The DISGUSTING truth about Laundry
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- Опубліковано 23 лип 2024
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Modern laundry is gross. Historic laundry is less gross.
00:00 - 03:46 - Introduction
03:47 - 12:55 - Part 1: Clothing Integrity & Laundry
12:56 - 18:47 - Part 2: Effectiveness (or lack there of)
18:48 - 29:45 - Part 3: Environmental Impact of Laundry
@NicoleRudolph 's Video on Laundry: • Cotton Fabric 101: Sup...
Biblio:
Christine McGaffey Frederick, Household Engineering; Scientific Management in the Home; A Correspondence Course on the Application of the Principles of Efficiency Engineering and Scientific Management to the Everyday Tasks of Housekeeping, 1920, link.gale.com/apps/doc/BFVGIH...
How Laundry Machines Work: • Scientists Just Figure...
Consumer Reports, Water Usage in Washing Machines, www.consumerreports.org/washi...
Hard Water vs. Soft Water: www.water-rightgroup.com/reso...
homewater101.com/articles/har...
Shaping Sustainable Fashion: Changing the Way We Make and Use Clothes. United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis, 2012. www.google.com/books/edition/...
www.persil.com/uk/laundry/lau...
www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/s...
Secondarily published in: Meditsinskaya Gazeta(Medical Gazette)
Translated into English and published in: Report Studies in Space Flight and Physiology (JPRS-28183) Date 07 January 1965, Page 5
The complete servant maid: or young woman's best companion. Author: Anne Barker
Date: [1770?] Publisher: printed for J. Cooke, No. 17, Pater-Noster Row (London)
link.gale.com/apps/doc/CW0104...
Appendix H: Fiber Reactions to Various Agents and Conditions," in Army Fixed Drycleaning Plant (Washington DC: HQ, Dept of the Army, November 1972), 77
"Textiles and Clothing," Experiment Station Record vol 55 (Washington, DC: US Department of Agriculture, July-Dec 1926), 493.
Jane Fales, Dressmaking: A Manual for Schools and Colleges (NY: Scribner, 1917), 153
Albert Matlack, "Materials for a Sustainable Economy" in Introduction to Green Chemistry (Boca Raton, FL: Taylor and Francis, 2010), 399
CAI Yongdong and MA Shunbin, "Progress in the Study of Antibacterial Fibers," Advanced Materials Research, Vols. 821-822 (2013), p 104
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I fully agree that those regulations barring cloths lines should be elliminated. If a person has a backyard which is fenced and someone is offended by seeing the clothes on the line, then the offended person should be told not to look over the fence.
These types of restrictions often happen in developments that have "home-owners associations" (HOA) and they usually don't let you have a fence either. They also often restrict things like political signage, the exterior design and color of your house, and other things like that.
Seeing clothes on a line makes me happy!
American housing is so weird
We live in an HOA that doesn't allow clothes lines, even in the backyard, but does require that our lot is fenced. I'm considering the use of collapsible drying racks, but haven't been able to find sturdy enough ones that the wind won't knock them over.
I found a good one on amazon. The one at IKEA (that looks similar) is very flimsy.
My grandmother grew up in the Netherlands, and she said everyone dried their clothes on a line. We asked her if they were ever embarrassed if the neighbors ever saw their underwear. She said "of course not, everyone has underwear. But if you didn't hang your clothes properly (meaning, straight, evenly spaced, etc) THAT was when you should be embarrassed."
We still do in most of Europe ❤
@@hypatiakovalevskayasklodow9195 We do that in Australia too.
So judging your neighbors based on some aspect of their line dried laundry is worldwide? Wether it's their choice of underwear, their bra size, or how neatly it's hung up. I recall one neighbor commenting on the color palette of my clothing on the line and comparing it to circus costumes. Another person commented on the number of broadcloth shirts (there were 9) but to her it was "so many". Can't win for losing.
Ah, yes, the Dutch cultural concept of "doe toch normaal"!
@@itwasagoodideaatthetime7980 What about old shabby underwear?
16:47 Her source for detergents not sanitizing clothes is literally an ad for laundry soap.
Surfactants already kill bacteria by destroying their outer lipid bilayer (because it's made of the stuff soap removes) spilling out their insides.
Was just about to comment on this. I’ve definitely used detergents in lab to break down the lipid bilayer and that’s what hand soaps do as well. So if they kill bacteria on your hands, detergents should also kill the ones on your clothes.
I know this content is a year old, but THANK YOU. I've taken enough chemistry and biochemistry classes for my degree to know this was misinformation. Also, yes, UV light disinfects, but only to a certain degree in nature, otherwise the sunlight would just kill all bacteria everywhere. If only the US school system had more funding for basic science classes.....
Thanks for this comment. I came across a comment referencing this video today elsewhere on UA-cam and the person was making out like Americans don't know cotton exists and that the only way to clean clothes is hot water and sunshine lol. They said cold water doesn't clean clothes!
Hey Abby I think a video on making linen/cotton under gardens for our modern wardrobes would be amazing!
Yes please. And how many would he most practical to have so we're not doing so much hand washing.
Great idea. Yes, please!
I knew nothing about linen before I watched this so I started trying to learn. I keep hearing that linen shouldn't be washed in hot water! How is it that people could boil their linen undergarments? Was there something different about the fabric?
Yes. This.
Yes! I watched this video before bed last night and then dreamt about making linen undergarments. 😆
Just a tip for anyone alarmed by this video, the solution IS NOT to start adding more detergent to your clothes! Most people already use too much and thats part of the problem. A high efficiency washer using high efficiency detergent only needs a couple tablespoons of detergent to clean your clothes, more is gonna cause buildup and soap scum and clog up the washer. Use minimal detergent, add white vinegar to to combat hard water and soften clothes without buildup, and use dryer balls instead of dryer sheets. Dryer sheets can actually cause the problem Abby talks about where the dryer thinks clothes are dry when they arent; dryer sheet gunk is messing up the sensor.
Yes!!
yes, yes, a thousand times yes!
Is softener still needed by washing this way? And do you perhaps know whether those detergent capsules are enough detergent for one load?
@@DoodlesnDragons softener is bad for your clothes and skin, they are a toxin. I only use vinegar. Even in summer when I hang dry towels (for example) they are not as soft as with softener, but they are not scratchy ... and they soften more with use.
If I need to use the dryer, I add wool dryer balls. (Trader Joe's has a nice set with a bag, and I saw them at Walmart too).
Oh hey, I already do this! It works like a charm and you save so much money on detergent.
People who live in apartments and have shared laundry facilities often have all those problems in addition to having to use dirty machines that will contain remnants of other people's laundry (never mind pet hair), so even if you attempt to use better products, your clothes will be exposed to other people's products. I have had a couple show downs with the management about my collapsible drying rack that I use on my balcony. Permanent drying lines are illegal (or were the last time I checked the legislation). The marketing of how to clean (and dry) our clothes is part of our pending ecological disaster.
Gotta love that stranger lint. Used to live in a high rise condo with central laundry facility. Best part of moving out was no Condo dues and private washer and dryer!
I was about to mention apartment dwellers. I would *love* to air dry my laundry, and while I have a balcony, it isn't private and I'm actually mildly worried about clothing theft. I also live above the 45th parallel, so not only is it not actually sunny/warm enough the vast majority of the year, when it is warm enough, it's also very smokey because wild fires and having my clothes smell like smoke would be... Not great.
I'm not trying to be all "boo hoo capitalism makes me helpless to do anything waaah" because I actually do hang dry some of my clothing in our kitchen, so I know it's possible, but yanno. It's hard. It's like our society was built to destroy the environment and our bank accounts and it really sucks. I love the everclear idea, I think I'm going to use that. Great video. I have a lot to ponder now. Also how do I clean the top loading washing machine in my unit because I *know* it's disgusting.
@@meganstedman4728 You can buy washing machine cleaner. It's like a tablet or powder you run in an empty hot wash just to clean it. I hear people also just run a cleaning hot wash with baking soda and vinegar or bleach. You also must wipe around the agitator and drum for spilled derergent, scent beads, softener, etc that can build up and cause problems or smells. Probably some tutorials on UA-cam somewhere.
I found a vertebra in the communal washing machine at my first apartment. I wish that was the only morbidly terrifying experience I had there.
I straight up hand washed a lot of my clothes and line dried in my bathroom for this exact reason when I lived in my college apartment! The washers were from the early 70’s and besides being *gross*, the agitator would beat the ever loving shit out of your clothes. And the dryers were set to incinerator mode no matter what level you put them on.
A German here. Coming from generations of seamstresses and growing up in a rural area, most of our houses we have dedicated, well-aired rooms for doing laundry and hanging up our clothes when the weather is bad, called „Waschküche“. When it’s nice outside, hanging out our clothes on the line is pretty much the norm. I was also taught to wear an undershirt, and we air our outer layers outside when they are worn, but not stained, so they don’t need to get washed after every single wear. This really helps to maximize their life span. Hearing that some states actually banned people from hanging out their laundry is quite shocking.
There are a lot of laws that rich people get passed to try to keep out or drive out the poors. It's frustrating and classist. It's funny how as soon as upper middle class people started having backyard chickens, all those laws started falling too. Same concept.
My German mother taught me these techniques as well! I credit them with the reason why my clothes last for years.
Hanging clothes indoors when you have the heat on does not save energy. Your heat is still being used to change the phase of the water. So many Europeans think there is something virtuous about hanging clothes to dry indoors when at least half the year, it's not even thrifty.
@@LS-sg8rb My neighbor thought she was getting all hens and ended up getting a rooster, too. I almost ate it.
The laundry room is typically located next to your heating system and you use the heat that ist radiating from there (via a small fan/open space within the walls) or it is in the same room (depending in your type.of heating system: wood/gas/oil/electricity). If your heating system isn't running (in Summer when Solarsystems are providing the hot water) you hanging it outside. This way you save a ton of resources.
We use distilled white vinegar in the "fabric softener" portion of the washing machine to soften the rinse water and help sanitize things. It's also good for keeping colors and whites bright and it's much cheaper than actual fabric softener. It also won't clog up your washing machine.
Yep and the vinegar will also help break down the oils and skin cells and will keep the washer from growing mildew and mold
Edit you also got to be careful to not put to much vinegar as stright vinegar will brake down the rubber
Elasthane can take up a decent amount of vinegar - but it mustn't be used for clothes that have some kind of membrane, like gore-tex. Those are, however , usually to be washed separately anyway, so it isn't much of an issue.
As a Brit, the banning of line drying clothes in the US is freaking insane.
Many HOAs banned line drying due to aesthetics...but after lobbying the state (where I live) has passed laws that make it illegal for HOAs to ban line drying. They can however ban permanent clothes lines...so we get to pay extra to have a clothes line that we can take down when not in use. :p
As an American, I agree 😔
This. It boggles my mind! And fresh, line-dried clothes and sheets are THE BEST!!
