Laundry question....

[Dana Grant]

OK, you have been hearing about redecorating the bedroom (ad nauseum, I'm sure) --

I bought three sets of sheets that match the rest of the bedding. I hope I can get one more set (they've been discontinued, of course), before they completely go out of stock. They're kind of expensive, so I"m hoping to get a 50% off sale -- 75% would be even better......but, I digress......

Here's my question:

How do you wash your sheets? Do you wash in warm or hot? Rinse in warm or cold? I'm trying to launder these sheets so that they'll not fade too quickly. So if I'm doing something wrong, I'd like to know it.

Also, how often do you change your sheets? My mother always taught us to take the sheets off our bed every Saturday so she could wash them. Do you change them more often than that? Or do you change them, say, every year whether they need it or not? HA HA HA


Dana

[Barbara Moulton]

My secret shame.

I don't change sheets as often as they should be changed. My mom used to wash and change our sheets every week. I used to love having my bath on Saturday night and then getting into bed with freshly cleaned and ironed sheets.

I probably change them about once every three weeks. But since I don't iron sheets, there just isn't that same "ahhhh" feeling as when I was a little girl.

I wash them in warm and rinse in cold.

[Carol Lombard]

I still change the bedding once a week. Colored sheets I wash in warm, rinse in cold. White sheets I bleach once in a while. I like to get into a bed that I have just made with sheets from the warm dryer (mmm so nice and comfy) - or sheets that have been hung outside to dry (such a fresh smell).

Carol

[Barb Bouldrey]

Praise the Lord! MY guilt is gone!!!!!!!! My mother taught me to change the sheets once a week. For a long time I have been changing them every 10 days to two weeks.
I was so afraid I had backslidden. PHEW...what a relief to know that I am not the only Christian woman who does not change their sheets every week.

LOL!!!

I wash my sheets in warm water, cold rinse.

I love the smell of getting into a bed with sheets fresh from the clothesline, but it is just a memory of my childhood! LOL! Haven't had a clothesline for 30 years.

Barb

[Sara Sheppard]

I change my sheets about every 2 weeks. I also love the feeling of clean sheets on the bed. One of these days, I want to "splurge" and purchase expensive nice sheet. :)

I usually wash in warm rince in cold.

Do any of you use those Shout Color Catchers? I use them in EVERY load. They are great...you can mix colors with no problem!

Sara

[Barbara Moulton]

I had wondered about those Colour catchers. I'll keep an eye out in the store for them.

We bought one set of really expensive sheets at an auction. (Yes...they were new). I can remember the thread count but it was really high.

There really is an amazing difference when those sheets are on our bed.

[Doris Grant]

I think we all agree - wash in warm and rinse in cold. I usually change mine every Monday. It sounds like we all had the same mother. lol.


Doris

[Jill Mickelson]

I have a funny sheet story. (I change sheets about once a week and wash in warm and rinse in cold) I loved to hang the sheets out to dry..... One time after doing that, my husband and I were in bed and he found a woodtick on him. Not unusual in Minnesota. Soon I found one on me. Now 2 in one night is a big odd. Then I think we found a couple more. That was very fishy! hahahahaha! So we pulled back the sheets and had a bunch of woodticks in our sheets! I don't think I've hung the sheets out to dry since our woodtick night! (and you can imagine, all night long we were "feeling" woodticks where there were no woodticks!) I think I hit the hatching day for woodticks when I hung out our sheets! hahahaha! jill

[Vivian Cornwell]

Are any of you concerned about dust mites? Have you seen stories about them? To kill them you should wash in the hottest water possible. Now, I said SHOULD. I wash in warm and rinse in cold, like the rest of you.

If any of you have any sort of breathing problem though, you should wash in the hottest water possible to kill those dust mites and wash your sheets at least once a week. Again, I don't wash my sheets that often either. I used to. My mother taught me to, but I don't.

[Belinda Y. Edwards]

I wash in warm and rinse in cold, like the rest of you.


Well, perhaps i should say this - but i've been washing cold/cold for many years now - to save money.

i use to wash with warm and hot water.

