The following is a reprint of a previously published post. Enjoy!
My friend Jan came to the house yesterday to pick up her son, and was wearing the cutest red cable-knit sweater. I then went to her house today to pick up my son, and guess what? She was still wearing that very same cute red sweater.
“Ha!” I joked to her, “I caught you wearing the same sweater two days in a row.”
“Oh, I always do that.” She replied. “I just try not to do it if I’m seeing the same people.”
We then started to talk about how we often will wear clothing a time or two before putting them through the wash. I relayed how my 13-year-old went from having five pairs of jeans to two in a bizarrely short amount of time. (Is he perhaps crawling on broken glass while at school?) And how I’d been re-folding the jeans and freshly presenting them to him if they’d only been worn once.
We agreed that clothes last longer when laundered less, and that you also don’t need to own as much if the clothes can be repeated.
Which brings me to the question:
Are you a daily washer?
Do you wash your clothes after every wearing, or do you wait until they’re actually dirty? Does the idea of wearing an item more than once between washings give you the heebie-jeebies? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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{ 77 comments… read them below or add one }
Underwear and socks, on the rare occasions that I wear them – the socks that is, are the only things I wash after one wearing.
I put my shirts and pants on hangers and then hang them where they will air out before putting them back in the closet.
I look at it like changing the sheets, we don’t do that daily so why should we do it with our clothes?
I’m with Bellen. Treat them well, air them out, fold carefully, wash only when smelly or actually dirty. (Underwear and work socks are, by definition, dirty as soon as it comes off my body; athletics socks get dirty after an our of non-athletic wear.)
Same here Bellen!
I am the same !
We wear until dirty/stinky except change underwear and socks everyday. My first son (5) can go a few days wearing the same clothes. I will also go through his laundry bin and take out the still wearable items on laundry day because honestly, he will put something on, change his mind and throw it in the laundry :/. I’m sure once my boys are older though, they will be much more stinky and their clothing will require more frequent washing.
I don’t wash clothes everyday, however I do wash with frequency due to bladder and bowel issuea. If they are problematic i will wash daily.
No way – apart from knickers and socks, everything gets worn numerous times before they get washed. Shirts get worn at least twice – sometimes three times in the winter. Jeans I can honestly say get worn about six times before they get washed. Jumpers and things, at least 10 times, especially if they are worn over a t-shirt.
I can assure you I don’t smell – I wash ME every day! I use the rule of nose – if it doesn’t smell, it goes back in the wardrobe after an airing – sometimes in front of an open window overnight or all afternoon.
I don’t have a huge wardrobe and my things would fade and bobble within weeks if they were washed every wear.
Love the ‘Rule of Nose’ I use that one too. Agree with another commenter, I was ME daily, everything else, as needed. Sox and Jox daily, bras not so often. Biggest problem I have is the ‘front verandah’ which catches food spills, unless I do a Hercule Poirot and wear a large serviette around my neck!
Rieann from Western Australia
I do wash daily. I work as an early childhood teacher, my mr. Is an hvac tech crawling around in crawl spaces and my boy likes to play in dirt. But I only wash pajamas once a week
Oh heck no! We try to wear undershirts for nearly everything, so we’re sure to wash those, undergarments and sports gear after each wear. Sweatshirts, sweaters, and all jeans are only washed when visibly or smell detected dirty. I’ve found that especially some dark jeans can fade quickly in the knees if washed and dried too frequently. Blouses and button ups are hit or miss, depending on the day.
We live in a very humid environment, so we choose to wash towels and PJs after each use as well, but, that may not be every family’s need.
Right! Undershirts are the body smell absorber in our house. Most people here wear an “inner” layer for warmth in the winter and to cool us in the wet summers (Uniqlo is the Japanese brand that is now in some parts of the US). Airing out is key to returning clothes to the closet, as is how stretched out of shape the garment is.
Nope. I taught my husband about this – or wore him down as I would stand over the laundry pile holding up something he wore early in our marriage going, “did you only wear this once? That’s not how the laundress rolls in this house.”;) We now have 4 hooks on the wall in our bathroom for this express purpose and he is down with it.
That’s right. I am with you on this. Have trained my husband the same.
