Should we stop washing our clothes? [Archive]

razz

7-9-19, 10:40am

This BBC article https://www.bbc.com/news/world-48908413 is thought-provoking. It fits right in with the clothes pollution thread earlier.

I rather agree with the information provided. I air my blouses/tops and wear more than once, briefs and socks do get washed after each use, use liquid detergent and cold water. Some other ideas that are new to me though.

A few quotes:
Killing the planet one microfibre at a time
This isn't the first time McCartney has recommended not washing our clothes. In fact, she has long advocated avoiding the washing machine - both for the longevity of the garments, but also because of the impact washing them has on the environment.

Laura Diáz Sánchez, from the Plastic Soup Foundation advocacy group, agrees with this, particularly when it comes to high-street clothes, which contain more synthetic materials such as polyester and acrylic.

"Every time we wash our clothes an average of nine million [plastic] microfibres are released into the environment," she tells BBC News. "The way we wash our clothes affects this, as well as the way our clothes are made - but the more we wash our clothes, the more microfibres are released."...

Leave your jeans alone
Sarah Clayton, head of the Love Your Clothes campaign by environmental charity Wrap, also suggests not washing your jeans, but airing them between wears instead: "If they have a stain you could try spot-cleaning them with water rather than washing the whole garment."

Letting your jeans fester unwashed may sound a bit unsavoury, but one man in the know swears by it - Chip Bergh, the CEO of Levi's.

ApatheticNoMore

7-9-19, 11:22am

wouldn't it be easier just to try to buy clothes made from natural materials? I know easier said than done these days, but occasionally one can find them.

KayLR

7-9-19, 12:50pm

I hardly ever wash my jeans....I'd read that before. The only clothes I wash regularly are undies. I'm too messy to let white blouses and shirts go unwashed.

Gardnr

7-9-19, 12:58pm

I wash minimally. There must be stubborn stains or smells. Undergarments are the exception.

bae

7-9-19, 1:35pm

I just wear cotton, wool, and silk.

Teacher Terry

7-9-19, 1:43pm

I wash my clothes in cold water but towels, sheets, etc in hot water. My little doggies are pad trained so they are washed in hot water with detergent and bleach. I only wear panties and socks once. I wash jeans weekly and my shirts it depends if I sweat or not. I sleep in my pj’s 3x’s before washing. Some of the suggestions in the article were gross.

catherine

7-9-19, 2:40pm

I'm a minimalist washer. A lot of people I know wash clothes when they bring them home from the store, and I have never done that. I wash my clothes like I water my plants: I observe them and if they need it, I do it. I'm not one to just wash something because it's been worn once--except for underwear.

KayLR

7-9-19, 3:36pm

I'm not one to just wash something because it's been worn once--.

That's something that drives me nuts about my daughter and grandkids....they always have TONS of laundry because they never wear anything twice without throwing it in the hamper (pile). Whether it's dirty or not. Most of it's not!

SteveinMN

7-9-19, 5:18pm

wouldn't it be easier just to try to buy clothes made from natural materials?
As far as I've seen, most jeans are still all-cotton. I mess up all fabrics equally. :)

We wash stuff when it's dirty. For undergarments, that's after one wearing, though if I know my next day will start with some messy project before I bathe, I'll re-wear the old stuff while I'm getting messy and sweaty in the set of clothes I keep for getting messy and sweaty in. Then I'll shower and change into regular clothes. I don't see a real point to wasting clean undergarments on a dirty job when I know it's coming. Pants, shirts, jackets -- all are washed when they appear to be dirty or known to be sweaty. Towels typically last us half a week before they see the laundry pile.

Our kids must change clothes a few times a day and nothing is ever re-worn. Then, of course, there are the grandkid toddlers, who generate a lot of laundry with oopses and accidents. Each person in that family has more clothes individually than DW and I do put together. They must do at least one load of laundry a day in their house in a big honkin' washing machine. *sigh*

Yppej

7-9-19, 9:28pm

I do the sniff test on clothes when I undress and no way is air drying going to cut it when temperatures are in the 90's and humid.

Zoe Girl

7-10-19, 12:13am

I wash, frequently. Jeans get 2 wearing unless dirty, they need the dryer to get fitting again.

