“his means that my wardrobe is intentionally matched to the laundry cycle. There’s really no reason to have more clothes than that.”

Oh my goodness you’re such a guy! I don’t thing that there is any woman, frugal or not, that would see things that way.

I don’t have a heap of clothes but neither is my closet empty on laundry day.

I need to do what you mentioned in the article…take off my “good” clothes when I come home from work in order to preserve them, then wear my “play clothes” at home. I should, but I don’t because I am a touch too lazy. I hope I get on board soon though so that I don’t have to shop for new clothes as often.
Yvie

This topic is likely to bring out all sorts of strong reactions. Those who would feel nasty wearing anything more than once and those who comfortably rewear items. I think we can all agree on fresh under garments and socks daily, and after that it all depends on the heat/sweat factor in your region, and the type of work you do (mechanic vs office worker).

My young daughter has a quick bath each night before bed to remove the playground dirt the sweat from Tae Kwan Do she does 3-4 times a week. PJs can therefore be worn at least 2-3 times as they go on after bathing and never have food or playground dirt on them. My teen aged son showers every morning and puts on a fresh tshirt socks and boxers but the hoodies and jeans get multiple outings before going into the laundry basket. My husband wears dress pants/shirt/tie to work and switches to khakis and a golf shirt every evening. The dress pants to the the cleaner once a month, he has 10 dress shirts (1/day for two weeks. Wash and repeat). I have a sensible work wardrobe of washable dresspants, Tshirts and sweaters, but have been working at home for the past 10 months. I am dangerously close to wearing out my favourite sweatpants and tshirts as I now live in my “play clothes”.

Jacob, do you use a washing machine or have you fashioned a bucket+plunger system?

I find the clothes made from synthetic materials that you can often find in camping stores great for extended wearing. I have pair of nylon pants that are my favorite — extremely comfortable, can convert to shorts as needed, don’t stain, and can be washed with just water (they dry really fast too).

@Yvie: “I don’t thing that there is any woman, frugal or not, that would see things that way.”

I’m a woman and I see things that way 🙂

I read your blog regularly and sometimes I’m amazed with the advise. Most things you say is common sens and they are how people live in most places around the globe. I live in Central Europe and maybe things are just different here than in the US. I don’t know a single person who owns a dryer. Everone line dry their lundry, despite the fact that we have cold winters and many people live in the appartments. It’s still norm to have day/school cloaths and home/play cloaths. It’s a norm not do your lundry every single day. Lots of other things that you talk about on your blog is the norm.
I’m really stunned when I sometimes see a comment saying that your advice is so great. I have impression that some people just don’t think or are too lazy to make an effort to think.
I still think your blog is great since it helps so many people to realise that life can be less complicated and much cheaper, but I can’t stop to be amazed at times … 🙂

I’m amazed too by the fact that it’s illegal, in some places, to line dry clothes; how can less energy usage not be encouraged everywhere?

[…] Dont wash your clothes every day […]

This is a site dedicated to line drying clothes –

http://www.laundrylist.org/

Oh yes, I definitely agree with you that people do laundry way too often! I cloth diaper my kids and have lots of extra laundry to do because of that, but even so, I find myself washing far fewer loads than some. Some people I know put things in the wash after an hour of wearing them. Forget the wear and tear on the clothes- why are you paying the electric and water bill for that?

Anyhow, I’m new to your blog and really glad I discovered it!

Line drying became coded as “poor” in the USA–perhaps because of all the pictures of tenements from the early 20th century. Breast feeding has been similarly coded as poor. Interesting, I think–in how public displays of either are treated in communities.

Jenn said: “I think we can all agree on fresh under garments and socks daily,”

Not me. I agree with underwear daily (although in a pinch I have turned a pair inside out and worn them a second time), but I wear my socks more than once. That’s because I wear my socks ONLY when I’m wearing my shoes. As soon as I get home from work, the shoes and socks come off. I have a different pair of socks that I wear with my running shoes, and I wear them more than once b/c I only where them when I’m running.

