Do you put your clothes in the laundry bin after each wear? - YouLookFab Forum

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Do you put your clothes in the laundry bin after each wear?

Nidhi

Was just curious to know how many wears your pieces get before they go to the laundry. And how do you track clothes that need an additional wear before they land in the laundry bin?
For me jeans get atleast 5 wears and all other items get 2 if they are worn only to work. The ones I wear for an entire day out -like going to the city, visiting places, travelling, and generally doing stuff other than sitting at my desk all day- they all get a wash after just 1 wear.
Of course innerwear, socks and tights get washed everytime I wear them.

Living in a small apartment with limited closet space makes it difficult for me to track the items I have worn. I hang my jeans behind the bedroom door and all other items that need another wear get folded and placed on the lid of lingerie box. Of course, not very elegant because it sometimes generates a huge pile that I have to move each time I access my innerwear but I do not have options

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17 replies

Latest reply was from deb

Mo

(website)

Veteran

Not anymore, but I used to. I asked about this a few years ago. got some great answers. http://youlookfab.com/welookfa.....et-clothes

I now hang shirts that have been worn either with the hanger facing backward or the shirt inside out on the hanger. Jeans I store folded on a shelf. Now I just turn the ones I've worn with the waistband facing out, and clean ones are stored with the waistband facing inward. I was stumped on the sweaters because they are folded in a drawer. Rae suggested storing it inside out - brilliant! Any possible dirt will be folded inside the sweater and not rubbing off on clean ones next to it.

Raisin

Veteran

Pants usually get hung back up to wear a few times. Shirts I wear usually once, unless I've only had it on for an hour or so, then I might put it away. But my 6 month old tends to slobber all over them, so they usually get laundered.

Keix

Veteran

I try to wear everything twice that hasn't gotten stained or sweaty. I just pile them near my dresser, though, and I'm sure there must be a better system. I can't get more than 2 wears out of even my jeans, though--they stretch out and are already comfortably slouchy on Day 2.

Irene

Veteran

I think I remember what I've worn before washing almost always, maybe it's because I rotate a lot. If I don't remember, I just see if it smells lol Depends also on the fabric, some tend to smell more than others after one wear (armpits specially).

i am not the one doing the laundry, my mother is. Which, mind you, I don't enjoy. But she likes to separate everything by color and fabric and she needs the whole family wardrobe to fill the washing machine for each category. But I never know what she's going to wash nor when so I feel supedited to her doings (we do laundry on the weekends only). If something goes in the bin AFTER she's washed that color/fabric, it stays there for the whole week. Which means I've gone a week (or more) without my go-to jeans or sweater before. Or even bras.

shiny

Veteran

I'm a less-is-more when it comes to laundering and dry cleaning, because I find the more you do, the faster the garment wears out. Also I have had so many items ruined at the dry cleaner, or never look the same way again once it went through the wash (even hand wash). So I have developed a lot of strategies to minimize need to wash:

- I don't wear perfume and I no longer smoke (in my experience, two of the biggest offenders for need-to-wash).
- I don't even wear deodorant all that often (mostly in summer), as I find that deodorant degrades fragile fibers faster than sweat, or I will wind up with white smears on my clothes (hate when that happens!)
- I change out of my good clothes and into sweats/loungewear when I get home.
- I wear an apron on occasions when I cook with good clothes on
- My kids are all grown up and don't slobber all over me (I needed to do laundry far more often when they were younger!)
- I always wear a scarf with my winter coats, to prevent makeup from getting on the collar.
- I wear skinnies tucked into boots or -- I just don't prescribe to perfect PPL because I'd rather not have my pants dragging on the floor.
- I vastly prefer sleeveless and collarless, because these stay clean longer.
- Weather permitting, I wear a slip under dresses, and camis under blouses.
- I do not style my hair and do my make up while wearing clothes.

With all of that, I find most of my "good" clothes stay clean through several wears. I realized awhile back that I was washing things because they were rumpled or linty, rather than actually dirty or smelly. So, clothes get a lot more use if you hang them up when you get home, use the lint brush on them, allow time for the garment to air out between wears, and run an iron over them or steam clean out the wrinkles.

In the next category are clothes that aren't dirty but have picked up odors (body odors, smoke odors, cooking odors); a run through dry-el helps those. Or items that aren't dirty but have stretched out (I hate that category but I do have a few items like that). Then you have garments that are genuinely dirty, like underwear, slips, camis, loungewear, pj's, tee shirts worn to clean or cook, exercise gear, beach cover ups. Those go through the wash after one wear.

While I dry-el my sweaters a few times each season, I wash them only once a season. I have a LOT of sweaters, so they all get rotated and have ample time to air out, in the wire drawers I keep them in which keeps air circulating. For those who find wool itchy: I have found that if you can tolerate the itch for a wear or two, it goes away, because your body oils get on the wool and create a barrier... until you wash the sweater in water. So, washing sweaters infrequently really helps here.