However I think the much bigger impact are other plastics. I can care about this, and I can be happy I use reusable bags when shopping and bring water bottles and encourage others. So not at the top of my list

Rogar

7-10-19, 11:19am

It's not really a priority in my efforts. It's sort of like, you have to pick your battles. I wear jeans every day during the cooler months. I assume they are mostly cotton and they get washed after 3 or 4 days, or if they are grubby from work. I don't think people are going to stop washing their clothes, but it does make a lot of sense to me to buy organic cotton and steer clear of polyester. It's about impossible to get around the elastic materials in underclothes and socks, though. I do hang clothes on a clothesline too dry just about all year, which is a totally different issue. I think I'm about the only one in my immediate vicinity or among acquaintances who hangs clothes to dry.

jp1

7-11-19, 1:17am

With my new job I work from home. I've never been a one and done person as far as washing stuff I've worn, but even so our laundry is less than it used to be. But not by a huge amount. I've always worn the same pants all week for work when I went out in public on a daily basis. Shirts on the other hand, I've always put a new one on every day.

On the other hand the dishwasher is getting more of a workout since I'm eating lunch at home every day. Overall I would guess that between clothes and dishes our carbon footprint is a wash. LOL...

thinkgreen

7-11-19, 4:06am

Like many of you we wear mostly natural fibres - cotton, linen, silk, wool. We have some rayon which is a man made fiber from wood pulp. Our sheets are cotton or linen and our towels, washcloths, dishcloths and dish towels are all cotton. Socks and underwear are mostly cotton but do have elastic parts.

We work at home so unless something gets dirty our pants are worn several days, shirts two or three times, underwear and socks once. Two adults we generally do 1.5 loads a week but the dog adds an extra load so 2.5 loads a week.

Our washer and dryer are Maytags from 1985 and still working well (knock on wood) although at times they have had repairs. Laundry is dried on the clothesline whenever Mother Nature permits.

I think we will try stretching our jeans out to some extra wears based on this article. Maybe to 10 or more wears?? Has anyone worn theirs that many times?

Sad Eyed Lady

7-11-19, 10:14am

Like a lot of you are saying, I do wear something (outer wear) a few times before washing. Especially something I have worn out somewhere for only a few hours. I come home and take those clothes off and put on, what a former attorney I used to work for called, my "play clothes". So those "worn few hours" items I know aren't ready to be washed and unless I am doing something really hot and sweaty, other things can wait a couple of wearings or more too. I had a friend who washed everything after one wearing and I always thought "why?". You're sitting in a cool air conditioned office, you're not dirty. So this thread has been really validating to me.

And as thinkgreen said, my washer is over 25 years old, my dryer even older. I do line dry most everything. In Winter when the weather is not cooperating, I use a fold up dryer rack inside.

SteveinMN

7-11-19, 10:17am

On the other hand the dishwasher is getting more of a workout since I'm eating lunch at home every day. Overall I would guess that between clothes and dishes our carbon footprint is a wash. LOL... Maybe not. The dishwasher uses between 3.5 and 10 gallons of water per run (depending on the model and cycle run) while the washing machine will fill with at least 15-30 gallons of water every time it is run (front-loading high efficiency washer; the old top-loaders go through more like 40-45 gallons per wash).

catherine

7-11-19, 2:47pm

I've heard that the dishwasher is more environmentally-friendly than hand-washing. Same logic for car washes--they actually use less water than humans do.

pony mom

7-11-19, 9:41pm

I own two pairs of jeans, one for warmer months and one for colder. They each get washed at the end of their wearing season unless there's a messy stain. I wear a uniform for work, so the shirts are washed after each use, the pants at the end of the week. (I have the hardest time finding pants that fit so I want them to last). Undergarments washed after each use. Shirts are worn at least twice if I can get away with it.

Riding clothes get dirty/smelly the minute I get to the barn so I'll wear them a few times before washing. Sadly I euthanized my horse yesterday so I won't be getting use of those until I find another.

Teacher Terry, what kind of washable dog pads do you use? I'd like something like that for my couch when the dog is laying on it. She's elderly and has the occasional accident.

razz

7-11-19, 9:44pm

Sorry about your horse. When you have a longtime connection like that it is so hard to euthanize a beloved animal even if it is needed.

Teacher Terry

7-12-19, 1:52am

So very sorry about your horse. The pads are made for people in nursing homes. You can buy new or used. They are indestructible as I have had them for 11 years.

catherine

7-12-19, 8:30am

So sorry about your horse, pony mom.

SteveinMN

7-12-19, 10:23am

My condolences on the loss of your equine friend, pm.

Sad Eyed Lady

7-12-19, 10:25am

So very sorry about your horse. The pads are made for people in nursing homes. You can buy new or used. They are indestructible as I have had them for 11 years.

