Do you wash all clothing after wearing once?

[Laura Corin]

In the 'uniform' thread there seemed to be a split between US and European attitudes to washing clothes.  The US attitude (as reported) was that all clothing must be washed when worn once.  The European one seemed to be that clothes that were not obviously dirty would only be washed after several wearings.  For the sake of discussion, let's assume that we all probably wash intimate/sweaty/visibly dirty items after one wearing.  And that even the wash-everything people don't wash coats and shoes every day.

 

Poll attached.  I'd be interested in hearing (from both sides of the Atlantic) whether washing systems are habitual or based on consideration of whether worn clothes are/are not inevitably dirty.

 

L

[Okra]

I live in the US, and we never wash jeans or pajammas unless worn more than once.  Generally, we wash shirts after wearing once.

 

 

[marbel]

When I was younger I was in the wash everything, every time camp.  Over time and after having children I've changed my habits and will wear things again if they aren't dirty, or smelly, or not too bagged out -->  like jeans or sweats that get bagged out at the knees after a day of wear and need a wash to tighten them back up.  I also specifically look for clothes with a little spandex in them to help with that.

 

ETA: I'm in the US.

[bettyandbob]

I'm in the US. I wash thing less often, unless dirty. 

 

My dd16 drives me crazy. She insists on washing clothing that she wore for 5 minutes or less. 

[Jerico]

I'm from the u.s. I wear the same shirt and pants all week and wash on the weekends. I rehang my church clothes to rewear. I've been known to wear visibly dirty clothes lol.

[hillfarm]

I am in the US and wash some things after one wear but not all. For example, this past winter I often wore a turtleneck top under what we call a sweater (see sweater/jumper thread elsewhere for discussion of which article of clothing this is :tongue_smilie: ) While I would wash the t-neck after one wearing since it had been next to the skin, I would wear the outer layer several times, until it became soiled, prior to washing.

 

We live on a small farm, so much of our clothing does become soiled or sweaty after only one wearing, so I do quite a bit of laundry. I wash our bed linens once a week, but do the blankets and comforters less often. I wash towels a couple of times per week, so multiple uses there.

[jenn-]

I wear jeans until they look dirty or I feel like I have rotated them enough that I have a full load of jeans (the only thing I separate out because I've had some new ones bleed).  PJ bottoms (only worn in the morning and not slept in) are pretty much the same way.  Shirts are one day things unless it is a sweatshirt that I did nothing in and plan on doing nothing in again on those few rare days I get to have back to back days off.  Bras are a couple of day uses.  Sock and undies are definitely 1 day items.

[Wheres Toto]

I"m in the US and I'll wash shirts worn next to the skin (so not sweatshirts worn over something else) and intimates after one wearing but jeans, skirts, sweaters, sweatshirts and pj's are worn multiple times before washing.   Except when I do that type of laundry for the week, even things that have only been worn once are washed, partially because of my storage methods.

 

My kids clothes tend to get washed after one wearing no matter how many times I tell them they can re-wear pj's.  Ds's clothes are usually covered with peanut butter after lunch so they really do need to be washed, but dd often has items that could be worn again.  But they wind up on the floor after she takes them off (usually the bathroom floor so...ick).

 

For anyone that does wear multiple times without washing - do you have a way of distinguishing between what's been worn and what hasn't?  I don't like to put clothes that have been worn back in the drawer with clean clothes.  Sweaters and skirts I will hang up again because they aren't lying on clean clothes, but jeans and sweatshirts I've been hanging on hooks.   But that is pretty limited too. 

 

I am talking about clothes I wear to work because our dress code is casual and I usually wear jeans, a t-shirt and a sweater. 

[Laura Corin]

 

 

For anyone that does wear multiple times without washing - do you have a way of distinguishing between what's been worn and what hasn't?  I don't like to put clothes that have been worn back in the drawer with clean clothes.  Sweaters and skirts I will hang up again because they aren't lying on clean clothes, but jeans and sweatshirts I've been hanging on hooks.   But that is pretty limited too. 

 

 

 

I have hooks on the back of my bedroom door for clothes to be reworn.

 

L

[Serenade]

We wear clothes multiple times -- non-intimates only go in the wash when they are dirty and/or smelly. My mom is German, and this is the way I grew up, too.

[Jane in NC]

Here in the South where we swelter in the summer, shirts go into the wash after a single wear.  But that is the summer.  During the rest of the year, I determine whether I can wear it again. I definitely wear pants, shorts, skirts more than once before washing!

