Monday, February 21, 2011

Redneck Housekeeping

My husband enjoys listening to a cowboy radio show on Saturday mornings. A few weeks ago, they told some redneck jokes about housekeeping. The funniest one was something like:

"If it's time to vacuum your sheets, you probably need to change them instead."

Changing sheets is an interesting housekeeping topic, though. Many people routinely change sheets on Saturdays, because that's what they've always done, their mothers have always done, and their grandmothers have always done. It's just tradition, and it works. Others wait until they look like they need to be changed. In most homes, usually after someone's been sick, sheets will be changed and washed in hot water to rid any lingering bugs.

But the weekly system doesn't work for everyone. One busy homeschooling mom of seven wrote in a book that she began to get really overwhelmed with washing and changing eight sets of sheets weekly. She said her kids didn't really get that dirty, so why was she stressing herself out to give everyone clean sheets when she maintained they were still relatively clean anyway? Her solution was to wash every two weeks.

I try to change sheets every weekend, but it doesn't always happen. I don't like to go more than two weeks, though, without changing the bedding. It just feels so much better to sleep on a freshly made bed with crisp, clean sheets.

So what do you think about the frequency of changing sheets? What works best for you?

12 comments:

  1. I'm on the every other week plan. We don't go to bed dirty, so it's really only the skin shedding and oils that get on the sheets, and I find every two weeks to be fine.

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  2. Every other week is a good plan. We shower before bed, so we're pretty clean people. Doing it every week is a lot of work.

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  3. I try for every week but don't sweat it if we are out of town or crazy busy---which translates to "I'm on the every other week plan."

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  4. We change every other unless a little one needs it done before. But we shower and bathe before bed, so we are pretty clean when we get into bed.

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  5. The "vacuuming the sheets" totally made me crack up!
    That's hilarious!

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  6. I remember a few years ago thinking that my favorite thing about staying in a hotel is that you get clean sheets everyday. So I decided that I would change our sheets every 3 days. Yeah, that lasted about 3 weeks. Although I loved having clean sheets all the time I could not keep up with the laundry. So now we are on the once a week program, but sometimes it sneaks into a week and a half.

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  7. I'm with Christine! I love clean sheets! But I can't handle all that laundry, so I too change them every other week. Most of the showering takes place at night, so I feel like I can justify not washing them every week. (I think you posted something about homemade laundry detergent awhile back? I've been trying that, and I actually think it cleans my sheets and towels better! Is this my imagination? Just wondering...)

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  8. I love the smell and feel of fresh sheets, so we try to change them every week. However, for various reasons, it doesn't always happen, so we end up on the every-other-week plan.

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  9. Hi Julie!
    Glad the detergent's working for you! I think it may clean better, because the cleaners are fairly pure. The washing soda is a great, natural(ish) :) cleaner. There are only the three ingredients, so not any additional fillers as in some other detergents. I need to make up another batch here soon!

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  10. I too like to change my sheets every week, but I have two sets of summer sheets and two sets of winter(fleece or flannel sheets) for each bed. I typically do the Saturday morning change but lately anytime over the weekend is fine for the kids. Most of mine are old enough they don't need help so they can at least strip the bed if not make it.

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  11. I do every other week. I do ours one week and the kiddo's the other week.

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