[trs80]

In my case I wash outer garments once per month (button down shirts, pants, etc). But I wash under garments weekly: white t-shirts, underwear, long underwear (esp in winter). They protect my outer clothes so get washed more frequently. I hang up my button-downs immediately when I get home. I don't like having to wash and iron a shirt every week, which does not get dirty anyway. I'm not sure if I'm the only one who does this but I would imagine they did huge batches of clothes back then that got dirtier more often, to save time, and didn't really wash their "Sunday best" as frequently.

[mseebach]

There's another variable here: clothes are immensely cheaper today. It was much less affordable to own a huge batch of clothes at all back then.