Comments on: If it’s not dirty, don’t wash it

By: denise

denise — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:55:48 +0000

3 of my 7 kids attend a catholic school therefor they wear uniforms .those get hung up at the end of the day and worn over and over again and washed at the end of the week unless they are stained .my younger 3 ages 5 3 and2 get bathes maybe twice aweek same for my 10yr old my 15yr old girl more often due to hormone issues.1towel could be used 2 or 3 times before hitting the hamper your only drying a clean body anyways sheets are only done more if someone is sick or bedwetting accident

By: Life In a Shoe » From the mailbag: homeschooling, and more

Life In a Shoe » From the mailbag: homeschooling, and more — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 20:51:24 +0000

[...] Am I working to please God or to please others? Am I creating more work for myself by holding to the arbitrary standards of others? (for example, If it’s not dirty don’t clean it) [...]

By: Melissa

Melissa — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:15:22 +0000

Oh yeah…using someone’s towel is the ultimate throw down! We all have our own towel, with a back-up for when the other is in the wash.

By: kimc

kimc — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 19:50:05 +0000

Dawn,
Maybe I should make the post more clear on the towel issue: we each have our own towel. Using somebody else’s towel is a capital offense.

By: Dawn

Dawn — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 19:45:14 +0000

10 kids here, and we do things the same way with one exception. We only use a towel once, except for the youngest 2. I just can’t dry off with a towel that has dried somebody else’s “pri*ates”!
My boys all started sleeping in either clothes or boxers around age 4. Boxers and a t-shirt are every comfy!
We also do color coded cups.
The kids bathe once or twice a week in winter, unless they are actually dirty.
Changing sheets is an infrequent task, except in summer when we tend to get more sand in the beds, from outside play and beach trips. I do change my sheets about once a week, just cause hubby and I both love clean sheets off the clothes line. Yummy smell!!
I do sometimes feel guilty for some of this stuff…then I get over it. OL!
Dawn

By: Kelly-Generation Cedar

Kelly-Generation Cedar — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:20:18 +0000

Thank you! I’ve been saying this for years to those “polite” faces who are trying to decide if they still want to be friends with me

I’m very practical…our rule–”If it doesn’t look dirty and it doesn’t smell dirty, it ain’t dirty.”

By: AnnaH

AnnaH — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 05:05:29 +0000

With our 6th baby on the way ,herding the kiddies in sub zero temps across the yard to the sauna building anymore than necessary sounds a nightmare.
Keep up the good work,blessings!

By: armymamma

armymamma — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 06:56:06 +0000

I am so glad to hear all of these “confessions”! We always bathed AT LEAST once a day growing up. . Now that I’m a mom, I’m more of the opposite. I make sure all of the important parts get washed every day (faces, hands, feet and private parts), and I “dunk” them as needed. This horrifies some, but I have read that it not only saves money on soap and warm water, it also is better for their skin AND helps prevent greasy hair later in life. There are times where they get extra dirty and fully bathe three days in a row, but generally speaking they get a full “dunk bath” (as they call it) about once to twice a week. Towels and clothes get washed as needed, but we do wash sheets once a week due to allergies. Life is too short to spend it folding loads of unneccessary laundry!!

By: Lisa Beth W.

Lisa Beth W. — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 04:19:54 +0000

We adhere to all these tips except for the jammies–we do put those on every night. Like other moms have said, it helps with the transition to bedtime. I am flabbergasted that anyone would possibly think that children need a bath every day, particularly in the winter time! Mine bathe two times a week in the winter, except for the older ones whose hair gets greasy faster–they do three times.

By: Sasha

Sasha — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 02:36:38 +0000

We only currently have 1 child, and I totally agree and do most of these things! A quick wipe of hands and face does just as well as a bath (during which she stands up most of the time anyway!). At nearly 2, her clothes are nearly always grotty by the end of the day, but just a t-shirt is fine for sleeping in, and kept for several nights in a row.

I have been a bit more vigilant on washing sheets lately, because N had the dreaded **worms**, but towels are usually washed weekly.