If in doubt, I ask DH to give me a sniff test.

Lisa

Veteran

I layer a lot so my tanks and t's (long sleeve or short) get washed after each wear. Sweaters and blazers only once or twice a season since I have the layer underneath. For trousers, again only once or twice a season (unless they get visibly dirty). And jeans, usually 4-5 wear, I do the snif test on those.

JR

Veteran

I don't track. Any clothes that are not obviously dirty I hang on my dresser knobs at the end of the day and give them the daylight and sniff test in the morning. If they pass (and are not too rumpled looking) they go back in the closet. If they don't, into the laundry.

I stopped eating grains, especially wheat, last spring, and since then I have had to do much less laundry. I never realized before how much of my body odour came from grains. Even my feet have quit stinking. About the only odour I find on my clothing now is garlic... What can I say? I love the stuff.

Nidhi

Thanks for the interesting replies!
@Mo - I love your inside-out system. Will try that one right away!

@KL - I know what you mean by piling them close to your dresser....Mine are sometimes piled on the ironing table...ugh!

Aziraphale

Veteran

Oh gee. I wear my jeans and structured skirts over and over, until they get a stain. Or if I get sweaty in them, which doesn't happen often. There's a study to back this up: apparently jeans show about the same bacterial count after one wear as they do after many, many wears.

I wear tops that are close under the armpits only once or twice. Tops that are very roomy under the arms often get worn four or five times before they need washing.
I was workout clothes after one wear, because they get sweaty.

I usually alternate between two bras, both of which I wash after about ten or so days. So they get five or six wears each before washing.

Underwear, of course, gets worn only once! Same goes for socks and tights.

Mochi

Veteran

In summer all bets are off, but otherwise tops get anywhere between 1-3 wearings (particularly if layered) and pants these days get worn 3-4 times. I am lucky that apparently I don't sweat that much. Oops, I mean perspire. And I don't practice an elaborate system to remember; somehow I roughly have an idea.

bj1111

Veteran

febreze is my friend.

Gaylene

Veteran

Our laundry is next to the bedrooms so I tend to wash smaller loads more frequently--usually every couple of days. Undies, exercise wear, T-shirts, and shirts generally get laundered after each wearing. I hand wash my bras after every wearing by tossing it into the sink with a few drops of a product called Soak while I'm getting ready for bed, then giving it a quick rinse and hanging it to dry. My husband and I share a shelf in the closet for things like sweaters and jeans that we have worn once and plan to wear again. We also use a couple of hangers in a designated space in the closet for items that can be re-worn. Since we both have smallish wardrobes, it makes sense for both of us to have the majority of our wardrobe clean and pressed, ready to be worn.

I rarely dry-clean anything because I hate the thought of my clothes tumbling around with other people's clothing in a chemical solution, especially any garment that would be worn next to my skin. I launder 95% of our clothes, with the only exceptions being our woolen winter coats and tailored suits. But even these items can go for quite a long time if they are brushed, spot-cleaned, and steam pressed after each wearing. I have never had a problem laundering my silk blouses, cashmere sweaters, and down jackets at home.

JR

Veteran

Reading back I also want to add that I use a crystal deodorant and have for years. It's unscented and doesn't gum up my clothes, especially bras. That alone has saved me a lot of laundering.

Gaylene

Veteran

And I'll second that plug for the crystal deodorant. My sister put me on to it when she was being treated for breast cancer; it was recommended by the nurses at the cancer clinic as being the best choice while she was undergoing her radiation treatments. (BTW, she has passed the five-year mark and now has a clean bill of health!)

ironkurtin

Veteran

I wash shirts after every wear.
Jeans and bras get washed after every second wear.
Sweaters get washed when they need it.
Unders get washed after every wear whether they need it or not. Heh.

Most of my wardrobe is washable so I don't dryel or dry clean very often. In fact, I avoid buying DCO items for this reason - I find the scents for both very chemical and unpleasant. I've found hand washing or washing on gentle (turned inside out) on cold, then hung to dry works just fine for most things. Except rayon Betsey Johnson dresses. Don't do it.

For some reason I find that my skin breaks out if I don't wash items more regularly. The bigger issue is that often my jeans stretch and get too baggy after the second wear, so into the washer and drier they go.

I envy those of you who don't need antiperspirant and deodorant. I need both. All the time.

Mander

(website)

Veteran

It is entirely dependent on how sweaty or muddy I get on a given day. I don't keep track in any formal way, but jeans, trousers, skirts, and sweaters get worn multiple times before washing, and I sometimes wear tops twice depending on how stinky they are. Most days I wear a tank top as a camisole, which helps extend the wearability of my tops.

deb

Veteran

Tops close to my underarms get washed after every wear. As does undies, jammas, socks, camisoles. The rest depends on the weather and whether I have been sweating. I understand as we age we sweat less. One thing I look forward to. I come from a very sweaty lineage, both mother and father. Oh well, I just do laundry!