Do you wash your children’s clothes after each ‘use’?

[CookieCrumbles23]

Like many, my washing is never ending. Sometimes I’m washing clothes my kids have worn for a few hours, it looks and smells okay. My mum believes everything should be fresh and washed after each ‘use’, new PJs each night etc. My kids have a bath each night and I think it’s okay to wear PJs two nights on the trot (okay, sometimes even 3 🙊)

What do you do? Wash because it’s been worn or fold it up and pop back in their cupboard?

I've taught my kids too well 🙈 they are 4 and 7 and I've tried to teach them that dirty clothes go in the laundry basket (have one in each room) but they seem to put literally every item of clothing in regardless of how long it's been worn. Pants and socks absolutely to be washed after every wear but sometimes a t-shirt or jeans that have been worn a couple of hours can definitely be worn again so I am constantly fishing out clothes from the basket and put them back in the wardrobe. If they have obvious stains or smell then yes wash after one wear but jeans/jumpers or anything still unmarked after a day can be worn again in my opinion.

I definitely didn't wash clothes after every wear for my DCs. What madness!

Clothes with visible dirt, paint, glue, glitter, or food went into the basket the day it was worn, along with socks and underwear.. Everything else lived to fight another day or three.

They had two changes of nightwear each, so that didn't get washed after every use either.

I had and still have a dryer, which makes laundry a lot easier, but I still think washing after every wear is bonkers.

Life's too short.

2 x DC at primary age. Pjs for 3 or 4 nights. Clean socks and pants daily. Re wear any uniform that's clean (sometimes they get 1 wear, sometimes 3).

If we gave a quiet weekend cat home they might wear tge same clothes both days. Other weekends they might have several changes.

No! Got 3 kids would be washing the entirety of my life if I did that!
Pants, socks, tights, tshirts (unless they were worn over a vest) and vests get washed every day... anything else just get washed either after 4 days or if it is visibly dirty or smells.
I do wash my sons uniform every day as it seems to just get so dirty. The jumper I do every couple of days.

Yes me too. I would hate for my kids teacher to think my dc smelt in any way.

No, if it looks clean and doesn't smell it gets reworn. PJs worn several times. Uniform worn twice if it looks OK. Underwear and socks changed daily. DCs are 2 and 6, the older one rarely gets clothes dirty. But the 2yo often has clean clothes at the end of the day too, especially if she has been indoors. Clothes get worn for a full day, we get dressed for the day in the morning then change into PJs after bath. So no wearing clothes for a couple of hours. We are a family of 5 and put a max of 4 washes on a week. No tumble drier (out of choice), we hang clothes on an indoor airer and it can still be damp after one day, so we don't wash on consecutive days.

Welcome to the mad world of MN 😂

Everything gets washed in the house everyday.
Showers daily for youngest 3 (7,5,4) and for dd9 she showers twice a day like myself.
And dettol baths on a Sunday night.

Wash as needed here, but kids are 5 and 2. I aim for 2 nights for pjs but I thought even this was grim of me, I'm never usually high on the cleaning scale on here! How are other small kids keeping pjs clean for a week?!

These days ds5 will manage to keep a jumper clean longer than a day, although never school uniform. Dd2 is such a ridiculously messy eater - and lover of wet fruits and ice lollies (constipated...) that she often has 3 very dirty outfits a day. Not much saving her from oranges or strawberries...

For me and dp, clothes are changed as needed. Except underwear obviously. I wear socks longer than 1 day too, but my feet don't get sweaty in normal day to day life (wfh, short walk school run).

No

Fuck NO! I’ve become what my parents and grandparents would call bone fucking idle.

im at home full time, so unless I’m going to public places, hospital, Drs, supermarkets etc. I don’t wash my clothes after every wear. Knickers yes, but even socks I rewear, I walk around bare feet at home so sometimes my socks are on for less than an hour a day during the school run. Clothes go on, out of the house roughly 30 mins and back in pjs of comfy lounge wear as soon as I’m home.

kids - clean knickers, socks and tights each day, the rest by judgment. Each has 3 school shirts each (only because they come in packs of 3) unless completely mucky they get reworn. Primary school age wear pe kits twice a week so they have one set each and a spare T-shirt to share if need be. Skirts, jumpers, blazers a sponge wipe if need be. All washed on the weekend.

Forrest school & swimming is the only time I diligently wash clothes/costumes immediately when the kids are home.

Out of school clothes, again by judgement.

None of mine have hit puberty properly yet so no BO or sweating issues, yet. Also all girls who wear T-shirts and nighties to bed so don’t need washing as much as bottoms.

DH is work from home so very similar, some days he just chucks a jumper over his pjs for video calls. If I didn’t nag he’d definitely live in the same clothes underwear and all, all week. Completely different when travelling, new shirt everyday and pants worn no more than twice.

We have a dog that goes to muddy play Kendal’s throughout the week, I will usually chuck old joggers or jeans ready to be washed on, boots and dog friendly long coats to deal with the mud coated pup until she’s bathed. Actually she’s definitely the cleanest, most washed, has her blankets, towels jumpers washed more than anyone else in the house.

I'm generally an "each to their own" person, but I can't get over the huge waste of time and resources described by some folk above.

In my house, it's clean underwear every day, then other items cleaned when required - i.e. when looking or smelling unclean. And spot cleaning when I can get away with it!

Edited for spelling.

No way, I'm very good at sponging off marks and they wear clothes at least 3 times before they get washed, apart from underpants. Pjs depends on the child, one DD gets a clean pair once a week, the other sometimes wets hers so needs clean bottoms every 2 or 3 days. Me and dh get clean pants and t shirts every day, trousers and jumpers last much longer. Towels last over 10 days. I average a load every other day. I like a good read about the Mumsnet martyrs, I'd have thought with the COL everyone would be cutting down to save on electricity.

If it looks clean and smells clean, then it is clean! (Unless they've been on public transport, I wash all clothes then).

This. You are making unnecessary work for yourself OP. I'm not in the UK and we have notices on TV advising people to wash things less often. Unless something is dirty it really doesn't need to be washed after a few hours' wear, and why on earth would anyone wash pjs after one wear???

Because their clothes are ALWAYS dirty in some way. I used to check to see if there was the odd chance they could rewear something... Pretty much every time I found something that could be worn again when they put it back ok I'd find dirt! So I've given up.

Nothing with the exception of pants and socks should be washed after only one wear ( unless it’s visibly dirty). What a waste of resources! Perhaps our electricity and water bills are still too cheap for some people.

It's sad that 'spot cleaning' seems to have died out. If my kids' clothes have just one tiny dirty bit I just clean it quickly with a cloth, there's no need to put the item of clothing in the laundry.

But if you didn't notice it the first time, does a bit of dirt really matter? Could be the same five minutes after leaving the house in a clean item of clothing. Or on jeans it often dries and can be easily rubbed off. I always wash for any food stains but not a little bit of mud splatter on jeans or something that can be sponged off in a few seconds.

I do the same. No point in washing then drying the whole thing for a small mark that can be sponged and already dry before I leave the house.

@Kalevala exactly!

I wash stuff when it gets visiblely dirty or smells. Sometimes they'll go through 3 sets of cloths in a day, other times they'll be in the same jumper for 2 or 3 days.

Mostly. They are pre teen and teen but it's very rare they don't get washed daily. Feel like I'm constantly washing and drying 🙈

My DS does football at break and gets muddy hence the wash load. No spot cleaning would deal with that unfortunately. I think at the teenage stage they do get sweatier even with daily showers.

My clothes last a lot longer.

No , how wasteful of water , electric, money.
Who has the time or energy either ?