Sustainable September 2018 Day 16

We ended up going from that walk afterall. The rain cleared up enough for a good five hour walk. 











We walked from Cardiff to Caerphilly yesterday. I’m a bit stiff and sore today though. 

Sustainable September idea for...

Day 16. Wash your clothes a lot less.

I started doing this with my jeans as it helps them to last longer. I let my jeans air out between wears. I decided to experiment. I wore my jeans regularly and waited 3 months to wash them. This may seem extreme but I ended up killing any bacteria (whenever the urge to wash them came around). 

If you are worried about bacteria and such, throw your clothes in a bag inside the freezer and let it sit in there for 24-48 hours. This helps kill the bacteria which makes the clothes smell. This is what I did with my jeans that I washed only every three months. 

You can also do this with a lot of other clothes, if they aren’t heavily soiled! If you air out the clothes you wear and wear them even twice instead of just once, you will save a lot of money as you will have to wash less frequently. This saves money because it reduces the amount of times you have to wash, and the power to do so and it saved the environment when it comes to chemicals that a lot of people use to wash their clothes. 

There are a few exceptions to this rule, underwear is one OBVIOUSLY, but the second is exercise/work out gear (like mine from yesterday). The last is if there is stains, spills, messes or heavy soiling. There have been a few times where I have had to wash my shirts after the first wear because I have been clumsy and spilled stuff on my shirts, or alternatively I’ve sat on or in something that leaves an embarrassing mark. You can also do “spot washes” which just clean up any small spills or messes. 

With my new job, in archaeology, there is some times where I have to wash my clothes as they are covered in mud, however this is not all the time. Sometimes it’s best to wear the same slightly grubby stuff to work again, instead of getting more clothes grubby. So I tend to wear my same work wear twice before washing this (this does not include socks & underwear). 

If this is too much of a change right away for you, how about making a small change, like changing your washing settings to cold wash. This will save your electricity bill and the environment as it requires a lot less energy. 

Or how about attempting a small experiment. Don’t wash your jeans for a week, or two. 
If you want more informtion check out this link by Wisebread.com.

I hope this finds you all well.
Love Daena xx