To wash things after one wear?

[JustGiveMeGin]

I know it is terrible for the environment however even though I shower every morning and my children shower daily I feel our clothes are ready for the wash at the end of the day!
We have a dog so I am usually covered in dog hairs/mud from walking her. I also have loose covers on the couch which get taken off and washed twice weekly because of said dog.
I am doing at least 2-3 loads of washing and drying a day. AIBU?

YANBU if at 30C and with non-biological washing powder in my opinion.

Most viruses arent harmful to humans either.

@Wannabangbang

Apart from jeans and coats etc i presumed everyone washed their clothes after one wash. Why would you shower/bath and put your clothes on from day before. Yuk only on Mn

Yanbu op apart from sofa covers

Unless you sweat or smell excessively, why would it be yuk to put a “non contact garment” (as somebody else described it) on for a second time?

@caringcarer

I wash everything I wear each day. I wash everything son wears each day except school trousers, he wears them 2 days. I would not want to wear the same dirty clothes again. I occasionally wear a cardigan 2 days if I have not had it on all day just off and on.

“I would not want to wear the same dirty clothes again”.

But what is dirty? If you mean they have got actual dirt on them, food/child/dog etc then yes they are dirty. If you have got sweaty in them, then they are dirty. If you mean that you have put them on, gone to the shops then sat around the house in them then they are not dirty.

By bacteria I also mean viruses. They can be pretty harmful, covid as an example

Today I am working from home. At no time am I going to come in contact with another human being outside my family. So what would the worry about germs and viruses be there then?

"NoSquirrels

If your clothes are dirty, wash them. If they are not, do not.

We wash 'close contact' clothes after one wear (underwear, socks, tops that sit next to underarms etc) and other clothes (jeans, jumpers, whatever) when they are dirty. Sometimes that will be after one wear, sometimes not.

It's having a rigid rule that is the issue - I've worn it so it MUST be dirty. That's not good for either your clothes or the environment."

NoSquirrels said something very sensible. Be like NoSquirrels
😁

I will wear jeans for 3-5 wears as long as they are not visibly dirty.

Tops, knickers and socks, clean ones every day.

Bra's I will wear for a week.

Pjs I wear for 3 nights at a time.

Towels I will use 3 or 4 times before washing as long as they dry quick and don't smell of damp.

Flannels and bedsheets get washed every Sunday.

Stop your dog getting on the sofa, OP. He can have his own blankets on his own bed, which can be washed every couple of weeks or so. Save the sofas for the people.

And have separate dog-walking clothes which are worn for an hour or two to get muddy, but don't have to be washed every single time. Then keep the rest of your clothes a bit cleaner.

My son is issued one uniform for work. He works four nights a week. So every night after he comes home I wash the uniform and hang it to dry so it is ready for the next night.
I also have to wash his school uniforms three times a week, because he only has two uniforms and they are required to be spotless and ironed.
Throw in bed linen and towels once a week.
We wash nightclothes after one wearing because fresh pjs help me sleep better.
I would rather pay a higher water bill than walk around smelling of sweat and dog with food spots all over my front.

Yes but I'd rather wear something with one days worth of germs on it than 2+ If that's your theory then why bother washing or cleaning anything

You don't wash clothes to get rid of germs! That is absolutely bonkers. You wipe the table to get rid of germs. You clean the toilet to get rid of germs. What germs do you think are transmitted in your clothes, ffs? What examples do you have of people getting ill from wearing clothes that haven't been washed for a couple of days?

Unless it has wee/poo/sick/blood on it, you really, really don't need to worry about the germs. You wash clothes because they smell or because they are stained. And you do not have to wash most things every day.

Perhaps working on lowering your standards a bit would be a good first step? Say only doing 1 load a day and see how that works? If you are all showering daily that's the main thing, and obviously changing underwear, the rest really doesn't require daily washing. Try and think about the benefits this will bring i.e more time to do other things, using less electricity, better for the environment etc.

I have two dogs and change into dog walking clothes and boots, which are muddy and get washed once a week (as I only wear them for an hour a day).