@@bun04y My mom had hooks in the walls of the back of our house and our garage. Every Monday, the bundle of clothesline came out and she put up the lines and when the clothes were dry, she took them down again.
Honestly, if my neighbour hasn't had a load out in a week I worry about her - it's how we keep track of our neighbours!
I would be so down for a video on making “Modern Linen Undergarments”!! From simple undies to slips and shifts and camisoles!
Yes please!!
I was scanning the comments looking for just such a post. Thanks, Courtney. I'm all in for a series of tutorials, linen at the ready.
Yess that would be amazing
This needs more likes.
Yes!
Thank you! Finally a UA-camr from the US, who actually states in the video, that the experience she talks about is a North American experience.
I get so disturbed by all the "we, modern people, do stuff like this" videos, because they are almost always US point of views and completely missing a disclaimer.
I am from Eastern Europe, and there is so many historical costumer videos on UA-cam, where they talk about "this is how people did this a long time ago and we will never know how accurate the descriptions are" - and I am sitting here and thinking that "this is how we STILL do things where I am from.
Preach! The tunnel vision that history is presented with is literally mind boggling. But slowly, its getting better (or at least more aware)
@@AnnaBell033 Make more history vids.
The US is quite detached from the rest of the world, informationally. The media rarely talks about outside world and most people don't know how different life is outside of the US.
@@strekozkaplays that is an extremely lame excuse lol. you don't need to rely on traditional media or travelling for being well informed, the internet is global, being informed about the rest of the world is insanely easy, other countries do it too
@@yoshita4140 it's a very valid reason.
It's super interesting seeing this as someone from the Caribbean where our higene practices and clothing practices are totally different. I hand wash delicate thin things. Most Caribbean homes have clothes lines. Some folks will take care to hang bright fabrics in the shade. But most of all we have what we call house or inside clothes and outside clothes. Clothes you wear to work or to go out will never be worn at home. Home clothes are accumulated with lots of odds and ends of outside clothes that got stained or slightly damaged. And most Caribbean ppl shower twice a day, given the climate. It astounds me that Americans just wear jeans and nicer shirts at home. I've got old pj and stained shirts for home. Also beds? Never go on those with outside clothes on. These are deff practices our grand parents and their grandparents passed off to us.
Not all Americans. I grew up with those same ideals from grandma.
@@garlicgirl3149 same. plus from my mother.
I'm American however I do the same thing. I have "nice" clothes for going out. When/if it gets a stain, it then becomes something that I will ONLY wear around the house. These clothes become my cleaning, gardening, and yard work clothes.
……….huh? This comment don’t make a lick of sense. Why would you just run off with all these weird assumptions? For one it’s a big ass country with MANY a culture. How you even get all that from this video? What American media informs you? lol
I knew it was a Caribbean thing
Growing up in Russia, we always had what we called "home clothes" and "outside clothes". Home clothes were usually older comfy, misshapen, patched or stained clothes that are wearable, but that you wouldn't mind getting a beet stain on that you couldn't remove. Outside clothes were things you'd wear to school/work etc.
You'd change as soon as you get home and usually wear the same home clothes the whole week until the next laundry.
You'd also have summer house/playing on the street/gardening clothes, that were basically your old "outside clothes" that did not fit for home or school/work.
In Sweden on the other hand - there is no such thing. Sure, most people usually use their older jeans for gardening or wear sweatpants at home, but the last one is more out of comfort (and bought especially for that) rather than preserving ones clothes.
It really does make a big difference in how long ones clothes last
In the 1960s (USA) we called them 'school clothes' and 'play clothes'.... and used them exactly as your described.
This is interesting, that this concept is being cited from such geographically diverse countries.
I'm thinking this through. I dress up every work day because I'm on video calls, and I like it. But I'm going to think about whether I can use this technique.
I remember my friends, who were mostly taken care of by their grandmother, had to change their school clothes to home clothes as soon as they got home. But it has indeed been mostly forgotten in Nordic countries. It *used to* be a habit here as well, though.
@@LS-sg8rb I have taken this habit into use a couple of years ago. My home clothes are mostly comfy, though some of them are nice enough to be shown in a video call when working from home. I have very few "outdoor clothes" left these days (as they did back in time), and it really saves money.
my family does this too. weird
Really interesting video, but there is one thing that I have to disagree upon and that is the sanitation part. While there might not be an explicit sanitizing step in our modern laundry routine, surfactants definitely are effective against bacteria etc. The whole point of a detergent is for part of it to be hydrophilic (easily soluble in water) and part of it hydrophobic (easily soluble in oils + fats) so that the hydrophobic part of it binds with non-water-soluble dirt and actually makes the compound of both water soluble after all, so that the dirt can be washed away. Cell membranes (of bacteria and viruses as well as your own cells) are made of lipids (fat), so they do get broken down by detergent. Heat and other chemicals are still helpful of course, but it is simply not true that your normal washing is not effective.
Yes, some bacteria could survive, but mostly, you're fine, don't panic. Also note that the information posted on screen comes from a source that directly profits from you believing that normal detergent doesn't sufficiently clean your laundry by selling you a solution to the claimed problem.
I was looking for this comment!
Try using public laundry mats.
Especially ones owned by apartment complexes, specifically the in ones they charge you to use. Pretty much guaranteed to get covid, an STD, and yeast infection
It really doesn't matter what products you use.
+
If this were Reddit I would give you gold 🏅
Also let's try to remember that modern laundry practices have been absolutely life changing for people (especially women who were basically treated like domestic slaves throughout history).
It's good to critique modern practices, but let's not forget that inventions like the dishwasher and washing machine have made it easier for mothers to have careers and hobbies outside of the home.
I'm glad I don't have to put as much time into washing dishes or doing laundry so I can spend more time on fulfilling hobbies or relaxing after work. Also cool to have time for a career instead of being my husband's maid lol
Anyway these types of videos are interesting, but people shouldn't take "reject technology embrace tradition" from it.
I only learned this year that our washing machine and dishwasher has to be set to which hardness our water has.
More questions than answers. If we had the opportunity to even sew our clothes, it seems the majority of textiles, fabrics, etc, would have to be imported, which could be expensive too. There is no easy answer to any of this, which is pretty frustrating, I must say.
Another tip is to not automatically put your clothes in the laundry bin after every single wear. Exercise some judgment considering what the garment is, what you did that day, how much you sweat, does it smell/look dirty. Not saying to keep wearing it until it smells but a lot of clothes can be worn 2-3 times (or even sometimes more depending) before washing and it's going to make a big difference on their durability and how many loads of laundry you do already.
Like I rarely ever wash skirts since I wear shorts underneath them, until they get dirt or stains on them.
People don’t do this??
I do this all the time! I hang things up outside of the closet where air can circulate around it overnight, then put it back in the closet to wear again.
I take a steamer to clothes that I've only worn once and intend to wear again before washing. It gets them looking fresh again.
Yes! I have a coat hanger thing in my closet of about 10 hooks and I put my clothes that I've only worn once on it and wear them again before tossing them in the laundry.
This. Especially with things like coats or jeans. I can usually get like 10 wears out of my jeans before they get stained or start to stink.
I'm a lolita fashion enthusiast, I've been wearing these garments for 11 years now. This fashion really opened my eyes to modern laundry practices, because it's very common for members of this J-fashion community to be TERRIFIED of washing these dresses. They fully know and understand how hard machines can be on regular clothes, so naturally when it comes to $350-500 dresses they are so scared of cleaning them. Even as brands switched to better dyes that don't bleed and different materials, to this day people are still scared of washing their lolita. It's to a point where I have bought dresses secondhand and received them, knowing the garment was supposed to be white but it's all-over stained yellow, I wash it, and the water comes out opaque brown. And this happens all the time.
I started getting into historical fashion in 2020 through channels like yours and Bernadette Banner, Karolina Zebrowska, etc. etc., and it has inspired me SO much to change how I wear my fashion. I was already taking extra steps to wash my lolita, finding ways to wash it that didn't damage it, and now I've started taking further steps to protect the clothes that I love and care for so much by wearing things like underdresses/chemises beneath them to protect them (and the blouses that I wear with them) from my skin. I've also started paying more attention to what materials the new clothes I buy are made of, including shoes and handbags. If it has fake leather (made from plastic) I refuse to buy it. So thank you so much for making this video, a lot of it was super validating and 100% yes people are afraid of line drying clothes in North America because it looks poor, and it's infuriating.
So for any other lolitas maybe reading this, here's what I've figured out:
-Get cotton nightgowns to wear under your dresses, or linen like Abby mentions but those might be harder to find. I've found ALL of mine in thrift stores, made sure they were labeled 100% cotton so they're comfortable against my skin, etc. You might have to hem it but hemming is the easiest thing in the world to do, and a great way to get into sewing, just look up videos on youtube for it.
-If you're living in an apartment (which many of us are) stop washing your clothes in shared laundry facilities. Get a mini or portable washing machine, mine is a little top loader from Black & Decker. First: with Afterpay/Shop Pay/PayPal Pay in 4/etc you can get most of them for a payment plan of $20-40 a month. Second: It's WAY gentler on your clothes than a regular washing machine because they ONLY use cold water, just turn it inside out and remove anything with pins. Third: Hang your clothes to dry. You can get drying racks for like $20 at Walmart or hang them on the rods for your shower curtains, I do both. Make sure all the lace/ruffles/pintucks/etc are lying flat when it's wet and it'll dry nice, you might just need to steam it real quick afterwards.
-You don't need to use fancy detergents, literally any basic detergent works fine. If you have some food/drink stains, throw a little bit of Oxiclean into the water with the wash and that'll help infinitely.
-Mix vodka with lavender essential oil and white vinegar as a disinfectant spray, you can use this to spray the armpits of a dress if you got really sweaty while wearing it, inside your shoes, etc.
-Stop dry cleaning your dresses I promise you I have yet to come across a single one I can't wash or handwash and it turns out just fine. And I have a LOT of dresses, including velveteen, corduroy, flocked, brocades, jacquard, etc.
Some thoughts:
-I've heard some people say that isopropyl alcohol is BETTER than vodka to use to spray your clothes with? It has a higher alcohol concentration, kills more bacteria, and isn't watered down like vodka is. I haven't tested this yet though and I don't know how dye-safe it is?
-Should we add a dash of white vinegar to our laundry loads in addition to an eco-friendly/homemade detergent? I've seen vinegar mentioned in some historical laundering techniques and it is anti-bacterial, so could this be beneficial? EDIT: Apparently vinegar is also a great method for softening the water you use to clean with, but you'll need to do research to figure out how much to add to turn your hard water to soft water. DEFINITELY DOING THIS IN MY LAUNDRY FROM NOW ON!
