To massively reduce how often I wash clothes?

[MyOtherProfile]

I'm always thinking of ways to lessen our impact on the planet and have recently started wearing clothes many more times than I used to. Previously I would wear things probably twice (undies excepted!) before washing but I've been thinking that even that might be too much. I look for dirt and I smell check but now I'm only washing clothes when they fail either of those checks. I'm now on the 5th day of the top I'm wearing (not consecutive so nobody would know). Sid anyone else doing this? I don't really want to hear from people who are just going to say ewww I have to wash clothes after every wear.

I'm lucky if I get a few hours wear out of some items.

Arthritis in my hands and jaw problems mean that I'm clumsy during food preparation and there isn't a big enough or waterproof enough napkin to save my clothes.

And, depending on an individual's experience of menopause, you might be in for a nasty shock as to how many times a day you may need to change your top and underwear.

I tend to wear the same outfit all week bar spillages. Knickers and socks daily unless they have only been on a couple of hours.

There are 3 of us and I do laundry 3 times per week. Jeans will be worn until they fail the sniff test. I might wear them for 3 hours a day at most. Towels get hung up after each use. Obviously underwear is daily (though I'm not sure about my younger teen 🙄).

I have been thinking of buying one of those handheld steamers.

Are they any good??

must admit i`m a sniffer of clothes. if it looks alright and smells alright it gets another day. obviously underwear fresh daily. i agree with pp that people associate clean clothes more with fragrance from detergents/ conditioners than ACTUAL clean.

If I don't wash tops, underwear, bras after every wear, they smell.
Plus they look grabby. My jeans last a big longer.

I always washed my clothes like that, even when I didn't have a washing machine.

I don't use the dryer though, it's not needed here. (South West London)

I only wash something if it NEEDS washed. Always have. I think washing clothes ruins them so I find they keep their colour and shape a lot longer if you wash them as little as possible.

*I have been thinking of buying one of those handheld steamers.

Are they any good??*

I have a Vytronix one and I love it. It's actually a steam mop but with different attachments so you can clean windows, spruce up carpets, steam clothing etc.

We have an ironing lady but if I've forgotten to give her any shirts I hang them up and give them a steam and the creases just drop out. (My ironing is diabolically bad.)

I wash gym gear and underwear after one wear... everything else I essentially play it by ear. Jeans and sweaters, and work trousers, in my opinion, can be worn 3-4 times, t-shirts, shirts and tops 1-2. I was DS’s clothes more frequently because he just gets filthy somehow.

I agree OP. If I am wearing a t-shirt under a top then I will wash the t-shirt after 2 wears, but the top maybe after 10 wears.

i think over years detergent and fabric conditioner companies have conditioned us (get it conditioned lol) to think of clean clothes as having to smell of fragrance. I think weve lost sight of what clean really means! more washing= us spending more £££. I think what with people not having so much money and eco friendliness (me certainly) people are waking up to this and realising we dont NEED to launder clothing quite so much.

Underwear and shirts one wear, everything else is sniff and check for stains

I don't really want to hear from people who are just going to say ewww I have to wash clothes after every wear.
But this is Mumsnet!
So why you're going to get is:

Group 1: How disgusting! I wash all my clothes 3 times in Dettol if so much as the air outside the wardrobe touches it. I can totally tell if people have worn a top more than 364 minutes because it smells so badly. Anyone on this thread who wears something more than once and says nobody can tell is kidding themselves because we CAN tell, but are too polite to tell you.

Group 2: You only wear something a few times. How wasteful. The last time I washed some of my clothes was 1994. If you put the washing machine on more than once a week then you're single handedly destroying the environment.

JuanSheet I just don't get the logic! Unless they get left on the floor in a ball so they stink of damp. They're drying a clean body that's just got out the shower!

lol

Jeans and trousers I'll wear for ages.
Tight fitting tops and synthetics only once. Close fitting jumpers once, baggy ones more.
Underwear and socks obviously only once.
I also never wash at 30 because scientists (I saw a programme, was minged out and asked the washer technician) showed that if you wash at 30, no matter what detergent or machine, it comes out with more bacteria on it than it went in, or that it would have having been handwashed in cold water.

I only wash clothes when they need it. Clean pants and socks everyday, but the top layer will often go a week in winter. Less in summer as I tend to get dirty and sweaty in the garden, so probably need a new t shirt sometimes daily. I don't smell and my clothes are not grubby either (but even if there were a few marks, i really don't care. I've got mud on my jeans from my dog walk this morning. So what? It's not going to kill me). I am clean body wise, I live in a clean house so there is not much to make me dirty really. I am retired so I don't have work wear to worry about anymore. Apart from when I'm having a spring cleaning splurge, I usually do one or two loads of washing a week. My oh probably does the same with his. We have a tumble drier but don't really use it anymore. Large item washing (like loose covers/curtains etc) I will only do on good drying days so they can go outside.
I think, unless it is underwear, or smelly or dirty, it is totally unecessary to wash clothing every day. It is just making extra work. Life's too short.

Good on you, OP. I'm like you. So long as you give an item a day or two to air in between wears, and you're not someone who sweats copiously, I find I can manage three and sometimes more wears before needing to wash. That's tops. Skirts and trousers can go five, six or more wears.

It is just making extra work. Life's too short

Agree. But then people would have nothing to say on the "OMG i'm SO busy, I have two kids and have to wash everything everyday, cook all meals from scratch and decorate the house from top to bottom every week" threads.

People make work for themselves. Then complain about being busy. Madness.

They're drying a clean body that's just got out the shower!

So should never need washed ever then? Right?

I wash underwear everytime (although if I'm going for a run or something first thing and will be showering after I'll put yesterday's on inside out), other things I play by ear. If it's summer I tend to wash t shirts every day and bras as they get sweaty and gross, in winter though if it isn't dirty I wear it again. I pop towels to dry on the rack and use them again, they've only been drying my clean post shower body or hair, and I chuck the hand towels in when I'm doing a wash so they tend to get done regularly for hygiene reasons.

I live in a hot country... way to sweaty and sticky not to wash after 35-40 degrees day!

if you wash at 30, no matter what detergent or machine, it comes out with more bacteria on it than it went in,

That doesn't bother me. I know the world isn't sterile. I know there are billions of bacteria living on me, and in me, and on my clothes. It is not an aim of my life to nuke all bacteria into oblivion. Putting the clothes in the wash is to get visible dirt off, and freshen them up. Not to make them sterile.

Apart from underwear, I wear clothes until they are dirty/need a freshen up.
I don’t see the point in washing after only wearing once if they aren’t dirty.
Saves energy/water/money/wear on clothes

I'm trying to cut down on this but not doing very well. I normally get quite a few wears out of cardigans, skirts and dresses but most other things I just worry that they smell and I can't tell. I do wear a lot of t-shirt / cotton type tops with a skirt and cardigan for work so I guess it's probably pretty normal to wash them after every wear.

I do wash my towels after every use because I invariably get makeup on them when I'm getting ready but as I normally just use a hand towel for myself, it doesn't feel too bad. My DH gets a few uses from a towel.

If I had nothing else to do with my time, I would love fresh sheets more than once a week.