I have read all of the comments on this post, and had to come back and say this one is my favorite. “That’s not how the laundress rolls in this house.” Priceless! 🙂
Underwear and socks, yes…everything else, no (unless I was doing heavy work, mowing the lawn or messing with the fireplace) I always wear jeans 5,6 or 7 days before i wash and also use towels 2 or 3, maybe 4 days before i wash them. It took a while to get my hubby to do that….if your body is clean when you get out of the shower and you are just drying off your CLEAN body, how then is the towel dirty? My in-laws wash everything and iron everything. iron? what’s that?
Nancy, I can totally relate to your situation! I come from a family that reuses towels as well, but my hubby comes from a family where towels are washed after one use. My mother-in-law even has a nickname for dirty towels – she calls them ‘butt towels!’ I just don’t get it. How can you get that dirty when you are in a shower? My husband has started to come around but my in-laws are a lost cause!
I don’t understand that, either. Didn’t you get clean in the shower? I wash my bath towels every couple of weeks. Dish and kitchen towels, OTOH, get washed more frequently, and the dish rag – along with the sponge – is microwaved every day or two.
Microwave the dishrag? Does that work for sponges I wonder? How much time?
Yes- I pop the sponge in the top rack of the dishwasher, then it goes directly into the microwave after washing (I don’t use the drying feature on the dw). Zap for 2 minutes to disinfect the sponge and steam clean the microwave. Then I wipe out the damp microwave with a clean cloth. Two birds with one stone.
I will, though, put facecloths in the laundry daily since those get that ‘weird wet smell’….and, lets face it, that is the reason I am CLEAN when my shower is done.
I do put my sponge in the dishwasher every other day to help clean it.
Living in NW Florida it depends on the season. Jeans are worn multiple times but tshirts in summer are worn only once. Winter shirts are worn more than once or twice. Not only does it help extend the life of our clothes, but water is pretty expensive here. (Helps on monthly water bill)
Me, too, Kathi. Living in Florida, sweat dictates my need to wash. In the winter, I wash much less, since it’s much less likely that I’ll break into a sweat. But in the hot weather — pants that had the waistband sweated in until it was wet, shirts that stuck to our backs or armpits in the heat, cottons that show the wet sweat streaks around our waist, etc., they have to be washed after wearing. It sounds like I work in the fields all day, but I have an office job, I swear it. It can get mighty hot just walking about outside, though, and even inside, if we have the A/C thermostat turned way up to save electricity.
I grew up with wear it once then wash it, and it took a while for me to realize that there was no need to do that if the item wasn’t dirtied, sweated in, or stained. I use a steamer to get rid of any wrinkles and sags, and the clothes get worn again.
Same here although I live in Virginia. In the summer, anything that gets wet during one wearing , and that’s nearly everything, goes into the dirty clothes. And like there, you might need a bath just walking from the house to the car! Laundry is done once a week including bed linen.
Underwear, socks, nylons – 1 wear. Bras – 2-3 days to a wk, depending on how sweaty I get. Tops – 1-3 days, also depending. Jeans – a wk. Dress pants and dresses, skirts – 2-3 times. Exercise clothes – 1 wear. Towels and washcloths – a wk or until they smell musty.
Betty, you are my laundry twin, except I never wear nylons now that I’m retired, hooray!
Yep, you’re my twin too! No nylons here either though (rarely need them in Australia except in winter!)
Except for underwear and socks, I only wash visibly dirty or smelly items. Unfortunately, due to my work my clothes get really dirty! Now that my husband has retired his clothing helps balance things out.
When I was a teenager I realized that my mom was re-wearing her clothes and that was soooooo gross to me! Now I do it too!
I wear twice before washing, except of it’s hot outside (I’ve sweat in it) or visibly dirty. With my kids I try to apply this a well but because they play (outside, on the ground), more often then not the pants end up in the wash after one use, and the shirt it depends (my 3 YO still drops food on herself, so in the wash it goes. My 5YO is good with that, so she can wear the shirt twice). Panties and socks are one use only. Bras can go for a week.
I never wash my pajama more than once a week, just because I usually do one laundry day a week.
