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'll be able to say, well, I stopped at one

You had one child more than you should have if the environmental impact was even slightly important to you. Let’s not kid ourselves here.

drastically reduced meat and dairy consumption

Oh you just reduced? Interesting.

hardly ever have holidays abroad

You have holidays abroad? You know you can holiday at home? Right? No flying required.

In comparison to my fresh daily towel you’re racking up a shitload of carbon footprint points.

Will you be honest with your DC, if they ask you?
I already am, I’m teaching them on a daily basis about what I do and why.

"Sorry, I knew the planet was fucked, but I preferred having clean towels daily!"

It’s more “the planet is fucked- that’s why we’re doing this this and this, and not this this and this.”

(I'm sure you do other things,

Correct

but I find it hard to believe anyone who washes towels daily genuinely gives a shit about the planet.

Sorry for your struggles.

For those of you doing the sniff test - I wonder if it's reliable or whether people can become "nose blind" to their own smells.

I don’t think it is. People don’t often realise they are stinking. airlines regularly take passengers off for overwhelming body odour and the people always say they shower daily blah blah.

And I look/smell/am very clean, shower daily, wash hair daily, wear deodorant, rarely sweat.

Nope I wouldn't. I don't eat meat or dairy, I recycle as much as I can and have only been on holiday once in 9 years.

It will be like the 1950's with smelly people again!

Yet swore up hill and down dale that they didn't pong.

I use eco detergent (have been for decades) and it doesn't have a strong smell.

Clothes washed in standard detergent with fabric conditioner at the recommended dose absolutely stink of fake chemical fragrances to me now. It's so strong when you're not used to it, it makes me feel ill.

Not only do I wash dirty clothes

but I also wash brand new clothes before putting them in cupboards.

I can't think of one good reason not to.

Some people won't have moths but others will have anothe common pest, the carpet beetles eating away at your dischargey knickers and sweaty shirts laying about on chairs.

I love my Daz! And Comfort blue. Fresh sheets once a week, fresh towels every other day. Shower once daily and twice if I get sweaty. Eat meat. Fly long haul. You're a long time dead.

Utterly grim to put worn clothes in a wardrobe with clean ones though.

Bless.

but I also wash brand new clothes before putting them in cupboards.

I do, too.

Utterly grim to put worn clothes in a wardrobe with clean ones though.

Depends how you define clean. If there's no stains or smells, then they are clean to me. Get over yourself.

I wash underwear before the first wear, but nothing else.

I don’t think anyone has stated they rewear discharged knickers.
I think a lot of people have been sold a lie by the makers of soap powder as they just want us to buy more of their product.
I never use the amount of powder that it states on the box as if I do I am left with powder marks and find that if I half the recommended amount clothes still come out clean but don’t smell so much of their chemical fragrance.

reminds me of a poster who started a furious thread after receiving a bad review on ebay - the buyer "dare" complaining the second hand jumper she just bought wasn't clean.

The outraged seller pointed out that she never wore it directly to skin but only with a top underneath, so it was clean, and the buyer a CF to complain.

It never got through to her that the simple fact the buyer could tell the item was dirty was a massive clue that it really couldn't be considered clean by any standard.

Honestly op you arent even making a difference. But If it makes you feel better crack on.

Depends how you define clean. If there's no stains or smells, then they are clean to me. Get over yourself.

to be fair, it is grim. We don't all agree on what "clean" or "dirty" means.

Next people will just wipe their plates and reduce the actual washing up to once a week because unless there's sauce or gravy, plates are not actually dirty, or something like that

So towels......I was firmly in the wash once a week camp as we (3 of us the dds and I) shower every other day so every 3 uses we wash the towels. Always worked ok. I wouldn't not wash a minging towel. Newish dp is another matter - he soaks the towel somehow and it smells after a day!!

I never use the recommended amount of powder because modern machines are really bad at rinsing - the use little water and score really poorly on rinsing. Look at the end of your rinse cycle - loads of froth. I often have to repeat the rinse cycle.

When I once bought capsules, where you obviously can't use less than 1, I broke out in exzema and the clothes smelled really strongly synthetic.

to be fair, it is grim

In your opinion. But luckily we're all different with different views.

T shirts, underwear and clingy trousers like leggings get washed after one wear. Pj's, jeans, jumpers after a few wears.

I have a kid in the house so things need more washing

A kid as in a goat? I have more than one child but I don't find it means my clothes needs more washing, do you mean washing more often or a longer period of washing each time

Tips on how to avoid being a smelly old person. From
www.womenoverfiftynetwork.com/dont-smell-like-an-old-lady/

#3 Don’t Re-Wear Your Clothing
Older people aren’t as active and not as likely to break a sweat. Because of this, they feel that outfit they wore today is good for another couple days ‘because they didn’t get it dirty’.

PROBLEM: A closet full of dirty clothes smells. Skin oils and leaked urine can permeate clothing. There are probably also shoes in that closet that need airing out. Stale pee and dirty, sweaty feet stink – yuck. Mothballs don’t fix the smell.

SOLUTION: Wear clothes for one day only. Air out or replace old shoes. Hang a cedar strip in closet to freshen it up.

Some people are less smelly. Going through menopause made me need to wash things more until I went onto HRT. Fatter people can be smellier than very thin people. Teenage girls can be a bit smelly. And often wear manmade fibres, making it worse.

I am over 50 and I don’t leak urine so what a bunch of ageist twaddle.