-What are some of the best/most eco-friendly methods for making detergent that are ALSO affordable and would be more effective than traditional "DIY detergent" recipes out there, has anyone found one they like or come up with something that seems effective? Really tired of the sham of most store-bought detergents and would like to get into making my own for cheaper instead!
Thanks again for the great video Abby, modern laundry is AWFUL lol!
Terrific comment, especially on the laundering/non-laundering of gothic lolita fashion today. I'm 100% behind the Buy It For Life mentality.
I buy white vinegar in gallon jugs. One of my local stores sells regular 5% "pickling" vinegar and 6% "cleaning" vinegar in gallon jugs. Make sure your white vinegar is made from grain and not some mystery ingredient. Vera Bradley handbags and other cotton products recommends using NO detergent and only white vinegar in the water to wash them. I have been using vinegar for jeans for years and as a final rinse to get detergent residue out of other laundry. Dryer sheets and most other "fabric softeners" put a very thin coating of wax on your garments, read the label. Most do not recommend use on towels and bed linens as the wax blocks their ability to absorb moisture. So don't use them on gym clothes or underclothes or anything that you sweat in, they won't pull the sweat off your body and allow sweat to cool you naturally. Remember that when using drinking alcohol the "proof" is double the percent of actual alcohol in the bottle. Rubbing alcohol comes in several strengths, look for 70% or higher. 91% isopropyl alcohol WILL mess up your manicure, it's a very strong and effective solvent.
Rubbing alcohol WILL SET YOUR WASHING MACHINE ON FIRE. Hand wash only!!!
Edit: I'm glad you've found high enough quality fabrics that can last the washing machine but I've had clothes fall apart just from hand washing, which is what I do to most everything besides bedding and towels. Some things were just sewn to be fixed
@@darladay4766 When we're talking about rubbing alcohol we are not talking about putting it in the washing machine. You can use rubbing alcohol or vodka to separately spray and disinfect garments (insides of shoes, corsets, etc) to give them more wear-time in between washes.
@@chizukekihime oh, I do that smh. In the video she specifically referenced everclear or vodka in the washing machine so when you mentioned rubbing alcohol my brain must've just skipped. Sorry for my inability to read
Dense city, small apartment, humid/damp region... The dryer is a necessary evil for me, unfortunately.
I'm scrutinizing the way that I was taught to do laundry and wear clothes now. Abby, would you consider making a follow-up video on creating "modern" linen undergarments that could be worn under pants and t-shirts and such?
Unless you have existing health conditions you've been warned about you don't need to sanitize your clothes. Yes it sounds icky, but it has zero impact on your health. In the same way that you don't need antibacterial hand wash, the soap + water + movement does the job well enough.
Yes, thank goodness!
Yes, couldn't agree more! Like don't wash your cloth diapers and other clothing together, because they will not require the same type of wash program. But clearly not soiled underwear will not make your other clothes unsanitary. Most of the "private part" bacteria will be washed out of the garments with all the other dirt, any remnants will be unnoticeable. Most of the bacteria found on your clothing are also most likely the same bacteria that's found on your skin, aka. non-pathogenic bacteria you surround yourself with on a daily basis.
Clothes and washing machines can become stinky (not dangerous, just nasty) if not dried properly, like being damp/wet and without ventilation for a long time. This is because bacteria like water and maybe there's a bit of heat, so they like it even more, and they multiply and they get a party going and they have fun, but all that fun creates a distinctive oh-no-I-left-my-laundry-in-the-machine-for-a-week smell (you can thank my room mate from university for that one...). Moral of the story: just wash similar things together and effectively line dry them after, you don't have poopy T-shirts.
- your friendly neighbourhood microbiologist
Yes!
Yes! I was waiting for this comment 😌
This! Considering how good Abby's videos usually are, I'm honestly kind of disappointed to see that kind of misinformation in this video.
You don't need to sanitize clothing. I learned a lot about laundering, detergents, fabrics, water, and washing machine care by cloth diapering (yup, poopy laundry). Water softener can be good, but it can also hinder cleaning. Too much softener can give you a suds cushion, and the clothes can't rub together to get clean. Not enough softener can cause minerals to deposit into your clothes, causing discoloration, stiffness, and stink. They used to use pee to clean laundry, so idk if i'd put them on too much of a pedestal. Lol. Using pee to clean poop always seemed funny to me.
It's because of the ammonia content in urine, now you can just buy ammonia by itself. Ammonia is actually a good cleaner and stain remover.
True, and it's why peed on clothes smell so strongly if left to sit. But it's got to be hard on clothes. Especially modern, more fragile fabrics.
My dad had his own laundry methods after my mom passed. He did his whites first (in an old top load, agitator machine) and would catch the wash and rinse water in 5 gallon buckets. (So. Many. Buckets.) Subsequent loads would get the wash water dumped back in the wash cycle with less detergent used. The rinse water would be added to the next rinse and any rinse water left over went into the first wash on the next laundry day. The last wash load's water of the day was collected and dumped in a gray-water setup in his yard. He also generally had a couple of buckets of wash water that he used to soak his pots and pans in. Most of his laundry he hung out on a decades-old square laundry hanger in the back of the yard. He did put his shirts in the dryer because he didn't have an iron. He did this until he got sick with leukemia in 2015.
Thank you, Abby. My husband and are building a house. We passed on a beautiful 1.3 acre lot on a pond,, in a lovely nature area in large part because laundry lines and even laundry "Merry Go Rounds" (which I use now) were not allowed by the HOA.
We did find another 2 acre lot, on a beautiful lake not far away and their HOA is pretty chill and is mostly to care for the lake and the playground. When my husband asked one of the people who already live there if there was an issue with laundry lines or laundry merry go rounds, the gentleman, who has lived there for years said, "I don't know if it's in the HOA booklet. Nobody's gonna care. Just hang your laundry up if you like." So, we bought the lot and are planning on breaking ground in the Spring! (We did finally get a copy of the HOA rules and no issue with laundry hanging up.)
So, now I just need to continue to deal with the northern IL awful incredibly hard water issue. At least I will continue to hang up a lot of our clothes. At least it it's above freezing outside. Otherwise clothes freeze before they dry. And, your hands scream from the pain and the cold.
Just one thing, and I'm not trying to be "that watcher" but some people are either in recovery or their partners or other housemates are, so no vodka or Everclear in the house for some. 😉 Is there an alternative?
Great video!
Modern underwear is to protect your saucy bits from the awful seams in your modern,poorly made clothes.
I don't know about you, but for me, underwear protects the clothes from my saucy bits. I'm moist.
"Saucy bits" !! That's a keeper!
Much better than "naughty bits."
@@beejls lol I don't know about you but my underwear does both 😂
@@beejls soft AND saucy 😂
When I lived in the Yucatan, many people had a drying room. It was basically a shed without a roof with laundry lines in the backyard. The sun is brutal there and it ruined anything with elastic very quickly ( I ended up replacing the elastic in all my husband's boxers).
My solution was to hang my clothes in my covered porch on hangers. They take less space on the line and it's one step less.
Also aprons do wonders for protecting your clothing. I like the kind with a bib front and pockets. Speaking of protecting clothing, our ancestors even wore washable sleeve protectors. Collars and cuffs were often removable and could be washed or replaced.
Good call! I have specific clothes diy, gardening, etc and I just bought myslef an apron too!
And in Norway a space for laundry drying would be an airy space with a roof.
I live in an apt with no washer and dryer, so I bought a small electric washer. Thanks to it I've learned a lot about laundry, starting with how agitation is actually needed to get the oil and dirt out of the fibers. I never understood why they'd show people beating their clothes on rocks and hitting it with paddles. Turns out you actually HAVE to do that to force the water in and get the nasty out. No wonder the stuff I hand washed would stink when I put it back on. Ugh. The little machine works so well and I can monitor if they need another cycle or not. Also we aren't allowed to hang our clothes out to dry but I do laundry on the weekend and no one sees it lol.
I see comments on cloth diapers. When you have cloth diapers you learn a lot about laundry, sanitation and preserving the heck out of them.
I love my old school flat double weave muslins, they are going strong for child number two and honestly feel like they will last my lifetime.
It was interesting hearing about rain water, where i live we have lack water so it will be super cool to use our rain water for laundry. We also use our grey water for the garden so we have to use a biodegradable and safe detergent.
I live in Cape Town, but im Spanish. Many times I’ve thought of getting a dryer because i have three children but i just don’t see that hanging clothes is more work at all, maybe im just used to it.
I would struggle to live somewhere without a good line that the sun shines on…. I have lived in the smallest apartments, and we still had those outdoor lines you pull towards you from the other side of the street, they are the best and don’t take any space inside your house.
As someone living in Germany, I am pretty confused about much of this. Yes, in some parts here you are not allowed to hang laundry in certain places (like outside the window, or in my case inside the flat - because dampness) but: this means the owner has to supply you with a space to hang laundry. Often in the cellar, where there is also space for everyone to put there own laundry machine (and if you have one dryer). People sometimes have dryers, mostly to keep towels fluffier or to dry other sturdy things.
Obviously, you need to know how hard the water is, so you can adjust the detergent and if necessary add a water softener? (same goes for dishwashers!). How much people separate their clothes differs, but I wouldn't wash underwear with other clothes. I usually wash them at higher temperatures with the towels (with detergent meant for higher temperatures/white cottons). My mother does separate delicate/not delicate, dark/white and (at least while there were 5 people living in her household) would usually separate further by color/ garment type (no jeans in with the blouses/shirts). I also have rules what things I won't wash together, but sometimes get a bit creative if I need to wash but don't have enough of one kind to fill a load.
I'm from Germany too and I agree with everything you said :)
For a lot of people in the US, laundry is treated as a dump and forget it kind of process- toss everything in the washer and then in the dryer when it's done. The only reason I can remember being told to separate out items was due to possible color bleeding from fabrics, nothing to do with sanitary issues.
I live in a German suburb that was mainly build in the 60s and there are washing lines everywhere there might not be a fence or a stone path in the gardens but there will be poles for adding a laundry line 😅
@@yarnellka I think here it greatly depends on your family (as those are usually the ones teaching you). I think my mother mostly sorted by color (because bleeding) and type (because you use a different setting and detergent), but I also think most people would not wash their underwear with, say, dishtowels? I have a cat and got into the habit of never even washing finer clothes directly after the blankets she likes to sit on (as well as catbeds, rugs, cleaning towels) but do another load at a higher temperature (usually sheets) in between. I do lover her, but I do not need more cat hair (or other, err stuff) on my clothes.
I totally agree. I‘m from Germany too and find the thought of washing my underwear with my Shirts very strange. They go in with the towels and socks and are washed hot. Bedsheets are washed seperately and hot, too. Same for cloth diapers, but I know the use of those isn‘t that common. The other clothes are devided in white and colourful/black and delicate fabrics are washed seperately, too. We use oxygen bleach and dose it individually. And use no softener at all.
