A Simple Towel System That Will Save You Time, Money, and Sanity

One of the last things you want to think about after you’ve had a shower is whether you have a clean, dry towel to wrap yourself in. But somehow, this is always an issue.

There will be a massive pile of fresh towels in the cupboard, and then they’ll all disappear. Not one can be ticked off apart from the crumpled one on the floor of the kids’ bedroom. And no one ‘knows’ how it works.

So, if you’re fed up with:

• Towels going missing
• Mountains of washing
• The consistent chaos of family towel life

It’s time to put a simple system in place that will stop the towel madness.

 

Why Are Towels So Hard to Manage?

There are a few reasons why towels seem to go through this “used once and abandoned” cycle. Here are some of the greatest hits:

• Someone (everyone) grabs a fresh towel after every shower because that is easier than hanging it up.
• Towels are used in bedrooms, rolled up in corners, and forgotten about.
• No one knows whose is whose, so everyone keeps grabbing new towels.
• Kids (and let’s be honest, some adults) think that towels are in an endless supply to the cupboard once the old used ones are dumped into the laundry basket.

The result? Towels get washed on an industrial scale while you silently swear that you’d never buy another new one again.

 

Step 1: Allocate a Towel to Each Person

The simplest way to stop this fresh towel free for all is to say that every person has their own towel and they use that towel only.

This can be done through colour coding.

• You have blue.
• Your partner has grey.
• The kids have the colour that they won’t argue over. (Colour tiffing can be avoided.)

A bit of embroidery might be seen as ‘fancy’, but let’s be honest. Colour coding works just as well.

 

Step 2: Limit Towel Use

Here’s the magical part: two towels per person.

• One towel to use
• One towel to wash and dry

No more raiding the towel cupboard like it’s an all-you-can-eat buffet. Grab a clean towel only after the old one has been thrown into the laundry basket. Amazing concept, I know.

Towels for guests should be kept out of sight. Otherwise, you’ll end up finding your “for guests only” towels drying out the floor of the bathroom.

 

Step 3: Give the Towels a Home (A Designated Drying Area for Them)

A towel drying area must be assigned to every person.

Guess where towels will end up if they don’t have a designated drying spot?

• Laid on the back of a chair
• Thrown onto the bed
• Left in a pile of waste to achieve maximum mildew effect

This can be sorted out by designating each individual a towel rail, hook, or peg. Bonus points for labels.

A rail in the bedroom works well, but the towel must get hung up, or it’ll get tossed into mountain loads of clothing.

 

Step 4: Set a Towel Washing Schedule

Let’s be realistic about this. You don’t need to wash towels every day.

Unless someone has rolled around in the mud, a towel can be used for three or four days.

• Towel change days: middle of the week and weekends
• Dirty towel must equal new towel, and the old towel must go into the laundry basket first
• No exception on this

This effort will cut your towel workload in half. Those hours spent washing, drying, and dragging towels out from their designated home can be discarded from the daily ‘to-do’ list.

 

 

Step 5: No Hoarding Towels

Towel thief extraordinaire suddenly has three towels in their room, and one towel has disappeared into the void.

To stop this:

• Excessive towels should be kept out of the way
• A new towel gets offered only after the old one is thrown into the laundry basket
• A drop of tough love must occur

 

Less Chaos, Less Laundry, More Sanity

If this towel system grows to fruition, it should mean:

• No more towel shortages
• Less laundry
• No more towel thieves
• A more ordered, less chaotic bathroom vibe

Plus, you won’t have to dry yourself off in damp-used towel land.

Go and reclaim your bathroom. You deserve it.