How many wears to a wash?

I lost my sense of smell a long time ago. Now you have all worried me!

Bellanonna . I meant 'wrong' of course.

So many people are obsessed by cleanliness! My paternal grandmother used to say that too much washing is bad for the skin! We now have a spray or a wipe for absolutely every application and asthma has increased accordingly in the western world. In less developed countries, where life is more natural, asthma is almost unheard of.

Manufacturers of cleaning products are literally cleaning up! You can buy a touch free soap dispenser to avoid touching the 'germy pump' but you washed your hands anyway after touching the pump! There's even an antibacterial washing liquid to play on people's fears now! Detergents are already antibacterial!

I agree with ajanela. Knickers and socks changed every day. Everything else when common sense dictates it needs washing.

I think weeing has two 'es' polly

Frank Skinner once told of the time that he wore one pair of socks, I think it was all through the winter, till they could stand up unaided! Haven't times changed.

Everything goes into the washing machine after one wear. The machine doesn't spin properly with too little in it and I'd run out of clothes if I waited too long so it all gets put through quickly.

The exception is my own jeans. They look horrid when washed too often, bleached and tatty. Therefore, I have conducted an experiment. I bought a new pair in September, washed them once and have only pressed them since. They don't smell and still look new as they are often aired and ironed. No one has noticed. If and when they do I'll change my policy.

I have to say that, disgusting as this sounds, I am a cleanliness fanatic and I would be the first to notice if the jeans were 'off'.

Sorry about typos must stop doingb it on iphone. My fingers are too thick! And sorry i spelled your name weing Marmight!

Agree with ajenela- i think too much washing is bad for the environment and unneceassary. I wash socks and pants after one wear, bra and camisole usually lat a week unless ive been very sweaty (wear sports bra for exercise which is washed immediately. Trousers / jeans up to a week ( sometimes 3-4days, tops after a couple of wears, jumpers and cardigans occasionally if rhey seem dirty. Nightclothes weekly on fridays when bed changed like jingle bells. Husband chenges shirt daily and nightwear (shorts) 3 times a week nut he does swear a lot mote tgN me.

Marmite sounds exactly like my boarding school! Didny bother me at the time but looking back...! HairwSh and bath once a week too.

Interesting topic. I am staying with son and family who live in the Caribbean. . Not surprisingly clothes are changed more frequently. But granddaughters only have to have something on for an hour or so and it is in the wash. My family in England will put children's clothes in the wash - even if they have only been worn for a short part of the day. Is this an age thing?

These days, anything that touches skin gets washed after one wash apart from bras that hang around for a couple more days (don't understand the logic but that's the practice) but it does seem daft when a) we are all much cleaner ourselves and our environment is cleaner too and b) we never used to rush to wash stuff when we were all much younger because it was hard work! A while ago my kitchen and bathroom were out of action at the same time and I had to revert back to washes rather than daily showers and wearing clothes for a bit longer because there wasn't a washing machine. It felt weird. But we survived. It's all about habit really, and how much 'cleanliness' and equipment and product we can be sold by the ad-bods.

Last week I read the blurb of an article that said we ought not to wash jeans at all. That's going a bit far. Perhaps they don't need to be washed frequently but never???

I use my eyes n my nose to make the decision to wash or not. Jumpers only if they are marked, I have noticed the more washes things have the less 'good' they look and last.

But in the summer as the fabrics are more delicate and tend to crease easily, it is usually only 1 wear.
DH is getting better but he used to put everything in the basket at the end of the day.

PJs are once a week, but strange that you wear something for 8/10 hours a day for 7 days a week, whereas.......

If they smelt that much, like DH does, no need to smell straight in the wash. Maybe they smelt at the end of last wear but not at the beginning and again I know and straight in the wash.

My problem is that I change clothes during the day as I go out a lot. I don't feel the need to wash something I have only worn for a few hours.

My main points were the environment so think before you was and "the goes without saying" comments.

