Do you have to wash clothes before storing them?
I am afraid that indeed, you do have to wash clothes before storing them. I will tell you why.
When I took on the momentous task of organizing, sorting, reducing, and storing my children's too-small clothes, I had not planned on washing them. After all, they had been washed before being brought back to the bedrooms last time (I won't say, put away in their drawers because many were just piled up here and there). And I know I will wash them before putting them on the next kid who may use those clothes.
Yet when I did research on how to store children's clothes, I found again and again that it was recommended to wash and thoroughly dry the clothes before storing them. Still, I was not convinced.
Then I learned why they HAVE to be washed before storing (thanks to the blunt words of a professional organizer named Cynthia Braun on her website organizeyourlife.org):
- Washing clothes removes mildew spores that could take off while in storage
- Washing clothes removes insect eggs that could hatch into bugs that chew holes in your clothing
- Stains, which contain bits of food like grease or other substances, or body fluids like perspiration, attract insects to clothing that is in storage
At the very least, clothes should be put through the dryer before storing, which should knock out the insect eggs. However, that does not sound very effective to me.
If only I had not thought I could get away with storing the clothes without washing them first... I had them all sorted into piles by size and gender. Now, I am washing them in loads by size and gender, in order to avoid the task of sorting them out again, even though some of the loads are pretty small.
The moral of the story is: don't hesitate - just wash the children's clothes before putting them into storage. And dry them really well - or you'll just make things worse!
