How often should you actually wash a backpack?

What the numbers show

Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count

• This comes up 13.3× more often in r/Parenting than across the site as a whole.

What people tried

Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.

1. 1
   Asking online communities for validation and typical cleaning habits
2. 2
   Cleaning only when visible dust or spills accumulate
3. 3
   Establishing daily clutter-removal routines for mental health
4. 4
   Never washing them unless visibly dirty or after a specific incident
5. 5
   Spot cleaning or hosing off
6. 6
   Spraying with odor eliminators like Odoban
7. 7
   Washing only at the end of the school year or during winter break

In their words

Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.