I love keeping up with my laundry by doing a load of clothes every day. However, some days I need to wash towels and sheets and I don’t always have a full load to wash.
Maybe you’ve found yourself in the same predicament. You have towels and sheets, but not enough for a full load.
Now you’re wondering if you can wash the towels and sheets together in order to save on water, electricity, and time.
Can towels and sheets be washed together?
The short answer is yes if you’re in a pinch, but ideally you shouldn’t wash them together on a regular basis. I have thrown in an extra hand towel with sheets or a single pillowcase with a load of towels.
However, I generally like to keep them separate. Here’s the reasons why.
You never want to overload your washing machine.
Towels and sheets take up a lot of space, and it may be tempting to overload your washing machine in order to run less cycles.
However overloading it will not allow the washing machine the space it needs to agitate the load.
Never push the towels and sheets down. Pull out one piece at a time and shake it out. Place them in your washer one at a time.
If you don’t have enough sheets or towels for a second load, save the excess for another load when you have more.
Towels and sheets are made of different materials.
Bed sheets are smooth and lightweight. Towels are a thicker and stronger material. Therefore, they should be done in a separate load.
Don’t mix colors with whites.
Another combination of towels and sheets that you’ll want to avoid is the color of your sheets and towels. Since you’ll want to wash sheets and towels on hot cycles, you don’t want to add white towels and sheets with colored ones.
This will cause your whites to become dingy and the colors may even bleed on to the whites leaving them spotted.
Sheets and towels dry differently.
Drying time varies with different materials. Most sheets can be dried in less time and on lower temperatures since they are a lighter weight.
However, towels will need to be dried on high heat and for a longer period of time typically than sheets.
If you mix towels and sheets in the dryer, a lot of lint from the towels could rub off onto the sheets which could be hard to get off and wear down the sheets.
Also the sheets may become damaged if they are rubbing against the rougher material of towels in the dryer.
On the contrary, your towels may not dry completely when in the dryer with sheets. These can lead to moldy, stinky towels. Every time you wash your towels they should dry completely before you fold and put them away.
To keep your towels and sheets in good condition, it is ideal to wash and dry them in their own loads.
What temperature should towels and sheets be washed?
The best temperature to wash your towels and sheets is hot water. This high temperature assures that germs are eliminated from the material that is close to you and your family’s bodies.
If you use cold water, your towels and sheets will not get as clean as they should be.
If you’re washing new towels or sheets that have never been washed before, you’ll want to make sure that you wash them with like colors in case of color bleeding.
What Cycle should you wash towels and sheets?
Set your washer to the heavy duty cycle. This way it gives your towels and sheets a deep cleaning. You may even want to do a pre soak if your towels or sheets are stained or extra dirty.
Another way to make sure your sheets and towels are cleaned well is by adding a cup of white vinegar to a load of dirty sheets or when washing towels. The vinegar kills bacteria and odors.
To give your towels and sheets an even deeper clean you can also add half a cup of Borax or washing soda in addition to the laundry soap. You shouldn’t all of these things. Choose one: vinegar, Borax, or washing soda.
How often should sheets and towels should be washed?
Ideally, sheets should be washed once a week. If you find that hard to keep up with, then aim to wash your bed sheets every other week. You won’t want to go longer than 2 weeks though.
Towels should be washed after a few days or twice a week.
Step by Step Guide to Washing Towels and Sheets
1. Separate sheets from towels.
Since you shouldn’t wash towels and sheets together, be sure to separate them into different loads. You can wash all sheets together. It doesn’t matter if the sheet is a fitted sheet, top sheet, or pillowcase.
If you have damp towels, you’ll want to hang them up to fully dry before washing. If you wash damp towels, you may have mildew smells left on your towels.
2. Separate dark from light colors.
You can wash bath towels, kitchen towels, hand towels, and even bath mats all together. However, you’ll want to wash dark towels together like black, blue, red, and purple in different loads from colors such as yellow, pink, orange and beige.
3. Start your washing machine.
Set your washing machine to heavy duty and the hottest water temperature when washing towels.
Wash bed sheets on the normal cycle and at the hottest water temperature to kill bacteria and clean off dead skin cells. If you have silk sheets, you will want to wash them on the delicate cycle.
4. Add laundry detergent and enhancers.
Add your laundry detergent and whatever enhancer you choose such as white vinegar, Borax, or washing soda.
5. Add towels or sheets to the washing machine.
For the best results, you’ll need to add the different fabrics one at a time. Gentle shake each item out and place in the washing machine without pressing down.
Then start your load.
6. Transfer clean towels and sheets to the dryer.
Towels should be dried on high heat. Since sheets are a lightweight material, they can be dried on a lower heat setting.
To avoid static, use wool dryer balls instead of dryer sheets. The dryer sheets will leave a light film on your towels and sheets. This is especillay problomatic with microfiber towels.
One thought on “How to Wash Towels and Sheets the Right Way”
Good information. I went to all white towels to simplify my laundry. I’ll start using Borax. Thanks.