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?

Well, if you look through all the posts on this thread alone, you'll see you are in a very, very small minority, which, in general use of language, means it isn't "normal".

Even with general language use, normal isn’t confined to the majority.
If it did, then all minorities in doing anything would be considered abnormal

• being self employed instead of being an employee
• taking the train to work instead of driving
• doing any postgraduate degree (masters or doctorate)
• running for public office
• writing a book
• seeing a dentist 3x a year

All of the above are done by a minority of people, but none of the above are abnormal.

Edited to add that 21% isn’t a “very, very small minority”

I teach kids to cook so every day I go home and I smell of onions/garlic/whatever we have been doing that day. Clothes go straight in the wash - they smell very strongly.
I am also training for a marathon so will have 1 very sweaty set of sports kit every day. Clean pyjamas every night because I sweat buckets at night- sometimes it is literally soaking.
My older teenagers both have jobs in fast food places so need uniforms washed after every shift as they smell of deep frying.

I do a load pretty much every day, sometimes 2x day. Drives me mad but I don’t know how I can reduce it.

Am not fanatical about towels or bedding but I cannot bear to smell and after work, I do, so there’s no way I can wear things again.

@Poppins21 sorry if someone's already asked this but....what are starched sheets?? How do you achieve that, and what does it do?

No wonder the planet is fucked.

Mostly I do 2-3 wears combined with a sniff and visible mark test. If your clothes seem clean to you and those around you, they are clean. I clean socks and undies every day. I just found out DH and mother wear socks for multiple days which surprised me.

I answered in respect of water shortages.

What has your reply got to do with that

We are trying to half the amount of washing we do. So each item we are using twice as long. Seems to be working. Clearly if something is dirty it joins the pile.

Ah, yes, the "air is dirty" school of thought. Though tbf depends where you live I guess. What about the pollution caused by washing? The micro particles from our (increasingly synthetic) fabrics?

I often drop food or drink down my clothes.

Had to wash my duvet cover after a week this week as had a BCC (basel cell carcinoma) removed 10 days ago and it leaked a bit on my cover - but not that much to go onto the duvet itself.

Food medals 😉

we have managed to half our laundry by simply wearing everything for twice as long as we would have

My teenage son's stuff gets washed every wear because he's definitely in a stinky stage - his bedding once a week too, and his bedroom already smells like a rabbit hutch, I want to reduce that, not contribute to it by making him re-wear trousers/jumpers

My and the younger one are more relaxed (apart from underwear) and only wash dirty/smelly things.

Yes, washing towels after every use is insane.

I've been buying jumpers made of merino wool and they seem to be self cleaning! I never wear them next to my skin as tend to get itchy.
Anything with synthetic fibres hangs on to smells, BO, cooking smells etc and needs to be washed frequently The pure wool jumpers never smell so I only wash them they get stained or are obviously dirty..

@MasterShardlake any recommendations? I need a couple of new jumpers!

That seems like a good approach, socks included.

He should be doing his own laundry, then he might be less fastidious about washing everything.

Does he do his own laundry?

Get the febreeze out :D

A friend of mine is adamant that her woolly jumpers should never ever need washing because wool is self-cleaning. So just a bit of airing is enough to refresh it. Living in London, I find that quite grubby.

These wash well and lots of colours to choose from. I'm usually a size 10 but prefer jumpers to be looser so the Medium is just right for me.
https://www.woolovers.com/womens/jumpers/ladies-cashmere-and-merino-crew-neck-knitted-sweater-cream-9353

I agree with the sniff test, but this isn’t how to do it. If you just took your top off, you’ll be nose blind to your own scent.

I leave my clothes on the floor overnight (ok, hung up to air on a good day) then sniff them after I’ve showered and been outside for 10 minutes or so exercise. Can be quite revealing and often results in the bedroom getting an extra airing.

Your top isn’t ’totally fresh’ after three days. Can’t be.

This is something I've been working towards, to cut my workload (I'm the laundry person) to cut our power costs and more importantly for environmental reasons. I go through kids uniforms and wipe down little stains on the front or cuff and put back as clean. My own work clothes get dirty but usually clean dirt ie not germy so I wash my T shirt after every wear and wipe the outer layer and try to wash after 2 or 3 days. I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle though as I'm trying to get kids more responsible to manage their own stuff but then they fill the laundry baskets, so it's either do all the laundry or go through their clothes and hang them up.

It's true thought. I have several knits that have never been washed. I am currently wearing a cashmere jumper which has been out of cupboard at least a dozen times in the last two months. There is no smell and no, I wouldn't typically wear any top for this many times before I wash it.
My mum is an avid knitter so we always had wooly jumpers and washing them was an annual job at best.