Re: the advice in #17 - Ewww! Sorry, but I’ve lived in the deep South for most of my life and would never wear a bra a second time without washing it. If it means mine require replacing more often, that’s okay. Maybe, just maybe, if I lived someplace very cold that didn’t have central heat, I might wear a bra twice if the first time was immediately after a shower and it wasn’t worn all day.
I’ve read the advice about not washing jeans and it just made my skin crawl. I sometimes wear jeans twice, especially in winter, but never more than that. I do a lot of laundry and almost no dry cleaning. Cold water wash with reduced spin speed and low heat drying works for most things (not underwear.) I refuse to hand wash anything. Due to dh’s allergies, sheets and towels are washed frequently on the whites cycle with extra heat, second rinse, etc.
i was brought up that you “aired” out your clothes (and your bedsheets - you turned the bed down but didn’t make it fully. I could easily go a week wearing jeans and/or a (non-sports) bra but I’m not in your hot climate.
I do a lot of handwashing without actually doing any work… That’s what Miele washers are for. Handwashed items save me energy because they need only hang drying and no ironing (cashmere and silk jersey).
Question to all of you who washes everything (and not just undies) after one wear: do you wash or dryclean every new item after bringing it home from the store (because you know others might have tried it on and touched it)? I certainly don’t! Only shirts, tees, undies, socks and such get washed before I wear them for the first time. I do steam most other items to get the wrinkles out.
I just simply don’t understand the need to wash something like a pair of jeans with each wear or after 2x of wear. If I don’t sweat in them, didn’t spill on them, wasn’t gardening in them or washing the floor with them, didn’t hold a dirty pet on my lap, etc. - just wore them out and about or maybe to a casual day at work - why would they be “dirty”???
I mean, some of you must be doing laundry constantly! The six loads a week or so I do (4 people) is enough for me!
I only buy underclothes and nightclothes from the store and always wash them before I wear them. My other clothes are special order just for me so I know where they’ve been. Once I had a bad experience looking through garments on a rack in a store. My hand came away sticky. There was a glob of something. Yuck. It was a pretty upscale store. Either Nordstrom or Lord and Taylors. I’ve kind of blocked the name. I wish I could forget the experience.
I don’t wash bras after each wearing. Or nightgowns. I wash them when they “feel” like they need it.
Pants (especially jeans) get so creased at the top of the legs when worn several hours. I would not wear them again without washing them to remove the creasing than for actual cleaning.
DH would wear his work clothes every day if I didn’t make him change pants after 3 wearings. Underwear and socks - - fresh every day. Dress shirts - wear once, but only because he gets ring around the collar.
Me, I wear 2 pair of pants all week long, unless I am gardening and get them dirty. If I am playing with the puppies I will wash more frequently. Bras usually a few days - some make me more hot and bothered so I can only wear them once. I am not trying to make this a MA-thread, but since I hit the change in my 50’s, I seem to sweat more frequently so I have to do more laundry.
Sheets and bath towels get washed twice every week.
Well I thought this was a bragging thread so I am going to post that my husband change pants once a week but he only goes to work 3 times a week. When he telecommutes he wears pajamas.
Okay I have no idea how often my husband washes his jeans. Presumably often enough. I wash mine when they need to be returned to their original size (thanks Lycra.) I would never wear a bra again without washing it. I have a number of fabulous tanks, tops and pants. I choose one from column A, one from column B and one from column C on any given day. More power to anyone who is keeping track of how many times I’ve worn whatever in a given week.
We wash clothes for 2 reasons: (i) visible dirt and/or (ii) odor (caused by bacteria feasting on sweat). If a bra (or pants, shirt etc. ) is not dirty and does not smell, why should you wash it?
My washing patterns really depend on the type of clothing and where it has been and what I was doing in it. If I wear a nicer outfit for a few hours to church or a concert, I feel OK about re-wearing it. I will keep it in a separate place for “half-clean” clothes, e.g. on a chest by my bed, and will try to re-wear it quickly. If it sits out too long before I have another occasion to wear it, or if the season has passed, then I wash it and put it away. I figure it has collected dust, and I have allergies.
Growing up, my mom was of the opinion pajamas did not need a lot of washing, since we would always shower after sports practice and before bed. However, when I first wake up in the morning now I tend to do a lot of housework before showering, including sometimes cooking, so pajamas often get washed daily–especially the tops. If it’s a weekend day, and the pajamas stay on really long, then whatever casual clothes I put on later will be considered clean enough to be worn the next day too. Otherwise, I wash casual stuff that I’ve done housework in after one wear. I definitely re-wear stuff more now than ever before. I am a little lazier with age, but in reality it’s different being a young mom with babies or young children, when kids touch you with peanut butter fingers and you are out and about at parks and play areas. There was no way I could ever re-wear anything in those days. I stay a lot cleaner now! But I admit to washing more than many of you, and I probably could scale back.
My mother was picky about having me go through all my school clothes once before repeating the same thing. I guess I tend to try to do that for regular activities with people I don’t know well. A friend with whom I did book club, wrote in a notebook what she wore each week so she wouldn’t repeat. A little obsessive, but better than me wracking my brain trying to remember which of the half-clean clothes on my chest I wore the previous week to the meeting. I did get burned last week, though. I ran into two of D’s former teachers at Target, which is near school. I stop there a lot for milk and other things, but had forgotten to purchase an item that time so went back the very next day. The same two teachers were there (Starbucks), and I had on the exact same clothes as the day before. Pretty distinctive clothes too. I never know if people notice or care. I think some people are attuned to clothes and others not so much. Regardless, I try to avoid repeating the same outfit with the same people, but don’t stress about it like my mom did and friend does. I am concerned about their perception of my cleanliness, not the extent of my wardrobe.
Another reason to wash clothes–to return them to their original size. This is necessary for any fabric with Lycra that will continue to stretch with each wearing until it’s washed and starts over again. Once I’ve worn a bra for 4+ hours (and I’ve never found a bra I can stand for more than 5 hours) it needs to visit the washing machine to resize.
" Once I’ve worn a bra for 4+ hours (and I’ve never found a bra I can stand for more than 5 hours) it needs to visit the washing machine to resize."
Uhm no. It needs to “rest”: a woman has to have at least 4 bras that she rotates so the elastic gets to “reset” itself. Washing your bras too often ruins them.
If you can’t tolerate your bra for more than 5 hours, you are wearing a wrong size and wrong style bra. Do not trust the department store “fitters”: they have no idea what they are talking about, and they are limited to the tiny selection the store carries. Try a specialized boutique and let them find a few styles that work for you. Then you can hunt your favorites on sale in other places. My bras last me good 5-7 years. After that, no matterr how well one washes them or cares for them, elastic naturally decomposes because of the exposure to oxygen in the air (as we do, too; it just takes for whole human bodies a bit longer to oxidize).
Another person who wears her bras more than once before washing. I guess I’m not that sweaty. I do usually wash my sports bras after a sweaty workout but maybe I should re-think that ;).
Just because no one said anything, it doesn’t mean people didn’t notice.
If I see someone wearing mismatched clothes or wear neon color tie, I am not going to say anything, but it doesn’t mean I didn’t notice it. It’s not something I would necessary point it out to other people either. I am sure people noticed that this woman was wearing the same outfit for 5 days. I probably would secretly hope she is washing them every few days.
I don’t believe that there is a comfortable bra out there that I could find if I just tried hard enough–shopped at the right kind of store, spent enough money, got professionally fitted. There is no comfortable bra and I have long since given up the quest.