I was heartened to read, recently, that women wash their bras on average just six times a year. We are, it seems, a nation of grubby-bra wearers.

It was reassuring to learn that, when it comes to personal hygiene, I’m not alone in being fairly neglectful.

Which brings me to the question, how often should we have a bath or shower? In the world my husband inhabits, the answer is every day, sometimes twice a day, with a shower on the morning and a bath before bed.

My teenage daughter isn’t far behind. Every week she has more showers than an English summer, prompting me to lecture her on how precious a resource it is, how we should use it sparingly, and, more importantly, how we can’t afford it.

I have a bath about twice a week, always on Sunday, and usually on Monday too, after a hard day’s work.

On the days I’m at home, I only have a soak if I’ve been exerting myself, which is rare in my cushy life of coffee mornings and nail appointments (that’s what my husband believes, and I’m not going to bother denying it).

My ten-year-old, though also female, is the least inclined to climb into the tub.

Like a toddler, she has to be dragged kicking and screaming to the water’s edge. So reluctant a bather is she, that I sometimes have to have a quiet word with her about cleanliness.

So back to the burning issue, I thought the internet would give me an answer but it was more concerned with how often to bath your cat or dog.

That got me worried. I’ve never bathed our cat – I always thought they kept themselves clean.

Eventually, I found the answer I needed – one of the most widely held myths of modern society is that we need a bath once a day. The general rule is that so long as you can get by socially and hygienically, you don’t need one.

I’m glad I don’t live in Australia, whose people are the cleanest on earth. A survey found that 62 per cent of people shower once a day, 29 per cent twice and nine per cent three times – so on any day no one goes without.

I don’t think my lack of baths is a problem. I haven’t got flies buzzing around my head or people dropping hints about new types of deodorant.

I’m all for a return to traditional bathdays of old, where the family bathed once a week, on the same night, in the same water.

You’re saving cash, and helping the planet – it makes sense all round.