Washing

Concerning underarm 'sweat pads': these were sort of butterfly shaped pieces of semi waterproof material . They were a great nuisance to attach to a garment.

The reason for them is people did not wash clothing so often, and also underarm sweat and groin sweat are not the same as sweat from other parts of the skin. Apocrine glands make the thick, sticky sweat we often associate with stress. They also make other substances, like earwax.

"Apocrine sweat glands are located mostly in your armpits and genital area."
It's apocrine glands that make the underarm smell which is currently unfashionable.

I follow the advice that I once read in a magazine. "If it smells clean and looks clean, it doesn't need to be washed".

Franski

Whete has Xgran gone?? I had a great idea....stick their smalls in the dishwasher. Job done.

😁

Astitchintime

Sort through it, fold up what doesn't need washing..........and put it a pile for putting away, doubt they'll even notice.
Failing that.......stop doing their laundry

That's what my daughter used to do, when her four sons and one daughter were still at home. They never noticed.

Whete has Xgran gone?? I had a great idea....stick their smalls in the dishwasher. Job done.

Xrgran…, Why not a quick wash every few days. I’m sure they’ve got more than 2/3 pairs of socks and pants/knickers.

LOUISA1523

ViceVersa

God, I must be a right dirty cow then! I don't wash stuff half as often as most of you seem to.

Do you wear your socks 2 to 3 days running like OP? If so thats a bit grim 😳

Surely it's only grim if they are soiled or actually smell.
Though I say that as someone who does wash socks after just one wear, so I admit to being irrational (or brainwashed)!

M0nica

Like others. Pants and footwear daily. The rest as little as possible. As a result I spend far less on clothes because they last longer.

The planet may last longer too.

I can remember my Mum having dresses and blouses with underarm "sweat" pads, which I suppose you could wash without having to wash the whole garment.

When my 17yo was doing A levels I was working away from home during the week & came home at w/e & did laundry. He was socialising as they do at that age, & wearing own clothes for school & I would have about 20 tops in a pile in his room to be washed. I think he used to try them on, decide "no not that one" & try another & the discards went to be washed.
But once he had to do his own washing, that stopped. It is a generational thing - being working class at Grammar school, I had clean pants every day but blouses, bra & tights were supposed to last a week. My middle-class friends were horrified, but being a "tomboy" type I sided with my mum.
I do find I can only wear tops next to my skin for one day, if I wear them any longer I don't smell fresh, but I do try to minimise the amount of laundry we do, with clean tops for me every day, mainly for environmental reasons.
I would encourage them to do their own laundry but if they can't abide re-wearing clothes, they're probably mainstream these days. It's the downside of laundry being so much easier than in the days of tubs & mangles.

Like others. Pants and footwear daily. The rest as little as possible. As a result I spend far less on clothes because they last longer.

Mine wore 3 layers for sport and put all 3 layers out to be washed and dh changed shirt, underwear and socks every day. Sometimes I washed 3 times a day. I stopped ironing on the basis dc would do their own rather than wear crumpled clothes. Once they were adult and moved out it was lovely to have hardly any washing.

If your adult children still live with you, make them respnsible for their own personal laundry/ironing. Either they put it through the washing machine themselves, and buy their own washing powder, or take it to the launderette if there is one locally.

Ive friends who do their married daughters washing and ironing and clean their house so they see them. Mine just the opposite very independent. I do change socks, pants and bra daily, was them myself.

I knew someone who bragged that she threw socks away after wearing. "Life is too short to keep washing socks"
I wonder if she and her husband wore them more than once.

If you were offered the chance to take a year off and explore the French canals and rivers from Calais to the Med, would you consider giving up your washing habits?
Bearing in mind you can go a long way without seeing a tap to fill up from.

Come back OP!

ViceVersa

God, I must be a right dirty cow then! I don't wash stuff half as often as most of you seem to.

😂😂😂😂😂😂 and still here to tell the tale

Hint: to save water , put underclothes in the shower or bath with you , then rinse in one change of clean water before hanging to dry. If you wash body linen daily it will not have absorbed much sweat.

My son lives with me. He does his own washing. End.

I agree with the last few posts my Knicks go in the wash bag every night otherwise I wear everything more than one day and I wash once a week two loads colours and whites
We need to preserve water it’s the most vital of commodities and taken for granted
I don’t do manual work (except the garden and allotment) and those go straight in the washing bag when I get home I don’t sweat at all I always have totally dry feet and underarms and I shower plus hair for 5 minutes every morning
I object to being called slovenly because I use socks more than one day

Actually, Xrgran doesn’t say they wash clothes every day.
Washing after wearing once could mean they put garments in the laundry basket at the end of every day and put the washer in once or twice a week. X is irritated because she has to do it, but that’s her choice/fault.
We’ll never know.

I am in the one wear for underwear and sox and then depends what is next to the skin and what I have been doing. Jumpers or cardigans which only go over t shirts etc, are not changed every day, and I tend to stick to old ways, in that if I have gone out in something smart, that gets taken off when I get home and t shirts jumpers and trousers are my work at home and comfort clothes which get put on instead.

I dont have to be worrying if I get flour or bits of cotton or whatever job I doing and then they can be shoved in the wash bin. My major problem is the borrowers who seem to live behind the skirting boards here, who will insist on taking one sock of a pair and just about every handkerchief I have !! I sometimes have to check every coat pocket and bag I have to find the handkerchiefs , and even when I have bought more they still disappear!!

petra

It’s not the time or money that I find offensive, it’s the horrendous waste of our most precious resource and the cost to the environment.
If this thread is representative of the whole country/ world is it any wonder that the oceans are dying and people are eating fish that have micro plastics in them.

I totally agree! And based on the fact that Xrgran hasn't been back to answer some of the questions I think this has been a wind-up.

Rest assured Petra.........I don't wash everything after one wearing either.

I’m with you there Petra. Apart from knickers/underpants and DH’s socks, nothing else needs a wash after one use! What a waste of time and resources.