How do you take care of your clothes?????

eyeonspain

I am careful with separating clothes into white, coloured and darks. Underwear and tops which are tight fitting get washed after every wear. recently I have started stretching looser tops and shirts to two wears.Skirts, trousers and shorts get a couple of wear. Jeans can get up to four wear as can cardis. This is all very recent though. I tend to throw everything in the machine including kids trainers, crocs etc

I used to iron pyjamas, vests, everything and I barely iron anything now apart from my smart white shirt or my blazer which I machine wash:o but it turns out fine. I gave a load of OHs shirts to the charity shop, one of the reasons being because I could not bare to iron them. He works from home so he just wears polo shirts now which I don't iron but he complains about that but oh well he knows where the iron is!

I always hang up my clothes and fold t-shirts, jumpers, sports wear.

Phudge

I go for the quality rather than quantity but I rarely pay the normal shop prices and look after my things carefully.

I buy quite a few things on Ebay which have been worn once or sometimes not at all and have just been sitting in someone's wardrobe doing nothing. I have searches on Ebay for my favourite brands and get daily emails telling me what's newly listed.

It's worth signing up for emails from on-line shops too as they will usually offer a discount on an order or at least free shipping and returns which saves a little

For the care, I handwash delicate things including my best underwear and after ironing use proper hangers. Not padded unfortunately as I find them too small for my clothes width wise!

*Gok's top tip - wash your jeans inside out to preserve the colour* I do this and guess what? It works!:T

Bronnie

I always get good quality bras, usually Panache from Bravissimo, which are a perfect fit for me. Worth every penny for the magic they work. I hand wash them with ordinary soap and dry overnight. Fabric conditioner causes the nylon mesh fabric at the side of bras to deteriorate more quickly.

BitterAndTwisted

I go for quality over quantity, in fact I haven't bought any new clothes in about four years. I'm an avid eBay buyer and I always buy items for work of a much better quality than I could afford new. This is how I got a brand-new pair of black Dior trousers for a fiver plus postage.

I wear all of my work shirts at least twice before laundering but that's because I wear industrial-strength anti-pirspirant. Sweaters and cardigans which are not worn next to the skin are worn quite a lot of times before being hand-washed and dried flat on old bath-towels.

All of my laundry is done inside-out in cold water and hung on hangers to dry to save ironing. Bras are washed once a week by hand.

At the end of the season I sort everything, launder or take to the dry-cleaners and then store away.

I always get changed when I get home from work and use a clothes-brush before I hang everything up to air before they go back in the wardrobe so my good clothes stay looking good for as long as possible

Shoes and boots are always put away in shoe-trees and polished before every wear. I absolutely loathe to see footwear scuffed or down-at-heal. It's quite surprising the number of really well-dressed and well-groomed women I see with horribly manky footwear.

My one downfall is getting round to sewing buttons back on: I have quite a few shirts and cardis set aside which are waiting for a sewing session, but hey, no-one's perfect.

eyeonspain

I had a dream I was polishing my boots the other night. BitterandTwisted I admire your attention to detail.That is also a good idea to not hang around the house in your "outdoors" clothes especially those who wear smart clothes to work.

Sharlee

I can't be bothered to hand wash so I wash my bras and other delicates in a tied up pillowcase secured with a safety pin as I don't think that laundry bags offer enough protection. Also, I wouldn't put dark clothes outside in the sun as it can fade them but this is a benefit for whites and always certainly inside out washing plus buttoned and zipped on the lowest temp possible.

It's amazing how pernickety we can be about clothes but mine do seem to last forever!

Regards
Sharlee

BitterAndTwisted

eyeonspain wrote: »

BitterandTwisted I admire your attention to detail.That is also a good idea to not hang around the house in your "outdoors" clothes especially those who wear smart clothes to work.

Thanks, eyeonspain! I do this because I have to, I'm on an extremely limited budget and am expected to be very smartly-dressed for work: you know what they say, always dress for the role you want to be promoted into not the one you have now. I am better dressed than my boss! Penury is the main reason that the only things I've bought new in the last four years were underclothes and hosiery and even they are in desperate need of replacement. What the eye can't see, the heart can't grieve over or something

Kaz2904

I wash everything together (except new dark things or anything I think may run). I don't wash too often. Kids clothes are generally washed after each wear as they get so grubby. My jeans aren't washed until they get dirty but aren't worn every day. Anything that sits against the armpits gets washed after one day. Other tops will do 2. Jumpers can do a few days as can skirts or strappy dresses.
Everything goes through the machine on 30 degrees. If I spot a stain then I will cover it in washing up liquid and bung it in. I try to make sure I don't overload the machine. Everything is removed very soon after the machine finishes and either tumble dried or hung on the line. As soon as it's dry it is folded, smoothed tight and put in big piles to go upstairs. When it is put away that night, it is hung up in the wardrobe. Not much needs ironing.
After clothes are worn, they are rehung in the wardrobe. It's not overcrowded so nothing gets too creased.
I never wear enclosed shoes all day for 2 days running. If the weather is bad then I make sure I alternate what I have on my feet. Otherwise bacteria builds up in them and makes your feet and shoes stink. I wear sheepskin slippers at home with the wool lining and this keeps my feet warm and stops my socks wearing out.
I'm REALLY bad at looking after undies. I have found that if I buy cheap stuff it will last about a year. You are supposed to get refitted regularly for bras and I've never found a bra that still supports after a year so buy the cheap ones from Mr T. They don't do a 32 D in asda.
I put delicate stuff in a pillow case to wash. Bedding is dried over the bannisters in winter because I won't iron it. I got out my wedding dress to show DD the other day (we've just had our 8th anniversary). It had a big stain down the front where something has been spilt on the bag it was in. I ummed and aahed and then put it in a duvet cover with stain remover all over the orange. Then put it in the machine (it only just fit!) and washed it 3 times. I removed it last night when the machine finished and it's clean! It's hanging from my bannisters at the mo because it's too big to go anywhere else!

JoolzS

sharronloves2spend wrote: »

I think overwashing your clothes ruins them, i try and get two wears outta jeans and cardigans. If it gets dirty then obviously it gets washed.

This actually made me laugh out loud! Washing jeans or cardigans after two wears is, to me, completely overwashing them. Jeans should be washed after six, or maybe eight, wears, same for cardigans. T-shirts in the summer - probably wash after each wear, or maybe after wearing twice. T-shirts in the winter - two, maybe three, wears. Skirts - always at least three wears, often more. Jackets - wear until they seem to be a bit manky - I've never understood anyone who gets a jacket dry-cleaned more than a few times a year. Jumpers, if they are over a t-shirt or shirt - wash every five wears or so.

There is nothing other than clothing that is worn next to the skin (such as close fitting t-shirts) that needs to be washed as often as most people wash their clothes.

I will confess to being a "wear once then put in the wash" person for many years, but I finally grew out of that sometime in my 30s . My jacket advice would have still been the same then because I hated paying for dry-cleaning!

Julie

Bronnie

Agree with Joolz, I do get quite a few wears out of my jeans before they go in the wash, however because of my work pattern, I tend to only be wearing stuff for a few hours, then getting changed for work again, so I never seem to wear anything all day long.

Everyday white linen trousers are my big bug-bear. Love wearing them
L-O-N-G, but how do you keep the bottoms clean??? I start off, scrubbing them with a nail brush and soap as soon as I take them off, when they're new, but quickly lose the enthusiam for that