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Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

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Original poster

What do you do with 'only-lightly-worn-not-ready-to-be-washed-yet' clothes?

39 replies

Legacy · 08/12/2008 11:38

Have decided that these are at the root of all our bedroom clutter...and think we need to 'manage' them differently..

You know when you wear a top for a couple of hours or something, and think, "that's not ready for the wash again yet" - so, where do you put it?

In our house, both DH & I, and the kids seem to have a 'pending' clothes pile in each bedroom which just gets bigger and bigger, until in a fit of peak I wash the whole damn lot again .

Problem is I have an aversion to putting 'half-clean' clothes back into drawers or the wardrobe....

Is this mad?

OP posts:

PenelopePitstops · 08/12/2008 11:39

put them away!!

or just wear them the next day

Jux · 08/12/2008 11:41

Hang it on a chair near the open window for airing. Then you can either wear it until it's dirty enough for washing or put it back in the cupboard.

PuppyMonkey · 08/12/2008 11:41

I have a "pending" pile which is hidden inside a wardrobe so no-one can see it, if that's any help. So does DP.

The rule is you can have a small pile of clothes only, just as long as it's not on display to the general public!

Original poster

Legacy · 08/12/2008 11:43

Do the general public visit your bedroom a lot PuppyMonkey??

OP posts:

belgo · 08/12/2008 11:44

Put them back in the wardrobe. Otherwise they just are left dumped around the bedroom.

PuppyMonkey · 08/12/2008 11:45

Only those who are specially invited!

Hassled · 08/12/2008 11:48

I've managed to get around this by no longer having pending clothes - I just wear them until they need a wash (although my criteria for "needing a wash" are probably a bit anal and ridiculous). So 2 days if a jumper, jeans or skirt, i.e top layer, 1 day if bottom layer.

Dh has a huge and irritating pending pile in the corner of the bedroom.

Sonnet · 08/12/2008 11:51

We all have a hanger on a hook on our bedroom door - pending clothes are hung up there.
Can't hang too many up which keeps it managable

missmama · 08/12/2008 11:52

Ours go back on a hanger but are hung on the door of the wardrobe not on the rail with the clean stuff.

snowleopard · 08/12/2008 11:56

An old wicker chair in the bedroom. Of course it becomes a mountainous heap and in it can also be found numerous soft toys, lost hot water bottles, half-eaten biscuits etc.

eekareindeer · 08/12/2008 14:19

You saved me a job by starting this thread Legacy. I could have written the very same -word for word.

Interesting to see that lots of us have an aversion to putting lightly worn clothes away with the clean ones. I thought it was just me .

My pending pile is horrendous. Stuff gets lost on there for so long that seasons come and seasons go, then I unearth something, then I figure it needs a wash anyway.

I never, ever wear the same clothes two days running. Just can't do it.

AMumInScotland · 08/12/2008 14:38

Neat pile on a chair, but I tend to then wear it with in a few days, so I don't end up with much stuff "pending". If it's there more than a few days it mostly gets so crumpled I put it into the washing basket anyway...

MrsBadger · 08/12/2008 14:41

chair

or hanger on front of wardrobe

tis v bad to put them away with clean clotehs - encourages moths

SilentMNight · 08/12/2008 14:41

I don't mind mixing clean and used clothes but to stop confusion most clean clothes are inside-out (from having been pulled off and then washed and maybe ironed) so if an item of clothing is the right-way-round ie not inside out then I know it's already been worn once. But usually only a few items thus as I would plan to wear it again quite soon.

Ivegotaheadache · 08/12/2008 14:44

I don't like to put them away with the clean clothes either, so I hang it on the bannister (cos we don't have any surfaces in the bedroom).
If I know that I definitely won't wear it the next day then I'll just put it in the wash, or it'll sit there for days until I put it in the wash anyway.

If you have something in the 'pending pile' make sure you put it on the next day then the pile won't pile up.

Othersideofthechannel · 08/12/2008 14:45

Another 'insideout back in the wardrobe' here

NomDePlume · 08/12/2008 14:47

I either put them away or wash them. If they are clean enough to be worn again without washing, then surely they are clean enough to be put away with the clean laundry ?

PinkPoinsettias · 08/12/2008 14:52

lol... i have the same issues. can't put them back in the drawer in case they don't get worn for ages [shudder] but absolutely cannot wash clothes that aren't properly dirty.

in our room i have a pile on the chair in the corner and dp dumps his next to the bed.

in the kids room they all get piled in a huge pile at the end of dd's bed and i try and get through them at weekends and days off school (for some reason it feels weird to send her to playschool in pre worn clothes!)

Sycamoretree · 08/12/2008 15:17

You are all quite mad. This is not something I had ever considered. If it's not dirty, it gets hung back up (possibly after lingering on my dressing table chair back for a few days). Ditto the kids - backs of chairs are very useful until one gets time to either hang them back up, or throw them back on oneself.

santasinmywaistband · 08/12/2008 15:20

I just wear an outfit until its ready yo wash( with 2 prescholers I normally don't manage more than 2 days then into the wash. Pending piles are only there overnight until worn again

SeamusTheElf · 08/12/2008 15:26

Bedroom floor, bed then bedroom floor, changing table, then bedroom floor until DS1 tips milk on them then it's into the wash pile! If I am feeling less slatternly one of the cubby hole things in the wardrobe - never back on a hanger etc. MAybe over the lower rail sometimes.

specialmagiclady · 08/12/2008 15:26

I have same issue re putting things back in drawers half grubby. Am learning to be disciplined re wearing same clothes twice.

Actually though, between my BO issue, stress incontinence and 2 small children, it's hard to get things to last beyond wear 1!

alarkaspree · 08/12/2008 15:27

Sweaters/skirts/trousers - back in wardrobe
t-shirts/tops - thrown over end of bed (not entirely happy with this arrangement).

dh comes home from work and puts on the same t-shirt & sweater combination every day until it goes in the wash, and doesn't have a pending pile.

kids' stuff I put back in the wardrobe, the possible dirt is in a different category I feel, since they don't really sweat. So it is either visibly filthy or fine to wear again and I don't need to know it's been worn once.

Cies · 08/12/2008 15:32

I have a chair by the dressing table that doubles as a dumping ground for pending clothes. But I generally do wear them for two days in a row, because luckily I never see the same colleagues for two days in a row so nobody knows my slatternly ways!

LilMatchGirlInVictorianSqualor · 08/12/2008 15:34

Folded and put in the bottom of the wardrobe.

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