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    How often do you change your sheets?

    This morning as I was stripping my bed to do a load of laundry I realized it had been a full two weeks since I'd last washed them-which had me wondering if there were adverse side effects to changing them at that rate. This also got me curious as to whether or not, relative to the rest of you out there, washing sheets every two weeks is considered slacking or standard.

    According to examiner.com and ehow.com, the scientific consensus is it's best to wash sheets weekly to ward of dust mites. Icky as it is to think about, we're all shedding skin cells while in bed-which is apparently dust mites' favorite snack food. Laundering bedding once every week, in hot water, helps avoid allergy issues.

    Washing sheets every week is a fair amount of work though, especially once you start counting multiple beds/family members, so it's no wonder a poll on AOL Health last year showed that only 40% of Americans are washing their bedding weekly, which makes me feel slightly better about my own every-other-week habit. What about you: how often do you change your sheets?

    Related: Natural solutions to keep white sheets white

     

    220 comments

    • Samantha  •  4 months ago
      I only wash mine once every three weeks. Have a california king so huge sheets! Scientists research shows you actually sleep better when you know your bedding is clean. I have three sets so when one goes off a clean one goes on.
    • L Ane G  •  1 year 0 months ago
      every day ewe sleeping with dust mites is disgusting!!
      • Angela 2 months ago
        who honestly has time to wash sheets every single day?? Do you not have a job, or do you have multiple sets of sheets? and FYI you live, touch, and sit with dust mites every second
      • A Yahoo! User 26 days ago
        If you shower every day I don't see why once a week would be considered bad. Also using so much water is not good. We are trying to save the environment, hellooooo!
    • Shannon  •  9 months ago
      For health reasons (mites/bad allergies), I do it twice a week. I don't use fabric softener. I just use about a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of vinegar (if you don't use a lot, you don't get that vinegar smell) in its place. However, I do NOT have an AG setting on my little energy saver washer, so I do use hot water on anything my arse touches...that's just gross not to!
    • Michelle M  •  9 months ago
      If you shower BEFORE you go to bed, you can get away with changing them less often. If you shower in the morning, all that dirt and body oil rubs off on the sheets and you have to wash them at least once a week. So if you want to save water and labor, shower at night.
    • Jetta  •  10 months ago
      Every friday. But every so often I change them twice in one week.
    • B. Leigh  •  1 year 0 months ago
      Twice a week, sometimes more often. My husband is a "hot" sleeper, and our pets often sleep on the bed part of the time, so the sheets can get really...beachy. Plus nice crisp sheets are the best.
    • JJamiah  •  1 year 1 month ago
      Every Thursday all sheets are changed. I wash them in hot water.
    • Carol  •  1 year 3 months ago
      O.K. now I can come clean so to speak.....I wash sheets. All of them twice a year, once in summer and again in winter...We are a nation of cleaning fanatics who waste time water and drying energy for what
    • Jeebus Cripes  •  1 year 4 months ago
      once a month if that. skin mites make nice pets. don't get in your way, eat your dead skin, so the don't cost a lot of money. unless you have allergies why worry about skin mites?
    • Chrystal Kruid  •  1 year 7 months ago
      I wash sheets every week. I also have enough sheets that I rotate them and change the sheets 3 times a week. I am a cleaning fanatic though.
    • ana  •  1 year 7 months ago
      We at home do sheets every 3 days, we just love the smell and the good night we spend in fresh sheets, even the dog gets her bed change every 3 days, she sleeps in the bedroom with us, and smelly dogy feet is what stink the air, so we just change her bed and ours and no doggy smell. Now we go on a contract and we live in extended stay studios, there thay wan to change sheets once a week, But if you want you can ask every 3 days and do it your self, this way we can still sleep nice and thigth, And back home our well does the water, we just pay for electricity and In florida in 25 minutes in the sun all bedding dry including the comforters, a great deal.
    • Sally  •  1 year 7 months ago
      I have lots of sets of sheets but my 600-thread count sateen Homegoods are my absolute favorites so I wash them (every two weeks, who has time for more??) and put them right back on. I have a couple of 400-TC and they're just not the same.
    • Dale  •  1 year 7 months ago
      Some times once a week, some times every two weeks, maybe even a month, depending how I am feeling.
    • Jennifer  •  1 year 7 months ago
      every other week
    • sc 1  •  1 year 7 months ago
      Once a week - unless someone is sick - white sheets - bleach.
    • Brandon Jessica  •  1 year 7 months ago
      Believe it or not, all you out there saying that you shower before bed so you are clean, I hate to tell you that showering actually causes dust mites to multiply like crazy. Hence more dust mites in your bed.
    • Mary  •  1 year 7 months ago
      The experts say every weeki - that's my goal although it's sometimes a little longer. I change the pillowcases in the middle of the week if they need it. We're oily people. Got a new washing maching. The government says we aren't supposed to be able to wash in all-hot water. I tried to get all-hot water loads for my sheets & towels. Couldn't do it. Where we bought our washer says they aren't allowed to turn off the no hot water thinigie on this GM washer. It wasn't getting the body oil out of our bedding & was leaving stains on our whites. Anyone else have a new washer that does this. I'm very happy now though, because the thing that prevented the washer from filling with all hot water broke. Now I can wash my sheets & get them clean! What good is a washer that doesn't get clothes clean? Anyone else have this experience?
    • TishaH  •  1 year 7 months ago
      Every other week, but pillow cases weekly.
    • Jesse  •  1 year 7 months ago
      Every other day. I would change them everyday if I could afford to do the laundry that often.
    • Nelli  •  1 year 7 months ago
      I try to wash my sheets twice a week. My granddaughter lives w/me and I wash hers once a week (if left up to her I doubt they'd ever get washed). Oprah said she (well, not HER personally) washes hers every two days (which I wish I did)...

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