Simplify Laundry by Wearing Clothes More
Posted on March 16, 2011 by LJ Earnest
Categories: Simplification
Wednesdays are simplicity days at SimpleProductivity blog.
What’s the easiest way to do less laundry? Have less laundry to do.
That’s not a flip answer. It really does simplify laundry. Cut down on the number of things that you need to wash, dry, iron, fold and put away, and laundry time becomes simpler.
(I apologize here if I gross anyone out with the rest of the article. I am not going for the “ick” factor, and everyone needs to judge for themselves what is most comfortable.)
Not so many years ago, before the advent of the automatic washing machine, laundry was a big deal. It still is in many parts of the world, where clothes must be boiled and scrubbed by hand. In the U.S., before electrification (which for some parts of the country was the mid 50′s), laundry was done in great big tubs.
Because laundry was such a big deal, one wore clothes until they were dirty. And one had clothes to wear for various tasks.
My grandmother put on a smock over her clothes before going into the hen house to gather eggs. She changed her clothes from her “work” clothes before going to town to shop. She wore an apron to prevent her work clothes from getting dirty with the tasks of preparing meals for seven children. My grandfather had special overalls for mucking out the barn. All the children had “work” clothes and “school” clothes and “Sunday” clothes.
The work clothes were the dirtiest and got washed most often. The everyday clothes were worn until dirty, then washed. When they started to show signs of wear, they were converted to work clothes. The Sunday clothes were worn for church, then put away upon returning home, and washed perhaps once a month or so.
I was thinking about this when I was looking at my daughter’s laundry. She had tossed in a shirt she had worn for an hour after changing out of a dress she had worn the hour before the shirt. (Which was also in the laundry basket). I looked at my own closet. There were many things that I was washing after one partial wearing, even though they weren’t dirty and didn’t smell.
Since then, my goal has been to cut down on the clothes I put to be washed. Not only is washing too often more work, but it’s bad for the clothing. So I’ve been able to cut down on the number of clothes I have, and keep them in better shape longer.
What do you think? Do you wash everything? Or do you wear clothing multiple times between washings?
Photo by lemuelinchrist
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Comments (5)
That is one of my husband’s pet peeves, that the kids and myself wash clothing way too often.
This post reminds me of a discussion on the Unclutterer blog from 2009:
http://unclutterer.com/2009/11/20/ask-unclutterer-not-yet-dirty-clothes/
I always wear clothes more than once with the exception of exercise clothes. Good personal hygiene is the key to wearing clothes longer between washing. Also, making use of undergarments helps keeps clothes fresher. Changing underwear often keeps pants cleaner longer, and it’s much easier to wash a load of underwear than a load of jeans. Also, wearing a t-shirt under a sweater keeps the arm pits of the sweater from becoming soiled. And, again, washing a t-shirt is easier than washing a thick sweater.
Thanks for the link to the article on Unclutterer! I had missed that one, and I have struggled with where to keep the worn but clean clothes. I had been using a laundry basket on my closet floor with the clothes neatly folded in it, but one of the cats decided to make it a bed.
I’m with you on the undergarments. I rarely wear a sweater without a t-shirt, and I always wear a half-slip underneath skirts – even if I don’t need it for modesty or clinging – just to keep the skirts cleaner.
It all sounds good until you have two little boys, perhaps different than most girls. My boys aren’t old enough to “smell” yet but they are complete grub fests by dinner time, usually looking like they have been mucking out the barn in their school clothes. Every bit of mud puddle, ketchup from lunch, toothpaste, ink, and just plain grubby dirt that they encounter seems to end up on their clothes. Their clothes are trashed by the time they get home from school. And when they reach puberty, you can bet I’ll insist they change their clothes daily.
However, we use our bath towels for several days (hung carefully to dry). They can wear sweatshirts and fleeces more than once, unless the above occurs, and if they are on their second set of clothes for the day because their first set is mud soaked (common), then those jeans can be worn again the next day, but the shirt usually has dinner down the front (my 9 year old won’t wear a bib, but I wish he would).
We try to minimize our impact on the environment by using a front-load washer, full loads, environmentally-friendly soap, hanging laundry outdoors or in the garage, and choosing clothing that doesn’t require ironing. Even our work shirts and slacks look fresh-pressed with a few minutes in the dryer (after hanging to dry) with the new “wrinkle free” sizing they put in clothing.
I still hate laundry!
Totally agree with this. I like to air my clothes before wearing them again, either on the line outside or on the smaller line I strung up in the laundry room. It might not do anything other than just make me feel better, but it does seem like the clothes are fresher, and then I just hang them back up or fold them and put them away. Great post!