Are you doing the laundry too often?

I like the idea of less laundry but what does Stella McCartney do about sweaty armpits? For jeans she recommends putting in freezer to kill germs. I foresee an over worked freezer stuffed with T-shirts and half melted peas and ice-cream

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Modern stuff sorts out most bodily functions and, if all else fails - there is always soap and water. :wink:

Someone in a sweaty situation will surely wear natural fibres - more appropriate and less harmful to the planet - if I have read the article correctly.

This “less laundry” move is just one idea to conserve/protect the environment and I reckon its certainly worth thinking about.

Is it necessary for folk to shower before bedtime, shower in the morning and put a complete set of clean clothes on - every day!

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Stella please come and talk to my sons they would benefit from your down to earth sense. I seem to leap from ‘when DID you last shower’ to ‘this is in the wash AGAIN’

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Something I have never forgotten from my childhood:

A friend’s brother was diagnosed as being too clean. Seems he was almost obsessive about soap and water. The Doctor said he must wash less often. (that’s how we kids understood it)

Using that lad as an example, my brothers tried to persuade my parents that they were actually healthier by keeping well away from soap :upside_down_face: - but it didn’t cut any ice - weekly bath and daily flannel attack.

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Are they of an age where they are conscious about our Planet and the Environment - ??

Our French neighbour marvels at the amount of clothes we wash, and we marvel at the fact that they seem to wash so few. Mind you, I think she discreetly dries their ‘smalls’ indoors rather than hang the undies on the line for all to see.
We have also noted that they have the habit of changing their clothes several times a day, and that they seem to have a set of clothes for going shopping, a set for DIY, a set for gardening, a set for receiving visiting relatives, and yet another set for going out in the car, so we can always tell by what they are wearing as to what their intended activity is at any particular time.

There is no doubt that machine washing and drying clothes does shorten their lifespan judging by the amount of fibres collected by the machine filters.

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They are seventeen, so both aware of the environment, however their clothes end up in the wash pretty regularly. I do want to be environmentally sensitive but I have to say the idea of going back to hand washing and rotating my clothes in the freezer (which needs to be treated with respect during the hot weather) fills me with dread. And what about shirts (for work) not to put too fine a point on it, they do get whiffy by the end of the day (this is husband not sons). We’re only four in the house now so not very much washing but modern conveniences are so convenient. I will even admit to using the tumble dryer when I have a lot and it’s raining. :pensive:

I think if everyone just took a moment to think about things and perhaps find one small way they could help - that is a good start.

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In our family clothes apart from knickers & socks could be “bench rested”, ie hung out to air for a while and then worn again.

And yes we do change clothes several times a day (although probably indistinguishable to anyone else as they all look similar) as this does save washing. Gardening trousers are worn until they walk to the machine of their own accord for example.

Very interesting that a fashion guru/designer ( or whichever), champions the non washing of clothes because they slowly disintegrate, and feed the residue into the water systems. She plies her wares which as a leading fashion designer will not be cheap will they. So only the materialistic people will, or can afford to spend on the products.
Those people in turn, wish to keep up with or ahead of the also-rans in fashion; thus will be buying new every year regardless of being worn out or not. ( the charity shops do well from this).
So really as she knows, her “argument” is a bit of a PR exercise. I mean she is a designer for Adidas, and other sportswear functions… do all the sporty people take off their sweaty garments, chuck them in the freezer for the morrow ?? - and whats interesting would she expect those sporty people to do such :smiley: :smiley:

:upside_down_face::wink::joy: It might be an idea for folk to read the article again as some seem to have misunderstood.

Stella McCartney: “Basically, in life, rule of thumb: if you don’t absolutely have to clean anything, don’t clean it.”

Which seems highly reasonable to me. :relaxed::relaxed::relaxed:

Mr Bergh says he never washes his jeans…
“Prof Groves agrees with Mr Bergh, and recommends sticking jeans in the freezer in order to kill germs instead.”

and there’s more… :wink:

Note to self - buy a bigger freezer :wink:

Hang on a minute Stella!

The problem with absolutes is that they leave no room for reasonable doubt, so they are self-evidently not “highly reasonable”. Reason requires a high level of scepticism.

If that argument goes over anybody’s head, just think about it.

And freezing does not “kill all germs”. I think that putting dirty clothing in a domestic fridge alongside foodstuffs is disgusting, unless people can afford to have refrigerated wardrobes, and have space for them, and no concern to conserve energy.

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Well actually I really wouldn’t put clothes in our freezer but if there are those who do, let them get on with it. I just don’t care…and anyway I’d rather stock ours up with raspberries and black currants at the moment :zipper_mouth_face:

I wonder how many **** restaurants save time and money by storing the sweaty under-garments, sweatbands and uniforms of their kitchen staff in the cold room instead of laundering them? I think we should be told :sweat_smile:

Non restaurant wear, ie. everyday clothes, are usually kept separate, in a different room , from cooking whites.
Whites need washing and I cannot imagine any restaurant suggesting that staff ‘wash’ their whites in a freezer.

Thank God that sound principles of hygienic living still have currency in some quarters, Jane. In my mind you are a paragon of domestic and professional virtue :hugs:

Seconded and while 30degree washing may clean clothes it does not kill bacteria etc either so then people add laundry sanitisers which enter the water courses.
I have often thought of utilising one of my sand filters to filter the water from washing clothes plates etc and re using it

Although we wash at 30 as per instructions, it has always puzzled me how we get away with steam ironing them, which of course will kill most bacteria

:upside_down_face::joy: Peter, I was pointing out that it was NOT Stella McCartney who advocated putting jeans in the FREEZER … it was some professor :upside_down_face::wink::rofl:
(who also never mentioned the word “fridge”)

My mother once told me - don’t bother with housework if the sun is shining, get out and enjoy it - which also seems highly reasonable to me. :relaxed::relaxed::laughing:

I find a lot of stuff “highly reasonable” - but I don’t expect others to agree - we are all so different in how we think :thinking::joy:… me, I laugh a lot. :joy::rofl::laughing::upside_down_face::wink: