Tuesday, 13 May 2008

How many days?

How many days should you wear a shirt? It's autumn in Sydney, and it's getting colder. If you have a laptop-pushing job like mine, you can actually reach the end of the day without cracking a sweat. Actually, if you have a laptop-pushing job like mine, where you also sometimes work from home by yourself, you can sit there wearing your wife's t-shirt that you slept in with the words 'I'm with stupid' lovingly texta-ed on by one of your daughters, and no-one will be any the wiser (no, fifi has no such t-shirt, but you get the picture).

So is it OK to wear a shirt 2 days straight? What if you get to the end of day 2 and it's still fine, in your opinion? What if you take it off and lie it over a chair for a few days, thus allowing it to breathe, and then wear it again? What if you're only seeing people off in the distance most of the time, or out in the open air where the odour of stale sweat is not nearly as obvious?

All just academic questions, you understand. But the washing does mount up a bit in winter.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gordon, you can also factor in blokes' clothing knowledge: many garments do not need a clean, they need a rest.

Leave a shirt an extra day's rest on the bedroom floor - good as new!

Little Chris

Anonymous said...

I think it has to do with the size of your washing machine. The smaller the machine, the less often the clothes need to be washed. Especially in winter.

Have you tried cycling the layers? Start with the clean garment on the outside. Next day move it to the middle layer, third day, next to your body, fourth day, washing machine. May look strange sometimes, but if you're working from home what does it matter?

Mattt said...

The sniff test is a valid scientific method.

Anonymous said...

Chris - amen brother!

And "I won't", that made me laugh!

But really, Gordon, there isn't even a question about this until you get into 3 or more days... or is that just me?

Jonathan Hunt said...

It depends on 3 factors with me:

1. Did I sweat when wearing it?

2. Did I wear it dawn till dusk?

3. Did I spill anything on it?

If I get three 'noes' then I will consider hanging the shirt up at the end of the day and re-wearing it.

Anonymous said...

deodordant covers a multitude of sins :)
so, for that matter, does after-shave, cologne, etc.
I say go for 3-5 days (barring the no-spill, no-smell rule)
- Albert