Would you or do you wash........

siegemode

The amount of washing done is frightening.
As others have said, many of our parents and grandparents managed well and have lived long and health lives without the fear of germs and dirt instilled by modern marketing. The corporations who first cause or create a problem, market the solution and then profit once people have fallen for their clever marketing.
If only more would stop and consider how much time, energy and money is being spent/wasted.

Wether or not you are thinking of the planet why line the pockets of the corporations when it's not necessary.

No wonder people need to replace washing machines more often.
Ours is now 13 yrs old and the last one was over 15yrs old (hope I haven't just tempted fate:().

Bathory

The subject of washing clothes & showers/baths came up in conversation at the last place I worked. Afraid I was the odd one out and was made to feel like some 'dirty gerty at number 30' (basil brush quote). I bath every other night and stripwash in between days, I don't do body lotion (this house is way too cold to faff around with that) and only use bar soap. I can't use this anti-bac hand stuff either as it makes my skin itch. Each to their own though.

Mrs_Ryan

We only do a load of washing once a week but then we'll do several at once. I wear a lot of heavy hoodies and they only get washed when there's something on them or they start to stink. Jeans are worn three times, as are bras. Socks and undies are changed every day. I also have gym socks and undies which are put on before each workout and changed immediately afterwards with my gym gear. PJ's are also changed every three days. T-shirts usually just once and then washed. Towels are just done as needed- we both shower daily and I also shower at the gym for which I have a separate towel. Our tumble dryer is a necessity and we use it a lot- we have no central heating so apart from summer we do need it. It's a huge crisis when it breaks

Austin_Allegro

I change bedding every two weeks, otherwise it tends to get manky. However, every day I turn the pillows over and rotate the duvet round, and after the first week, I turn the duvet over. This evens out the soiling and wear.

Austin_Allegro

Here's a story. I worked in India for a while, and one day my boss looked at me and said 'How often do you change your shirt?' I was living without a washing machine so the only options were handwashing or paying the 'dhobi wallah' (washer woman) to wash clothes in the river, which was quite expensive. I rather shamefacedly replied 'er...every other day,' thinking I must look dirty. 'Wow!' replied my boss. 'So often! I only change once a week!'

bambos

After reading this I feel like I'm cleaning way too much :think:

I wash underwear and socks everyday/ bras once every three days

Tops everyday and jeans every three days leggings everyday

My washing machine is on every day and sometimes twice a day

I wash my hair every other day as it's hugely curly and needs it

I shower or bath once a day and wash my face with soap twice a day

I bath the kids every other day and wash their clothes everyday

The house itself is in my husbands opinion a tad ocd as I clean the kitchen throughly once a week and steam the sides. It gets wiped down with anti bac three times a day and I bleach the sink every night before bed

Bathroom gets a deep clean once a week and I clean the sink and loo every day. I steam the loo once a week and bleach it every night. My loo is the only one in the house for husband, me and the two children and is so clean you could eat dinner off of it!

I Hoover everyday sometimes twice a day and wash all floors every evening with anti bac cleaner

Cupboards are emptied and wiped out every three months and windows cleaned once a month.

Bedding is changed every Friday as are towels.

Carpets steamed every month and dog washed every six weeks.

All handles/phones/light switches/keys are sprayed with detail anti bac spray every week.

Excessive? Maybe but I couldn't do less.

IrishRose12

Well I too think some people are telling porkies when it comes to posting here how often they wash things. OP being one who has told the truth!

I'm 30 years of age and of the thinking what was good enough all those years ago before all these super dooper things were invented, is good enough for me!

Beds are changed every 3-4 weeks. Except if we've had sickness and they'll be changed sooner. Kids maybe changed more often if they've been sick or had the very rare accident.
Bras, I use 2 throughout the week one black and the other white, and this is only because I wear a red top for work and the dye rubs off and ruins the white bra. Black bra is taken off and white put on as soon as I get home from work. Black is washed on the Friday with the work uniform and white is washed on Sunday. So each get washed once a week.
Pants and socks are changed everyday, me and hubby sometimes get 2 wears out of socks depending on what we were doing the day before, kids are changed every day because........... well they're just kids:rotfl:
Clothes - t-shirts can get 2-3 wears out of them - again depends if they pass the smell/wrinkle test, and unless there's a mark on them.
Trousers - the same.
As I wear a uniform in work, school only provides us with 2 t-shirts and one pair of trousers - cause they're stingy:mad: So T-Shirts are worn 2-3 days each again, depending on sniff test and if they get dirty (I work in a school)
I have 2 pairs of work trousers and same goes for them.
Kids uniforms - DS gets a change of trousers and polo shirt on a Wednesday - Jumper lasts all week as he never keeps the bloomin thing on :rotfl:
DD is much more careful with her uniform, only go through one pinafore a week with her and one Jumper/Cardigan. Shirt is changed on a Wednesday. Both uniforms washed on Friday She likes to wear tights to school at this time of year so I can get 2-3 wear out of those before they're changed. Again, depending if there are no holes in them:p