Most clothes I wear multiple times before washing. After I wear a shirt I put it on a hanger and hang it from my dresser drawer knob. I let it hang there for a day to air out and then I put it back in my closet. Sometimes I simply wear it again the very next day if I’m not seeing the same people. I’ll wear a shirt 4-5 times before I wash it, unless I know it smells or I sweated in it or it is visibly dirty. Jeans, I wear numerous times between washings. Maybe 10 times?
One thing to note is that I’m a stay at home mom. So while I’m home, I wear lounge-y type clothes and change into my regular clothing whenever I’m leaving the house or if I’m expecting company. So that’s another way that I keep my regular clothing looking nice for a longer time.
I work from home, so I do the same thing. I have clothes to wear while out and about and others at home.
Washing clothes wears them out that is true. When I clean out the lint trap in my dryer it reminds me each time. There is the electricity cost as well as wear and tear on the washing machine and dryer. Socks and undergarments are wear one time before wash item, but towels can be hung to dry as well as shirts and pants getting multiple wears before heading in the bin. I see the signs in hotels encouraged get guests to hang towels to get another use to save water and the environment. I have also noticed the old change tour oil every three months or 3000 miles has by the wayside as well. I use synthetic oil and my car has a 10,000 mile recommended oil change schedule. More environmentally friendly as well as saving me money.
Lint trap monitoring! Yes. Everytime I use it to fluff my towels after line drying I still get some lint and wonder what my towels would look like if I fully dryer-dried them like I used to!
Most stuff, especially pants, jeans, blouses, I wear multiple times and will only wash when it’s time. Workout clothes also get worn a couple of times before landing in the laundry basket.
Generally, I wash my clothes when they smell, or if they are visibly dirty. The few exceptions are (as others have stated) socks and underwear, which are worn once. Currently, my husband and I share one bath towel (because we only have one small towel rod in our bathroom) and it lasts about a week between washes-I just wash it when it starts to smell musty.
I don’t work outside the home right now and happily rewear clothes unless I’ve done something that got me really sweaty/wet/dirty, like washing the dogs or working in the yard.
Socks and panties get changed every day. Bras every two to three days, then washed on delicate and line-dried. Pajamas and towels once a week. Sweaters are worn numerous times. Everything else gets changed after two or three wearings. My laundry pile is tiny compared to my husband’s. He will only rewear sweaters, and he goes to the gym every day, so he has 14 changes of clothes a week to wash, while I have two and half.
Only during our very hot & humid summers when everything gets sweated on! Otherwise its only underwear that is washed daily.
For me, as long it’s not dirty or smelly, they get warn a second time – this really only goes for my clothes. My son’s clothes need to be washed every time he wears them to school. He just sweats!!! But, yes, when I dont have to I give pause and dont.
I did teach at a college and wouldn’t see the same folks on MWF as I saw on TH, so I just wore on Tuesday what I wore Monday and Thursday came from Wednesday. Even then, because some of those days I might only be there for 2 or 3 hours (and I change as soon as I get home) I would just hang the clothes back up and wear it again later.
I’m a very messy eater though– so especially with shirts, it’s sometimes one wear and into the wash!
I teach at a college on a similar schedule and do the exact same thing!
I used to wash more often but the effect of the dryer really made me to rethink (I cannot dry on a clothline living in NYC. I do some hand laundry but also try not to wash too often
Jeans – every 6-8 uses (unless dirty)
Sweaters – every 4-5 uses (unless dirty or stinky!)
underwear – after one use
socks – sometimes after 2 uses (shall I be ashamed?) My feet do not produce much stink and I always keep my insoles super clean 😉
I understand that your space in NYC is very limited, but could you perhaps put up a retractable clothesline somewhere? In our last apartment we installed one katty-corner across our bedroom up high, using a clothes pole too, just to keep it taut with a load of clothes on it. We found that our clothes lasted for a long time, and the damp clothes humidified the air in the wintertime , which was nice (in summer we used AC, so clothing dried faster that way). We also put up a light link chain on our very small balcony to hang clothes (on hangers) to dry during the warm months. We were a little set back, would not hang clothes right in neighbor’s line of sight, of course. You may also try a foldable drying rack- it’s amazing how much they hold.
