That sounds excellent. The mindful spending, not the reason why you had to do it.
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On the towel discussion - we have like 30-40 of them so do a load every 1-2 weeks? If it touches food or looks visibly gross we throw it in the washer but there are a couple we leave hanging around if they only touched dry things or were used to wipe the counters. We also use them as napkins for eating (I have never felt more luxurious than sitting on the couch leaning back eating spaghetti with 2-3 cloths covering me not caring if I spill). If I don’t spill I’ll use it again.
Before putting them in the washer I try to use them one last time to wipe down the sink. No matter how often I wipe it down it is still disgusting.
I live in a dry climate so things dry out quickly and don’t get moldy.
Also for washing together I read that towels should be washed without softener or dryer sheets so I always wash them together on hot. If they start to get extra rancid I throw in some vinegar and it gets rid of the smell and makes them fluffy again.
So if you’re trying to reduce frequency of laundry I would look at getting more towels so it is one full load or finding ways to reuse some of the towels that aren’t as dirty. Or having less towels hanging- if your reduce them from 3 to 1-2 this would use less towels in your process overall.
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This is true! It can cause a buildup that makes them less absorbent over time
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very yummy (used half & half, added vanilla, five spice, mace, cinnamon and raisins). The issue is not having too much bread pudding to finish off, but that it is so moreish that I could probably eat the entire 8x8 tray over the course of a day with many small edge spoonfuls.
I have put about half into the freezer in ziplocs, and the remaining is in the fridge.
I made just over two cups of white beans, and decided at the last minute to throw in some parm rinds as well, so this turned from a frugal pot to a very luxurious one. Two cups in the freezer for later, and one for a meal this week.
The second end will be fried up to go with the 2G2G pasta at lunch. I still haven’t decided on the meatballs.
830am, and I’m tired. I’ve already done two sets of dishes.
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I have literally never given so much thought to towels! 
If they’re just wet, then they go in regular laundry. If they are gross, then they get washed all together with just a towels load or with clothing I don’t care about like the shitty worn out shorts and T-shirts I use for garden work or sweaty tasks.
I can’t handle the scent of fabric softener, though I assume these days they might make a free and clear version, and I stopped using dryer sheets years ago after having to literally pull one out of our then-cat’s throat after it hitched a ride on some piece of clothing I’d just washed. Plus they are too stinky for me too. So that’s not an issue here.
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Our laundry routines are close to identical 
sometimes our towels and rags are extra gross because baby and i soak the food off a bit before washing, which is probably the only difference!
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My mom was very fussy and said something I never forgot and colors how I think of the towel situation. If you wash your kitchen towels with your bath towels then you are okay with wiping your butt with a kitchen towel.
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Oh yeah, add “did a cat throw up on this?” to my mental calculus of how to wash the towel!
But I wipe both my butt and my face with my bath towel, so I’m not too grossed out by that comparison.
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I’ve heard perhaps similar things, but like. It all goes in the same machine, and the machine isn’t getting magically steralized between uses. So if I’m that worried about assorted ass germs or whatever, I need to be using hot water and some kind of bleaching agent, probably on all loads. If there was evidence that it caused disease transmission, I’d be more worried, but that’s pretty clearly not an issue.
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I had no idea what I was starting re: towels, lol. I wash my bar towels separately because I don’t want to get oil stains on anything else. Also tho, I use those towels how people use paper towels, so they are really dirty. Bath towels are washed separately too so hair product and oil doesn’t get on clothes. And I don’t dry my face with my bath towel! But my face doesn’t really get wet when I shower which OMD has taught me is v strange.
I’m glad we all know each other’s…dirty laundry. 
ehh? ehhhh?
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Wish I was closer! Blue cheese pairs well with fresh pears and red grapes. Maybe add a dessert wine and go for it. Just sayin’…!
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I have definitely thought more about laundry practices in the past 24 hrs than the last 30 years lol
Here’s what I’m coming to:
- We do not live in a sterile environment, there is always some cross contamination
- We do know about germ theory so we try to reduce mixing dirty/germy things with clean/food things, but this may lead to some superstitions
- Based on look test, sniff test, and general understanding of the process we make some assumption that things go into a washer dirty and come out mostly clean. Bleach and hot water help w/ microbiological clean.
- No direct evidence of disease transmission/illness
- Based on above, washing things together is not equivalent to wiping hands/face with poop towel
- If concept of residues still squicks you out, and you are able to make it work, it’s fine to separate things
- If you are fine washing things together, have at it. As long as your napkins don’t literally smell like diapers I won’t complain.
- I use hotel towels, so clearly I’m not that sensitive
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We buy a package of bright green microfibre cloths for floors and scuzzy parts of the bathroom. The bathroom sink and mirror get a nicer microfibre cloth. The counter and sink in the kitchen get either paper towels or a clean dishcloth. We also have a separate chamois for polishing silver.
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All towels, hand, bath, dish, etc., get washed once a week here. It amounts to one load for two people.
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If you’re concerned about germ transmission, maybe run the towels through a vinegar rinse before putting them in the dryer.
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Yeah but…soap and warm water is pretty effective at killing germs! I wash my hands after I use the bathroom or touch raw meat, and I wash all my towels (together) using warm water.
The only things I separate are diapering things that have a much higher concentration of…“contaminates” and I wash those on hot.
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Oh - I should note that my laundry habits were formed by an adult lifetime of having coin operated shared laundry. We currently live in luxury having our own free washer and dryer but I am not yet used to being able to do laundry whenever we want without having to scrounge for quarters. Which always led to throwing as much in the washer as possible as long as nothing in there had dye that would run, because otherwise we would have to find another $3 in quarters and also wait for the neighbors to be done!
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I have a mental block on buying special cleaning cloths. All my dirty cleaning rags are retired towels/sheets. 
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