Hand Washing Activewear

[trevmillion]

Since I'm "early retired" now (thanks Jacob, thanks MMM) I've been riding bikes a TON. The most prevalent bike culture in my neck of the woods is mountain biking so I've just bought a fastastic used mountain bike for bombing down hills. I love it; it's sort of like skiing minus the 100$/day lift passes!



The problem comes when all my activewear shirts and shorts are horrendously smelly and I have to wait for the wife to take everything to the laundromat and wash them for me.

Well I said "no more!!" I'm taking clothes cleaning into my own hands and making my clothes smell fresh again manually.

How could I never have been taught how easy washing your own clothes is!? Somewhere during my childhood I had visions of depression-era women rubbing their hands raw scrubbing basket upon basket of filthy clothing on those horrid metal washboards.

In reality, it only takes about 5 minutes to wash the stink out of clothing, leaving them as fresh as if they came out of a conventional machine.



Anyway, I've got 250 words or so and more pictures about this on my website Five Gallon Ideas.

Thanks for letting me add my own tiny idea to the MMM zeitgeist - I hope it helps someone.

[MrFrugalChicago]

Question:  You just don't own a laundry machine? How come? The cost of buying one is a lot less than feeding the laundry mat.


Comment: If you have synthetic (not cotton) athletic clothes, normal detergent can shortern their lifespan and not get sweat out super well. I use something like http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001DLF6C2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1    .  I use a washing machine, but I suppose it would hand wash as well

[trevmillion]

Question:  You just don't own a laundry machine? How come? The cost of buying one is a lot less than feeding the laundry mat.

Good question. We're 4 months into renovations with another 2 or 3 remaining. We haven't had laundry the whole time but will again once renovations are finished.

Thanks for the tip on detergent!

[Quark]

I got a hand cranked Wonder Washer and spin dryer on CL which means no hand-wringing clothes. I do all my laundry in it.

[GuitarStv]

I've spent years washing very thick judo and jiu-jitsu gis (and rashguards that I'd often wear underneath and for wrestling practice) that collect a lot of sweat and get stinky.  The best thing to do is soak 'em for several hours before washing (either by hand or in the machine) - it really helps to reduce stink.

After getting the clothing sweaty, if you can't wash them immediately you want to rinse them out in water and try to get rid of as much sweat away as possible.  Then hang them to try until they can be washed.  If you leave them in a wet damp ball somewhere they will grow bacteria at a shocking rate and the smell becomes harder to remove.  Maybe not so big a deal with mountain biking, but with wrestling stinky clothes lead to skin infections.

My personal favourite stink removal procedure is a long soak in oxyclean, a quick hand wash and rinse, then into the washing machine with regular detergent.

[SingleMomDebt]

Does biking activewear get stinkier than running? I just wash mine when I'm in the shower after a run and then hang to dry. Do that for 1 or 2 wears, then I throw them in the wash for a cycle thereafter. Quick & easy. BTW, nice bike!

[oldladystache]

I have to wait for the wife to take everything to the laundromat and wash them for me.

You don't know where the laundromat is?

[TrulyStashin]

I have to wait for the wife to take everything to the laundromat and wash them for me.

You don't know where the laundromat is?

+1   

I mean, really???!!

[trevmillion]

You don't know where the laundromat is?

She prefers to do the laundry herself because she's better at it. I tend to do things wrong at the laundromat and ruin clothes. Plus why go to the laundromat myself when I'm content washing by hand?

I got a hand cranked Wonder Washer and spin dryer on CL which means no hand-wringing clothes. I do all my laundry in it.

Superb - I'll be watching out for one of these too! Doing even just a portion of laundry by hand can add to the :{l