 

My parsimonious parents encouraged only washing laundry if it was dirty.  I follow in their footsteps but my sister washes everything after a single wearing.  I can't imagine doing this not only because of the unnecessary work but because laundering clothing will wear out the fibers faster.

 

Maybe I'm just a tightwad environmentalist.

[Serenade]

In the 'uniform' thread there seemed to be a split between US and European attitudes to washing clothes.  The US attitude (as reported) was that all clothing must be washed when worn once.  The European one seemed to be that clothes that were not obviously dirty would only be washed after several wearings.

Adding here, I think some of the things that contribute to the typical US attitude are:

*larger washers and dryers
*Cheaper fuel costs
*And just more squeamishness in general. However, I don't think that squeamishness would have been developed without the above two points.

I have friends who wash everything every time it's worn or used, even towels, regardless of whether or not things are dirty or smelly. Sometimes I wonder if people realize how much it costs -- even with our relatively cheap fuel costs, washing and drying adds up quickly.

[Serenade]

I can't imagine doing this not only because of the unnecessary work but because laundering clothing will wear out the fibers faster.

Good point.

[Hikin' Mama]

I'm from the US and the only things I wash after just one wear are undies, socks and workout clothes. I don't wash towels after one use either.

[Starr]

These laundry threads bring us all together. We all have some to do. :D I've never thought of it as such a big deal. I'm prone to leave it and then get it all done in one day. We generally wash unders and shirts from the smelly every day. Other clothing can be worn more often. I never thought of my childrens clothing as difficult to wash. Dd has always changed during the course of the day, starting with costumes as a child. This doesn't mean everything goes in the wash every day. 

[Julie Smith]

I think of the cartoon I once read in Zits. (it's a cartoon about a teenager) He keeps his clothes on the floor and in the morning sniffs his clothes to see if they past the sniff test. 

[JFSinIL]

I am from the USA, and have anosmia (lack of a sense of smell) so I can't tell if a garment is stinky or not. I wash everything except jeans after a single wearing. i just can't tell.

 

Edited to add - while hubby and I hang dry and reuse our bath towels, the kids (now teens and older) toss their towels into the laundry after one use - we are a family of six (well, five now with CollegeMan gone) and one bathroom with room to hang only two towels (we have another powder room downstairs, but the main tub/shower is shared by all).

[SKL]

My kids' clothes generally get washed after one wearing because they wear them all day, indoors and outdoors, or on gym days, they stuff their school clothes in their school bags around 4pm where they stay for the rest of the day.  And they usually don't change into pajamas at night either.  While there are surely times that I wash clothes that don't need it, it is easier to just throw them in the hamper than to inspect each item at the end of the day.

 

I don't wash pajamas, church outfits, my jeans/pants, or suits after each use.  I do wash my everyday shirts after each use, because I wear them pretty much 24 hours.

[Paige]

Dh does his own laundry so I have no idea about his wash habits. I think he wears some things more than once- especially if it's not something he wore all day.

I wash my girls' clothing after one wear if I know they wore it (my observational skills are a joke!). I am more likely to wash their stuff after one wear that I wouldn't have done with my own because I have no idea what they've been getting into and don't want to sniff. I suspect I wash clothes that have not even been worn because it ended up on the floor and in the dirty clothes basket somehow. Nobody knows how that happens. ;) Once it's hit the dirty clothes, it gets washed because I think it's gross to dig it out after it's been sitting with the rest. DS has started doing his own laundry and I suspect he wants to wash things after one wear but ends up digging in the laundry when he's run out of clothes. Natural consequences...I'd prefer that he hang his stuff back up if he's going to wear it again but I don't think he plans it like that.

I wash my clothes depending on the wear. Shirts will get washed after one use more than pants. Overshirts and church clothes are almost never washed after one wear. I find that when I cook my clothes take on the smell of whatever I made and unless it was cookies, I don't want to smell it later on! I have wondered if an apron would help but I don't see myself as an apron kind of lady.

I grew up in a home that washed everything after one use. I started my adult life in the same pattern but with the more kids I had, and the more laundry I had, I changed my mind.

[MomtoCandJ]

Dh and I will wear jeans, pjs, and sweatshirts for a couple of days unless visably dirty or they smell. We wash dds clothes after one wear :) oh towels get washed with clothes so whatever towels are hanging up or on the floor get washed whenever I do laundry. Sheets and blankets are when ever I decide to do them.