Try wearing a long sleeve Uniqlo undershirt under sweaters to keep from overcleaning sweaters. I started doing this back when I would dryclean sweaters because I hated the thought of solvents next to my skin but even now that I wash my woolies, I find that, with a little airing out, I can rewear sweaters a ton of times before laundering (assuming no spills).
The only things I wear more than once are my sweatshirts and coats. I used to wear clothing more than once until I heard Dr. Oz talking about the importance of frequent laundering. I decided to save $ in other areas.
Forme it’s not so much about saving money than saving time. Time to wash, time to install on the clothesline, time to fold and put away.
Since I’ve been living with small children for about 8 years, my clothing is usually dirty after one day, and sometimes it’s still stained after being washed. 🙁
So I do check at night, but there’s not much point since usually there’s a spill (also, I tend to sweat). Occasionally I’ll wear pants 2x in a row. I usually get 2 or more wearings out of a bra before it has to go in.
Underwear gets only one wearing. So do most of my shirts that I wear for work. Pants can usually go for two wearings unless I get them dirty. Same for socks – I knit a lot of my own socks from wool, so they dry quickly and are non-stinky. Knocking-around-the-house clothes will get several wearings before they get washed, as do sweaters.
Workout clothes get washed after each use, though I have been know to rewear some when they are stinky if it’s a short run (I mean, it’s just me out on the road and they are just going to get stinky again).
In the summer, socks and pants can sometimes only go for one wearing, obviously.
It depends on what it is. I usually wash my work clothes after wearing them one time. I will usually wear a pair of jeans for 2-3 weekends unless I get them dirty. I wear the same pair of pajamas for almost an entire week most of the time.
When I worked, I changed immediately upon coming home – office clothes don’t get dirty enough to wash after every wearing! Underwear and socks, daily; other stuff as needed, more often in summer. Gym clothes, after every sweaty use!
Sweaters and jackets, never, unless I drop food on them. Dress clothes get taken off and hung back up when we get home. Jeans, after three days or so. It is less a cleanliness issue than a bagging out issue, once they go through the wash the weave tightens back up again. Bras get about 4 wears in. Everything else tends to get sweaty/dirty and is washed regularly.
I re wear until I think they are dirty. I have this great pair of jeans I splurged on. I love my back end but it stretches the jeans out. I can wash them to get them back in shape but I don’t want to wear them out. I try throwing them in the drier with a wet load to steam them and that helps some. How do you keep jeans from bagging?
Hmm… you gain weight? (Just being silly!)
Imagine the money and time we would all save if we all turned nudist!!
(Insert silly face!)
When I was working as an emergency room nurse, there was no way to get out of laundering scrubs after one wear. Not only because of visible soiling but all the germs I could potentially bring home to my small kids. I would usually change at the hospital for that. However, a downside is that these uniforms do unfortunately get thin and tear easily over time. Now I am able to be home more so I don’t wash my own clothes as often especially in the winter. I am actually on day 2 of the shirt I am wearing now. Another issue in my home is my children have bad allergies so I have to wash their clothes often. They are allergic to things outside that they drag in the house with them like pollen, grasses, ragweed, etc. I don’t wash pajamas but 1 time per week. I also don’t take a bath but every other day in the winter time unless I have worked out or am working. My skin is super dry and this strips the moisture your skin makes on its own. I’m sure this is going to be variable for most people with their different circumstances.
I pretty much rewear pants and jeans, but not so much tees. I am messy when cooking, and even when wearing an apron (always) my tees get something on them! I change towels twice a week if I remember to—-if they smell musty to me, they go. DH waits for me to change them. I only wear bras once in summer, as I tend to everything at break neck speed and sweat! I buy twice as many and they last about twice as long. I only buy them on sale/w/coupons anyhow.
Socks and underwear are changed daily. When my girls were teens, I also did the return unwashed thing. Sometimes I fluffed in the dryer for a couple minutes before rehanging on hangers! They would put everything—or nothing–in the wash. If it was nothing, I didn’t do extra. They had to wait until the washing came around again.
Everything else, like sweaters, good blouses, etc. depends on how long I wore them, what I was doing, and whether I slobbered or not. If I wore it for an hour to see the dentist, it’s not going into the laundry yet.
It is also possible to re-dye jeans. I have done this to make them look darker.
