What life hack is so simple yet so effective, you're shocked more people don't know about it?

return2ozma@lemmy.world to Asklemmy@lemmy.ml – 337 points –
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T-shirts take up much less space if you roll them. So do most other clothes, but it's a huge gain with the T-shirts.

Plus then it's easier to tell what's been worn!

Wait, you're putting worn shirts back with the unworn?

An easy way to wear out cloths is to wash them too often. Some rules I follow:

  • If it's smelly or visibly dirty, ignore all other rules and wash
  • Rotate jeans and hang to air out. Cotton will naturally drop smells this way. Wash approx every 4 wears
  • Sweaters/Jumpers can be worn many times if a shirt is underneath. Hang and rotate to air out
  • If socks are merino wool, use nikwash and wear until they no longer smell like the wash (or get dirty). Lay out to air out. Any other material, wear only once
  • Dress shirts, if not wrinkled, 3 times, hang to air (only if you wear t-shirts underneath)
  • Wash t-shirts and underwear every time unless your backpacking. Basically, anything not wool that comes into constant contact with sweaty bits

Agree with all this except jeans. Store them in the freezer and wash them even less than youโ€™d like to. Theyโ€™re barely cool when you put them onโ€ฆ

unless itโ€™s a July 17 heatwave and you wore them in 7000% humidity before tossing the salty, sweat-drenched denim into the freezer, in which case theyโ€™re like cold tortilla chips. Just wash them if you were swimming down the sidewalk in mid-summer muck.

Anyway. Makes them last at least a couple years longer.

That's more-or-less how I do except I don't wear wool.

Merino wool is a very different material then "classic" wool. Backpackers like it because it wicks sweat and it's naturally antimicrobial so the smells dissipate over night. It's also not itchy due to the finer weave.

My favorite is Darn Tough socks. They're merino wool, warm when they need to be and cool when not, and if you get them on sale (only way to buy them) they're worth the price. Lifetime warranty, so if you get holes, you get new ones. Last socks you'll ever buy.

Absolutely! I wear shirts until theyโ€™re smelly or I spill on me.

Jeans are good for weeks, but I only wear them as outside pants. Most days Iโ€™m just wearing PJs cuz Iโ€™m in my house.

How is this actually true? It's the same amount of material? Is it about "same space, less wrinkle"?

Because T-shirts are somewhat irregularly shaped when folded. If you stack them with the same orientation, one side is higher than the other. You can alternate the way you lay them but that's also easier with rolls.

Rolls allow you to take advantage of the efficiency of the honeycomb shape, as well.

Ahhh stacking the rolls vertically is something I hadn't considered

Depends on whether you're folding them in neat squares or hanging them from hangers. The rolls are useful for putting them in luggage, they can be compressed better that way

I do squares and if packing a suitcase, lay out dress shirts alternating, trousers alternating, put t-shirts/underwear in the middle (folded) and roll the trousers and then dress shirts around them. Keeps the wrinkles down.

I've started doing this when I noticed the space savings. First, I've done it with underwear, then with my undershirts. Now, only those shirts I need to be ironed (and immaculately folded) don't get rolled.