That's an important topic. Thank you for the reminder to use my "Wäschespinne" (translates literally as "laundry spider" :) and is basically a rotary cloths dryer) more often. Thank goddess this is allowed in our region.
Some thoughts I have:
- Bleach can also be made with oxygen. Infact I do not have chlorine bleach in my house.
- Bacteria etc. mostly are destroyed at temperatures above about 40° to 45° C (104 - 113 Fahrenheit). If you want to get sure, 60° C (160 F) is a good option, some nasty stuff needs higher temperatures. 90°C (194 F) should help on really most things even without detergent or bleach.
- I never ever wash underwear incidentally with outer garments. It comes, together with the other laundry I want to bleach (towels, washcloths etc.), into the 60°C-cycle. Of course, you need underwear that can stand those temperatures...
- Clothes dryed on a rack outside really smell wonderful in spring when all the flowers bloom. In winter, when some houses in the neighborhood are heated with coal briquetts they don't smell that fine 🥴
- Rubbing the clothes like they did in the past isn't good for fabrics either.
- Hard water can be softened with citric acid. Soda does a good job on it, too.
- Not all was good in the past :)
I think we are privileged today. We can learn from the past and take the best out of both worlds. I wouldn't want to miss my washer (I don't miss the US-style washers that I know though :) ) but we still can think about our washing routines. We do have well functioning devices and chemicals at hand, the challenge is to choose the right ones to be appropriate for the tasks they are used.
Banning line drying, now that is criminal. The sun is good for clothes! “Looks poor” smh...
I grew up in Brooklyn.. We lined dried my clothes.. it was awful.. jeans and towels took days to dry . And were stiff as a board .. in winter you had to have the room in your house to hang the clothes .
I'm 60, Australian, and was taught by my Mum to do laundry carefully and respectfully. I still hand wash precious garments, have washed wedding dresses, silk shirts...etc with no ill affects. I love my modern washing machine but feel that an understanding of clothing laundering has been lost. Longevity, effectiveness and environmental factors definitely underpin my practices and its a shame many seem to have no idea of how much they could save by some time spent not only washing garments correctly, but also hanging correctly and ironing correctly.
A really good challenge Abby!
I remember at about 12 or 13yo, having to take the whole family's laundry to the laundrette every Saturday to wash dry & fold (once we had a washing machine, I had to do the ironing on a Sunday after it had line dried). Since I was stuck at the laundrette mostly alone, I read all the old New Idea mags with Martha Gardener, Deirdre Prusak etc & all the old advice columns about how to care for, fix, clean, undo, repair, remove stains - all the stuff that came in so handy when I left home. Last year I found a 1980s edition of Martha Gardener's handbook at The Salvos - it makes me so happy! I too have hand washed many items of silk clothing from shirts to lingerie with zero ill effects. Women have been wearing silk underwear for generations & I'm certain that very few of them, if any, would be willing to take their knickers to a dry cleaner.
@@joannecarroll5504 Hearing you and @Kaytie J, my grandmother trained my mum, who trained me. Those old fashioned Aussie laundry practices. I also use to hand wash silk shirts. Never paid for dry cleaning just a delicate hand wash, roll the excess water in a towel (never wring) and lay flat to dry. Used to boil my daughters white school shirts (cotton) to the get them clean. I always have a big pot for just that purpose. Never use fabric softener - it smells so artificial. Use a fraction of what the recommended dose is for a load. Use a bar of pure soap as a stain cleaner. Rub into garment and let it soak for 12 hours. Throw in wash - all clean. The smell of clean clothes coming off the line after baking all day in a Queensland sun - heavenly. However, we now live in Tassie and run a BNB - have to use that dryer in winter as nothing gets dry.
I'm 26 and live in South America, and yet the practice of washing delicate clothing by hand is just...like, so obvious to me. Grandma and mom taught me that and I do it for like, new delicate clothes (new clothes in general, its a good way to know if they'll bleed and stain everything), new underwear and flowy, sheer clothing in general. Underwear mostly in the summer when it dries super fast, tho. I got my fill of hand-washing everything last year when my machine broke (the only clothes i could pay to have dry cleaned, since there are no laundromats here, were towels and bedsheets, because my poor arms lol)
I’m 30 and trying to learn all this kind of thing, no one ever taught me these things, honestly I’m so embarrassed that I don’t know, but I really do love learning about how we used to do thing just goes to show how the attitude to our ancestors is so wrong Iv always thought this when I heard people talk about them as in them being dumb an that Iv always thought nar so much more to it that can’t be true! Just such a different way of life
Thats awsome. I do a similar thing with washing dishes. The fine china get hand washed and placed on a dish rack to dry wile the tougher dishes go into the dish washer. I do try to wash by hand to save electricity and water as well.
Chiming in from europe here, even when we had a dryer bc of Big Family Laundry, there was always a system of "underwear and sturdy tshirts etc go into the dryer, anything that's nice/fragile/sensitive to heat or friction gets hung up." Even without access to outside hanging spaces, there are drying racks both small and big (seriously, there's ones that are like two meters tall) you can use inside, although you do need proper ventilation for them.
Also, from the one year I lived in NA, top loading machines are absolute hell if you're not tall? You can hurt yourself trying to reach in them? What is the point???
Also genuine curiosity here do people generally not use different heat settings on their machines depending on the type of laundry? Like, high heat for underwear vs cold and low agitation when you Have to refresh your wool jumpers etc.
(And yeah synthetics can't be washed on high heat and it sucks! This is why I don't buy them unless it's a type of fabric that Needs to be synthetic (like the good ol' metallics from the early 00s lmao)
Anyway here's a thought, how much improvement would there be to the general hygiene of our clothes if bidets were widespread--
(Ps thank you for mentioning the ridiculous amounts of fragrance in detergents, as someone who lowkey dies on public transport not because of anything body odour related but because of aggressive detergent and deodorant usage. Seriously. I assume people's noses just lose sensitivity?)
Yes re everything you wrote!
As a Aussie in her 50s modern washing is very modern. We have always line dried. We have always hand washed delicates. We patched (patches were fashionable) and have died clothing or sections of clothing when discoloured. We have bleached whites in the sun. We use natural washing products (I have tried soap nuts) and use vinegar to rinse. We soak dirty clothes before washing and use grey water for to water the garden and to scrub plant pots to reuse them. So not perfect but better than what I see on social media. And we did it coz we don’t have money.
I learned from a older friend how to disinfect my laundry without destroying it. My friend was in her 70s and she told me just what to do. Quarter cup of white vinegar in the slot for fabric softener for every medium load. The vinegar disinfects, and leaves your clothes with no scent. I never do laundry anymore without white vinegar.
When I lived in Eastern Europe I went to an international school. My European classmates would not only wear a piece of clothing many times before laundering it, they would line dry everything.They would spot clean and air everything out between wearings.The school did have dryers, but it seemed only us American students ever used them. Their reasoning was: "If my shirt isn't visibly soiled or sweaty, why should I wash it right away?" This was in the late 1990's, so I have no idea if practices have changed. My fellow Americans would think me disgusting, but I do this now: line dry as much as possible, spot clean, and air things out between wearings. I have folding drying racks, just like we had at the school. They take up little space when not in use and hold a lot of clothing.
Also in the US, and I started airing clothes out between washes years ago because I couldn't afford to do laundry very often - darn apartment building machines that charge money!
As a child in the 60s, my mom would yell at me for throwing clothes in the hamper that I'd only worn once! I've always worn my clothes at least twice before they get washed and I thought it was just my own 'dirty little secret'; now I find out that, once again, I'm not alone!
I don't get it, do people in the US only wear things once before washing? That's madness! If it's not dirty and not smelly then it's perfectly fine to wear a second/third/fourth time. I can't imagine washing anything after one wear except for knickers (UK here) unless they have actually got dirty, sweaty, and/or smelly. Can someone explain this attitude of wear only once then wash?
@@katew7770 It depends on how you grew up and the climate. The way I grew up is that anything worn against the skin like a t-shirt or undergarment is washed every day during the late spring/summer months. Otherwise, I wash my clothes when I run out of clean underwear.
During the spring/summer/autumn months I line dry. In the winter, I use my dryer.
Can attest to the same still being done, at least here in Italy. Clothes go in the washing for only one of three reasons: they’re visibly stained, they don’t pass the smell test or I just can’t remember anymore how many times I’ve worn them. Only exceptions are formals, since I’m not gonna keep a dress out that I might wear again maybe in 6 months.
For outdoor line drying - really important that black,navy and red clothes are hung inside out to avoid bleaching. (Red is the worst for this.
Bedding should be draped over two wires instead of one to allow fresh air to access both sides of the fabric.
For indoor drying - really important that the washing machine is clean and when washing add some alcohol or vinegar (2x shot glass doesn’t leave a smell) to kill any odour/mildew causing bacteria/mold
In colder weather instead of trying to add heat to dry clothes faster simply add ventilation. Put a fan in front of the drying rack and run for a few hours. This is an effective method down all the way to freezing.
Allow some time to vent the room during the day to prevent the humidity causing issues.
Also don't forget to close all buttons and zippers. There is educate when having up the wash. Undergarments are to be hung in the middle. That way you have a wall of clothing in front and back. That way prying eyes don't see them.
“...throw it In the dryer, hoping for the best.”
that about sums it up
Not me (a European living in an area of Florida that has banned line drying clothes) hanging my family’s wet laundry in our guest room as I watch this video 😂
I will say, with attempting proper care of clothing and mending when broken instead of replacing, I still own and wear a dress from 15 years ago from a H&M sale. Cheap clothing doesn’t have to be treated like it’s cheap especially when that’s all someone can afford to buy at the time!
Same here, I've always line dried my clothes in a random room or a garage since I can't wait for it to stop raining to do my laundry.
@@niamha301
Having a space to hang laundry that’s under a roof is useful in most climates.
I recently sewed 3 buttons back on 3 different clothing items that came off at the laundromat. And then tried to patch a shirt that had a hole in it that I got from a thrift shop. I didn't want to throw the shirt away it was too cute. I hope I did a good job lol. Guess I'll find out😋
H&M clothes were so much better quality 15 years ago, it's insane. I still have many pieces from then, and have given up on them recently because all fabric became so thin it's see-through.
I only buy cotton clothes, they are amazing. I will say that nowadays its more "quantity over quality". F.e.: jeans. You used to have a pair of jeans for years (my mom said that 15 years for a pair of jeans was normal)... Now I have them for two years and they are worn out and broken (I do reuse the fabric).
In college, my roommate and I installed a retractable laundry line between our lofted beds in front of our window. It was incredible! We line dried most of our laundry and our room always smelled so clean and fresh because of it. Our friends laughed at us for it, but it's one of the best decisions we made. And our jeans outlasted everyone else's because we weren't frying them in the dryer ;)
In France, you can get foldable laundry racks to dry clothing. I don’t know if they have dryers. I’ve never seen on anywhere I’ve stayed there.
