While it’s nice to buy a shirt or a pair of pants at a great sale price, there is more money to be saved in making your clothes last longer. Increasing the useful life of your clothes can easily be done if you keep these points in mind.
The biggest cause of wear and tear to clothing is the washer and dryer. The washer can twist and pull on clothes and the dryer breaks them down further. Take a look at all the lint in your dryer’s filter, that is fibers from your clothes and a sign of just how much it is wearing out your clothes.
So if the washer and dryer is causing most of the damage, what can you do to keep your clothes looking new for a longer time? First off, you might not need to wash your clothes every time you wear them. If you wear your shirts and jeans two times before washing, you’ll have instantly doubled the life of your clothes and save on your water usage. You obviously don’t want to overdo this, but there are some items that can help you get a couple wears out of your clothing. A lint roller can clean off a lot of the little bits of dust and pet hair. A Tide To Go pen is great for the occasional spot, you just rub the stick on to the stain and it disappears. And of course, making sure that you don’t smell will help ensure that your clothes don’t either. So on top of showering, deodorant and perfume or cologne wouldn’t hurt!
Even when you do wash your clothes, you can help protect them by washing in cold water on a delicate cycle. Turning your clothes inside-out before washing can protect their colours from fading. Using bleach, if safe for your clothing’s fabric type, is a great way to make white look brand new. And when it comes time to dry your clothes, line drying will keep them from the heat and agitation of the dryer. These steps will also save on your electricity and heating bills.
Some steps you can take with a sewing machine include resewing buttons back on, adding patches to jeans, and hemming pants up a quarter inch when the bottoms become worn. Making your clothes last longer is a great way to save money, both in your clothing budget and the reduced utility bills due to less laundry.
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With t-shirts and jeans I keep them for a long time, a lot of that has to do with the fact that I have a sentimental attachment to it. But I am not growing and they still fit so why get rid of them.
Exactly Craig, if you like something and take care of it enough to still be wearable, then why not keep wearing it? I don’t really understand the philosophy that if something is from last year, it is no longer in fashion and shouldn’t be worn.
I agree the washer and dryer really do a lot of damage to clothing. I wear suits a lot and they are never to be washed because the was will really ruin it. Even dry-cleaning is to be used sparingly. Instead, get a good clothes brush and be sure to brush them off after each wearing.
I don’t like the bleach advice, though. Bleach is really strong and it will weaken the fibers of the clothes. Have you ever spilled bleach on a sweater and seen how it will put a hole in it? Even diluted, the same weaking will happen.