[Miss Mousie]

I'm in the US. I wash thing less often, unless dirty. 

 

My dd16 drives me crazy. She insists on washing clothing that she wore for 5 minutes or less.

 

:001_huh:   I hope she's also buying her own detergent and chipping in for the utilities!  Or at least some kind of work-it-off, like doing the rest of the family's ironing.  (I've heard tell that some people still iron stuff.  Not me!) 

 

I'm in the U.S.

 

Pajamas and sweat pants get washed weekly.  Jeans I usually wear only on weekends and only for morning errands, after which I change into sweat pants, so I'll wear the same pair both days and then wash.

 

Pretty much everything else, including all work and school clothes, gets washed after one wearing, although I have been known to recycle a bra or a pair of socks if there's only a short period of time involved.

 

Sheets and towels get washed when I think of it.  :p  Often it is stinkiness that makes me think of it, so I figure it's the natural regulator.

 

Usually these cleanliness threads make me feel like a disgusting slacker, but this one seems to have a reasonable blend.  :D

[Lawana]

Dh, dd and I wear things more than once. We all hang towels.

Ds is in the multiple outfits a day category. He takes gym clothes to school for PE and different clothes for track after school(?!) he also may change during the day if he is home and the temperature changes. Everything gets thrown in the laundry.

Growing up with a family of seven, we always, always washed everything after one use, including towels. (Sheets were weekly). My mother washed six or seven loads of laundry on each of three days every week. When I had to do the laundry as a teen when my mother was ill for an extended time, I tried to get sibs to re-wear clothes and hang towels, especially church clothes that were only worn for a few hours. No luck. It killed me how wasteful the whole system was.

ETA In the US

[Lady Marmalade]

I live in the US, and we never wash jeans or pajammas unless worn more than once.  Generally, we wash shirts after wearing once.

 

Pretty much what she said.

[Pam in CT]

I'm in the US. I wash thing less often, unless dirty. 

 

My dd16 drives me crazy. She insists on washing clothing that she wore for 5 minutes or less. 

 

When my eldest was that age, she would try on six outfits, leave 5 of them on the floor, then when she finally got around to picking up, pile everything on the floor into the laundry...   :cursing:

 

I found that making her responsible for doing her own, helped a good deal with this..

 

 

 

The rest of us: Underwear/socks/exercise clothes/T shirts or whatever touches the skin, just once.  Overshirts (a second layer that doesn't touch the skin) maybe twice, as with pants if they're not baggy or wrinkled.  Jeans, PJs, towels perhaps 3-4 times (unless visibly dirty).  Sheets and duvet covers once a week.

 

Coats?  People wash coats?  

 

(We're in the US)

[Mom-ninja.]

I wear clothes several times before washing. In full disclosure I am half American and half German so I grew up with a German mom who also did not wash clothes after one wear.

 

My husband puts his work clothes into the hamper after one wear. He works in an office sitting at a computer so why he thinks they are dirty is beyond me. I usually just pull them out and hang them up. He's getting better though.

 

That said, I have to literally force my boys to change their clothes so I can wash them. I have to tell them to put on clean underwear cause they'll happily get out of the shower and put their dirty underwear on again.

[Hunter's Moon]

Very rarely will I wash after one wear, unless visibly dirty, smelly, or sweaty.

Shirts are washed more often than jeans, just due to the material become dirty more quickly. Intimates are washed after one wear.

[creekland]

When I'm doing laundry I wash clothes.  They may have been worn once or they may have been worn all week.  Even dirty "barn" jeans get worn (in the barn) more than once... who cares if MORE dirt gets added...

 

If we're headed out, we'll (usually) make sure we've changed out of visibly dirty or smelly things.

 

 

[Laura Corin]

Coats?  People wash coats?  

 

Living in the countryside , I wash coats when they get muddy: Lands' End parkas and down stadium coats wash well.

 

L

[zoobie]

Some things get worn a few times. My children (and I) are slobs though and wear our food despite very large, cloth napkins (that are really hand towel size!). In summer, it's hot and humid here. Some days you walk outside and just feel damp. Ugh. When you get out of the car and there's a little puddle of sweat in the seat, those pants aren't going to be re-worn.

[SKL]

I wash coats.  Usually once a year for mine, more often for my kids (because they play in the mud).