Underwear and socks: one wear. Everything else: when dirty. Dry-clean only wool suits can go many, many, many wears.
Growing up, each of the kids’ closets had double rows of pegs (maybe 12 or so pegs total), where we hung up clothes that had been worn already, so they wouldn’t mix with freshly laundered clothes. I suppose they aired out that way. When we moved to a new town, our new town also had these pegs on the inside of the kids’ closet doors — guessing they did the same thing.
Going to Catholic schools growing up, 100% of people wore their uniform clothes over and over. Most people only had 1 jumper or skirt, and I don’t know anyone who had more than 2. They were expensive! (Although cheap compared to buying a whole wardrobe). Fortunately, they were also nearly indestructible (and spot-clean very well) and jumpers last for years, just getting shorter as we grew. We came home from school and immediately hung them up and put on “play clothes” so we weren’t rolling in the mud in our uniforms.
Boys uniform pants are nearly the same, although I think every boy had at least 2 pairs. Not quite as indestructible and more likely to get dirty. As girls, we skinned our knees when running/falling at recess, whereas boys got their pants dirty.
It’s all stuck with me — wash clothes only when dirty and they’ll last a very long time.
Underwear, socks and hubbys’ shirts are washed after only one wearing. All other clothes get another or another wearing- all depending on activities while wearing and if any spills on them.
Undies, socks- washed after 1 wear
Assuming, no major physical activity on my part, see below
Shirts- after 2 wears
Top layer shirt or sweater, jeans -up to 3 wears, especially if at home 3 days in the row in the winter
Towels -after 3 uses (afterall, I’m clean when I use them)
Sheets – after 4 or 5 days
Along with the majority here I too only wash when necessary. So much so that when the seasons change I often find a dirty hanky or some other long forgotten item is the pocket of a garment I haven’t worn in six months. Right now I’m washing ALL my warm weather clothes so I won’t find any surprises in the spring.
Just yesterday I found a pair of pruning shears I thought I’d lost but they were in the pocket of my winter jacket.
So encouraging to hear of others who perform a sniff test to decide if clothes need washed before wearing them! Clearly I’m not a daily washer. 😉
Usually pants are worn 5 or 6 times before I was them. Underwear and socks are changed daily and if I sweat a lot the shirts will go in the wash as well, my better half doesn’t really sweat so he wears his sweaters a couple of times before they hit the laundry basket!
I heard about this last year – CEO of Levi’s revealed that he NEVER washes his jeans: http://levistrauss.com/unzipped-blog/2014/05/stop-washing-your-jeans-lsco-ceo-chip-bergh-talks-sustainability-at-fortunes-brainstorm-green-conference/
Wash clothes after one wearing? You have got to be kidding me. Yes, I do wash underwear and socks after one day’s wearing, but everything else gets to have multiple wearings before washing. Sometimes several days in a row, sometimes spaced out. I think that some Americans are overly obsessed with cleanliness – and that it is often just the IDEA of being clean. We hear someone else washes everything after one wearing, and suddenly we feel we must keep up or be considered “gross.” Same principle applies to vacuuming, dusting, how long to keep food in the fridge or freezer, etc.
All about the sniff test 🙂 Sometimes it’s frustrating, though. I’m away from home right now and had planned on some rewearing what I had packed. Unfortunately, even though I’m not doing anything remotely physical, there is just enough stress to turn my sweat stinky, and that kind doesn’t just air out 😛
There’s a basket in the bedroom for clothing that has only been worn once and can definitely be worn again. It’s conveniently placed right in front of the closet so I have to look at it first before opening the closet. Most of my work clothes get worn once because of the nature of my work but weekend wear can last the whole weekend if need be.
This reminds me of a roommate I had in college for a short while. She would wear her socks once and then turn them inside out to wear them again before she washed them. I always thought she was so odd. Now, I jus wear my socks twice before I wash them, cause I usually wear an outfit at least one more time before I wash anything. Except undies, of course.
I wash my clothes once a week, but we don’t have children at home anymore and Hubby washes his own clothes. He’s a once a week washer too.
Pants – I will wear them 2 or 3 times before a wash, especially my jeans.
Tops – I will sometimes wear at least twice before a wash, as long as they don’t smell like perspiration or have a stain on them.
