Why You Shouldn't Wash Sheets And Towels Together

It's that time of the week again — laundry day. Some of us dread it, while others can't wait to load up their washer. No matter which side of the scale you fall on, we can all agree that we get a little lazy with our laundry sometimes. Who wants to actually take the time to sift through their hamper and separate towels from sheets? They're essentially the same thing ... right? Unfortunately, for those who dislike sorting, it's not a good idea to wash your sheets and towels at the same time.

Sheets and towels have vastly different fabrics, which means they have their own specific washing method, IVJ Laundromat explains. To protect the materials, sheets and towels need different wash and dry cycles. This will ensure both materials are preserved, which means fewer trips to the store to purchase new ones. It may take you extra time on laundry day, but your sheets and towels will thank you.

According to IVJ Laundromat, towels are notorious for producing lint, and all that lint ends up sticking to your fresh, clean sheets. If you don't believe us, take a peek at your lint catcher the next time you take your towels out of the dryer. You'll be amazed at how much lint forms from just one towel alone. If your sheets are made of cotton, they have a much greater chance of collecting copious amounts of lint, says Glotech.

Just think, all of that lint could end up on your sheets, forcing you to grab the lint roller, or worse ... having to wash them again. To prevent lint from invading your sheets, wash your sheets and towels separately. There are lint-free towels on the market for you to try, but we still recommend dividing these linens into two different loads to ensure your sheets stay fresh and lint-free.

Towels require significantly more time in the washer (which makes sense, considering the fabric is much thicker). The reason towels are thicker than sheets is because they need to be durable enough to hold all that water. If a towel were the same as a cotton sheet, it wouldn't be able to soak up any moisture and would ultimately fall apart, Tidy Diary explains. On the contrary, sheets should be lightweight for the sake of feeling comfortable in your bed.

If you were to wash and dry your towels along with your sheets, you'd be left with twice as much work. Sheets need to be dried by themselves, simply for the fact that other items (namely towels) can get twisted up in them, preventing them from fully drying, Rinse says. This means you'll end up running the dryer several times just to ensure nothing is still wet. In short, let your towels and sheets enjoy time in the dryer alone.