[Spryte]

 

 

Maybe I'm just a tightwad environmentalist.

 

:lol: Yes, I tell myself we are very green here!

 

We wear jeans, shirts, and jammies until they are dirty.  In the summer, that might be pretty quick, but in the winter it can take a while.  We have pegs on doors, too.  :)

 

Dry clean items are similar, though we do DH's dress shirts after each wash.

[Baseball mom]

From US and I wash as needed.  Most of the time pants get worn several times, shirts if worn for a short time and smell clean get worn a second time. 

 

Dss will not put their jeans in the wash even if they are dirty if they know they are going to be doing dirty jobs the next day (unless they are wet)

 

 

[Baseball mom]

Towels get used several times before washing.  Everyone has a special color coat hanger that your towel hangs on between uses.

[unsinkable]

Coats? People wash coats?

(We're in the US)

Yes. Coats get grimy. My kids usually had 1 winter coat so those got a lot of wear. I'd just throw 'em in the washer.

[AndyJoy]

I think of the cartoon I once read in Zits. (it's a cartoon about a teenager) He keeps his clothes on the floor and in the morning sniffs his clothes to see if they past the sniff test.

Some college girlfriends and I were discussing the color of some outfits, what looked good on us, etc. A male classmate chimed in that he had to decide between blue and red shirts that morning. He demonstrated his methodology by pretending to hold up two shirts and sniffing them alternately, "Hmmm, red?" *sniff*, "Blue?" *sniff* "Definitely red!". We cracked up.

[prairiewindmomma]

In pre-kids life, I re-wore clothing. Now, it's a mute point. I am covered in toddler slime by the end of the day, every day.

Towels are used for a week, then washed. Face cloths are replaced daily per allergy protocol. All bedding has to be washed weekly on hot per allergy protocol.

I would love a house set up with a proper ceiling airer. Dh does air his suits and on the rare occasion that I get out on a business mtg, I air my lined skirts and jackets.

[lea_lpz]

We now have 4 children, one with bladder incompetenence who must change several times a day, so with that much laundry we only wash what actually needs to be washed.

[Unicorn.]

I think of the cartoon I once read in Zits. (it's a cartoon about a teenager) He keeps his clothes on the floor and in the morning sniffs his clothes to see if they past the sniff test. 

 

Hate to tell you, but it's in the cartoon because that's exactly what teenage boys do!
 

[LisaKinVA]

I'm from the USA...boxers, undershirts, socks and panties are washed after one wearing (hopefully), as well as sweaty/stinky sports/play clothes.  Bras, PJs may be worn several times.  Towels about a week, hand towels (2-3x a week), Dish towels/clothes, wash clothes (daily).  Regular clothes may be worn multiple times, assuming they aren't stinky or stained.  Church clothes are only worn to church -- we change out of our nice clothes before we eat.

 

With uniforms, I'd treat those pretty much like dress clothes...meaning change after we're done with light activity, change for play, and definitely change before dinner. If they are wearing clothes for dinner...it will most likely be in the wash.  FWIW, I only use the uniforms when we are going to town for field trips or the SS, or on travel.  At home, my kids are in play clothes most of the time. 

 

ETA:  If we're doing lots of DIY projects, I have project clothes for that... I'll wear the same project pants for a week, and the shirt for more than one day (as long as I'm not going out).

 

[PuddleJumper1]

Jeans, pants and shorts are worn several times before washing. Also usually sweaters, sweatshirts or other outside shirt worn over a shirt unless there was heavy sweating or a dirty job. Underwear, socks, bras, T-shirts and towels are washed after every wearing. For some of us PJs are one time wear.  

 

Bath towels are one time use. Hand towels are used several times.Sheets are weekly if we remember but often longer than that.

[Erin]

US, and more importantly, laundromat user.   Nothing gets washed after a single wear except undies or clothing that got noticeably grungy.

 

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

Socks, underwear, undershirts, and similar get washed after one wearing.  The second layer, pants, dresses, sweaters all get worn more than once.

[Alessandra]

Do I ever feel old! I grew up before synthetics -- maybe they had been invented, but they were not in our house. (We were in U.S., but mother was from UK.) I wore wool skirts and jumpers/sweaters, my brother wore a wool school uniform suit. None of those even go in a machine. Clothes that had been worn were brushed. Some things were dry cleaned and pressed, others just pressed. Shirts and cotton blouses were washed after each wearing. We were expected to keep clean and generally did.

