Reducing energy bills

[watervole]

 The simplest way of reducing your hot water usage is this:

Only wash clothes when they actually need it.
People develop a habit of flinging clothes in the laundry after a single wear. But, if you stick to wearing natural fibres on the layer next to the skin - which creates a breathable layer that wicks away moisture and body odour - then you can easily wear the same clothes for long time without any smell.
I usually wear a cotton T-shirt under whatever else I'm wearing. I give it a sniff under the arm pits in the morning. If it's fine (and it's usually smell-free for about a week if I air it on the back of a chair overnight), then I wear it again.

The clothes worn over the t-shirt (again, stick to natural fibres) can go even longer without washing. A good wool jumper may only need washing once a year - unless it gets dirty from an external source.

Comments

[igenlode]

Quite a lot of my clothes (e.g. velvet jacket) are simply not washable and therefore have to be kept scrupulously clean. People tend to be horrified when I tell them that I own items of clothing that I have never, ever washed (and that may be about fifty years old and have never been washed in that time!), but they don't find the condition of the garments in question revolting when they don't know about them.

On the other hand, perhaps because I have greasy skin, I can't wear a shirt more than about twice before it starts getting visible marks round the collar (which is a pain when it comes to hand-wash-only clothing -- it means they tend to spend far more time waiting to be spot-cleaned and hung out on the line than they do actually hanging in the wardrobe...) And I can't wear even short-sleeve thermals more than one day before they get yellow rings under the armpits; underwear really does need to be changed every time it's worn. That's what it is *for*, after all -- to protect the rest of your clothing.

But trousers really don't need washing at all unless you are getting them muddy (or are habitually careless in your lavatory habits!) -- knees aren't sweaty or greasy, and again you have socks and pants acting as protection.

[lilysea]

All my clothing is natural fibres, zero synthetics

I have skin issues (psoriasis, eczema) and a tendency to fungal infections

and I live in a hot climate (Australia) and sweat a lot

if I wear something for more than one day before washing it, I get skin irritation and often fungal infections

on the other hand, 100% of my washing is cold-water-machine-washing...

[kerravonsen]

Oh yes, I always cold-water wash too.

[ranunculus]

On the Ranch it is hard to calibrate washing. I change my t-shirt every time I shower which is every second or third day unless it is really hot and and I'm sweating a bunch. Pants often go for a week. I really should put the ones I'm wearing now into the wash. They smell of chain oil from the chainsaw and woodchips. -- but I'm off to groom the horse and get hair all over me so... In fact I probably don't do laundry quite often enough for my lifestyle, a product of looking at clothing and thinking: I'm just going to go out and get these really dirty again tomorrow....
I have started keeping a set of "going to town" clothes that are clean and reasonably new.

[igenlode]

That sounds like the traditional solution -- you have your 'work clothes' that don't get washed because they're only going to get messed up again immediately, and then your 'Sunday best' for the occasions when you actually need to be presentable...

[ranunculus]

Yes, very traditional and practical.
We also are using low water machines, though that extends was times which must use more power.