I don’t agree with Jacob’s idea of having the number of clothes to match the laundry cycle. I’ve had occasions when my clothes weren’t dry by the next day (on a drying rack inside during a damp, cold Oregon winter). So, I will wash when I still have a couple of days of stuff left. But I don’t use a machine. I wash by hand in the sink or in a five-gallon bucket. So, when I have two pairs of underwear left, I’ll wash some underwear so that if they take more than a day to dry, I should be OK.

When I read the comment about line drying being illegal I had a very hard time to believe that…

But then, I hear a lot of hard-to-believe-things from the US.
If I already feel Germany to be way over-regulated and partly oppressive, what would I do in the US?
Better not go there, latin america seems to be a lot more relaxed. 😉
Actually, my little brother has chosen “simple life”, with assignments in Siberia, Ecuador (2years) and now Guatemala, and although standard of living is fairly low – water? Safely drinkable? Better care of that yourself… reliable electricity? Did you say reliable? – he is not complaining. When I saw him last christmas, he told me what he liked about europe: that you could rely on everything to be working as intended. The next sentence, that he would never trade his freedom for that.

Back to topic:
I too have the impression you cannot get decent clothing any more. If I buy jeans, they wear out in less than a year, regardless of their price – 10€ oder 90€, there is no difference.
On the other hand, I seem to walk a lot more than most people, and seem to do so at a much higher pace (that is, I walk! Others creep. There should be a minimum speed on sidewalks…) The same with shoes: I used to buy high quality, all leather (usually 100€+), but soles continued ti wear out after a couple of months. Fitting a new sole every three moths or so is a.) inconvenient (shoe-makers tend to have opening hours that are incompatible with my duty hours) and b.) more expensive than buing a cheap pair of shoes at Deichmann (30€) and disposing of them when worn out and buying new.
It’s a pity.

You mentioned that some advise is illegal. Recently talked to a person living in the Texas drought. She said the entire yard is almost dead. I suggested that she hook the hose to the rinse cycle of her washer and use it to water the grass instead of just letting it go underground. Answer…illegal. How bad do things have to get before people start doing what makes sense?

“It is obvious from the accumulating lint that drying wears the clothes down.”

I always thought that was the accumulated dust, etc. on the clothes (for the most part). That’s why I always thought that a drying machine gets clothes the cleanest.

Wool clothes can be worn repeatedly, even socks; I wear wool dress socks 3 or 4 times before they start to smell! I dry clean my wool trousers maybe once per season. Woolen clothes do cost more, but they last long and look nice and don’t need much washing.

I grew up feeling weird about wearing jeans two or three times before washing them, and now I wear them straight through and only wash when laundry day rolls around (approx. every two weeks, like Jacob). Of course, I’m only wearing them in the evenings and weekends, since I can’t wear them to work. I don’t wash anything unless it’s visibly dirty or smells, so work pants/skirts/cardigans/dresses get probably 7 or 8 wears, and even work tops get a couple. I will re-wear socks sometimes, because I’m apparently the opposite of veganprimate and will only wear them around the house (in the winter, to keep my feet warm); most of my shoes are worn without socks. I even re-wear workout clothes once or twice, because they’re just going to get smelly and gross anyway, so it doesn’t really matter if they’re that way to start.

What do you guys do when the pollen is bad? I’d love to dry clothes outside but we have allergies and I’m not sure how to make this work.

I like to avoid driers wherever possible and to line dry in my back garden.
However the drier is handy in the middle of the winter.
I always put a new t-shirt on every day, that’s the layer that gets sweaty.

Back in the 1950s when I grew up Mum would only wash our woollen clothes at the end of winter and I was amazed when friends’ mothers washed theirs once a fortnight. It seemed so extravagant and unnecessary. But we were talking about proper wool, not synthetic garments which tend to smell and absorb dirt faster. We did spot clean whenever it was needed, daily if necessary.

And after a lifetime of hanging clothes outside to dry I am still doing so and don’t even own a drier.