The only time i use hot is when i come home from the koodie room, which so far isn't often. If it becomes a regular thing, i will have to send my clothes out or do the laundry mat, i suppose.

[Jen Blackburn]

joining the confession booth --

i wash in cold/cold too. ;) and i change my sheets about twice a month, though it should be more often.

LOL

Jill, that woodtick story has given me the heebie-jeebies for today, thank you very much. ;)

LOL

[Edith K. Thurmond]

Are any of you concerned about dust mites? Have you seen stories about them? To kill them you should wash in the hottest water possible. Now, I said SHOULD. I wash in warm and rinse in cold, like the rest of you.

If any of you have any sort of breathing problem though, you should wash in the hottest water possible to kill those dust mites and wash your sheets at least once a week. Again, I don't wash my sheets that often either. I used to. My mother taught me to, but I don't.

As I was reading down throught this thread, I was wondering if anyone even thought of the dust mites that get in our bedding and feed off the epithelial cells that we slough. These critters cause all kinds of problems, especially ones concerning the respiratory system. Been there - done that with my children. Many of us have heard the oft-quoted command, "Don't let the bed bugs bite." We can certainly make an educated guess about its origin.

Since I am aware of dust mites and other concerns, here are my operative words concerning bedding laundry:

* Hot water wash
* Hot water rinse
* Use Thieves Cleaner (one cap per load)
* Use 5 drops lemon or Purification oil per load

Freshly ironed cotton sheets are wonderful and I do change mine about every three days. I don't spend a lot of time ironing them but "knock out" the wrinkles with a steam iron.

Thanks to all for this interesting thread,

[Edith K. Thurmond]

Decayed dust mites and their fecal matter present challenges for lots of people - many not realizing the source of their problem. Many measures can be taken in the home to eliminate them. A few of them include:

* Changing bedding often
* Washing bedding in very hot water
* Vacuuming carpets and upholstery frequently (with a Rainbow or a HEPA machine)
* Installing a very good air filtration system in the home
* Dusting in such a way as to capture the dust - not just move it around

Since dust mites are invisible to the human eye unless under a microscope, you lovely ladies enjoy seeing what goes to bed with you when the bedding isn't properly maintained! And by the way, there are thousands of them - not just one. Just for curiosity's sake, type in dust mite in a search engine and find a photo of one. You will be amazed at who has been sleeping in your bed!

Yours for happy laundering,

[Dana Grant]

Decayed dust mites and their fecal matter present challenges for lots of people - many not realizing the source of their problem. Many measures can be taken in the home to eliminate them. A few of them include:

Since dust mites are invisible to the human eye unless under a microscope, you lovely ladies enjoy seeing what goes to bed with you when the bedding isn't properly maintained! And by the way, there are thousands of them - not just one. Just for curiosity's sake, type in dust mite in a search engine and find a photo of one. You will be amazed at who has been sleeping in your bed!

Yours for happy laundering,

Yes, Edith, that thought crossed my mind when I posted the original question. I was mainly concerned with the life of my sheets at that time!!

However, I have seen a video of dust mites at a medical seminar that I attended several years ago. GROSS, isn't it?

One thing that I do is to vacuum my mattresses. It really doesn't matter how much care you take in washing sheets if you don't also take care of the mattresses, because the dust mites live in them, as well -- no matter how much you wash your sheets. Not a good thought, is it? The video that we saw was taken from the mattresses!! I did invest in a very good mattress pad (bed bag), and pillow covers (pillow bag), so that does help a little.

But, I can tell you, dust mites are NOT on my mind when I hit the pillow at night!! If I really thought about them, I'd not sleep. So, I choose not to think about them, and just be as clean as I possibly can and have the time to be. Because that's really all I can do!

But that was very good advice about taking care of the bedding.

I was really wondering about care of the sheets as far as making them stay color bright. The sheets themselves will last a good while, but I wondered how to launder them in order to make the colors stay nice as long as I can.

One thing about living in Arizona, when we set our washing machines to wash in COLD water, in the summer time, the water is warm enough to be considered "WARM" washing!! Even in the winter, our water never really gets cold.