Do You Overwash Your Clothes?

To avoid wearing out my good clothes, I change out of them as soon as I get home, I do have clothes that I wear around the house that are older, stained maybe but clean. By changing out of my good clothes I avoid getting them stained or really dirty and can wear them again before they need to be washed. Washing clothes more than needed wears out the fabric, dulls the colors and can cause the material to fray. Clothes can be worn more than once if they are not dirty or stained, or smell from body odors.

 

Well I guess I should really not be proud that the answer is a big NO so easily, but I guess that can be a little victory for me. I am just lazy in general so I do not end up over washing, but I do hate what it does to a lot of the shirts that I have, so I save myself from that headache. I makes them very small and it takes away a lot of the color, so I would just rather not have to buy new ones.

 

True, that's why I only wash my clothes when they have been exposed to sweat, otherwise I will still wear them if I only used them briefly, like if I went out for an hour or two only and I didn't sweat. As for house clothes, they do need to be washed often since it's worn in the house.

 

Maybe the neighbor lady is just going through a few issues?
Anyway, we can't afford to "overwash" our clothes so we never experience it. I have no problem with putting some pants back up of I only worn it for a little while and I'm clean. I'm the same way with shirts as well. The only exception would be any type of underwear Now that is got to go to the dirty hamper.

 

I couldn't help bring to mind a Bill Murray's movie, don't remember the title, one in the 1980s in which he complains because cloth is being washed daily and he states something like, "clothes aren't either clean or dirty, but clean, one-quarter dirty, half-dirty, three-quarter dirty, dirty, so dirty... " and so on

But that's true! Unless white, most clothes can be worn at least twice, and there is no need to wash it regularly.

I remember an old book where it was said that fabrics last longer when adding alum to the water, letting them soak. I can says this true for all fabrics, but I remember my mom using alum to make her stockings lasted longer and indeed, the trick worked for her.

 

I agree with this method. I usually try using my shirts twice before sending them to the washer especially when I just used it for a few hours to eat out or something. If I went to a particularly strong smelling cuisine restaurant then I won't hesitate to put it in the hamper and get it washed immediately even if it doesn't seem like it smells too much but that's about it. If I was active that day or if I used the clothes for the whole day then I would wash it but most of the time I try to get as much use as I can out of clothes before washing.

 

I'm sorry if I cannot agree with that washing after 2 or 3 uses of clothes. With the blazer, it doesn't need to be washed after using it once since it doesn't touch your skin directly so the sweat does not contaminate it. But with the clothes, it is unhygienic to wear it again particularly the office attire where I wear it for the whole day. Filipinos are used to wearing clean clothes (newly-washed) and re-wearing clothes is not a practice here simply because this is a tropical country.

 

I agree that frequent washing does shorten the life of some articles of clothing. My husband often wears suits several times before taking them to the dry cleaners (which is expensive) so in between those times I remove stains and then spray with Frebreeze.

 

I try not to over wash my clothes. I wash certain clothes after one wearing, jeans, t-shirts, shorts etc. But some clothes like sweaters - I won't wash until they are truly dirty. I usually wear my sweaters with a camisole underneath and wear them at work only. Once I get home I change into comfy clothes so the sweaters stay fairly clean. I think not washing after every wash does keep them from wearing out, colours fading and prevents pills on wool sweaters. I also wash my jeans inside out to try and keep them from getting the soap lines down the legs and hang them to dry to prevent them from fading in the dryer.

 

During the summer I do have to wash my clothes after one wearing because I sweat alot but if I have only worn the clothes for a few hours and did not do any sweating I will wear them again without washing them.

 

I only wash clothes when they need it. I agree that washing clothes too often wears them out too soon. You also get the color fade from overwashing. I know some people never wash their jeans...or rarely wash them...I am not in that school. Even if I could manage not to get something on them. It just seems unsanitary not to wash them every few wears.

 

I remember reading before that jeans need to be washed only once a month. I'm like, "What?!" Lol. I am very much an OC person, once I wear something, even for just an hour, even if I don't sweat on it, I put it in the dirty clothes basket. My mom used to freak out on me because of that since she is always thrifty of clothes. She tends to wear her pyjamas for a week saying that she doesn't sweat on it anyway.

But for me, I just cannot feel comfortable if I don't have a fresh set of clothes in. The maximum that I can wear a pyjama for is two nights and off to the basket it goes, lol. I might try to change this habit though as washing my clothes, plus my son's, plus my husband's, can be quite tiring. I'm not kidding when I say we have a full basket of dirty clothes everyday. Haha!

 

Definitely. Not only do I put them on for laundry when they are not dirty yet, but I do overuse laundry detergents and softeners most of the time. I always fear the clothes will stay smelling bad if I don't, or the stains won't be completely removed. I hate unwashed, dirty and stinky clothes, so I end up over-cleaning them.

 

I think you can tell when your clothes need washing. If you've only had them on once, haven't spilled anything on them, and you haven't been sweating, then they're good for another day. Sometimes in the winter I can wear jumpers for about 4 days (not continuously) without washing them. In the summer, though, I do tend to change clothes every single day. And underwear should be changed everyday too, of course. But yes, lots of people do overwash clothes, and this means that they're wasting money as they have to replace them all at some point.

 

I only wash certain clothes every few days. Certain shirts if I'm sweaty, cooking, etc. I might where them again for a pajama top if it's not. Underwear get washed regularly, as do socks. However, jeans and bras, not so much unless it is a hot day or if they get dirty because of a mess I made while cooking or whatever.

 

The only clothing I wash regularly is the stuff I wear around the house and to bed, which is mainly athletic shorts and t-shirts, socks and underwear. But stuff like my business casual type clothing, I wait until a few wears before washing, since as you noted, it wears them out much faster. As long as I'm not doing anything sweaty or strenuous, or was out at a bar or some place where they got odors on them such as smoke or cologne, then they're perfectly fine to wear a few times before cleaning them.

I've read that it's actually a good thing to not wash your jeans too frequently. The article mentioned something about the natural bacteria or whatever on your skin did something to make them OK to wear for a while without needing to clean them as much. With jeans in particular, they tend to shrink up too much and become too stiff if you wash them too often.

 

I haven't really washed my clothes since 2010 or maybe even before that. I use the laundry service near my home, because they charge me the same rate they used to charge 5 years ago, and I don't have to waste my time