It's All About the Pants - Laundry Survey

Trout learned an important lesson this morning after yet another meltdown about pants. This time, it was specifically that she didn't have any clean pants to wear, a result of most of her dirty clothes residing on her floor rather than in the hamper, which I empty and wash. She knows that the rule is I'm not chasing clothes - if she wants them washed, they have to be put in the hamper. Anyway, I told her that she had three possible solutions: wear a dress (nope, PE day), wear one of the three brand new pairs of sweatpants that were currently on the bottom of her bed waiting for her to take the tags off and put in the laundry (but they haven't been washed and are slightly too long!), or pull a dirty pair out, give them the sniff test, and wear one. The third option she deemed positively the height of grossness, even when I told her that both her father and I routinely wear our pants two days before washing except in case of misadventure, and that when she's in college if they didn't walk by themselves they'd be deemed clean enough to wear. It's amusing that she finds wearing the pants more than one day before washing them offensive, because if I had a dollar for every time I've had to force her to change her underwear every day she'd have enough pants that I'd never have to do laundry at all. Anyway, I refused to engage her and made BigDaddyFish deal with her while I got the other two kids ready to go to school. He eventually convinced her to put on one of the pairs of sweatpants and go to school.

So, in honor of overworked launderers everywhere, how often do you wear your clothes before washing? I'm not talking about underwear of course - if you don't change those every day I don't want to know about it - but pants and sweaters and jackets and other things that aren't getting dirty or stinky with the same rate as things that touch your skin. How many days can you get out of a pair of jeans? Inquiring minds want to know. And please speak up; there just may be a prize in it somewhere, and it'll be better than laundry detergent.

Comments

[hokgardner]

I'll wear jeans and pants and shorts a couple of times (maybe three) before washing them. I can only wear shirts one day, if that, because of the small people in the house smearing things on them all the time.

[Shannon]

My kids and I all wear our pants at least twice, sometimes 3 times before throwing them in the wash. And sweatshirts/jackets, at least a week. Unless of course, the toddler dumps something all over one of us, then it's straight into the washing machine. :)

[De in D.C.]

Heck, I'll wear work-pants & skirts a dozen times before washing them, providing I didn't have any accidents or drag a hem or something. It's not like I'm sweating through my pants sitting in my temperature-controlled cube. Shirts I'll do 3-4 times if they aren't sweaty, and regular pants maybe 4-5 times. I tend to change clothes a lot depending on what I'm doing, so it's rare I'll wear an outfit sun up to sun down. What I'm saying is, 5 days for a pair of pants isn't really 5 days, it's more like 3 days ;)

I only let the boy wear stuff once before washing. That kid is stiiiiiinky!! (Ok, maybe twice for a pair of shorts, but that's it!)

[angi]

Jeans get worn a few times by the adults, but the kids all manage to get the dirty every single day - ugh! If they do manage to keep them clean, I would make them re-wear them another day too. Jackets & sweaters they wear until they get them obviously dirty & you know that is not very long :)

[Sue @ Laundry for Six]

We mostly wear things at least twice. But I have one child who REFUSES to put anything on again that has been worn, even for an hour. So...shhh... don't tell, but I throw those clothes in the dryer with a sheet of Bounce and put them back in his dresser.

[Stacy]

Depends on the time of year really -- summer = more sweat & smell, in winter clothes last longer. I've been known to wear something more than two days in a row. That's all I'll say.

[ktjrdn]

I very rarely wash jackets. Only when the dirt becomes visible. Pants get worn two or 3 days depending on the type. I have some pants that are strtchy and look lkike they're been worn after wearing them. They just don't fit right again until they've been washed. Shirts depend on length of time worn. But they mostly get washed every time though, because my husband is a freak and rounds up the dirty laundry too often. And then my mostly clean clothes get piled in the laundry room with all the not clean at all clothes and they have to be washed. But I don't complain about that at all. It could be worse.

The kids don't ever get to wear anything twice yet. They're much too dirty for that.