I've kept pretty much the same system, although we all wear synthetics. I wear things several days, except t shirts. Kids tend to throw what I call clean stuff into the laundry bin, but I am trying to retrain them. Obviously dirty and sweaty clothes get washed after one wearing.

[MistiDelaney]

I'm in the US, but have a pretty international background.  (Teenage years were spent in Central America, first in-laws were Scandinavian, and current in-laws are Australian.) 

 

My mother washes everything after once wear and washes sheets once each week.  I spent my very early years so poor that many times there was no money for the laundromat or detergent, so "laundry" meant filling the tub with warm water, adding dish detergent, and then dirt clothes and then stomping on them until my feet were "pruny", then changing the water and "rinsing" the same way.  It wasn't all that effective, but it was what we could do.  That experience has probably had a greater influence on my current habits than I had realized until now.

 

I recycle my office clothes (except for socks and nunders) indefinitely until they stink and my casual clothes are worn for the entire weekend before I wash them.  Bras are good for a week in winter and until they smell in the warmer seasons.  My husband wears his out clothes for two days, but also has a once-use rule for socks and nunders.  Jack is about to turn 11 and he still has to be reminded to change his clothes, otherwise he will wear the same outfit for...well, I don't know how long-- until I get grossed out and make him change. We hang dry towels and wash them only when they get smelly.  Sheets get changed when I think of it (again with the smelly!) and blankets once per year in the spring.  Coats are dry-cleaned once per year in the spring, too.)

 

I literally rotate my office clothes - they hang in their own closet, and I select from the left and hang up on the right.  If it smells bad when I take it out of the closet to wear it, into the hamper it goes and I choose the next suitable item. The other things I hang on a chair to wear again.

[MrsMommy]

I have a hard enough time keeping up with the laundry of seven people when we wear some items multiple times...if I washed every single thing each time it was worn, I'd never leave the laundry room! I'm in the US, btw. If shirts and pants don't look dirty, and haven't been worn during a really sweaty activity, they're worn at least twice before they hit the washer. And pajamas...I don't really even keep track since we shower at night here. If you're putting them on when you're clean, and then going to sleep, I don't see that they can possibly get very dirty! 

[fraidycat]

I have to tell my kids to change clothes or they'd wear them indefinitely. Even after showers, they'll try to put their dirty stuff back on! DD especially. With DS, it depends on the day. Some days he'll go through 3 shirts.

DH and I wear shirts two or three times, pants for about a week before washing in cooler weather. In hot weather, shirts are usually one-time and bottoms are two-three.

[Pawz4me]

We all wear jeans at least two days before washing.  Sometimes DH and I will go three days on a pair.  Jammies get washed once a week, on sheet changing day.  Towels are washed twice a week.

 

Shirts, shorts and capri pants vary, depending on how hot and humid it is.  During the winter, spring and fall we might get two wearings, but from June through August it's so hot and humid here most everything needs washing after one wearing.

 

ETA -- We're in the U.S.

[PrairieSong]

We wear pj's and jeans/pants/shorts more than once before washing, and sometimes shirts if we have not gotten food, sweat, or dirt on them. I change my church clothes after coming home, so I get several wearings out of those before washing. I only have them on for a couple of hours and I'm not eating or getting sweaty or dirty.

[trulycrabby]

Exercise clothes, esocks, underwear get washed after one wear. Jeans get worn several times. Everything else gets evaluated to see if it needs washing or can be worn again.

[Laura Corin]

Adding here, I think some of the things that contribute to the typical US attitude are:

*larger washers and dryers
*Cheaper fuel costs
*And just more squeamishness in general. However, I don't think that squeamishness would have been developed without the above two points.

 

UK ownership of tumble driers is not universal, and many people avoid using them because of the expense.  If you are hanging clothes out to dry, and dodging showers, then not overdoing the washing load is sensible.

 

I grew up with this model of twin tub washing machine - every stitch of clothing had to be put into the washing tub, hauled into the spinner, then rinsed in the sink before being dumped into the spinner again.  Then it was hung up to dry.  We certainly did not wash things unnecessarily.  

 

That machine was an amazing beast though: it was brought to wash my brother's nappies in 1958 and it lasted until after I left home in 1981.  My mum used to order the spare parts and mend it herself.

 

ETA: found a great advert for the AEG Lavalux that I grew up with.

 

L