Frequency of Sheet-Washing

I can't remember much of anything; there's just too much to keep track of. If I wanted to wash sheets every single Tuesday, probably I could remember, but not everyone in the house needs sheets laundered weekly. And then, what if you have people who wet the bed? (It might be little ones who "wet the bed" the usual way, or it might be middle-aged ones who sweat buckets from the hot flashes.) What if somebody is at a friend's house for half a week, and it would be silly to wash sheets that have been slept in for only three nights, just because you have a sheets-on-Tuesday routine?

I have a pencil and a sheet of paper on top of my clothes dryer, held fast by a magnet. There is one column for each bed. Whenever I wash sheets I scratch down the date under the appropriate bed's column. That way I know how long it's been. When the kids were little, I generally washed sheets only when they wet the bed -- that was plenty frequent enough. But as they got to be 4 or so, and seldom wet the bed anymore, sometimes I'd forget for a long long time that I could wash sheets that hadn't been peed-up. (Who knew?!!??!?) The chart helped me keep track. During spring and summer, when I'm aiming for using the clothesline instead of the dryer, if we have very wet or very dusty days that make line-drying a poor choice, I am not bound to my routine. I can put off sheet-washing for a couple of days without fretting over my failing memory. Really, now, who wants to do the job of sheet-washing and then turn around and do it again in a couple of days just because you're so forgetful??