In Australia most families don’t even have dryers and if they do it’s usually only for emergencies. Majority of families hang their clothes on a line in the backyard.
@@Author.Noelle.Alexandria There's next to no way that France has no dryers, I'd say, since I know them from Switzerland (many people either have access to one or own one) and have seen them used in Belgium. But it's possible that they are much less frequently used in France than I would guess, since such small differences between neighbouring countries exist. One example would be that German people apparently store their cleaning detergents etc. in a way that makes it hard for children to get to them, while in Switzerland, we kind of don't.
This is so fascinating particularly as a person living in the Philippines (and is probably similar in a lot of the "Global South"). So much of our traditional laundry practices that are way more sustainable are being displaced by aggressive marketing from the big multinationals that sell detergents and fabric softeners. I've often been looked at askance when I tell people I refuse to use fabric softeners, and don't use chlorine bleach (vinegar, washing soda and oxy bleach instead).
Also, as someone who also loves line drying...I can't imagine living in a country where I can't line dry at all 😬
It's not the whole country, I think some HOAs are doing it. I've never heard of clotheslines being banned. I love to hang stuff on the clothesline.
the philippines is also a part of the global south :)
As a Honduran, I’ve always thought that our way of hand washing and line drying clothes was way better. It’s a lot more eco friendly. But because in my country the sun beams all day, clothes hey dried. Don’t know if the same can be said about ever changing seasons in places like NY
I’ve never liked fabric softeners! Not even the dryer sheets! Never use them!
@@kateburcroff5209 Exactly. It's only some Home Owners Associations that don't allow laundry lines. As you know the US is a huge, vast country and there are no laws against line drying.
Just some HOAs have weird ideas about what "looks nice." These HOAs are often the same ones where the tell you what color you can paint your house, trim, mailbox, write people up for leaving their garage doors open etc. A few even dis-allow vegetable gardens. (Many HOAs are just there to maintain the pond or lake the houses are on and do not try to control much of anything. They are all different.) My husband and I refused to make an offer on a house just a few days ago, in part because the HOA didn't allow vegetable gardens. (The house was a bit cramped and had little to no storage, too.)
My dad sometimes tells me about washing routine in our family when he was a small boy in 50s. It's important to mention that it was a period right after WW2 in an area severely bombed so there were no working water pipes, the only source of water were wells, rivers and springs.
The best water for washing was in a well in about a kilometer distance and they didn't have a horse, so all family members gathered together, took buckets and went to that well to get water. They had to make several voyages back and forth to have enough waterfor washing and rinsing. Dad says that water in the well was very soft, mild and helped to save detergents, that were difficult to buy in post-war period and that the fabric after washing was very soft and pleasant without any fabric conditioners. It was a weekly routine for the whole family.
Also he said that wool and silk were washed with white clay in sea water and then rinsed in fresh water. A perfect place for this was in about kilometer and a half from their home - it was a shore of the sea with little pits filled with white clay and a small spring nearby.
Also he said that his granny's coat was turned about 8 times before it was sent to a landfill.
Oh, and they often used mustard seed powder for washing.
For drying clothes on a line: I'm allergic to mold, which turns out there is mold spores literally everywhere outside. I break out from head to toe in a rash if I line dry anything outside, and we don't have any good setup to dry clothes in the house. I also physically wouldn't be able to line dry anyway. Unfortunately, buying a good energy efficient dryer isn't in the budget, so we're stuck with an old used one whose sensor definitely doesn't work.
I use white vinegar as a softener, works much better. I also have a cesspool so bleach and anything with antibacterial properties is out for laundry and cleaning products in general that might end up going down the drain. I do want to incorporate boiling undergarments and add linen items to my wardrobe. Especially since we tend to wash everything on cold because our hot water is oil and that's expensive
We hang our clothes on an airer in a room with our dehumidifier on. Its cheaper than buying a brand new drier & if you get the right kind they have uv light and filters to remove dust & pollen & mould spores etc from the air. Its not a perfect solution but it might help?
Lots of info in this. I think it’s also important to think about economics, and how people from different economic brackets might do laundry. When I was a single mom for a long time we didn’t have laundry at home. We went to a laundromat, and we only went once a week, and in general, my daughter and I each got 1 load of laundry. I now have at home laundry, and I still only do a load a week, and 2 if I’m doing bedding. I’m always think about ways to protect my clothes from BO and staining so that if I need to, I can wear something more than once. And I have enough undergarments to keep my outer-garments protected from myself.
Yes the economic factor in all of this is just massive.
In my job, we are only given two free uniform polo shirts - fine in the winter months, when I wear an under t-shirt, but in summer, I REALLY notice, because suddenly I'm having to do a load of washing every day, just so that I have a clean top to wear to work! It becomes expensive!
@@OoohItSparkles I work fast food and have one shirt! I think I'm not supposed to keep it when I get a new one, but idk the process for that yet though. I try to work multiple days between washes but between the heat in the kitchen and the grime of the dish pit its a mess that only gets worse if I have days off between shifts and don't wash it.
That’s why we use clotheslines here in Australia and other places to dry our clothes. I have a dryer but I only use it when it’s raining and I need to dry work clothes
Bloody ridiculous that it’s illegal in parts of the US
There’s places in the US where it’s illegal to line dry your laundry?!?! I had no idea, my mind is beyond blown🤯🤯🤯
The longest running mild argument my husband and I have with each other is that I air dry nearly everything and wash a lot of things on the gentle cycle and he looks at the label and says 'You don't have to do that, it says warm/tumble dry'
Modern clothing is made out of spider webs and wishes not actual fibers and so I have been babying my clothes for a long time and even more so since I have been changing to buying more expensive/sustainable brands, because even a good brand of t-shirt gets little holes in it during the washing process in my experience.
I also put ALL of our underwear (socks bras camisoles underwear, that stuff) in laundry bags to protect them from other clothes and the machine, lol.
@@aeolia80 I do that too. It's shocking how much longer everything lasts.
The 'spider webs and wishes' made me cackle. To add on it, even the quality of the fabric is going down the drain (no pun intended). I have a shirt I bought 15 years ago that is just starting to get holes in it. Meanwhile, some of the shirts I bought a year ago are starting to show wear. And I try to hang dry as often as possible.
@@leah392 Same, I have a shirt from 1998 that I wear as pjamas that has only just started getting little holes in it.
But it's the natural consequence of decades of prices staying the same or even getting lower. Something has to give and now it's hard to get people to adjust to the necessary rise in costs.
I have a quibble. The points made here about fabric choices, consumerism, and the environment are very important. However, the misstatements on the science regarding bacteria are bad bordering on dangerous. Surfactants do kill most bacteria. This is why, unless you have a medical condition or are in a medical environment, washing your hands and clothing with regular soap is perfectly safe and effective. The overuse of antibacterials, similar to the overuse of antibiotics, makes for stronger, scarier bacteria. Playing up the "yuck" factor in the video (to the point of it being the title) might make people unnecessarily fearful, and that might cause them to use laundry sanitizers and other products that will cause further harm.
The poop rinses out even in the washing machine. Surfactants are sufficient, but you can buy laundry sanitizers if you're really worried about poopy clothes.
Italian speaking here. I've been having a laundry-related mental breakdown for about a year. The old washing machine in the house I'm renting made all the clothes smell bad. Like really bad. Luckily we're not banned from using a driying rack, so the smell goes away when I dry them in the sun. I think I now know everything about washing and washing machine care, in the attempt to have nice smelling clothes. And I swear I was this close to buy a giant pot and boiling my weekly laundry.
Our washing machines are loaded with bacteria, which are the cause of bad smells (and also it's gross in general). I never wash at less than 40°C (104°F) anymore and once a month I run an empty cycle at 90°C (194°F) with citric acid (or vinegar) to sanitize the machine, remove the old detergent and limestone residue, which are also cause of bad smell (bacteria feast on those). This makes my clothes not stink, but it's neither environmentally friendly nor economic. And this drives me nuts.
Sorry for the rant. I just wish my landlady would let me throw the effin' thing down the window and buy a new, less cheap and more efficient machine.
FUN (DANGEROUS) FACTS: fabric softeners actually adds a film onto your clothes and make your clothing more flammable and doesn't actually 'soften' your clothes. This can be dangerous when you toss them into the dryer but also in your day to day wear. I'm a fire performer and never used fabric softeners due to the hazard and the gross feeling it causes.
Also some companies sell "fire resistant" baby onesies: 1) this means you should never dry the outfits on high heat, it'll cause it to be very rough on the skin 2) it does not last for ever. its effectiveness is only a year or so. Be aware that it is perfectly fine buying second hand but don't just blindly trust the label. 3) "fire resistant" baby clothes are a bit misleading because its only fire RESISTANT not a retardant, it has a higher flash point (burning temp) and if it reaches beyond that point it will still burn and turn to ash and not melt onto the skin. (synthetics will melt into a pile of molten goo whereas natural fabrics will still burn but turn into a ash and not melt your flesh)
Do not go and buy fabric retardant spray for use on fabric that'll be worn on the skin, it will cause severe irritation/rashes and such because the chemicals are not supposed to be used that way, and it does not make up for the fact a fabric is synthetic and will melt.
Gotta love how all of the children's sleep clothes you find in the store nowadays are the synthetic kind that will melt onto the skin.
I use some wool balls that I got for drying clothes. I like them much better.
Not to mention that athletic clothing explicitly says not to use fabric softener, because it ruins the moisture-wicking properties of the clothing.
This might be a silly question but why would one need their infants' clothes to be flame retardant? Lol. Should not the baby's skin, hair, etc. be more concerning? I am not a child rearer so this is just my assumption. 😂
And the way to avoid fire retardant clothing for children is to put them in snug fitting clothing.
The basis for the law is that children were getting burnt due to being near open flame sources, not house fires, think candles fireplaces stoves, so they over corrected by mandating sleepwear to be fire resistant. Relatively recently it's been reevaluated and clothing for sleepwear for children has to be snug fitting to avoid needing the coating. It's why fabrics will say not for children sleepwear because they don't want to be on the hook for you making a baggy or unfitted pajama set or nightgown for a kid and then have them catch on fire. Because those clothes If purchase should have had the protectant coating.
Tldr: avoid fire retardant sprays by baking children sleepwear very fitted.
From Germany: I have never in my life had a use for a dryer. When i was younger, people would dry their clothes in the backyard or in the cellar, nowadays I can see people drying their clothes from a window where they installed a collapsible rack. I dry mine in the bathroom or on the balcony, though that one has limited space and is not seen from neighbors. But I will definitely sew more undergarments in linen now - you can't get them anywhere - and check our water acidity level (the city has a chart, I believe). I can't believe it is illegal to dry your clothes outside!
