a peek inside the fishbowl

Current status: picking up a new tee at the @TwissAndWeber #InternationalWomensDay fundraiser auction and art show. @DFSOttawa #IWD2019 pic.twitter.com/mHjuFv5oCV

— andrea tomkins (@missfish) March 8, 2019

• Family-friendly things to do in Westboro Village over March Break, westborovillage.com
• Unvaccinated Oregon boy almost died from tetanus and racked up US$1 million hospital stay, ottawacitizen.com
• The People Who Eat the Same Lunch Every Day, theatlantic.com
• Some ‘snitch-line’ tips on teaching about same-sex marriage are flagged as professional misconduct, cbc.ca
• I jazzed up Canadian history by rewriting it as fan fiction, theglobeandmail.com

On the nightstand: A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship and Survival in World War Two

Day 13 of #1dress30days! I swear there’s a dress under all of these layers. pic.twitter.com/RIa7hNYKqb

— andrea tomkins (@missfish) March 7, 2019

I was at a book launch downtown last night and reactions to my 1Dress challenge varied from “what the heck” to “WOW you rock.” I felt I was appropriately dressed and had zero regrets or bouts of regret or shyness about it.

Someone asked me on Twitter if I was bored of The Dress yet. Surprisingly I am not! In fact, I am enjoying the predictability of it. This might sound dull, but it’s actually quite liberating to wear the same thing every day, in a way, because I’m released from the “oh no, what am I going to wear today” question. Related: I have the same breakfast every day and do the same workout every day, which makes my morning routine a total no brainer. I like to think that this frees up my brain cells for other things.

Misty brought up an interesting point in her comment on my previous post about the 1Dress challenge: germs. Now, if I worked in a doctor’s office, hospital, school, or other setting in which there are a lot of people walking around every day I might give germs more consideration but as I mentioned before, I work from home most of the time, so germs aren’t exactly top of mind.

Interestingly, the maker of the dress, Tangente, left a comment on one of my Instagram posts about the challenge. They wrote: “Thanks so much for choosing my dress for your challenge. I’m also in strong agreement that people wash their clothes too often.” I am glad they agree with me!

The other day I took my mother to the doctor. She lives in the Peterborough area and I go there and back in one day. It makes for a lot of driving but I’m happy to do it.

Washing the dress after I got home that night was a bit of a question mark, especially since I had washed it the night before. My mother is a chain smoker (thankfully, not in the car) so there was that too, in addition to any germs I might have sat in at the doctor’s office. So what’s a gal to do?

When I was in university and my friends and I came from bars and clubs reeking of cigarette smoke (back in the day when smoking was allowed in these establishments!) I’d simply take my clothes off at home and leave them outside. This was especially useful for hard-to-wash items like coats and jackets. By morning the smell was always gone. So that’s what I did the other night. I hung my dress outside until I went to bed. I figured it would kill some bacteria as well. When I brought it back indoors it smelled as fresh as before, if not better.

So what about the question of killing bacteria? Well, I found this story about it online. It seems as though putting clothing in a freezer only renders the bacteria dormant, but then Rachel McQueen, a professor of human ecology at the University of Alberta, who is quoted, says “airing your jeans outdoors in the sunlight would be a more effective method of getting rid of odors and a lot of bacteria.” Something to think about!

Here’s another interesting bit: One of McQueen’s students wore his jeans for 15 months straight without a single wash and then tested the level of bacteria on them. The unwashed jeans carried nearly the same amount of bacteria as those same pants after they had been washed and then worn for 13 days.

As for me, I’m just on my way out the door for an International Women’s Day event. The dress is getting seen and my cost-per-wear is going down every day. I’m pretty excited about that.

This post is about the “One dress, thirty days” challenge. You can readthe kickoff post right here.

So I’ve been on the receiving end of some positive feedback about the challenge so far, which is nice. Some people have asked me if I’m washing the dress during the 30 days. Er, yes! I am definitely washing the dress. As per the label it needs to be hand washed and laid flat to dry. I’ve washed it twice this way (albeit on the delicate cycle in our front loader). Once I laid it out to dry overnight on the bed in the eldest daughter’s former bedroom and the second time (just last night) I lay it flat on a drying rack in the basement. I will admit that it was a teeeeny bit damp when I put it on this morning, but no biggie. Next time I’ll definitely lay it out to dry in the bedroom.

I feel compelled to point out that I wear PJs for sleeping and gym gear for sweating in, whether I’m at the gym or on the treadmill here at home. When I’m dressed, I’m wearing The Dress. Someone also asked me if I’m wearing a layer underneath the dress, and yes, I wear lightweight undershirts and camisoles every day. It goes a long way to keeping the dress clean because it’s not directly on my skin. I’m also reaching for that apron when I’m prepping dinner a little more frequently.

The “are you washing the dress” question makes me wonder if the idea of cleanliness (or lack thereof) is people’s number one issue when they hear about this challenge. Is it the first thing that springs to mind when I tell people that I’m wearing the same dress for 30 days?

The question of whether our clothes are dirty or clean is an interesting one. On one hand, detergent manufacturers would have us washing our clothes every day with additives for every cycle – in addition to regular detergent – such as laundry scent boosters (yes, it’s a thing), bleach, spray n’ wash, fabric softeners, and dryer sheets. It’s in their best interest to instill a fear of dirt, germs, and bad smells. That’s what gets us to buy more products, right? Ahd someone who is germophobic probably washes their clothes more than other people.

In past years, these same manufacturers used shame as a key motivator. Readers of an, ahem, certain age might remember the “ring around the collar” commercials.

I have a feeling that if we did a nationwide survey we’d learn that most people are washing their clothes too frequently. Over washing uses extra water, flushes detergent down the drain (not to mention microfibres along with it) and shortens the lifespan of our clothing.

My current approach to laundering my clothes is this:

• I wash all of my clothing on the delicate cycle and hang most of it to dry on the laundry line in our basement. Even socks! This has made a huge difference, especially in the bra and underwear department. All of my clothing lasts a lot longer now that I’m not throwing everything in the drier. (I can’t tell you how many bras I’ve ruined this way.)
• Clothing items such as sweaters and hoodies are washed on an as-needed basis. In other words, if they’re stained, dingy, or less than fresh. Same goes for jeans. I wear them a lot between washings (and I only have two pairs!).

This article published in the Guardian got me thinking about how often we wash things around the house. It’s interesting to note that different experts have wildly different ideas about cleanliness depending on their angle e.g. whether they approached the question as an expert cleaner or environmentalist. Some people would have us wash our jeans every day because of germs, others say the time to wash is when the item fails the sniff test.

There is no wrong answer (is there?), but I do think it’s important to be just as mindful of our laundry as we are about our recycling or turning off the lights when we’re not using them. What do you think?