I don't remember how often my mother changed our sheets when we were young. What I do remember is the roughness (they were starched, dried on a clothesline, and ironed, often by me), and had a seam in the middle. Sheets wore out in the middle, so my mother used to cut worn-out sheets down the center, and then sew the two sides together on Gramma's machine. We kids got the seamed sheets.
In college, in the dorms, once a week a clean flat sheet and a pillowcase would be left outside our doors. We were to move the top sheet on our beds to the bottom, put the new sheet on top, and and put the used bottom sheet and pillowcase outside the door. The bed had to be made before you left the room. If you didn't leave a sheet and pillowcase out for laundry, or if the bed wasn't made up, you got a demerit. Some girls didn't change the bed. They'd just put the clean sheet back out. Some went even further, and slept in a sleeping bag on top of the made bed. No chance of demerits for them!
In my early 20s, I dutifully changed my sheets every week or so.
Then during the 13 years of marriage to Ex#2 I changed the sheets and mattress pads an average of 5 times a week (he used to sweat buckets at night, plus he had a severe continence problem). I did laundry almost every day, even when I had a full-time job with excess overtime.
After leaving him, I washed sheets "when they seem to need it". I was so tired of changing beds and washing linens.
With Jay, it was again back to once a week or so, but he always helped change the bed, and often helped with laundry, even though I wasn't working. The last nine months of his illness, I was changing the sheets, pads, and pull sheets on his hospital bed two to five times a day, but I didn't mind. He wanted to do as much as he could himself, so when he spilled his cereal or juice, it was ok. Or when he threw up, or didn't ask for the urinal soon enough, or whatever, it was ok. I just changed the bed again. It was ok.
Now, there's just me to consider. I don't remember when I last changed the sheets. It could have been days or weeks or months ago. I don't keep track. Mostly I just change them when there's too much cat hair in the bed. What the heck - I'm mostly clean when I go to bed. And it's just me I have to deal with. I can live with me-ness.
All this came from my recent stay in a hotel. I told the maid she didn't have to change the sheets until I left. Changing sheets every day is a waste of energy, water, time....
and totally unnecessary.
I remember ... um ... a member of my family. She lived in a warm climate, and had three daughters, and a swimming pool. (Wow. Good job hiding her identity!) The girls took showers or baths morning and evening and sometimes in between (their skin's gonna fall off!) and after being in the pool. They seemed to have an absolute horror of a normal body. They always used a separate towel for their hair, and they NEVER EVER used a towel twice! They'd just drop them in a pile on the floor. By the end of every day, there were twelve to twenty towels in a soggy pile on the floor, which their mother had to wash. Every day. That doesn't include the mother's and father's contributions.
I asked the girls why they didn't hang the towels to dry, so they could reuse them, and they said "Eeeeeuuw! Those towels are dirty!" I said "Gee, when I get out of a shower, I'm clean. You're not?"
All I got for answer was a dirty look.
~~Silk
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