The homes in my area of the USA are so poorly made that they will mildew if you hang clothes in a small room and we have houses burn down frequently when people dry clothes over heaters. I'm lucky to have a main room big enough to dry on a rack without mildew.
The lint dust when you clean the trap is so so bad to inhale. Especially if you're drying synthetics.
I'm in the pnw currently and I've found that I can't line dry for most of the year. The summer would be the obvious ideal time, but the air is smokey in the summer. So you'd smell like forest fire. Launder by texture/fiber then color, zip zippers before washing always, towels don't get washed daily, keep towels away from all other laundry they cause so much pilling, etc. I cloth diapered two babies in the desert and line drying worked amazing! Here in the pnw, even the dryer couldn't dry the exact same diapers without running it at least twice. I'm thinking people here historically dried clothes by heat sources (fireplace, stove, radiator, etc)?!
I remember once there was a big summer storm and the power went out for five days which meant the well pump went out. I had to fill buckets with water from a nearby creek, boil the water on an outside fire, and hand wash a TON of clothes, then line dry them. And you're right about hanging clothes lines. We can't do that in my town; I live in a brownstone from 1925 turned into a ton of small, crap apartments, and it would "look poor". But the slumlord doesn't keep the washer and dryer in working order and I can't afford the laundromat.... So what's my other option?! I hang wet clothes over the radiators!
I always love your research and your perspective. However, I do have to quibble that we'd be better off sanitizing our clothes. What infections are caused by pathogens remaining on clothes after routine laundering? I've heard of the theater trick of spraying costumes with cheap vodka, but my understanding was that this was for the preservation of clothes against the normal microbes in human sweat, not for the protection of actors. We shouldn't get too grossed out by microbes on our skin. In a normal environment, they contribute to a healthy gut microbiome--something we all need! That said, I look forward to all your videos! You've taught me a lot!
Ironing was used for sanitizing also, hence great grandma ironed her bedsheets. Nobody irons anything anymore!
Great-grandma also had cotton-only sheets, no cotton-poly blends. To be truthful, I don't remember either of my grandmothers (born at the turn of the 20th c.) ironing bedding, but I do remember one grandma making me learn how to fold sheets.
They still iron everything in Italy.
I am cursed with this knowledge, thank you, and may it never happen again.
My house has a water softening system which uses a special salt. I have a drying rack I put in my tub for delicates, but also where I'm staying has indoor painted metal banisters for much larger items like bed pads and comforters. I also use white vinegar instead of fabric softener. I hand wash my unmentionables when they get stained with the same type of bar of goat milk soap I use for my hair and ablutions before laundering them with my other clothing. I use unscented ECOS, which I buy at Food4Less because it's much better priced than online. I have been using dryer balls for years, rather than dryer sheets. I got mine from Target from the brand Babyganics in the baby section (also where I get my sunscreen from). I need a new rack though, because one of the rods bent and keeps coming off of the cheap plastic connector.
We also need to talk about how deodorants and antiperspirants eat and stain fabrics. Our washing machine broke 3 years ago. I wash everything by hand in the bathtub or a sink. Haven't used a clothes dryer in years. Everything gets hung to dry. My water is soft and pH of 8. How I know that is because I'm on a deep well and a septic system. And I never wash my underwear with anything else nor socks. Or with anybody else's laundry.
Oh yes. The deodorants I ended up using as a teen and young adult would leave residue on the fabric that eventually made it stiff, stained, and smelly. I alternate between salt crystal and natural deodorant now and those aren't really a problem.
I think we need to make a shift in our styling practices to bring back linen undergarments, like pretty chemises under dresses. Wearing a tank or tee under a shirt, or a slip under a skirt or dress is something lots of people don't do anymore, but it saves you from laundering the shirt half as often. Underarm sheilds seem dorky but are made to protect your clothes so you can wash them much less frequently.
I also advocate hand washing & air drying clothing whenever possible. It's so much better for the environment and for the garments.
In regards to your search for eco friendly (no harsh fragrances and dyes) detergent that is not "behind a barrier" - 1 tbsp washing soda + 1 tbsp borax with 1/4 cup white vinegar as fabric softener is an option. One could add lard soap (shredded or dissolved in hot water) for extra cleaning power, or you can just throw in a squirt of dish soap if you can tolerate that marginal amount fragrance and dye. You can get those three/four things at just about any grocery store for ~$12-15 and they will do many loads.
Now, some people get nitpicky about the environmental friendliness of borax and whatnot but you'll go crazy if you try to find a way to do every little thing with absolutely no negative impact on the environment - sometimes you just have to get as close as you can and say "good enough!"
A central European here. What the FRICK are laws against hanging laundry outside?? Because of how it LOOKS??? Whaaaa.... Pretty much nobody in my country has a tumble dryer and I think most of us are terrified of tumble drying our clothes because they could shrink. I normally hang my laundry on my balcony, tho I mostly hang it inside on a rack and it just stands in the middle of my living room on most days and that's how it's always been.
This video was both really informative and quite sad. We absolutely have a long way to go. I was flabbergasted to learn that front loading washing machines aren't standard in the US. Here in Norway, you can get top loading ones, but they're mostly for smaller spaces and far from the norm. Not all people have dryers here, and even when we do, I believe most of us use them fairly sparingly to protect our clothes (or maybe I'm the odd one out, having somehow been raised in the depression era while also being a millennial). I stopped using fabric softeners a few months after I moved away from home because I realised they didn't really do anything except adding fragrance I didn't want. While I haven't been able to exclude synthetic fabrics or fast fashion items from my wardrobe (dressing a fat body can be a bit tricky, and being choosy with fabrics isn't all that easy), I am quite impressed by how durable my clothes actually are.
I think we have to consider how we wear our clothes, and learn from earlier generations: I have good clothes and home clothes. Good clothes are basically never worn when I'm at home, I change to home clothes when I get home from work or whatever. That way, I can usually get away with wearing that good garnment multiple times before it needs to be washed. When it at some point either doesn't fit all that well, loses its shape or basically just looks worn and sad, it's demoted to a home garnment and will stay in that role until it either doesn't fit or it feels wasteful to wash it - at that point, it will either be turned into rags or recycled. I find that this system both reduces the number times I have to do laundry and keeps my clothes from being worn out. I'm currently wearing a 4 year old "home dress" that was a "good garnment" for two years, had to have its trim removed because it got tattered, and is still going strong.
That's great! I'm from the Netherlands and we do the same here. There are more and more dryers in use I think nowadays but I was raised without it and don't feel any need for them. Also learned to wash underwear on 60 degrees with towels and bedsheets.
What you are saying about using worn clothes at home... this is exactly what my mom does, she hardly throws out any clothes! She will have specific clothes for camping trips, gardening or painting aswell. Now my sister and I are stealing her dresses because we love to wear vintage and they're still going strong😂
As far as I’m concerned, the tumble dryer is for things you need to dry fast for whatever reason, such as a child’s cold weather outdoor clothes that got really wet and/or dirty too recently to have dried by the time they’re needed again.
@@ragnkja It's actually also good at disinfecting. Retirement homes and hospitals in Sweden are supposed to wash hot and tumble dry hot. The hot dry air kills whatever was not killed or washed away in the machine.
@@martinfalkjohansson5204
The recommendation to use the hottest setting for hygienic reasons makes sense, since warm, damp environments are places where bacteria thrive, but hot, damp environments are far less so. It also means you don’t have a big drying room that needs to be kept protected from potential contamination while the washing is damp.
I refuse to own a front loading washer since my cousin had one and the seal went bad and there was water all over her floor 😬
I grew up in Japan line drying everything because we literally didn’t own a dryer, and I remember getting in trouble for hanging out beach towels on the balcony at a hotel in Florida.
Apparently hanging anything outside to dry is seen as low class and most of the USA says low class = bad.
I lived in Japan for over a year and our apartments didn't have dryers. We line dried everything--Usually it worked great, you just had to plan ahead for things that took longer to dry.
Whereas I’ve never had such issues anywhere in Europe, where line drying is the norm and tumble dryers are mostly used for winter outdoor clothes that need to be dried quickly, or sometimes for towels as an alternative to fabric softener (that’s right, you never need both, and fabric softener shouldn’t be used for towels anyway because it makes them less absorbent).
27:45 Also, our homes and towns are built around the assumption you either have an easily accessible washing machine and dryer (whether hot air or modern "ventless" more available in the EU), or you have access to a car or time to ride public transit to the nearest laundromat. You basically have to own your home if you want to start laundering in an old-fashioned way, with the space, mess, and water consumption it requires. Most of us can't win. 🤷🏽
Hi Abby, great video...I just finished watching your video on purses...Yes, I am guy with a purse collection...I air dry most of my laundry except underwear that I was on a low wash and put in the dryer..I even air dry towels..people think I am crazy...and they think I am nuts for washing underwear separately...I wear t-shirts under all my sweaters so I do not have to clean them as often...
For the short time I lived in the US, I was stunned by the lack of laundering "options". In most of homes I went to, people don't even have a sink in the laundry room, which means you won't wash delicate garments by hand, or take out stains, or do what I do sometimes - just wash the underarms area really quick and not put the whole thing in the machine. And the fact that they don't have anywhere to hang clothes to dry was so weird to me.
I full agree.
My dream laundry room has an utility sink, a door to the outdoors, and a half bathroom by it, to together form what my Grandmother called a "mud" room. A place for the "men" to enter by (or use) before they entered the "house". A place to take off dirty boots and outer clothing. A place to wash off machine oil and grime before touching the door to the "house".
@@bcase5328 absolutely! During the pandemic, we got so much use out of our laundry room sink. We'd immediately wash our hands and clean our shoes before entering the house, and wash our masks - much easier than leaving them to be washed whenever we did a load of laundry.
now i'm really appreciating how my parents designed the laundry room in the house when they built it. large basin sink, collapsable countertop and ironing board to use as needed, and something i never thought about until now but always appreciated: upstairs with a sun facing window on the wall with the hanging rod across it. talk about ideal design for air drying.
I always use either the kitchen or bathroom sink for handwashing delicates. My very expensive bras aren't going in a top-loading washer where the center agitator is going to bend the wires up.
My laundry room is in the finished part of my basement, I wish I had a utility sink down there, but being in the basement I'd need a pump, and as the lowest point it would be a back up risk. I've wanted one since I moved in, but have yet to do so.
