also if we ever had towels that were really bad hey just became rags -it was totally a Great Depression household mentality
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So I have towels that are over 10 years old. They still get used for if I haven't done a load of towels in a while, or to dry the dog off after his bath. The best thing I have found for keeping them looking good is I bleach them (all of them with color safe bleach), and I use wool dryer balls instead of dryer sheets. When they finally become too thin to soak anything up, they get cut up and sent to the man cave as rags.
I buy new towels when I want to change up the guest bathrooms or our bathroom with some new colors.
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Our sets are from 5 years ago when we moved in. I keep saying I should get new sets but haven't! Maybe this is the year haha. I keep some to re-use as towel for our dog and donate the rest to our local animal shelter.
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Ummm I think we've had the same towels since we got married 5 years ago. Maybe I should get some new ones...
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Ours are from our wedding registry 7 years ago. We have brown and beige and neither show any stains or dinginess, but they are starting to fray.
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We got 8 towels from our wedding registry 5.5 years ago, and they still look/feel almost brand new to me. The towels we have in our kids bathroom are ours from college (10-15 years old), and they're a little less soft, but I wouldn't say they're worn out yet!
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