I also have clean jeans that I wear if I go shopping/ to the park without the dogs. Again, they get little wear so get washed about once a week.

At home I wear yoga trousers etc, which get washed after 2/3 wears. Underwear is changed daily. I prefer nighties which get worn 2/3 times and then washed.

Having said all that, I have two children so I still end up doing one load a day, plus extra for towels and bedding.

I feel clean and don't smell so that's all that matters to me!

@StanfordPines

By bacteria I also mean viruses. They can be pretty harmful, covid as an example

Today I am working from home. At no time am I going to come in contact with another human being outside my family. So what would the worry about germs and viruses be there then?

Obviously there is no worry then. Don't deliberately misinterpretate what I meant.

We're not all lucky enough to WFH.

I have a couple of pairs of dog walking trousers that I wear several times before washing, I don't wash them every time they get a bit of mud on them.

Washing synthetics releases microplastics that are too small to be picked up by washing machine filters into the environment. Also powering your washing machine uses electricity, usually produced by fossil fuels that release carbon into the atmosphere which contributes to global warming.

I do one or two loads a week and only wash underwear after one use or if muddy or stained. Everything else gets the sniff test and usually another wear!

I've never got my head around the visible dirt thing with clothes. Just because they look clean doesn't mean they haven't spent the day collecting germs. They absolutely should be washed after each wear, same as I wash my hands when I come in, they look clean but they have invisible bacteria on them.

No they absolutely don't need to be washed after every wear. Everything everywhere has bacteria on it, most of which is totally harmless. What effect to you think those 'invisible germs' are having on you exactly? Do you think all the people who don't wash clothes after every wear are dropping like flies from the terrible bacteria? And how on earth do you think people managed before electric washing machines, tumble dryers etc?

We're not all lucky enough to WFH.

Today is an exception. I work in a school so at the moment I wash my clothes from school every day because I have been dribbled on/sneezed on/licked by anyone number of children.

However in normal times the ‘my clothes are covered in germ/viruses’ is nonsensical unless you strip naked the minute you walk though the door.
You come in in your germ ridden clothes and sit in the sofa, at the kitchen table, brush up against surfaces.
You wash your hand because you are likely to touch all sorts of things with your hands, including your face. You don’t tend to do that with your trousers.

Unless actually dirty no of course not. Ditto no need for daily showers.
We shower and change ours every third day pretty much - excepting undies and socks daily. Jeans weekly.

Total waste of time, money and resources to do so more often unless things are actually dirty.

@jakeee

I've never got my head around the visible dirt thing with clothes. Just because they look clean doesn't mean they haven't spent the day collecting germs. They absolutely should be washed after each wear, same as I wash my hands when I come in, they look clean but they have invisible bacteria on them.

You have issues.

2 to 3 loads a day does sound excessive if you only have 2 children.

We wash most clothes after one wear except trousers and jumpers and still only do a clothes wash every other day (also a 4 person family)

By bacteria I also mean viruses. They can be pretty harmful, covid as an example

Presumably if you spend all day in your clothes being exposed to viruses, the time you are most likely to have picked up the virus is during the time you were there in the virus-ridden environment with those clothes on, not the following day when you wear the clothes again. Besides, research has shown that Covid can remain on hard surfaces for up to 72 hours, but not on fabric.

Anything smelly, visibly dirty or things that have been in contact with your sweaty and smelly parts need washing after one wear. Anything else can surely be worn multiple times. I really don't understand people who are prepared to invest that much time, money and effort into bloody laundry.

Dh has clean work stuff every day because he works on public transport and it's grim without a pandemic. Same for his training /exercise stuff.

DS gets clean school uniform every day because he's 4. Clean pj's every night.

I wash my tops after every wear, jeans and hoodies after every couple of wears.

Bedding gets done once a week or so. Dh and DS are both sweaty, grubby little creatures

I also wash towels after every use

Just WHY though???

Are you a lizard? Do you shed a whole skin after each bath?

If it’s got mud or something spilt on it then wash it.
You don’t need to wash it to get dog hair off, you need a lint roller!
The only things I wash after one use by default are underwear, socks and sweaty gym clothes.