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Comment by misterman0 | Hacker News Reader

I sometimes hold off washing my clothes for so long I end up wearing the same underwear two days in a row, then no underwear and very dirty socks, then no socks before I realize it's time to wind up the old washing machine. That's how much I hate washing. I wear every piece of clothing I have and at the end of a two month long washiless period I go to work looking a fool. And then after gaving washed my clothes I now have three hundred pair of socks to match! Nightmare!

SV, please try harder at creating a washing assistant. I need it yesterday!

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Buy the same socks in batches. If they are all the same color/shade you won’t need to spend time matching socks. Dump them into a drawer, and every time you need two socks, you grab two, done.

You could also extend the not-washing period if you buy more clothes. The more you have, the longer until you run out of clothes to wear.

I thought i was doing this by only getting black socks. Now I have a drawer full of very subtly different black socks

Ha, same happened to me too! I have 3 or 4 batches of black socks. In the beginning, very easy, pick two, dress, get out.

A few time ago I realized, due to different materials or black ink, they degrade in different ways, so I have a few shades of black to choose from.

But still don't care :).

Just lean into this one and buy brightly colored and patterned socks instead.

That way, you're obviously always wearing mismatched socks, and it becomes an obviously deliberate (if eccentric) fashion choice instead of a repeated sartorial goof-up.

Also, you get to wear socks that are more fun.

This is a very useful hack. I'm gonna try it out.

Socks didn't use to be a fashion statement but they sort of are now. Mixed socks. Because, y'know, I don't care. I just don't care. I'm just me.

LOL, so corny. I'm not sure anymore that I'll be able to pull of mixed socks.

Wouldn't that just make your washing time much longer as you have a larger load to deal with? I have that problem where my two kids just brings their clothes out of their rooms in one instance. Takes forever to finish washing them.

Batching actually helps as long as you can fit things in the machine and on the clothesline or in dryer.

Not to mention being more power and water efficient.

I don't know about where you live, but in the UK we have launderettes that do service washes. You dump your clothes in bags, and dump those bags at the launderette and pay for them to wash and dry and fold your clothing. You can pay extra for ironing. You can provide your own detergents and softeners[1] or they can use theirs.

You have to be careful because some of them are a bit clumsy and will boil the clothing, or melt it in a too hot dryer.

[1] don't use fabric softeners.

Contrary to the name, softeners do not soften the fabric but water and add more ionic detergent plus some smell. You get a bit more efficient washing as long as you reduce amount of washing medium.

Oh, and they do impart negative charge to the fabrics making them seem fluffier.

Some softeners do have protective oil or silicone or polysorbate that will coat the fabric protecting it more. (Similar mechanism to hair rinse.) This actually will protect the fabric from some wear. These chemicals cannot really be added to washing detergent as it would counter its action.

Certain silly people say the thin coat will interfere with future washing. I recommend testing instead of silly assumptions. (The layer is nonstick and waterproof which means your clothes will get less dirty and it is easier to remove anything on them... So you can use less detergent, time, force and water later. C.f. impregnated vs nonimpregnated wool.)

> Some softeners do have protective oil or silicone or polysorbate that will coat the fabric

I thought they all had that. I really dislike fabric softeners in part because I dislike the perfume they use and in part because they tend to render everything some degree of waterproof (bad for towels, particularly).

Not all of them do, cheap ones have the ionic detergent only and impart little benefit.

There are such services in my part of the US, too. However, they're too expensive to easily justify.

You could also look at it from another angle - you are making your small contribution to the environment[0] :)

[0]: https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2018/9/19/17800654/clothes-pla...

Turn the underwear inside out.

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