I love everything in my closet; I try to make a point of not buying anything I can’t see myself still wearing in a year. Or two. Or, in some cases, 15. (I have a cashmere twinset that I bought in 1997. Still wearing it! Go me.)
In order to make things last, I hand wash a majority of my wardrobe — everything from pricey pieces, like my cashmere sweaters and washable silk blouses to super cheap shorts and tees. Why bother? Because no matter what the price point of my clothes, I want them to last as long as possible, with no shrinking or fading or excessive wear and tear.
These shorts do not do in the washing machine. Ever.
Things I make a point of hand-washing: Cashmere sweaters, bras, anything I don’t want to accidentally shrink, anything that would need to be ironed if it went in the washing machine (hand washing leaves things less wrinkled).
Things I do not hand wash: Running clothes, underwear, basic workhorse tees, anything belonging to my husband and children (although my husband’s fancy pants cycling kit doesn’t go in the dryer and he sends his dress shirts to the laundry because they do a better job, of course). Swimsuits — mine and theirs — go in the washing machine, in a lingerie bag, but get line dried. My jeans also go in the machine, inside out, and are hung to dry. Everyone else’s jeans? In the dryer, baby. Always.
(The dryer actually does the most damage to your clothes. Where do you think all that lint comes from? It’s your clothes, slowly disintegrating! Which is just sad.)
I typically do my hand-wash laundry once a week, often early in the morning when no one else is awake yet. It takes me maybe 40 minutes to launder everything I wear during the week. Here’s how I hand wash, in five easy steps.
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Perfect! I was going to ask you how you did this – my husband is in charge of laundry, and while he does a GREAT job, once in a while things that shouldn’t be dried get tossed in….oops! Thanks, Susan!
Thanks for these tips. I wash most clothes in the washing machine because I feel like it gets them cleaner than I can by hand. I hang most of my clothes to dry and think that helps alot on reducing wear. During the winter I hand wash sweaters & go through tons of towels blotting them and laying them out to dry. Especially since you’re doing a bunch at a time, how do you deal with this & how do you have enough room to lie everything flat?
On a side note, I have to say Susan, I just love reading your posts, where ever they are. I love your style and sense of humor and tips. I used to keep up on lots of blogs and I’ve stopped reading most of them as I got tired or bored with what they’re writing about but I still love whatever you’ve got so keep it coming! Thanks!
Gina! You’re so nice! Thank you!
I hear you about the washing machine getting things cleaner — that’s why my running gear ALWAYS goes in the machine (because ick). The dryer is what does the most damage to your clothes, so machine washing and line drying is a good alternative, and a nice way to preserve things you really like.
When I hand wash, I toss the towels in the dryer after I’m done, often with other laundry that has been in the washer; I’ll also lay things out on top of the dryer while it’s running to speed drying. I hang things from the shower curtain bar in our guest bath (classy!) and lay the flat things on more towels on the floor in the guest room. So no laundry when we have company.
OOH, good idea to use the floor of the guest room! thanks.
I wash most of my nice clothes (and even my kids nice clothes) in the washer on delicate and hang dry or dry flat on these stackable sweater dryer things. Sometimes I even get crazy and dry things flat for a day or so and then hang them dry.
If I want to put them in the dryer for a bit to get out the crinklies or wrinkles, I throw in a handful of already dry washcloths or handtowels to speed things along.
Hi, I was the person who left a comment on Maggie’s blog wondering how you did all of this. Thanks for the info -your reasoning makes perfect sense. I air dry as much as I can because of the damage dryers can do. I live in the southwest so things dry outside in no time (have an enclosed private walled patio so I don’t scare the neighbors). Love your blog and style!
Thank you for sharing hand wash tricks. I would hand wash, but after that I put them in a mesh washing bag in the washer, set the washer at dedicates and spin only. Would this be OK to my clothes (mostly silk, wool, cashmere)?