That said, someone in the history of the house put a laundry chute in, which basically ties the bathroom on ground floor to laundry in basement, so I have been able to wash stuff in there, toss it in a plastic bag, and toss it through the chute. Doesn't help for problems found in the laundry room, but not lugging damp clothes about is a help
Great video, and thank you. I appreciate that you didn’t try “solve” the whole issue. When I had a baby I was determined to do cloth diapering. After two washes the cotton diapers were like sandpaper. Not exaggerating. we had hard water, and although the diapers had been expensive, the quality of the cotton may not have been great. I cried. I started using elimination communication to cut down on diaper use, (how our farm ancestors did it) but to do that requires an enormous amount of privilege to stay home and be attached to the baby. Lately I have started mending clothes, out of a tribute to my late mother, who lived as sustainably and frugally as she could. But again, The privilege to spend this time learning how, and the various materials I have acquired from Amazon, many of which have not worked very well because they are not good quality (bad needles, cheap synthetic thread) turns out better materials really help, but again, the money. I think I feel more guilty now than I did a year ago.
Regarding quality supplies, I like to buy vintage needles off of ebay. It's not too expensive, and the quality is incredible! Vintage thread, on the other hand, is sometimes still great, and sometimes very weak and prone to falling apart as you sew.
I have dried my clothes, either by hanging them up in the laundry room or outside, since I was a kid. My clothes last so much longer than the people I know who dry theirs. I mean, I have dresses that are almost 10 years old that are still part of my day to day wardrobe.
Abby, you need a Hill's Hoist. The Aussies have this all figured out (if you're allowed to put up a laundry line in your area).
You hang your "unmentionables" on the inner lines so they're shielded by the shirts and towels and such on outer lines, you stand in one place with your basket of wet laundry (as opposed to carting the basket down a regular line), it's only one pole to mow around, and it twirls in the wind.
I agree with EVERYTHING you’ve said. I went through this same realisation” about 10 years ago. I remember that every 4 years I used to purchase half a dozen cotton T-shirts and they would last beautifully. Then in the late 90s or the early 2000s, I had to find somewhere else to get my T-shirts and all the shirts available were now made of incredibly thin, often see through material that (in my opinion) dissolved in water.
Fast fashion is dreadful.
Also, when I was younger, my family traveled a lot and my mother was always aware or asking about the local water and if it was hard or soft etc. and she would add “stuff” to the water to soften it.
Also - fabric softener is just a scam so don’t even bother.
Separate your whites, darks and ESPECIALLY your smalls or underwear and wash them separately.
Whatever the laundry detergent box says to use, you can use half that amount or less. If you can purchase soap flakes, just try it instead of soap powder or liquids - some that contain “optical brighteners” that simply reflects the light, making your cloths look cleaner (but they are NOT).
Washing sofa added will make your detergent go further.
If you can line dry in the sunlight, please do. Sunlight is a natural disinfectant AND in my opinion, there is nothing nicer than sheets that have been line dried.
Oh, and I highly recommend making or purchasing yourself a linen undershirt or singlet. Worn with other natural fibres over the top, you will really notice the difference with your body and clothing remaining cleaner and less smelly for longer.
A linen undershirt is amazing, it keeps you cool in the summer and also warmer in the winter. The fabric is sturdy and is easy to wash or simply rinse out and unlike “human-made” fibres it will NOT hold onto the stink.
Just remind yourself that when you’re wearing synthetic fibres against your skin, your basically choosing to wear a plastic bag.
Obviously synthetic fibres are awesome in outerwear to keep yourself warm etc, but having natural fibre underclothes is the way to go.
I’m not wealthy, but slowly swapping out my wardrobe to natural fibres has been the most amazing experience, and I haven’t had to change the way I usually look or dress.
Oh and my NEXT project is to save up for a set of linen sheets. ALL my bedding. It’s a big expense, but I am really looking forward to it 🙂
I got linen sheets last winter, and they're amazing! Now I'm disappointed when I stay at hotels because sleeping on cotton feels weird.
I've been doing the same! Going for linen underwear next.
I've never seen linen underwear for sale where I live. I only seen nonwowen linen fabric twice my life. Also, linen bedding cost ten times cotton, which I only can afford like, two sets.
@@Vizivirag linen will long outlast cotton, so it's worth the price for me. Also, linen doesn't seem to fade at all, so even after a year of washing my sheets still look new. I would buy anymore cotton sheets. I like linen better in both summer and winter.
@@Lili-xq9sn If I ever see one for sale, I'm planning to save up some money. But for now, there is not an opportunity for me.
Air drying clothes and using distilled white vinegar instead of fabric softener has helped a ton. I also have used baking soda and hydrogen peroxide to get rid of ancient armpit stains. I've also been paying attention to washing instructions in the tags of all my clothes. It's amazing how many shirts say "hand wash only" and "dry clean only." I also don't put any of my blouses in the dryer, unless I'm in a huge rush.
If you use a wood stove, hardwood ash water is awesome for washing clothing, though you will need to use blueing to keep your whites white.
@@katecraig2974 If I ever have the pleasure of using a wood stove, I'll keep that in mind!
When I was a teenager, I stopped letting my mom do my laundry. She messed up too many of my clothes!
Not to mention in the line dried clothing thing: in a lot of places in the US not only are there laws and HOAs in place to prevent the use of lines in place, but if you don't actively own or rent a house you don't have the space to line dry clothes. Sure I guess you could hang them in your shower but if you have a household of more then one person then you just cant do that anymore. Also most people can't afford a person to stay home to monitor clothing while it dries on a line. You simply can not trust communal spaces these days to trust that someone won't come along and steal all of your clothes while you aren't looking at them.
I am a stay at home girlfriend and my boyfriend owns the house we live in and it's STILL not feasible for my to do any type of line drying because I am disabled. The idea if hauling all of my wet and heavy clothing outside to a line, hanging it, and then retrieving it later to then fold and put away is insane to me. I would have to get up so early to so that that I would have to actively push against my already limited capabilities in order to do something as mundane as washing my underwear.
I also live in Oklahoma. The whole state is red clay. We have also been in a pretty bad drought lately. the wind is nothing but red clay dust being blown everywhere. My backyard is a desert essentially. There is no ground cover to stop that dust and even if there was it doesn't stop the wind from picking it up else where and still blowing it directly into my clothes. Everything that I own would be ruined after just one dry outside because that clay stains everything, and I do mean everything. My floors are stained, the bathtub is stained from washing my dogs, my shoes are stained. I do yard work in all back so I don't stain the clothes I work and and I rinse them separately in that already stained bathtub.
For all of those reasons as bad as modern washing may be, it is my only option. Just the modern convenience of being able to wash and dry without spending two days on the process means that disabled people like me aren't just discarded by society because with the modern allowances we can keep up. 100 years ago I #1) wouldn't be alive and #2) wouldn't have been eligible for marriage even in my current state because I couldn't do something as basic and necessary as laundry.
When talking "eco friendly" or "best practice" disabled people are ALWAYS and I do mean always left out of the equation by abled bodied people. They don't think of us, and they don't care about us. Like when the straw debacle was going down. some of us can't hold a glass up to drink from it. Our hands shake or we are too weak. I was always, and am always spilling my drinks down my front when I don't have a small opening to drink from because I shake so damn badly. Even with a relatively small opening like a can or tervis lid. But the "eco friendly" people didn't care. They said "there are reusable metal straws" look man if I don't have the dexterity to drink from a cup what makes you think that I can handle something that will chip a tooth, or damage my mouth if I shake or spasm while drinking from it? not to mention cleaning it. Disabled people don't have great immune systems so a long tiny opening that can't be easily cleaned is not a great option for our health.
I will dismount from my soap box now, but if anyone comes across this, I hope that you take what I have written here to heart.
And Abby, if you see this for some odd reason please take any parcel of this information into account when informing your opinions. Two lines about the privilege's of being able bodied, and having the money to be able to do the "eco friendly" option isn't really enough. It's disheartening as a long time viewer to not be acknowledged as a very real factor within this discussion.
A South African here. We have a top loader and we do batch washing. So in our household we've broken down the laundry to only having our under garments washed weekly. We do everything else either monthly or once every two weeks depending on how hot it has been. Since I started doing this the water bill has reduced dramatically and there was a small impact on the electricity bill too. Please note that I boil the linen and undergarments, then put into the sun to dry and then iron to make sure that well if there was anything on those, it's not anymore.
As a kid my mom line dried until the doctor told her that it was causing some of our health issues with the pollen and such that get in your clothes, lol. This makes me want to actually separate my clothes and do the socks and underwear separate, but im in an apartment and dont tend to have the quarters and money to do that amount of loads between towels and bedding and clothes, etc.... especially since i tend to do my laundry on cool because my work has a black dress code.
What if you would wash your underwear with your towels and bedding on a hot setting? That's what I do and I only have two types of washes that way: a 60 degrees wash (towels, underwear and bed sheets) and a 30/40 degrees clothing wash.
One aspect that wasn’t mentioned in the video was time. Our modern era views time spent doing tasks so much differently than historic eras. I have three kids and currently pregnant with #4 and I can’t imagine the time it would take just to get through the laundry process of soaking, scrubbing, rinsing, boiling, ringing out, hanging up to dry and ironing! Heck I can’t keep up with folding and putting it all away. And don’t get me started on cloth diapering! There’s a reason laundress/ washer woman was a real occupation for women in historic eras so people who didn’t have time or facilities to do their washing could hire it out. But for most low to medium income households, putting the time in to spend many hours on just washing the clothes was so normal they didn’t think any differently. Now we can’t even fathom putting that much time into laundry yet we will gladly binge watch entire tv series on our smart tvs and not bat an eye.
Cloth diapering isn't that bad if you have an European style washer that actually heats the water, I did it on my fist kids. I couldn't do it in US though with my third kid. First we were traveling, second I'd have no clue how to get those things clean with only lukewarm water.
@@moniaqua_on_youtube don't US wasmachines heat the water?? I only know European machines, I didn't know front loading machines were not a thing in the US.
I used cloth diapers for a little bit, I hated them, my kid would pee once and it would be drenched, including the pants he was wearing. Having to change clothes so often, I gave up on cotton diapers.
@@EmeraldVideosNL As much as I know, no, they are connected to the warm water tube of the house and that's it. If it hasn't changed, it's been a while since I lived there.
Cloth diapers worked mostly well for me and my kids, some accidents included but normally all stayed dry outside :). Sometimes I bought disposable ones but every single time I used them the kids got sore with those and I was happy that the third one could stand the disposable ones.
Bernadette Banner did a video on historical laundry practices a while ago that was really good. I have a hard time imagining doing laundry without being able to just put on a load and walk away from it.
@@anjolitukuafu Was it that one where she took a nice, deep breath of some ammonia vapors and cooked soap in seemingly a pot that might else be used for cooking meals and I thought for myself that some lessons in basic (or even more), dress-related chemistry for dresshistorians wouldn't harm at all? I remember that one, it showed really well all the work related to washing in the past and how well it actually worked out.
I lived rural as a young mother. I had a permanent clothesline. Unfinished cedar poles for the four supports and a heavy gauge plastic coated wire for the double lines. I loved it. Laundry smelled like the sun. Plus, the act of walking outside and feeling the air.
