for real tho, this is advice I wish I had about one week into having a newborn.
Absolutely terrified during his first blowout. “Put it allin the washing machine with baby-sensitive detergent” It was about an hour of fear that I just got liquid poo mixed in everything.
Goddamn, did that ever make me respect the washing machine. Detergent, water, and spinning. Cat barfs on blanket? Washing machine. Kid barfs on everyone’s clothes during his first real illness? Washing machine. Unknown Substance #1143 that smells worse than it looks? Washing machine.
Don’t even need to use anything other than cold water. No colors or shrinking to worry about that way.
We were traveling in the UK and stayed with some family and we needed to do laundry pretty bad and they had a washer dryer combo machine. Obviously it was still wet afterwards, and we hung it to finish drying.
I have 3 kids and do the laundry on Wednesday and Sunday, about 3-4 loads each time. Everything gets hang-dried except towels, socks, pyjama-pants, and men’s undies, which go in one big late-night load in the dryer when the juice is cheap.
It takes 2 small clothes horses in my laundry room. Not a huge basement.
Only time I’m doing lots of drying is when I’m washing sheets, which is probably less often than I should.
I don’t think it really matters if your shirt is wrinkled*. I used to work a suit and tie job in a past life, while the suit part would get regularly dry cleaned, the inner button down shirt and slacks would get washed and dried with the rest of the laundry and never ironed. Nobody ever said, emailed, sticky noted a damn thing that affected my career or social work-life sooo ¯_(ツ)_/¯
*Except the following groups: Politicians, Celebrities, Rich people, Executives.
I like to look sharp and dress nicely, not to advance a career, if I do it at work it’s really just for my colleagues and for the hell of rocking something with style. Outside of work too
I feel like creased clothed would nullify any fashion reaches whether it’s nice shoes, a peculiar and unique shirt or a cool blouse; put on a creased shirt and it makes or break the line between “a bold choice” to “ah, that man dressed like he doesn’t know what he’s doing”
I feel like that’s a bit different, if it’s something you enjoy that’s great!
What I was more against was when people make ironing out to be some requirement of life, another chore that needs to be done just like the dishes or laundry itself.
You misunderstood, I’m definitely pro-dishwasher and have seen both of TC’s dishwasher videos.
“You’re just being lazy” is a common argument anti-dishwashers bring up along with the (Incorrect) “It’s faster to hand wash”
However, that being said, being greener isn’t why I’m pro-dishwasher. It’s because it saves time I can use for anything else
It’s a waste of time to hang dry, it’s a 5-10x increase over just shoving them in the dryer, hitting start and going off to do whatever. It’s simply inefficient to spend time hanging clothes to dry.
Yes, but in this case there are actual measurable benefits to hang-drying besides financial cost. Unlike the dishwasher, hang drying is measurably greener. And also it tends to prolong the life of your clothes.
This is a case where “being lazy” has a real trade-off, like fixing yourself a meal from proper ingredients vs nuking a TV dinner.
Probably, but not enough to really matter at the end of the day when the vast majority of pollution is by the hands of corporations not not the general public. If every single one of us “regular folk” lived perfectly green lives, it would barely nudge the needle. That’s just the sad reality we have to deal with.
That’s not to say you should go out and do the opposite just because it doesn’t matter, just that it’s not a slam dunk argument by any means.
And also it tends to prolong the life of your clothes.
I briefly researched this to try to come up with some studies on this. There aren’t any with Hang Dry vs Dryer, although I did find one that concluded that cold and fast washing increased longevity.
The real culprit for longevity is cheap shit vs quality, the vast majority of clothing for my family is tshirts, hoodies and jeans with a scattering of “specialized” clothing (Slacks, lingerie, delicates, dress clothing etc.)
And I can say that cheap and/or fast fashion crap are the only things I’ve ever seen that actually have a significant shortened life when going through the wash/dry cycle. And usually within weeks.
Quality jeans and cotton tshirts I’ve got have been going on 5+ years just fine. I don’t even buy clothes for replacement that often, mostly just because it looks nice and caught my eye or something. Hell, I’m wearing a hoodie rn that’s going on 10 years and it’s never known a single day on the line and it’s going strong. Maybe it’s a little more faded than when it was new, but it’s been so long I can’t even remember.
And then it’s also incredibly subjective to each person, where’s the line of what’s “unwearable” is it the second elastic starts being a little deformed or can you go a bit longer? Is it when tiny holes start showing up or is it not until it’s obviously torn and tattered?
AFAIC any piece of clothing that lasts more than 4 or 5 years is on bonus time, after that point I’ve gotten my value out of it so sacrificing upwards of 20 minutes every load to maybe get another 1 or 2 out of it is an utter waste (and even that is debatable, what studies I did find on longevity pointed to quality of manufacturing (aka stop buying the cheap shit) and washing on cold)
If it doesn’t survive the machines, it doesn’t belong in my house
Message sponsored by the dishwasher/washing machine/dryer gang
Same with toddler toys:
“It can go in the dishwasher, the washing machine, or the garbage”.
for real tho, this is advice I wish I had about one week into having a newborn.
Absolutely terrified during his first blowout. “Put it allin the washing machine with baby-sensitive detergent” It was about an hour of fear that I just got liquid poo mixed in everything.
Goddamn, did that ever make me respect the washing machine. Detergent, water, and spinning. Cat barfs on blanket? Washing machine. Kid barfs on everyone’s clothes during his first real illness? Washing machine. Unknown Substance #1143 that smells worse than it looks? Washing machine.
Don’t even need to use anything other than cold water. No colors or shrinking to worry about that way.
I remember those days, having to remind myself that the relief of “whew, it’s just urine” is not okay.
