Which 'new' things do you wash before using?

oddduck said:
So what do people in your country do with unwanted clothes if not donate to the thrift store?
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There are many "second hand" clothes shops around here but as I say, 99% of locals are much shorter than I am and so are their clothes.
 
Yesterday I bought 2 new nightshirts, they were washed this morning, who knows how many hands have been on them?
 
Most every thing. All fabrics. Any and all purchased produce. Even those that are bagged and claim to be washed . Produce from my garden is washed. I do not use chemicals but I wash to clean off any dust or air borne contaminated. Also any living creatures that may be hitching a ride into the house
Most meat and seafood products are rinsed off and patted dry.
@Lullabelle you are right on . There is no way to know how many hands have touched your fabrics or your food. Kind of creepy when you stop and think about it.
 
We recently purchased a new set of dishware. It was washed in hot, soapy water before being put away in the cabinet .
I am not a neat freak . My house is a mess always . I have this weird thing about bringing in anything that has not been washed . I can live with our mess but I do not want to use items that other people have handled without washing it. Ok - I may be a nut case. G.contends that I should be as concerned about our daily living conditions .
 
We've never bought anything second hand, but my wife gives her good clothes that she's sick of to a group here that organise nice clothes for poor women who are trying to get in the workforce. My wife spends a LOT of money on clothes. She has to be presentable for her job. I'm a typical bloke normally in shorts and a top, barefoot a must for me. None of our new clothes get washed before we wear. New linen is just put away after unwrapping. My wife as I've said earlier is a bit of a clean freak. She cleans up after me,lol. Sheets normally get washed every weekend. If it was me, I'd pay a cleaner to come do that type of work. Don't get me wrong, I do my bit around here. Wife also likes flowers on our kitchen table weekly. Our carnations are beautiful ATM.
I did commercial cleaning as a second job when I started in the workforce.

Russ
 
ElizabethB said:
We recently purchased a new set of dishware. It was washed in hot, soapy water before being put away in the cabinet .
I am not a neat freak . My house is a mess always . I have this weird thing about bringing in anything that has not been washed . I can live with our mess but I do not want to use items that other people have handled without washing it. Ok - I may be a nut case. G.contends that I should be as concerned about our daily living conditions .
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Wife also does that with new crockery, usually to clean BUT also it takes off any stickers that may be attached to the crockery. She normally buys 2 sets of anything as we quite often cook for that amount.

Russ
 
I recently bought a pair if shorts and summer trousers, both are in the wash because who knows who has been handling them and what is on them. My husband bought a shirt, he doesn't want it washing.
 
Lullabelle said:
I recently bought a pair if shorts and summer trousers, both are in the wash because who knows who has been handling them and what is on them. My husband bought a shirt, he doesn't want it washing.
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I'm like you @Lullabelle, I also wash everything in the washing machine or by hand what I just bought, sometimes I also bring things in the laundry.
Maybe your husband bought a T-shirt that was packed?
 
Same here - I wash nearly everything before wearing it/consuming it.

It's not even a phobic thing - most items tell you to wash them before first use, just to remove any factory/shipping/handling dust and grime.

The funny thing is, I give a lot of stuff to Goodwill, and I always wash it before donating it, even though they tell you that they wash the donations before they ever go onto the floor.
 
I've reached the conclusion that I'm simply a slut when it comes to washing clothes. I've shopped in charity shops all my life and have never washed anything before wearing it. And I certainly wouldn't wash anything new. What a waste of water and electricity! And anyway, we try clothes on in shops so we are putting them against our skin then. I think I might have said something similar earlier in this thread - but if I was to start worrying about who might have touched and item then I'd probably end up as a basket case! I sit on seats that others have sat on so my trousers will have touched potentially contaminated surfaces but I'm certainly not going to wash those trousers unless they are visibly dirty.

And what about second hand books? Or new books come to that? They can't be washed so we have to touch them as they are. Does that mean we should wash our hands after reading a book? :hyper:
 
morning glory said:
I've reached the conclusion that I'm simply a slut when it comes to washing clothes. I've shopped in charity shops all my life and have never washed anything before wearing it. And I certainly wouldn't wash anything new. What a waste of water and electricity! And anyway, we try clothes on in shops so we are putting them against our skin then. I think I might have said something similar earlier in this thread - but if I was to start worrying about who might have touched and item then I'd probably end up as a basket case! I sit on seats that others have sat on so my trousers will have touched potentially contaminated surfaces but I'm certainly not going to wash those trousers unless they are visibly dirty.

And what about second hand books? Or new books come to that? They can't be washed so we have to touch them as they are. Does that mean we should wash our hands after reading a book? :hyper:
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Hotel beds.
 
@morning glory - I wouldn't call you that, I'd just say, "To each their own." :)

For the record, I don't try on clothes. I know my size and I buy that size, take them home, wash them, and carry on. I've probably bought something too small or too large less than five times in my adult life.

I do think that's probably easier for a man than a woman, or at least for me, because my clothes come down to jeans (and I always buy the same brand and fit), shirts, and pullovers.

My wife...befuddles me. She can buy a packet of basic cotton underwear and get the wrong size. How does that even happen? :laugh:

I watched a show once, several years ago, about hand-washing. One doctor said, "Look at your hands. If they're visibly dirty, wash them. Smell your hands. If they stink, wash them. Other than that, don't worry about it."

Second doctor said, "Wash your hands or at least use sanitizer after every public interaction. Shake hands...sanitize or wash. Touch a doorknob...sanitize or wash. Ride the subway...sanitize or wash."

Both were immunologists (or whatever they're called), both highly educated, yet they had polar opposite opinions. Just goes to show. :)

And yes...if you google "wash hands after reading book," you'll find that it is recommended to do so after visiting a library, etc. Do I do that? No, but I do wash my hands frequently throughout the day, so there's that. :)

Really, it's whatever makes people comfortable in their daily lives. I sleep in hotel beds. I eat in restaurants. I think we all know that both of those things are potentially as nasty as it gets.

Like I said, for me, it's less about germs and more about "knocking the dust off" an item. Although, you know there's that one person out there who works at the underpants factory who's rubbing all the dainties on their crotch before putting them in the bag! :laugh:
 
@morning glory you shocked me,lol. My wife asked me to wash the towels yesterday before she went to work. That normally is about 8 to 10 towels, when loading the machine I spotted 3 brand new tea towels in the pile to be washed as well. So I put them with them as I know she washes new stuff. Me, I would have put them on the tea towel pile. But she would have caught me out. I hung them all out to dry later. Hell. I even folded them. Lol.

Russ
 
morning glory said:
I've reached the conclusion that I'm simply a slut when it comes to washing clothes. I've shopped in charity shops all my life and have never washed anything before wearing it. And I certainly wouldn't wash anything new. What a waste of water and electricity!
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Same here unless I can see that it is physically dirty.

My mother had one phobia that drove me mad. She wouldn't (and probably still doesn't) eat using other people's cutlery! She'll take Betty own to a restaurant. I've asked repeatedly what the difference is between that and a plate but get no answer. She'll bring cutlery over to my sister's on the pretence that more will be needed for the party but if you watch her, she'll find her own cutlery amongst all the rest and if none is there, she'll raid the dishwasher and actually wash some to use (she does not wash up anything except a knife and fork for herself). No amount of discussion will rationalise this phobia.
 
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