The thing that stops me from drying outside is the ruhrpott city smock and the sheer amount of pollen. And when it's neither dusty nor pollen season then it's raining xD
I've literally done the trick of dyeing a dress darker to hide a stain! Australian here and my mum gifted me a copy of a book called Spotless and it's essentially a home manual full of every possible stain/fabric combo. I've never experienced those little holes you mentioned but we haven't had agitators for years and don't have hard water. Praise be the Australian tradition of the hills hoist!
Fellow Aussie here. I have the same book and it is a lifesaver! Should be mandatory in all houses! 😂
Not just the Aussie tradition! The Hills Hoist in specific is an Australian invention!
As a plus-size human, I’m all about keeping my clothes nice! It’s tough finding well-made, well-fitting clothes that fit my budget. So thrilled to find more tips on extending wardrobe life.
Thicc af
I feel this so hard. I’m trying to find good fitting clothes in vintage styles and having a 41” waist is NOT helping things.
I just got an ad served to me for laundry appliances at about 12:50 in. Hilarious (in a bad way!).
Regarding “perc”: in a small city I used to live in, the 3-unit apartment building right next to the biggest dry cleaner in town was CONDEMNED for human habitation due to… contamination with perc. Oh, and just on the other side of that building is a stream that just 50 yards downstream DUMPS INTO THE BAY. Just awful.
Btw - I love this video. I’m pretty OCD about laundry, and I line-dry everything even though I live in an apt. (You’d be surprised how easy it is to set up folding racks and string up indoor clotheslines!)
Fun fact re:water hardness: pre-industrial soap companies becoming national chains, there were different laundry detergent formulations across the US that took into account the regional water hardness and other factors! But once you become a big national chain that ships from the same factory, that goes away and we’re all left with a standardized product that doesn’t work as well.
My dad is from the UK and we've been drying our clothes on lines (in the US) for as long as I can remember. He told me a story recently of my grandmother even drying sheets on the line in winter and then shaking or beating them to get the stiffness out. I've moved out but I will sometimes go to their house specifically to line dry my clothes in the sun as my landlord doesn't allow tenants to put up a clothes line or dry clothes outside on the deck (my apartment also doesn't really have even semi-private outdoor space which is its own challenge when bored teenagers are gonna teenager).
Laundry is one of the most confusing thing ever. We don’t talk enough about the theoretical groundwork enough but thank you.
Thank you for having subtitles for the spedup chipmunk description of detergent and fabric softener. I love catching all of the info I can.
Some people cannot control whether or not they have to use hard water, i.e. in an apartment building where the landlord refuses to install a water softener, so tenants don't have a choice in that situation. Personally, I grew up with hard water and we still have it in this house because we haven't gotten around to putting a water softener in yet because there's so much else to fix in a midcentury home we've had to prioritize. We have to be careful with using tap water in things like cat faucets or icemakers because the hard water deposits gunk stuff up.
I was very poor as an out of town student in the 70's and hand washed everything as I could not afford the laundromat down the road. I soon learned how to treat my clothing better, make better second hand choices in the charity shops and tackle anything from ink to blood stains in my shared bathroom bathtub. I still enjoy hand washing my woolens and underclothing. Great topic, Abby...this could easily be a multi- part topic if you include proper ironing and starching. :)
Proper, efficient ironing and starching would be great to see, I really want to make my shirts look better without having to spend forever on them 😩
@@kagitsune One simple tip is to give each garment taken from the washing machine a good shake after cleaning and prior to placing it in the dryer or hanging it on the clothing line. This relaxes the fibers and helps to prevent set in wrinkles. ;)
European here, and we just dry everything on a rack. Only change was at the beginning of covid we installed a hanging rack (brand is Hangbird, but many other are available, but to look up pictures, I think it is a “clothes airer” in english) and now our floor space is cleared out and the laundry dries even faster on the ceiling. I love it. I do sometimes take our feather pillows and comforter to the washing salon to use the dryer, but I would never buy one myself.
And I forgot, we have a kind of fancy washing machine with an ozone booster to kill bacteria at low temperatures. Sometimes I run things on just that to freshen them up, like jackets.
If you can get your hands on an Australian Hills Hoist do it. They allow a *HUGE* amount of laundry to dry outdoors. In a efficient & relatively compact space.
@@itwasagoodideaatthetime7980 Those are really nice, we have them here too, but we live without a garden, so this wasn’t an option for us, my parents have one.
@@MJohannaS89 I live in a flat & use a collapsible drying racks that I can put out into the sun. They're good for the winter time cause I can use them inside. & put them near to the heater to dry my stuff out. & they fold down easily to store behind the bathroom door.
@@itwasagoodideaatthetime7980 we have one too still for day with extra laundry, but our other covid household additions of a stationary bike and second desk, which both took up floor space, and a robot vacuum that liked to get stuck on the laundry rack legs, we switched the the hanging option.
I live in MO and my landlord banned line drying AND drying racks of ANY kind on ANY part of the property (inside and out). We would have to have bulky collapsable racks to be able to air dry our clothes that tend to be at least $40 per rack when a few metal hooks and several dozen yards of line can be purchased for under $20. I hate that places just straight up put bans on poor people.
Line drying is touch and go in humid places. Nothing like needing to do laundry but it's cloudy to raining for the next week solid, so you try to time it juuust right between rains--dodgy at best--or drying indoors, both of which might just as likely end up as mildewy clothes instead of dry clothes.
Thank you for this video! It confirms all the laundry practices taught by my grandmother (born 1913) which I use to this day, including buying quality clothes of natural fibers or make them yourself (why I started sewing), separate clothing into groups, remove stains and launder gently and air/line dry. My friends and family (mostly in-laws) made fun but I’m still wearing clothes I made 40 years ago (I’m 63) so who’s laughing now!! 🤣
I would love to hear updates about your journey regarding this topic. Especially any tips you might have for sourcing quality linen underclothes (for those of us without the time or capacity to make our own) and the process and costs of making these changes to your laundry practices.
agreed. I make much of what I wear, but no luck finding linen underwear.
I often wear a cotton t-shirt under dresses and shirts etc, to protect my nice items. But it's hard to find them with a wide enough scoop not to show. I have considered trying to sew a modern take on a shift. I would love to see a tutorial for one!
I'd be interested in seeing a follow-up video to this one, specifically if you've changed your systems and habits and how difficult it was.
Blehh I moved into a house that has a terribly violent agitator top loading machine. Now I'm finally buying linen, and I realized all my laundry bags are plastic, so I was like, forget it I will try washing the clothes loose, they can take it. And I didn't want to keep supporting the use of plastic. But I looked against a light at my oldest linen dress recently, while it WAS the cheapest linen garment I bought, I'll just say I think I've started tearing it apart and I am big sad.
I have a three armed clothes line in my sewing room because I intend for my clothes to last. This is just what I was taught since I was a child. I am 71 now and have kept most of what my depression era Mother and Grandmother had passed down to me.
I have been actively changing my laundry practices the past years and one thing that wasn’t touched on was the volume of product we are recommended to use which isn’t necessary.
I now use a powder that requires a tablespoon per load, I buy 150 loads for about $23, which is way cheaper than supermarket brands, (a load is 6 pounds approximately of clothes, about 13-14 tshirts) an ounce of vinegar and a tablespoon of baking soda. People will say you need half a cup of vinegar, you don’t need that much and I don’t use in the rinse cycle because vinegar can destroy rubber gaskets and hoses with over use.
I’ve found no difference using tons of vinegar and the single oz. The combo softens the water as well.
I use a stain stick and an enzyme solution for various stains to pretreat, I do not use shout or other commercial pre-treat products, they are useless, wet, stain, apply, use a toothbrush, and work on the stain.
Finally when I have to use a dryer, I use wool dryer balls, white for lights and a set of dark natural not dyed for darks. These do speed up your drying time as much as 30%. They work. Especially with sheets, the lanolin is removed and unless you’re allergic to wool, highly recommend.
I have skin issues and changing my laundry practices improved the quality of my life and I no longer have to use any sort of bleach.
My entire laundry kit takes up a 1/4 shelf in the laundry room and I’ve removed 95% of plastic use.
As someone who is culturally both German and American, but grew up in the US, I have experienced a bit of both the American laundry practices and the more sustainable methods accepted without stigma in places outside of North America. My parents (a native German and an American who lived in Germany for over a decade) raised us to line dry clothes outside and inside, with drying racks and lines and only wash clothes on a need-basis. Smelling clothes before putting them in the laundry to ascertain if they could withstand another wear was common practice, as was inspecting worn clothes for stains to spot treat. We always separated laundry to make sure it was being washed in a way that was tailored to each type of garment grouping that could withstand different methods (heat setting and ability or inability to retain color saturation in the sun). We used natural deodorants that did not stain our shirts, and it was wasn’t until I went to college that I had access to a drier- I was less than impressed. I am passionate about garment history and sew many of my own clothes and this intimate knowledge of the care required and recommended for each fiber, along with having a difficult body type and an appreciation for one of a kind clothing from thrifting, I’ve become kind of obsessed with the longevity of my clothing and I try to do everything on wash day that might ensure the safety of my garments. This issue is so near and dear to me-and frustrating as well, especially when my career requires me live out of hotels where I only have access to driers, and obviously no outside area for line drying or the ability to travel with a large, cumbersome drying rack
Our laundromat has "softened water" advertised on the windows of the building. We have a problem with how hard the water is around here though, so I think that's why we're more aware of it.
While I am in an area of Newfoundland, Canada that has no restrictions on line drying and in fact a lot of people around where I live do, I’m one that absolutely cannot wear anything that is dried outside. From the time I started school, if not earlier, my clothes had to be tumbled because of my allergies, and while I can be outside, and there is little to no pollution in the rural area I m in, the “fresh air” scent that lingers in line dried clothes actually takes my breath away. When I was in school, mom would do everyone else’s laundry and have to make sure it was put away before I got home, towels and bedding couldn’t be line dried either or had to be stored in an open cupboard for at least 2 weeks before I could use them to get rid of the scent. I believe it’s my pollen, dander and grass allergies that made me so sensitive to it, but man it makes it hard to keep costs down sometimes. Now I’m just me in an apartment with no laundry at all. So every 2/3 weeks I’ll take my clothes to the nearest laundromat about an hours drive away.
I've been told by allergists to not line dry clothes outside because of my pollen and mold allergies. And in winter it's too cold to line dry outside in Minnesota.
Same for me. I've also been told by my allergist not to hang clothes outside. I definitely hang dry a lot of stuff inside on a line I put in my laundry room, but sheets and towels gotta go in the dryer.
I add vinegar to my laundry instead of using poisonous softeners.
@@Lili-xq9sn I add nothing but my handmade detergent that I make myself from the soap that I make for my plethora of allergies and use nothing in the dryer at all except a dryer ball. No softeners of any kind in the wash or in the dryer ever.