I bath once a week, and shower once a week. Hair is washed twice a week. Soap and flannel wash every morning for the important parts.
Kids are bathed twice a week, and again, flannel and soap washed every morning and evening.
Hubby is a builder so he showers every day evening for obvious reasons:rotfl:
Towels are washed once a week.
Coats are washed about twice a year - unless they smell or are dirty.
Kids school coats are washed every mid/half term - so every 6 weeks, or if they are dirty. That's just to freshen them up for starting a new school term. Plus I know what happens to some kids coats in school so that's another reason:eek:
We use an ordinary bar of soap to wash our faces/hands. Kids are bathed with bar of soap also.
We have no antibac stuff here and no fancy sprays to clean this room and that room. A bottle of furniture polish, Cif, Bleach and Stardrops is what is in my cleaning cupboard.

I live in a terraced house, so have no room for a tumble dryer, no drying space except radiators in most rooms and a clothes horse. In the summer we would hang so washing over the fences when it's nice weather. But lets face it, I live in Ireland, there's not much of that about :rotfl:

We are a very traditional area, and often carry on things that our parents/grandparents done before us. We've come through a lot of terrible times over the past, my granny lived through 2 world wars, the Blitz and the troubles here in Belfast. My mum herself is a war baby and has came through that and the troubles etc.
Now my granny was 102 when she died a few years ago, my mum is now in her 70's and all her siblings are still with us, and well into their 80's and I live by a lot of their ways. It hasn't killed any of them so far, and I'll go by their method of teaching thanks very much. People can judge or turn their noses up all they like, but I'll stick to what I know best, and not fall for silly marketing ploys to waste my money etc.

I don't listen to "experts" saying oh this will give you cancer, or not washing this every so often can cause this that or the other. I'll eat and drink what I like, when I like. I'll wash what I like when I like, and no-one will tell me what is good for me. Only I know that. Life's too short to be living by what "experts" preach. The only thing they are experts in is how to get you to waste your money:mad:
I'll take my chances thanks, I could walk out this afternoon and get knocked down by a bus, but that's a chance you have to take!

theoretica

I have been thinking about the things which don't get washed - couches and upholstered chairs will get far more use than bedding between washes, and what about shoes? My shoes get cleaned on the outside and only aired on the inside and some pairs I have worn hundreds of times.

Personally I wash clothing when it doesn't look or smell clean. For some things this is daily, for others it is much less frequent.

KnittaPlease

I switch between bras so they get washed weekly (although only worn every other day).


Towels after every 3rd use, bedding every fortnight. My mother who stays with me refuses to reuse towels, but in fact I put them on the line and then in her bathroom again, and she hasn't noticed yet.


Undies and tops changed everyday (knickers for obvious reasons; tops because I am super clumsy and usually spill something down them).


Jeans: I will cheerfully smack in the crotch with a cricket bat before putting them on again, whereas other trousers are a wear once thing... I have no explanation for this.

sparrer

IrishRose I absolutely agree with you and the OP, we change things much too often and so many fall for the all the hype put out by manufacturers and their advertising agencies. The only bit about your lifestyle that concerned me is the following -

IrishRose12 wrote: »

Kids maybe changed more often if they've been sick or had the very rare accident.
kids are changed every day because........... well they're just kids
!

Is this a tradition in your part of Ireland, and do you change them for other kids, or something less sick or dirty?! :rotfl:

I get annoyed with people who use antibacterial/antiseptic products and the like. We're fighting to keep this world a safe place for our children and grandchildren, using these things is destroying our immune systems and the ecosystem. We're already fighting a losing battle against some illnesses because so many millions of antibiotics were prescribed before knowledge of the consequences, but we now know the dangers of using some household products yet the thoughtless still buy them daily. I fear for the future, my children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and so on, and yours. I admire the posters who refuse to use these things and care about our small and fragile world.

Off my soapbox to await the bullets