Washable jackets and sweaters – I wear them many times before I wash them, unless they have a stain or smell like perspiration.
Underwear – one time; Socks – I will wear 3-4 times as long as they don’t smell bad or look dirty. Since I wear khaki and black slacks, I wear the same color of socks as my pants and they don’t show dirt easily.
I think what you use to launder clothes can make a difference in how long they last too. Some detergents have pretty harsh chemicals in them.
I wash darks in cold water; whites & lights in warm water and I only use about a tablespoon of Purex powder. I use vinegar as a fabric softener and it helps keep the washer clean.
Most of my clothes last me several years. I actually have t-shirts that are over 15 years old and just started showing wear in the past year.
I definitely wear my clothes out!!
Not long ago when I was at my mothers she said “Umm…I need to tell you something” She seemed nervous..She then said “when you were a teenager I used to take your clothes out of your hamper and hang them back up in your closet” I cracked up because I now do that to my kids (they don’t know either!)
I have thoroughly enjoyed reading these comments! I would love not to have to wash everyday, but smelly, chicken work is, well, SMELLY! But, for those items that don’t go near the hens I don’t wash daily. The Rule of Nose absolutely RULES!
I wash my underwear after one wash, and usually socks (but not if I only wear the socks briefly). Everything else, unless I get particularly dirty or sweaty, I only wash when they look/feel/smell like they need to be washed. Why waste water, clothes, and energy when you really don’t have to?
*After one WEAR
I wash my clothes when they are dirty (except underwear & socks, those go in the wash after every use!) That doesn’t necessarily mean stained, but when they start looking “tired” I wash them. If they smell (of food if I have been cooking for example) then I leave them on the balcony overnight. If they still smell then I was them. I have clothes that are 20 years old and still look good! Think about the environment, not just about how much money you save! E.g. amount of water you are saving, how you contaminate less by using less detergent, etc.
“I caught you wearing the same sweater two days in a row.”
Why this remarke? Is it wrong to wear the same clothes more than 1 day?
T-shirts and undies always get a daily wash. Cardigans and sweaters and trousers/skirts only have a wash when the idea of wearing them in public becomes embarrassing! I’m a bit gross and only wash bras maybe once every 3 weeks…..wool sweaters never get washed at all! I wonder if that’s a British/European thing though? To launder less. It’s not the norm to have a drier, our living spaces are smaller than the US and the weather means we can’t dry clothes on the line all year round. Laundry is just a faff!
Some people even wash their jeans daily and that is what my husband used to do before we met :). No wonder so many people are complaining about how much laundry they have to do (not to mention the waste)
Even my 5 year old know to only put dirty clothes in the hamper and not everything he wears gets dirty. Pants/shorts can go for 3-4 days at least, shirts 2x if he spills nothing on them.
I always wear an outfit several times before I wash it. My favorite clothes last for years like that.
The only thing I don’t like is putting something I already wore back in my closet. I hang it at the back of the door in my bedroom and it just hangs there to be worn again. (if I had a walk-in I probably wouldn’t do this, but my closet is small…)
If it smells it gets washed. It’s as simple as that.
Sheets every 3 weeks or so (I know, I know), towels once a week or longer.
The only one wear items are underpants and workout socks.
I will wear something until it smells bad…even if my jeans have a smudge on them or something. I just wet a cloth and scrub it out and carry on. The only thing, other than odor or filth, that propels a garment straight to the wash is dog hair. My kids are, well, kids…they sit on the floor and cuddle with the dog every day, so a lot of their stuff needs washing more often. Stinky and fuzzy. Yuck. Additionally, the one that is still in a Montessori school has an hour long recess every day. He comes home completely filthy and grinning. He also has a larger wardrobe than his brothers (all thrifted, because obviously) to keep up with the wear and tear of his playing on knees and elbows and hems. I mend a lot of it but the “beyond all hope” stage happens faster with his stuff.
Our dog-hair-on-everything problem has decreased with weekly use of a Furminator outdoors. It is an expensive grroming tool but the amount of hair that doesn’t get in the carpet, on the furniture, and on clothing makes it worth it. I actually think that, with 2 big dogs, I saved the cost of the Furminator in vacuum cleaner bags in 6 months!