# Help settle a family dispute regarding laundry **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 18, 2008, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-settle-a-family-dispute-regarding-laundry/438091 "2008-02-18T12:44:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2008, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-settle-a-family-dispute-regarding-laundry/438091/61 "2008-02-23T02:29:31Z")
[QUOTE=BwanaBob] You wear underwear once. Despite the best hygiene it will be crawling with E Coli by days end. I have to assume some of those little creeps make their through the weave to the pants. Nuff said. 1 wearing, then wash. [/QUOTE] That’s a woosh, right? Your underwear is crawling with E Coli by day’s end?! My jeans get washed, oh…maybe once a month. I wear jeans to work, and have three pairs I randomly pick from. Like most others, I don’t find them to be dirty unless I’ve been out to a smoky bar, or spilled something on them. In a normal day, when I’m basically just sitting at a desk, I don’t find them getting soiled. Besides, I think jeans do wear better when they are “broken in”, so I think you are doing yourself a disservice if you wash them too often. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2008, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-settle-a-family-dispute-regarding-laundry/438091/62 "2008-02-23T02:35:46Z")
My jeans are always tighter after I wash them. Have to wear them for a bit before they stretch back out. Or am I just getting fatter? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2008, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-settle-a-family-dispute-regarding-laundry/438091/63 "2008-02-23T22:14:54Z")
No, cotton stretches more than you’d likely guess. They’re “shrink to fit”, really. ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2008, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-settle-a-family-dispute-regarding-laundry/438091/64 "2008-02-23T22:50:46Z")
[QUOTE=Atomicktom] That’s a woosh, right? Your underwear is crawling with E Coli by day’s end?! [/QUOTE] According to Cecil in [this](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_220.html) column, “your boxer-shorts region–from belly button to mid-thigh–is crawling with germs known as coliform bacteria.” And one of the suggestions in [this](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990416.html) column says: “When doing laundry, make underwear the last load. Don’t sort by colors (or at least don’t put colored underwear with other colored items). Use chlorine bleach, which will clean both the clothes and your washing machine.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-settle-a-family-dispute-regarding-laundry/438091.md?page=3)