I find the thought of smelling clothes to see if they are fit to wear horrible, after all if they do smell, they did when you wore them last, yuk.

I have three pairs of knickers for every bra. Knickers one wear bras three. I am not a sweaty person. I wear skirts and work uniform skirt does a weak. It is really the smell test. Everyone is different.

I think some of you should start thinking about the environment. All that soap powder and chemicals going into the sea and electricity being used. I expect some of you are using tumble driers and drying on radiators is unhealthy. Ask yourself does this really need washing? Can I spot clean it, will it do for another day.

Would our mothers be washing things every time we wore something. They were without washing machines and driers.

"Every day, goes without saying," some have written. Pants yes but other things not always necessary as others have written Some people are very smelly or have other reasons for frequent changes but not all.

Think before you wash!

I seem to be much like everyone else - jeans last a week. Underwear daily and socks. I wear a camisole vest in the winter so outer tops last 2 or 3 days depending on activity. OH has recent prostrate problems so anything below waist level has to be monitored (by me I might add) and put in the washing basket. Owing to the latter problem, I do seem to be doing an extra 2 or 3 coloured washes each week lately. I have no dryer - so when the weather forecast promises a dry day - on goes the machine and out on the line it all goes.

Underwear daily of course, trousers after 2-3 wears, usually wear shirt/t-shirt under a cardy fleece so that's done after a single wear, and the cardy or fleece after a few wears. Hubster seems to wear things for longer (not underwear thankfully!) but his over-jumper and trousers can do him a week.
We don't bother with pj's usually but they are done after a single wearing if so.

I have a 9kg load washing machine which I thought I'd use twice a week when I got it, but I seems to have stuff every other day! Bed stuff and towels need done too of course.

TMI?
Underwear daily, outer wear 2-3 days.
DH ditto, though has to be prised out of trousers for washing...
Was brought up in the tropics where one day's wear was often almost too long! So have got into the habit of washing very frequently. When DCs were home, they would have clean undies and uniform shirts everyday, uniform skirts/trousers twice a week.
nightwear - either b/day suit or PJs in winter; the latter twice a week.

Underwear daily , jeans and trousers 3 days to a week, more frequently on hot days, tops over camisoles last a couple of days unless I spill something on the first wear. DH changes underwear and shirt every day but makes trousers and jumpers last 2-3 days unless DD brings the dog round. Working full time meant a clean top every day otherwise you could smell school. Mum used to make her undies last 2-3 days by using daily pads.

Old Goat, you have just given me the first laugh of the day. On a similar vein, I use panty liners and have occasionally lost one. The sheer panic when you think it might have been left behind on someone's sofa, or that you might have been walking around with it visibly stuck to your trouser leg is awful. The relief of discovering it dislodged but hidden is huge.

Knickers and socks changed daily, otherwise when needed. I have a bath every night.
Surprising how many women wear socks, not tights or stockings. Maybe it followed the wearing of trousers instead of skirts. I had a drawerful of woolly tights which I got rid of lately.

I remember as a child, getting into trouble if i got my dress dirty. My mum didn't have a washing machine, so we were expected to stay as clean as possible. Now my granddaughter spills things on her clothes and we whip them off and put on a new outfit. How lucky she is, being allowed to get dirty. Like others, I change underwear daily, sweaters and trousers after about three days. Hubby used to be a clean shirt daily man, but since retirement he wears them for a few days. As he takes a shower every day, his shirts don't get smelly!

I seem to do what most other people here do, which is very reassuring - I always felt I had a dirty secret. Jeans, which I only wear out and about and change for leggings as soon as I get home, last up to a week if I'm lucky but leggings get worn twice, max. Knickers every day, bras every couple of days, everything else as needed. It's not the washing that puts me off, it's the ironing! And winter knits I do try to avoid washing as much as poss as they can go out of shape.

Socks knickers leggings and thirsts get one wear. Jumpers 2-3. I'm afraid I'm very bad about washing jeans .???