Wear your clothes more than once between washes

Many people assume that clothes must be washed after a single day of wear. In fact, unless you have sweated a lot or stained them, most clothes can be worn two days or more. Underwear and socks are the exception: change them every day.

Washing less often saves energy and water, and you use less detergent.

The habit of washing everything after one wear means running the washing machine far more often than needed. That wastes energy, water and detergent. Washing less also makes your clothes last longer, since every wash wears the fabric a little and can sometimes shrink it.

To keep some variety in what you wear, leave three or four days before putting the same item on again. For example, trousers worn on Sunday can be worn again on Wednesday or Thursday.