to ask how often you wash your clothes

[Vistada]

For me its after every wear (apart from jeans and joggers which is around 2-3 wears)

However this means i have a never ending flow of laundry

How many wears from freshly laundered would you go.

@ReviewingTheSituation

On public transport/built up areas with lots of people

• much more pollution.
• infrequent cleaning of upholstery/benches etc leading to very high levels of bacterial growth on seats/floors, in addition to general dust/dirt.
• higher footfall of people (1000s vs 1-5).
• others may not be as hygienic, you have no control over it, everything from continence issues, vomiting, to spills of food/drink, feet up on seats you then sit on.

The different between sitting in your freshly valeted car, to sitting on a tube is like rural England vs NYC.

Like most, socks and knickers every wear. Other things as and when they need to. Washing stuff everyday is unnecessary, unless you are particularly active or get dirty easily. It's also terrible for the environment and bad for your clothes.

Totally agree. Such a depressing read.

Do none of these people care about the planet and their childrens' future? When and why did so many people become so obsessed with washing their clothes, towels and bedding so often? It is just, in most cases, totally totally unnecessary and so so wasteful

Everything except Jeans and hoodies go Ito the wash basket after being worn. I do suffer from hyperhydrosis though and even with anti perspirant the clothes will need a wash. Pyjamas I also manage to wear a few more times as I sweat less during the night and have to put an anti perspirant on for bed anyway. But if I have a lazy PJ day and just keep them on then by bedtime they will have to be changed. For my kids they have daily school shirts and underwear but I expect their trousers/skirts and jumpers do a couple of days now in secondary. In primary it was a whole clean uniform daily. I do washing only on a weekend though and don’t wash daily. I can’t wear leggings more than one day as they become loose and mis shaped but also a they’re tight fitting they do get sweatier than jeans.

I’ll add that towels are weekly - sometimes stretched out if the heating has been on to dry them on the towel rail. Kids shower daily for one and every their day for the other. If they’ve been on their period then they need extra towels that week as they haven’t mastered drying without leaking. Hand towels are changed more often but then put in the basket for a fuller load - often with reusable sanitary products after they’ve had a rinse first. Bedding I confess t being a scruff as far as MN goes and don’t wash as often. Probably monthly or a bit longer. I sleep in a king size bed on my own so it doesn’t get sweaty. Kids beds the same frequency. Often just when I’ve got the extra time to strip as change to spares. Sometimes the ones taken off hang around a bit til I get time to wash. They might get put on mid week every now and then but I’m definitely not one to have a washing machine on daily.

Only when actually dirty so either stained or smelly. Pants, socks and tights the only things washed after one wear. Very silly and wasteful to be washing outerwear too often. Bad for you, bad for the planet, bad for the clothes.

I can often get a second wear out of a jumper

I can't imagine not getting several wears out of a jumper unless I've spilled something on it. Surely you wear something under the jumper and that's what gets washed.

I must be a dirty cow because I do much less washing than people on here. Socks, knickers nd gym wear after every wear, but everything else gets 2 - 5 wears minimum. Eg unless I've sweated loads, a work top will do 2 days, jeans will do 4 or 5, a jumper will do 5+.

Towels once a week, bedding approx 10 - 14 days.

I shower daily and don't do a manual job.

I have always put Ds in long sleeve wipeable bibs when small and messy eating, and use things like rain dungarees outside in mud to reduce how much regular clothes get dirty. I still use silicone bibs on him at 3 if he’s has something like yogurt so his tops aren’t covered

why the need to pretend it's a "new" thing? I wash things when I think they need to be washed, translating in one or 2 loads of laundry a day, but my grand-mothers and their mums used to be a lot less relax about it than I am.

People haven't suddenly started to wash their clothes in the last 10 or 20 years 😂

Many people living in London in the days it was covered in coal smoke used to change clothes, and get them wash, several times a day. It's only an example, research it.

I guess people have differing standards on when things "need" washing. On this thread there seems a general consensus that of course underwear should be washed after one wear. With other items of clothing, bedding, towels etc there is much more variance on how often people consider it necessary to launder them.

I personally think its OK to wear a skirt or hoodie more than once if I'd worn it on the train, or to work, others would say it "needed" a wash 🤷‍♀️

Underwear - after every wear except bras which is probably after 2-3 days.
Jeans/trousers - every 3-4 wears unless I've worn it for a full day outside in London... gotta get the polluted smell off them!
Tops - every 1-2 wears
Jumpers - 3-4 wears
Gym stuff - every wear
Pjs - every 3-4 wears

It's never ending!!!

