DEAR ABBY: Please settle something between my mother and me. I always wash new clothes before I wear them. My wife also washes her clothes and our twins' before they are worn.
My mother says this is ridiculous and unnecessary. I say that one doesn't know what the garments have been exposed to, or who has handled them or tried them on. She says I am the only one in the world who thinks this way.
Is my way all that unusual? I have a small stack of new clothes that await your answer. -- DALE GAMMELL, OMAHA, NEB.
DEAR DALE: No. Your way is not all that unusual. However, most people who like the look and feel of new clothes are reluctant to wash them. But others like you, who worry about where and on whom clothes have been, or who want to avoid that "brand-new" look, prefer to launder them before wearing them. To each his own.