Pony Mom, I use these also on the back of my couch because one of my cats (going on 16) forgets himself sometimes! They are great, and as Teacher Terry said, indestructible. You just whip them off and wash them. I usually let mine line dry. I order them on ebay and the last two I bought have cuties little pictures like they are for a crib. I put a throw over them so they don't show on the couch, but all are easy to wash when needed.

thinkgreen

7-12-19, 8:12pm

pony mom I am sorry for your loss.

I also use the nursing home bed pads for our dog. She came to us already trained to use them and it was very handy when weather was poor, we weren't feeling well, etc. We keep them down all the time for her and change them when required. We have about six so do a separate load for them about once a week.

Sad Eyed Lady thank you for your comments. I hang dry items indoors when I can't dry them outside on the line. We have put an extra rod over the center of the bathtub, between the wall and the shower curtain rod. This is where wet things can hang and if they drip it goes into the tub anyway. I also feel this topic validates things for me.

Reading this post makes me re-think my habits when it comes to laundry. Yesterday my fresh shirt got a stain on it within hours. Normally I would have changed and put it in the laundry. But this time I reconsidered and used some soap and water at the sink so the stain came out asap. I think this is an important consideration in this era and in this area where we have drought and water restrictions are in place. If we could reduce our 2.5 loads a week to 2 loads then a 20% reduction in laundry water use could be significant. Using Steve's numbers of 40 gal. a load, that would be .5 x 40 = 20 gal x 52 weeks = 1040 gal a year.

pony mom

7-12-19, 10:19pm

Thank you all for your words of sympathy. He was 34, I owned him for 23 years. It was a hard decision to make but I know it was the right one. It's a bit overwhelming to know that in owning a pet, you have the responsibility to end it peacefully when the time comes. It was on my mind for a few days, and in a split second I gave the OK. A short time later, it was all over, the moment I was dreading for so long.

Back to laundry------how often do you wash your towels? Mine are washed weekly. They're used when you're clean, so they're not really dirty.

Have to get those washable pads. Ugh, more laundry!

thinkgreen

7-13-19, 4:17pm

pony mom I wash my towels after a week of use for bath towels, hand towels after a couple of days, dish cloths and washcloths pretty much daily, tea towels depends on how often they are used as we usually air dry the dishes.

The washable pads are great. You can buy disposable ones for times you don't want to do the washing.

Tammy

7-13-19, 5:04pm

Just finished up a 2 week vacation (1 week was a cruise) with the family. First cruise for me. I decided to take just a backpack. So I took (including what I was wearing):

3 underwear
2 bras
3 socks
3 pants
1 jacket
1 pajamas
5 shirts

I hand washed the underwear bras socks as needed. I wore the pants several days each and the shirts 3 days each - figures I could do laundry somewhere if necessary - but it wasn’t necessary.

It amazed me actually - we just launder things after one wear at home. But then we do live in 115 degree Phoenix and this vacation was to Alaska. That makes a difference.

When getting off the cruise ship I was asked a few times if I had forgotten my luggage. Ha.

razz

7-13-19, 7:53pm

Ultralight

7-13-19, 7:57pm

When I vacation I wear the same shirts over and over again. I will go an entire trip without washing my jeans or cargo shorts. Underwear and socks need washed though!

tiranda

7-13-19, 9:28pm

Leave your jeans alone
Sarah Clayton, head of the Love Your Clothes campaign by environmental charity Wrap, also suggests not washing your jeans, but airing them between wears instead: "If they have a stain you could try spot-cleaning them with water rather than washing the whole garment."

Letting your jeans fester unwashed may sound a bit unsavoury, but one man in the know swears by it - Chip Bergh, the CEO of Levi's.

I put my jeans in a plastic bag (dedicated for this) and stick them in the freezer for 24 hours until I need them again. it kills any odors. Sometimes I steam them instead. I wear them once a week.

ETA: I have not read this whole thread so this part may be redundant: Wellness Mama blog had an article about this, where she said her son did a project on ocean pollution and he told her most of it was plastic and was composed of tiny, tiny bits of plastic from polyester and nylon clothes. She linked to Guppybags (http://guppyfriend.com/en/)which you put your clothes in to wash, and they will filter the water. When you take the clothes out and examine the seams of the bag you will find tiny bits of plastic. Every time you wash synthetics tiny pieces break off. Ordinary laundry garment bags do not filter finely enough. here is the link: http://guppyfriend.com/en/ site also has a link explaining more of this.