I tried the reddit advice of cold water and sadly it definitely left stains that would’ve been cleaned otherwise
Try these tips:
https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1197225554#:~:text=Wash your clothes in warm,Use your washer’s express cycle.
This is excellent
Hang drying and you don’t need to iron. (And clothes hold longer and needs a few kW/h less power).
You just need full acre of basement for that.
What? This is how most people in European cities dry their clothes and I guarantee they all have smaller houses than in American cities
Just needs a clotheshorse which is like the size of a table
Wait, they’re called clotheshorses? I just called them drying racks
I’d go with clothes horse or maiden, to me a drying rack is for dishes
I hang mine on four door-mounted clothehangers, it takes up less space
2m² and only temporary.
And infinity time.
We were traveling in the UK and stayed with some family and we needed to do laundry pretty bad and they had a washer dryer combo machine. Obviously it was still wet afterwards, and we hung it to finish drying.
And left two days later with damp clothes.
I have 3 kids and do the laundry on Wednesday and Sunday, about 3-4 loads each time. Everything gets hang-dried except towels, socks, pyjama-pants, and men’s undies, which go in one big late-night load in the dryer when the juice is cheap.
It takes 2 small clothes horses in my laundry room. Not a huge basement.
Only time I’m doing lots of drying is when I’m washing sheets, which is probably less often than I should.
Unless it’s raining all week.
Hang inside.
And now I have basement mold.
You guys still get rain?
Yeah, usually when we try to dry clothes. The other thing we have are storms that can spread your clothes to all of your neighbor’s houses.
Nobody has time for that lmao, it takes what 10-20 minutes to hang up a full load?
When I can just toss everything from the washer into the dryer and hit Start in <1 minute? Lol
Yeah but ironing
Screw ironing, I don’t even own an iron and I never will
I feel like this sounds great until we see a picture of one of your shirts
I don’t think it really matters if your shirt is wrinkled*. I used to work a suit and tie job in a past life, while the suit part would get regularly dry cleaned, the inner button down shirt and slacks would get washed and dried with the rest of the laundry and never ironed. Nobody ever said, emailed, sticky noted a damn thing that affected my career or social work-life sooo ¯_(ツ)_/¯
*Except the following groups: Politicians, Celebrities, Rich people, Executives.
I mean some people like clothes
I like to look sharp and dress nicely, not to advance a career, if I do it at work it’s really just for my colleagues and for the hell of rocking something with style. Outside of work too
I feel like creased clothed would nullify any fashion reaches whether it’s nice shoes, a peculiar and unique shirt or a cool blouse; put on a creased shirt and it makes or break the line between “a bold choice” to “ah, that man dressed like he doesn’t know what he’s doing”
I feel like that’s a bit different, if it’s something you enjoy that’s great!
What I was more against was when people make ironing out to be some requirement of life, another chore that needs to be done just like the dishes or laundry itself.
deleted by creator
You’re just reusing the same argument as the anti-dishwasher people
Nothing to do with laziness and everything to do with having higher priorities that could use that 10-20 minutes on top of just plain efficiency gains
Dishwashers are actually greener than hand-washing. Do I have to link the TechnologyConnections video?
You misunderstood, I’m definitely pro-dishwasher and have seen both of TC’s dishwasher videos.
“You’re just being lazy” is a common argument anti-dishwashers bring up along with the (Incorrect) “It’s faster to hand wash”
However, that being said, being greener isn’t why I’m pro-dishwasher. It’s because it saves time I can use for anything else
It’s a waste of time to hang dry, it’s a 5-10x increase over just shoving them in the dryer, hitting start and going off to do whatever. It’s simply inefficient to spend time hanging clothes to dry.
Yes, but in this case there are actual measurable benefits to hang-drying besides financial cost. Unlike the dishwasher, hang drying is measurably greener. And also it tends to prolong the life of your clothes.
This is a case where “being lazy” has a real trade-off, like fixing yourself a meal from proper ingredients vs nuking a TV dinner.
Probably, but not enough to really matter at the end of the day when the vast majority of pollution is by the hands of corporations not not the general public. If every single one of us “regular folk” lived perfectly green lives, it would barely nudge the needle. That’s just the sad reality we have to deal with.
That’s not to say you should go out and do the opposite just because it doesn’t matter, just that it’s not a slam dunk argument by any means.
I briefly researched this to try to come up with some studies on this. There aren’t any with Hang Dry vs Dryer, although I did find one that concluded that cold and fast washing increased longevity.
The real culprit for longevity is cheap shit vs quality, the vast majority of clothing for my family is tshirts, hoodies and jeans with a scattering of “specialized” clothing (Slacks, lingerie, delicates, dress clothing etc.)
And I can say that cheap and/or fast fashion crap are the only things I’ve ever seen that actually have a significant shortened life when going through the wash/dry cycle. And usually within weeks.
Quality jeans and cotton tshirts I’ve got have been going on 5+ years just fine. I don’t even buy clothes for replacement that often, mostly just because it looks nice and caught my eye or something. Hell, I’m wearing a hoodie rn that’s going on 10 years and it’s never known a single day on the line and it’s going strong. Maybe it’s a little more faded than when it was new, but it’s been so long I can’t even remember.
And then it’s also incredibly subjective to each person, where’s the line of what’s “unwearable” is it the second elastic starts being a little deformed or can you go a bit longer? Is it when tiny holes start showing up or is it not until it’s obviously torn and tattered?
AFAIC any piece of clothing that lasts more than 4 or 5 years is on bonus time, after that point I’ve gotten my value out of it so sacrificing upwards of 20 minutes every load to maybe get another 1 or 2 out of it is an utter waste (and even that is debatable, what studies I did find on longevity pointed to quality of manufacturing (aka stop buying the cheap shit) and washing on cold)
ETA: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0143720819320431
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652622010186