Unnecessary Laundry

[MyLemonWriter]

A few months back I noticed whilst loading the washing machine that most things were actually clean. Has anyone else cut down on the number of times the launder their clothes?

Your clothes can’t last very long, you must spend a fortune on new ones.

That's ludicrous, and, like a pp, I want to know if you wake up in the night to change your PJs and sheets ?
What a waste of time and resources.

I have no idea which way to vote, as, obviously YANBU to not wash things that don't need it, but, like @Catza in the first reply, it's not something I need to cut down on doing, as it isn't something I have ever done.

I always have lots of laundry, gym gear x 3 people, work shirts, underwear,that's a load before you even start on bedding and towels. I won't wash items like jumpers after one use,they get multiple wears unless something gets spilled on them.

If you’re using laundry scents or fabric softeners life may well get shorter. They are known carcinogens.

I try to make trousers last two days. Undies, socks, tops daily. Nightwear every two nights.
Bedding and towels every week
Still manage to do a load a day.

With the exception of underwear, I only wash clothes once they smell or are visibly dirty. Waste of time and money otherwise.

Awful and very wasteful

He’s 18. Presumably he does his own laundry?

Really? Jeans? Hoodies, etc? Do you wear a new nightie (or whatever your sleepwear) every night?

GoofyGoldie · Today 13:02

I'm fed up of trying to get the message through to my stepson that he does not need to have a whole new outfit every day! I definitely don't want to do washing for the sake of it. Hubby, DD16 & I will wear clothes more than once. DSS, 18, does not. I've told him he doesn't need to wear the same outfit days in a row, but go back to it, or he could definitely wear the same jeans. The message is not getting through though.

DSS is 18 - high time to teach him how to use the washing machine. Stop doing it for him

Goodness. That’s a remarkable amount of laundry.

If we've just been working from home I find most clothes just need to be freshened up after a few days - e.g. run through on a quick cycle (14 mins).

I wash after one wear but that's because I'm a smoker. I guess it depends what environment you've been in and what you've actually done whilst wearing the clothes

Happy in my insanity though :-) I have plenty to do but fresh bedding and towels is my thing. Doesn’t extend to washing jeans or jumpers after one wash though that’s just bonkers :-)

Yes a fair amount but as I said it bedding and towels not everything. I just really love starched sheets 😀

The kids see the laundry basket as a magic device that gets their clothes folded and back in a drawer. So a lot of the laundry is in fact taking out their worn-once stuff and chucking it back on their bed for them to (eventually) hang up.

I have stopped doing my DS15's laundry after I found yet another pile of clean clothes in the laundry basket. He'd dumped them in front of his wardrobe and when I asked him to tidy his room, dumped them still partially folded in the laundry basket!

Underwear, T-shirts, socks after 1 wear. Jeans, hoodies after a week, unless obviously dirty. Bedding and towels weekly.

Bras get washed when I have a space in the laundry queue but I would like to know how often they should be washed as DD will soon need one and I'd like to instil some good habits! How many/how often do you wash them?

oh and the DC each have a coat stand in their room to hang worn but still wearable clothes!

My 18 year old son doesn't do his own laundry, it just ends up with the washing machine running more often🤷‍♀️
I wear things once and wash them, pjs maybe every second night, towels after 1 or 2 uses at most and everyone's bedding once a week.
I don't feel like I'm overly hygienic, my house certainly isn't a show home but I definitely think a lot of people should be washing their clothes and bedding more often going off the smells wafting from the general public every time I go out!

I wash all my jumpers in the spring/summer. Then they may get a couple of washes through the winter but not often.

School uniforms get washed most often here. And endless swimming stuff (although that's sometimes just a cold rinse).

I launder underwear and usually vests after every wear but pretty much all other clothing gets used at least twice before being laundered and wool jumpers which are usually worn with a vest or t-shirt under them can get worn more than that.

Before menopausal night sweats, I laundered bedding every fortnight but now it's generally every 5-7 days - and some nights I actually sleep with a bath sheet under me and a hand towel on the pillow because the night sweats can be so bad!

I probably do towels after 4 or 5 uses. Tea towels and napkins are usually done after each use.

On the occasions that he was doing laundry, he could do everyone else’s laundry as well.

Anything that can be worn again is fished out of the washing basket, folded and put back.

Please don’t put clothes that have already been worn but not washed back into
your wardrobe or cupboards. It will make all your clothes pong, even though there may only be the slightest trace of smells on these clothes.

This is exactly what my kids used to do. I gave up ironing when they were all small because they used to throw their carefully ironed and put away in drawers clothing all over the floor in search of what they wanted to wear. Then they'd stomp all over it, and I needn't have bothered, so I stopped. Then they started with the 'tidy the room by putting ALL clothes in the wash basket, even the stuff that mum has just washed and dried and stacked on the bed for putting away that I couldn't be bothered with and just threw on the floor'.

Oddly enough, they are all adult now and immaculately turned out. Probably because they have to do it themselves. I am sometimes filled with the desire to go into their houses and throw all their clean and ironed clothes on the floor and then stomp on them. But I wouldn't.

I have even been known to wear my running kit more than once before washing.