Today’s Unexpectedly Heated Internet Argument is one that perhaps only Monica Geller can answer.
An unsuspecting Twitter user asked a simple question: how many towels are you supposed to have?
hello fellow adults. my gf and i have a question… what is the correct amount of towels to own? i said 10 and she looked at me like i was crazy. we have zero frame of reference on the appropriate amount of towels in a household of two.
— abdul (@Advil) February 17, 2019
It’s one of those adult-as-a-verb things that your parents never actually tell you.
Maybe you were given a full set or a basket full of worn hand-me-downs when you moved out. Maybe you threw one in your cart during your first trip to IKEA to stock up on basics.
Maybe you don’t even know how many towels you own – count them in your head right now. The one on the back of your door, maybe one in the laundry basket (or is that a bathmat?), a clean one in the cupboard in case you have an overnight guest… Is there one on the line right now? That’s enough for one person, right?
Unless you’re Monica from Friends, of course – in which case you need eleven categories, including Everyday Use, Fancy, Guest, Fancy Guest, and presumably, a separate category for perfectly crunchy old ones.
But crunchy vs fluffy is a whole other can of towels. Let’s leave that today.
It turns out that you are all wrong, anyway according to journalist Yashar Ali:
As a couple you should own a minimum of the following
10 Bath Sheets
10 Bath Towels
10 Hand Towels
20 Wash ClothsPreferably more https://t.co/CWqd8kp5vJ
— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) February 18, 2019
OK, even if you’re using two towels per shower – a big one (i.e. a bath sheet) for your body and a smaller one (AKA a bath towel) to wrap your hair – and don’t do a towel wash every week, that seems excessive.
(Here’s a towel size chart, because apparently this was necessary.)
2. For those asking what a bath sheet is, here’s a handy chart.
cc: @Advil @jbillinson pic.twitter.com/p2oYTD0bGI
— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) February 18, 2019
Honestly, whether you have two towels and you wash them every week, or a luxurious linen closet* stacked full of fluffy matching sets, that’s up to you.
(*For millennial renters: a linen closet is a cupboard where people used to store their towels, sheets, and miscellaneous household textiles. There probably used to be one in your house before it was turned into the bedroom you currently spend 1/3 of your pay renting.)
Whether you’re a couple or a single or a throuple, as long as you have a towel on the go that doesn’t smell stale, and at least one clean one ready to go, you’re fine.