What do you wash daily (clothing etc wise)

Ken68

Yes Tiger, you're right, I withdraw the suggestion.
Shall experiment tho. Dampen the clothes first and experiment outside.
Surprised there is not more info, after all massive savings if it works.
We need a scientist!!!

purpleivy

Undies daily for ALL. Clean white shirt for dh and ds daily. After that, things get washed as they need it. Bedding every other day? Hellloooooo. After a shower you are clean... at least if you shower every day you must be, so how come towels need doing after two uses.

Reading this thread makes me understand why my washing machines last a reasonable length of time. on 2nd or 3rd in 21 years married. The first one lasted for years..... THey don't make things like they used to, do they?

........ and regardless of what some of your correspondents may think, we don' t smell and all have lots of friends! People who have had their clothes on for several days and smell are probably ones that don't shower regularly.

purpleivy

.... and generally dress/school shirts get ironed and other things that need it. That means tshirts get seen in the summer and may get ironed. if they are neatly folded from the line (I hang stuff on hangers that will) then maybe not.

chickadee

This thread amazed me! I started to read it open-mouthed. 21 wash loads a week? :eek:

I'm not a dirty person, but I am really shocked at how obsessive people are about washing their clothes after one wear. I don't mean to offend anyone but I think I must be in shock, reading some of the posts.

OK, I can make allowances for extra wash loads for nappies and for those with young children but even taking that into account this is still a phenomenal amount of energy (both through the meter and the human kind), water and detergent to be using.

I wash underwear after one use, of course. I wash work tops after one wear as well. Gym wear gets washed after one use as well. After that, I have a good look at the item, consider how long it has been worn for, and what it is likely to be next used for, eg. a t-shirt worn in the evening after work will be worn 3 times. It only adds up to about a full day's wear in total, so I don't have an issue with that. For me, that works out at 5 work tops, 2 evening t-shirts, bras, tights, gym wear and socks. I don't wash or dry clean skirts & trousers until about 4 or 5 wears. They are worn, taken off when I get home, hung up for the creases to drop out then put back in the wardrobe. I usually wear each item once a week, maybe less so that works out at about 6 weeks before being washed/cleaned.

I agree with the previous poster about towels. Surely they only have clean water on them? If they dry out and are not left to fester, why not use for a week? As long as it is used by the same person I can't see a problem. The same with sheets. I wash them when we have a fine day and they will dry outside. Probably after about 2 weeks. I have never had any skin problem, or any other problem with that.

I have plenty of towels so I let a good pile of them build up, then I wash overnight on economy 7 at 60 degrees.

No doubt some will cringe at my apparent lack of hygiene (compared to them) but I am very happy with my standards.

churchmouse_3

Well done Daisy Bell !!! i must admit that i used to have a top loader but new house meant a fitted in auto machine. Still i keep down to the minimum bedding , towels, etc once a week. Underwear is changed daily and OH has uniform shirts which have to be clean and pressed but as i work part time on a Scottish estate then i use the same clothes and wash at the end of the week, so all in all its a weekly wash of 3 loads.
I do feel though that we are obsessed with things being hygenic and with all this cleaning and disinfecting we are losing our natural immune systems. Having exposure to small amounts of bacteria makes our bodies set up its defence by way of immunity... so relax it needs a ton of muck to cause you harm.

Churchmouse

I'd love handtowels to last a couple of days, and if anyone can teach my DH and DSs that when doing dirty jobs you wash the dirt off before drying your hands, maybe one day they will.:rotfl: :rotfl:

wishiwasarichgirl

can't believe how much washing everyone does! ok theres only one of me but I do 2 loads a week max (1 lights, 1 darks)
stuff that gets washed after 1 wear are socks, pants & work blouses. work trousers usually do for 2-3 wears.
in the evenings I stick on a pair of jeans & a t-shirt, jeans generally last all week (even if they get dirty, no-one else sees them so I don't care ) and I'll get through a couple of t-shirts.
towels & bedding (usually just the fitted sheet) once a week

my neighbours get through loads of washing, they hang out 2 long lines of it every other day - winter or summer, and theres only 2 of them, pensioners!

oh, another thing that only does for one wear is anything I've worn in a smokey pub, but hoping that won't be a problem soon

Tiger_greeneyes

Ken68 wrote: »

Yes Tiger, you're right, I withdraw the suggestion.
Shall experiment tho. Dampen the clothes first and experiment outside.
Surprised there is not more info, after all massive savings if it works.
We need a scientist!!!

I've found a link to story Ken
http://www.which.co.uk/reports_and_campaigns/food_and_drink/reports/diet_nutrition_and_safety/Mircowaves_kill_food_bugs_news_article_557_107382.jsp

Jacks_xxx

Hello my lovelies!

I'm new on here, and I would really love some advice on how to cut down on my washing for both environmental and economic reasons.

Some people seem to get theirs all done in a morning whereas I seem to wash all day - most days! (That's a bit of an exaggeration, but that's what it feels like!)

Currently I do 4 or so loads a day on most days of the week. I'm going to keep count for the next week but I reckon I do at least 20 loads a week. The weekends seem to be the worst with everybody's sports kits and changes of clothes for evenings out.

