This is a sponsored post brought to you by The Clorox Company.

Have you ever heard the advice to not wash your jeans for at least a year in order to extend their life?

Well the first time I heard it, I thought: Yuck!  That’s disgusting.  And then I thought about it for a minute.  I don’t wash my jeans after every wear.  And I have some jeans that I don’t wear very often, so I could technically go several months without washing them.

However, that is not possible for my favorite jeans.  You know, the ones that you wear once (or maybe even twice) a week. Those have to be washed more frequently.

But when it comes to my kids’ jeans, they are washed after every wear without question. And most parents understand why. If you’ve ever dared to sniff their jeans, the smell alone would make you wash them.

I already know that the amount of germs that my kids’ jeans have on them from dirty, snotty fingers, and partially wiped booties is probably unimaginable. If one of those black light tests were performed on my kids jeans, I bet all sorts of germs would be revealed on them.

Kids don’t wash or wipe well enough!

But with three small kids, I need to find a way to preserve their jeans as long as possible.  I try to buy jeans only two times a year.  I buy them in the late Fall when the temperature starts to drop.  And I also buy a few pairs in the Spring because they’ve either outgrown their jeans or have worn them out.

I also need a way to preserve my favorite jeans. Because if I consider a pair of jeans to be my favorite, then it’s means I think I look darn good in them….which means I wear them a lot.

Here are a few tips from me and Dr. Laundry (Clorox’s resident stain expert Mary Gagliardi) on how to get the most out of your jeans.

To get the most for your money, I say:

• Always purchase the best quality jeans. All jeans are not created equal.  We try on a lot of different brands and once we find one we like, we stick with it. I wait for the sales and I purchase multiple pairs.
• Make sure the jeans have some growing room to compensate for shrinkage and for growth spurts.
• Finally, if you do find a pair of jeans that you absolutely love, consider buying two pairs of them. That way, you can wear them frequently and not have to wash them frequently. And then you will have a pair for special occasions that will not need to wash frequently.

To help preserve your jeans and keep them wearable longer, Dr. Laundry provides these 8 great tips:

1. Use the delicate cycle – With less agitation and lower spin speeds than regular or permanent press cycles, it reduces the rubbing and creasing of the fabric that contributes to color loss.
2. Use front loading washers – They have more gentle agitation than standard top loading washers. Use a front loading washer if possible.
3. Try handwashing – Be sure to rinse them thoroughly, and roll in a towel to squeeze out excess moisture instead of wringing the water out, which will crease the fabric.
4. Use the correct wash temperature – If the care label recommends warm water, then select the warm/cold wash and rinse option.  Otherwise go with a cold wash and rinse.
5. Use the right detergent and laundry additives – Because lower agitation and cooler wash temperatures reduce cleaning, the “chemistry” of your wash water is very important in order to actually get jeans clean. Start with a liquid detergent, and add Clorox 2® Stain Remover and Color Protector for Darks & Denim. You can also safely pretreat stains directly with Clorox 2® Darks & Denim—just apply a little directly to the stain and wait 5-10 minutes before washing.

   

6. Wash denim inside out – Turning the item inside out (you can do this after pretreating) and closing all buttons, snaps, and zippers is a great way to prevent fading from mechanical action of your washer.
7. Allow to air dry – Use pants hangers with plastic clips to hang blue jeans for air drying.  Keeping denim out of a hot dryer is important for limiting overall fading and avoiding color loss from the abrasion that results when items tumble together.
8. Bonus: air drying can also help prevent shrinkage.

So, I put Dr. Laundry’s tips to the test with my favorite black jeans. Yes, black jeans…so you know I don’t wash them very often.  But as you can see from the picture below, it was past due time for me to wash them.

I followed her tips and used Clorox 2® Stain Remover and Color Protector for Darks & Denim. I was very pleased with the outcome….I was seriously afraid that I would not want to wear them anymore.  For the most part, after I wash my black jeans I normally stop liking them because they are faded.  But my black jeans still look super good and will used in regular rotation.

BMWK – how do you extend the life of your jeans?  What’s the longest you will wait before you wash your jeans? Am I the only person that still wears black jeans?

This post is brought to you by The Clorox Company. I have partnered with them to spread the word about  Clorox2® Stain Fighter and Color Booster.  All opinions are my own.