The economy is tough and many of us are still struggling to make ends meet. Even though it may not be apparent, wearing undershirts can save you a TON of money over the course of a year.
If you don’t wear undershirts, then you likely have to wash or dry clean your shirts after every wearing. Even conservatively, if you reduce that by half (wash every other wearing) by wearing an undershirt, you’re not only going to save yourself money on washing/dry cleaning bills, but you’ll also extend the life of your clothes because they won’t get as dirty nor will you have to wash them as often – cleaning will wear down fabrics over time.
Here’s an email from a reader who asked how often I changed out my undershirts:
Tug,
How often do you change undershirts? I have a set of 10. Your help is appreciated.
S
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How Often Should You Buy New Undershirts?
hey s,
good to hear from you and thanks for sending in your question.
you know, that’s a pretty interesting question and it’s a little hard for me to answer. reason is that, as you can imagine, i have whole lot of undershirts, so mine will last a really long time. no matter though, let’s try to take a look at your situation specifically.
assuming you have 10 undershirts, and you wear them five days a week on average, then you’ll wind up wearing each undershirt roughly 26 times in any given year. keeping in mind that everyone’s physical biology is different, if you regularly wash and properly maintain your undershirts, those 10 undershirts should be perfectly fine for at least 1.5 to 2 years.
now, there are some of us guys that keep our underpinnings for a lot longer. some do just because they are still in good condition, some do it just because they’re comfortable in them. case-in-point, i have an old ratty 2xist undershirt that i’ve been wearing to bed for probably 3+ years now – that’s roughly equivalent to wearing this single shirt 365 times (nights) assuming i wear it at least 3 days a week on average! it really should go into the trash, but i’ve been attached to it for some reason. good news is that i feel that i’m about ready to part with the old thing and replace it with something new.
although those 10 undershirts should last you some time, let me leave you with this piece of information. let’s pretend those 10, good quality undershirts cost you about $10 each leaving your total investment for them at $100. if you replaced those 10 undershirts each year, they would only cost you $0.27 per day to have clean, fresh, properly fitting undershirts for that year. couple that with how much money you’d likely save by keeping your outer shirts even cleaner and you’ve likely split that cost in half.
if you really think about it, what other clothing item can offer that amount of value for such a little cost?
I change undershirt and shirt every day. And then they land in the laundry bag.
That’s for business shirts, that need to look fresh in the morning.
If not for business, I hardly use shirts anymore. In winter, long undershirt and pullover, until I smell them, or they are wet from sweat.
Smoking and coffee promote sweating, so better don’t smoke or have coffee in the morning before going to work.
Synthetic material last event longer, and can have wicking properties to keep you dry in the hot Summer. Personally, I would never buy cloth undershirt again.
I’m torn on what brand to get. Underarmour and Merona come to mind, I currently only have Underarmour shirts.
It seems most people writing-in replace their undershirts a little longer than your recommendation. This may explain why many shirts are discontinued. They want us to replace our shirts every year. Therefore if sales drop off for 18 months or longer, then executives probably decide to terminate that style. Personally, I purchase the bulk of my undergear during Fathers day and Xmas sales.