Depending on how you fill your washing machine, the sort of clothes you wear and how fresh you like your clothes, the average person does laundry anywhere between one to three times a week. While this may not seem like a lot, it adds up to between 50 and 150 laundry loads every year.
Surveys indicate that American households average five loads of laundry per week, with many families doing laundry more than once a day. By comparison, other countries such as France typically average more like three laundry loads each week.
Every time you wear them: tights, leggings, yoga pants, exercise clothing, T-shirts, socks undershirts/underpants and swimming suits. Every two days: hand towels and dish towels. Every three to four times you wear or use them: bath towels, bras, slips, dresses, sweaters, skirts, pajamas, slacks and jeans.
It turns out some items should be washed more often than once a week, while others can go longer between washes (hey, small victories). And really, when it comes to clothes, you should wash them based on the number of times you've worn them as opposed to the amount of time.
Shirts and blouses: after 1-2 wearings. Dress pants or slacks: after 2-3 wearings. Jeans: after 4-5 wearings. Sweaters: up to 6 wearings, if worn with an undershirt; 1-2 wearings if worn without an undershirt.
There's no hard and fast rule for how many times you can wear clothing again, but experts say there are a few types that should be washed after every use: underwear, socks, tights, leggings and activewear. This advice also applies to any other clothes with stains, sweat, odor or visible dirt, Mohammed said.
Per week. The general consensus on how many loads of laundry an average two-person home does is around three to five loads of laundry a week.
Everyday Wear
The clothes we wear to work or around the house can probably afford to go a few days between laundering—especially if you work from home. "If you're wearing something for a few hours, and not sweating, it's probably okay to wait 2 to 4 wears before washing. Or, after a full day's use," says Dr. Gonzalez.
For the average person, every other day, or every 2 to 3 days, without washing is generally fine. “There is no blanket recommendation. If hair is visibly oily, scalp is itching, or there's flaking due to dirt,” those are signs it's time to shampoo, Goh says.
Think you do a lot of laundry? You're not alone: Believe it or not, the average family does about 300 loads of laundry per year. That's about five loads every week! One way to cut back: Don't wash your clothes as often.
"When it comes to normal use, every two to three wears is fine. Obviously, that's not the case if it's a sports bra you're wearing to an intense gym class or if it's a hot summer's day. If you're particularly sweaty, you should wash the bra each wear," Lois explains.
Everyday laundry also makes folding, ironing, and hanging easier because you'll only handle a few items at a time. If you have kids who keep changing clothes frequently, everyday laundry is the best option for you since it enables you to keep up with your laundry.
Any item that collects a lot of sweat (and potentially bacteria) should be washed after each use, like socks and underwear. Other items like button up shirts and chinos can be washed as early as every other wear. Jeans can be washed inside-out every 4-5 wears as long as they're not raw denim.
The average household washes 7.4 loads -- about 50 pounds of laundry -- per week. Women do 88 percent of the laundry. Fifty percent of all loads are washed in warm water, 35 percent in cold and 15 percent in hot. Ninety percent of all wash loads are put in a dryer.
As a general rule, laundromats are most crowded on weekends. Since most people work Monday to Friday, they save their visits to the laundromat for Saturday or Sunday. According to American Coin-Op's survey of self-service laundries, Sunday tends to be a bit busier than Saturday.
Winter peak hours are earlier in the morning, between about 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. During these hours, individuals are turning their heat up to warm up their home after the cold night. For this reason, if you choose to wash your laundry later in the day, especially in the evening, it can help you save money.
On that note, washing the clothes is not everyone's cup of tea but it's an ab-maker exercise for sure! An hour of doing laundry by hand is equivalent to a core exercise while lifting weights. It may be a strenuous activity but burns calories like melting them!
Depending on how much clothing you own and how big your household is, you may only have to do laundry every few weeks–even once a month! But if you have children or try to keep a minimal closet, you may find yourself doing laundry much more often.
“Washing our clothes too often is the number one reason they lose color and shape,” says Frej Lewenhaupt, co-founder and CEO of Steamery. It's also wasteful. The average washing machine runs through 23 gallons of water per load, and older models even more.
Outer clothes like dress shirts and khakis can be worn a few times before washing unless it is hot out and you are sweating or they are visibly dirty or stained. Jeans can typically be worn 3 times before washing. Leggings and tights should be washed after every wear to get rid of the baggy knees.
A good rule of thumb is to wash your jeans after every 3-10 wears, or when they start to smell. If you're regularly active in your jeans (think: manual work, anything where you work up a sweat), wash them every 3 wears, but if you're working at a desk, you can probably go through multiple wears without washing.
Change and wash your workout clothes, swimwear, and underwear after every wear. Casual and formal clothes can last up to five times wearing them. Coats, jackets, parkas, hats, gloves, and other accessories can be laundered once a season.
When to wash. Rossi generally tells his patients they should wash their hair once or twice per week. But if you've had chemical treatments that can make your hair drier — such as bleach, perms or relaxers — you might want to wash it less than once weekly to avoid breaking or brittle hair or split ends, he said.