Is it bad luck to do washing on New Years Day? (2024)

FAQs

Is it bad luck to do washing on New Years Day? ›

This is an odd one. According to folklore, if you wash clothes on New Year's Day, you'll be “washing for the dead” or washing a loved one away -- meaning someone in your household will die in the coming year. Get your laundry washed, dried, folded and put away by New Year's Eve.

Another superstition, this is American folklore: don't wash clothes on New Year's Day. If you clean clothes on Jan. 1, you may wash away a member of your family in the coming year — meaning someone will die. Not to mention sending a year of good fortune down the drain.

People believe that if you do clean on January 1, you end up sweeping away all of the good luck that's stored away in your home for that coming year, so you wait until January 2 to complete your household chores like laundry, dishes and tidying up instead.

Or take out the trash, or wash your clothes, or sweep your house... as the superstition goes, if you do, you might accidentally wash good luck and loved ones out of your life. Other beliefs state that whatever you do on New Year's is what you'll be doing the rest of the year.

Put that soap down! You could be washing your luck away…at least according to a Korean superstition that says you shouldn't bathe or shower on New Year's day.

Don't Clean the House on New Year's Day - You will wash away any good luck coming your way.

No washing or cutting your hair

It is believed that if you wash your hair on New Year's day, you'd also be washing away all your luck. It's somewhat similar to if you cut your hair, you'd be cutting your life shorter!

One common tradition is cleaning your house thoroughly on or before New Year's Eve. Out with the old, in with the new they say. Most people believe in the idea that cleaning your house before the first day of the New Year ensures that you don't carry in your old, somewhat soiled, life into the New Year.

Good Friday

It doesn't land on the same day each year, but — as the name suggests — it's always a Friday. You might want to give it a miss if you're thinking about doing some laundry on this holy day. That's because some Catholics believe it's bad luck to wash your clothes on Good Friday.

What day of the week is best to do laundry? Fridays and Sundays are the two best days of the week to do laundry from 10 am to 11 am.

How to bring good luck in the new year? ›

Be careful not to shed any tears come January 1. Crying at the start of the new year has been said to set the tone for a year full of sadness and sorrow.

There is truly nothing wrong with doing nothing for NYE. Grant would much rather not go out but after a year of staying in night after night playing parent's, I feel ready to get my dancing shoes back on.

Don't wash those clothes

This is an odd one. According to folklore, if you wash clothes on New Year's Day, you'll be “washing for the dead” or washing a loved one away -- meaning someone in your household will die in the coming year. Get your laundry washed, dried, folded and put away by New Year's Eve.

If you don't want to wash away luck in the upcoming year, don't wash the dishes either. Finally, do not sweep until Jan. 2 or you're sweeping out the luck. Do not take anything out of your home on New Year's Day—including garbage—or luck goes out and won't come back.

It is recommended to avoid doing laundry (or using other major electrical appliances) during your energy company's “peak hours,” aka the time of day when the electricity demand and price per kWh are highest.

Do not wash or dry cloths at nightAt the point when we clean, wash or dry clothes around evening time, negative energy enters and when we wear them toward the beginning of the day, the impact of that energy falls on our body, which is hurtful.