09 Jan 2007 03:17 PM

Make Your Clothes Last Longer

by Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger

     

hanging pants My husband and I have a reputation for wearing clothes until they fall apart. Witness that in my earlier blog, New Uses for Old Jeans. Just the other month, I had to leave a note on one of his t-shirts that said "Please release me, let me go." The shirt was so bad that I left the note sticking out from inside a hole in the front.

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There are some ways to ensure that your clothes last as long as possible. If you care for your clothes well, you can stretch their useable life quite a bit.

The biggest thing that we do to wear our our clothes is to put them in the dryer. Even on low heat, dyers wreck havoc on fabric. Most of the time you find a hole in a sock it isn't after a day of wearing it but as you are folding it warm from the dryer. You know all of that lint that you clean from the dryer filter? It used to be fibers in your clothing. Think of how many bags of lint your clothes lose in a year.

Our old dryer was particularly vicious. It massacred one particular sock so well that we've save it as a souvenir, or a reminder to replace inefficient or potentially lethal appliances. Hang your clothes, and you will save them to clothe you another day.

The second biggest thing we do to wear out our clothes is...you guessed it...wash them. Every wash leeches color and fibers from your clothing. There is not much you can do to get around this one, unless you want to alienate everyone around you with smell. You can wash them in cold water. You can wash them on the gentle cycle with gentle detergent or you can wear them more than once before washing.

I've never been good at the wear it more than once strategy. I find that men are a little more open to this method. In our house, the females and the baby wear things once before a wash, while the males do the smell test. I won't go into detail on exactly what the smell test is. Chances are you either do it yourself or have seen it done in your household.

Do you do the smell test? What are your favorite ways to make your clothes last longer?

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Learn more about Mary Ann Romans

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Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat. The goldfish, alas, has passed away.

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10 comments so far

Andrea Hermitt (4653) 09 Jan 2007 08:07 PM

The smell test? I don't think so... I gave that up years ago. I smelled something I don't want to remember. The rule in doubt around here is when in doubt, wash it.

Jeans, sweaters, and suits do get multiple wears though. Great article.

Mary Ann Romans (18559) 10 Jan 2007 04:12 AM

Any tips on getting other people in your family to give up the smell test? Thanks so much for your comments, Andrea!

jonesx6 (1260) 10 Jan 2007 12:56 PM

A quick comment! I am a Tide user! Tide helps get out stains and I have found that my clothes "last longer." I pay more money for it but it works the best!! Another observation with laundry is to wash with like fabrics. I don't wash jeans with towels, etc

Laura (the laundry queen) lol

Mary Ann Romans (18559) 10 Jan 2007 01:57 PM

Laura, I use powdered tide, but I find that it doesn't always dissolve in cold water--should I use less maybe?

jonesx6 (1260) 11 Jan 2007 06:13 AM

Mary Ann, I don't use cold water when I do laundry. I use warm and then rinse on cold. I usually buy powder Tide, but liquid has been on sale. lol When powder doesn't dissolve I put my hand in the washing machine and just swish the detergent until it dissolves. Hope that helps. Laura

Mary Ann Romans (18559) 11 Jan 2007 10:47 AM

Thanks Laura! I appreciate the tips!

Julie Gentry (5734) 11 Jan 2007 04:36 PM

When we lived in Japan, there was no hot water option for clothes. Before then, I'd always washed on warm. Now, I only wash the stinky stuff on hot or warm. Everything else gets just as clean on cold. And I'm only using half the amount of recommended soap. Hasn't made a difference, except in my budget.

Mary Ann Romans (18559) 11 Jan 2007 05:59 PM

Julie, Do you use a powdered soap? Wow Japan--that must have been so enriching!

Julie Gentry (5734) 11 Jan 2007 06:57 PM

No, I have a front loader (love my Neptune!) so I use liquid. I *do* use borax as a booster, but that costs me about $2 a month.

Mary Ann Romans (18559) 12 Jan 2007 04:50 AM

Julie--when we move, we will have to look into a new washer/dryer set. I have heard that the Neptune is very efficient!

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