I only do full loads, on the lowest setting I can get away with, I hang it all out -or on the airer -and I only iron the last one of hubbys shirts that isn't easy care, but still laundry rules my life!

Here's what I'm doing:

Our bedding - Every ten days to two weeks or so, more often if it's hot, less often if it's been raining constantly (can't dry it) and less often if Hubby's away! (less smelly!) I have the bedroom windows open all the time and the duvet folded back to minimise smells.

12yo DD's bedding - Once a fortnight.

18yo DS's bedding - Once a fortnight or so. He's a smelly item, but he also spends a lot of nights away from home! ;-)

Towels - Hubby keeps the same towel for a week. DD and I share towels and use them twice each before they get washed. DS's towels stink after he's used them so they hit the laundry basket daily! He showers before work so he arrives fresh, after work when he changes into clean clothes to go out, and after he's been onstage or out in pubs and clubs before he gets into bed. (He really stinks after a gig or if he's been in a sweaty club.)

I do at least one dark load every day.
Everybodys socks are mostly black, and most of the pants are too. Plus there's usually a couple of pairs of trousers and tops to be washed too.
My bras, pants, my swimsuit and my gym kit is mostly black, and hubbys football kit is dark, so is DS's. DDs swimsuits, leotard and cheerleading practice stiff is all navy blue.
Our towels are indigo blue, and our bedding is either dark blue or chocolate brown. DSs bedding is dark too. My daughters school trousers seem to get something all over them most days, and my son's work clothes are mostly dark.
The dressing gowns are mostly dark too. As is the blanket we throw over our knees if it gets chilly in the evenings. (washed every other week unless the cat has gone to town on it!)
Hoodies, denim jackets and fleeces get washed on an as needed basis for all of us.

I do a white load almost every day.
Everybodys socks and pants that aren't black are mostly white, DDs school shirt and bra, Hubbys shirt, Maybe a bra of mine or a white T shirt from DS. He wears a lot of layered Ts - a long sleeve under a short sleeve - and the underneath ones whiff and the over the top ones have something spilled down them usually! Tea towels and dish cloths get chucked in with this lot too. My white towelling dressing gown gets done once a week in with a white load too.

I do a pink load several times a week.
DDs wardrobe is full of pink and lilac stuff. She changes out of her uniform when she comes home and puts some play clothes on, or her pink trackies because she's going to an activity. Or something "nice" because she's going into town or something. Her bedding is pink, her dressing gown is pink too. (washed once a week) Her Pjs - changed once a week - are pink as well.

I do a jeans wash 2/3 times a week.
I wear jeans most days and wear them for 2/3 days at a time. Hubby wears jeans all weekend and is quite happy to do two weekends in the same jeans... My son changes his jeans at least once a day. He has a messy job, a college course, a smartly dressed girlfriend, and he's in a sweaty rock band so more than one pair a day is quite normal for him

I do a random colour wash at least twice a week.
For everything that's not dark, white, pinkish or jeans! If there's hardly anything I'll handwash instead but there's usually quite a lot of random stuff.

Any suggestions for where I can cut down? I haven't even got any babies and toddlers making messes everywhere to justify all this washing!

Cheers,

Love Jacks xxx

Tiger_greeneyes

Hi Jacks, welcome to the forum

Personally, I think you need to get tough! There's really no need to wear two teeshirts at the same time. That's seven teeshirts saved for a start!

I also think that your son would cut back on his washing if he had to do it. It would be good practice for him for when he leaves home too. Independence is a fine thing for any teenager to learn and one of the best gifts you can give them imo. There's another few loads saved. Maybe you could suggest that whilst his work jeans could be washed on a regular basis, but his going out with his girlfriend jeans should really be worn a few times before they hit the laundry basket. If he hangs them up when he's not wearing them, they'll air and be nice and fresh next time he puts them on. They're not dirty, they've just been worn for a few hours! It's not a good thing to over-wash denim anyway. That should, so long as you and your husband stretch your jeans out or have two pairs each, ensure that you only do one jeans wash every week or two. We both wear jeans but neither of us do anything physically demanding when we wear them, they're our 'chilling out' clothes - once a week is fine. We usually wear combats or trackies a couple of times a week too, we don't live in jeans. Again, they don't go in the wash until they've had a few wears.

The only things I wash after one wear is undies, socks and teeshirts if it's been a really hot day and they actually need washing. If you wear a teeshirt one day, you can generally wear it again after work the next evening for a few hours and it'll still be perfectly wearable. Just because something has been worn once, it really doesn't mean it's dirty or it smells, and it doesn't mean it's unhygenic. You can buy sprays to freshen up clothes without having to wash them. If jeans smell of smoke but they've only been worn a couple of times, then hang them up and spray them to take the smell away and they're lovely and fresh smelling and any creases have dropped out of them.

My towels get put in the laundry basket after a weeks' use. I've got enough towels for two weeks use, and they all fit into one load at the end of it. I save up my tea-towels and dishcloths and put them in at the same time.

I'm sorry if I've waffled, I'm half asleep lol!