Socks, pants, T-shirts/tops which sit directly on the skin - every wear
Bras, dresses and non-jean trousers after every 2-3 wears
Jeans, skirts and jumpers as required (in practice with a toddler ends up being every 2-3 wears)

Obviously if I've got very sweaty or dirty I'll wash sooner, and if I've worn a T-shirt for only a couple of hours (e.g. changed when I get home from work) then it can have another wear.

Knickers, bra, socks, leggings, jeggings, tops, jumpers, pjs after every wear in fact it’s only cardis and hoodies that aren’t washed every wear. But I’m peri so sweat a lot!

I wash my clothes when they smell/get dirty which means knickers - every day, everything else when I think it needs it which is a little as possible esp for things like jeans/woollens.

I've never noticed people being repelled so I assume I don't smell 😂

pants and socks - after every wear.
Bras - maybe once a week but I do have lots so rotate.
Other clothing - when I feel it needs washing. Could be 3 wears, could be 10!

Tops, underwear etc after one wear.

Jeans joggers etc 2 or 3 wears but I'm not in them for eight hours a day, maybe four hours. If I was in them all day then no more than two wears.

My rules are, unless stained in some way, in which case, hand wash the stain out asap:

1. underwear one day
2. t shirts, tops and bras two days
3. jeans, trousers, jumpers, hoodies and nighties three days (I normally wear something underneath a jumper)

Socks and knickers after every wear.
Tops - I always put a clean one on if I am going out in public. If I'm just hanging around the house all day I usually wear the top I was wearing the day before. If at some point I need to go out again I'll put a clean one on.

Jeans/other trousers - as needed - ie. when they look dirty or after 2-3 days of wear.

Woollen jumpers - they can last quite a while without needing a wash.

I think your best bet is following a simple rule, things immediately in contact with skin more often than everything else which is judged by appearance. It just might mean being more careful prior to going out. Wearing more often between washes means more chance of a stain that's not been noticed from a previous occasion. Can always have some deodorant handy, and try confiding in trusted friends if you're worried.

I don't think an occasional mistake should be the big deal some people make it, its preferable to encouraging paranoia and unnecessary additional housework IMO. Obviously, its understandable to break such rules for important stuff like a date, special occasions, interviews etc where first impressions mean so much!

I googled this ages ago for similar reasons, and some clothing brands actually caution against washing too frequently for the sake of making clothes last longer.

This!

I wash all our clothes after every wear whether it’s underwear, jeans, joggers, hoodies or work clothes I have a fresh Bra daily (I have 8 bras) and do a bra wash weekly.

Because I think it is a new thing. People definitely did not do the amount of washing they do now. I am almost 70 and no way when I was young was my mum wearing things once and then washing them or washing the towels after one use. Nor did me and my siblings wear something once and then it was washed unless it got dirty or stained.

Also we only bathed once a week and had washes daily whereas most people today shower or bath daily so even less need to keep washing clothes after 1 or 2 wears.

Before my mum got a washing machine she washed by hand but even once she got a machine she was not always washing.

How, if you only wash things when they need it, are you doing 1 or 2 loads a day? Do you have lots of children? For me and DH I do 2 maybe 3 loads a week.

Also there was not the information about climate change and the destruction of the planet in the past. We are, or ought to be, fully aware now of the damage we are doing.

I'll take your word for people washing their clothes several times a day but considering my parents, grand parents and great grand parents were all Londoners I have never heard of that. Even if true, if their clothes smelt of smoke, I can see why they would do that. A quick google search tells me victorians didn't wash their clothes very often, in fact usually monthly.

As I said before, keep washing clothes reduces the life of them and tumble drying reduces it even more. Maybe the frequent washers also are also always buying clothes too! It is recommended that jeans should rarely be washed and some people say they should never be washed.

Washing machines are a relatively recent invention, certainly automatic machines. I remember my mum using a twin tub and a mangle.
I suspect the enthusiasm for constant washing wouldn't last long if it had to be done by hand. No tumble driers either.

or people would just go back to paying someone to do it, the way they did for decades.

A lot of people could not afford that so definitely would not be getting items washed after 1 wear.

People moan enough now about the cost of electric and yet so many are using their washing machines every single day (sometimes more than once) and quite a lot must also be using tumble dryers. Just crazy