Anyone hand wash their clothes?

[Kala]

It's something we have been contemplating. Especially since it would be a lot of work to get the washer and dryer up and running in the new house. Aka, the old cabin we moved into. We have all of the neccessary equipment (I think ) Right now family is doing them for us until we figure something out. So just wondering if anyone did the same?

And slightly off topic, but if you are really into washboards and their history, we stopped by the Washboard Factory in Logan, Ohio a few days ago to pick up a couple of washboards. They are the only (I believe) manufacturer of hand assembled washboards left in the US. And they let you tour the factory. So I got to watch several boards be assembled and look at all of the old equipment, most of it still in use. The coolest part however was the binder full of thank you notes from soldiers and their families. Apparently the company sends washboard packages to troops serving overseas with no laundry facilities. Complete with bucket sized washboards and soap. I was literally in tears in the middle of this place reading all of the stories and seeing the pics of men and women in uniform quite happily scrubbing their clothes on a washboard while squatting on the ground. Kinda puts things into perspective for ya.

 

[abifae]

Only bras LOL. And my silk. And most of my medieval garb. And anything embroidered.

I guess I need a washboard.

 

[rebecca100]

I love the plunger idea! Of course like I mentioned earlier, I also have a new laundry pair(new to me anyway!). I went about a year without a dryer. I had to hang the clothes on a line in the bedroom and bathroom. My washer was used when my parents got it when I was a kid. I found the set on CL really cheap and it feels like laundry is almost too easy now! The washer has a HUGE tub and option for a second rinse. The dryer does great also. I still plan on hanging my clothes now that it is warm and I can hang outside. The clothes dry faster hanging on a hot day with a breeze than they do in the dryer and I think they smell so good when they dry in the fresh air.

 

[Beekissed]

If you can find the old galvanized washtubs with the hand cranked wringer attachment, it would be the most efficient way to go.

We used to have a hand cranked wringer on our washtubs when we lived off grid and it was invaluable. And, yes, we teenagers were the operators of such equipment....didn't hurt us a bit to work.

When you wash your clothing by hand you will find you use and reuse clothing and generate less dirty laundry than you would if you had machines.

If one doesn't work outside the home, I can't see why time can't be alotted for laundry, just like any other lengthy chore.

 

[phendunberry]

I handwash all my clothes- it's just me and water and electric is included in my rent, so I'd rather do laundry for free than take them to the laundromat. I also enjoy the process of hand washing. I love the feel of fabrics, and I like how my body feels worked when I squat over the bucket in my bathtub, and I love how the clothes look drying either on the rack in the tub or the line above it or on the balcony. I dunno, there's something romantic and beautiful and simple about it.
I have a large flexible plastic bucket that I use, its probably about 8 gallons. I just put my dirty clothes in there, and when it's full take it into the bathroom and add warm water and add some of a bar of detergent I bought in Argentina or a bit of Dr. Bronner's soap and swish it around a bunch then let it sit for about 30 minutes and then rinse each item piece by piece. Then hang to dry, and you're golden

 

[OzarkEgghead]

It's just me & my elderly mother. When I moved to this farm 7 months ago, I left my 25 year old washer & dryer set behind at the old farm. I've been doing our laundry by hand ever since & have absolutely no plans to change that. I spent $66 and built my own 3-line clothesline where I dry our washed clothing. During the warm months, I do the wash in 2 large muck buckets on the back porch...one bucket with soap to wash & one bucket with plain water to rinse. I allow the clothing to soak for about 30 min & then agitate with an antique laundry stick/plunger. After agitating, I hand-wring the clothes & dump them into the rinse bucket where I agitate them again. If I'm doing a load of heavily soiled farm clothes, I usually run them through a second rinse to be certain that I've gotten all of the dirt & suds out. Then I give the clothes a quick hand wring before dumping them into a clean laundry basket & transporting them to my 1898 antique Lovell hand-crank clothes wringer. A quick turn through the wringer squeezes out all of the excess water (and gives me some exercise!) and then the clothes are hung on the line to dry. During cool weather the process is just about the same except that I dump the clothes to be washed into the bathtub, hop in with bare feet & pretend I'm stomping grapes! LOL. After a rinse with fresh water, it's off to the Lovell wringer & then to the clothesline. Nothing better than the fresh smell of clothes dried on the line!!!

 

[sumi]

@OzarkEgghead I used to do the laundry in buckets and bath tubs too. I have a washing machine now, but I still line dry. I keep a room warm for my mealworms, so I put the damp stuff in there if the weather is "broken", which it is often in Ireland!

 

[Britesea]

I ran across a fun idea for getting a lot more of the water out of hand-washed items if you don't have a wringer. Take two 5 gallon buckets and drill holes in one of them- all around the bottom edge and a few more rows up the sides. Not so many that the structural strength of the bucket is compromised. Put that bucket into the tub, or anywhere that would be ok with water coming out. Now put your wet washing into that bucket. Put a lid on the second bucket and fit it into the first bucket, on top of the clothes. Now sit on the two buckets. Your weight will squeeze quite a bit of the water out of the clothes, without wrecking your hands trying to wring them out. Then just take the first bucket out and grab the clothes to hang them up. Easy-Peasy!

 

[Dirk Chesterfield]

When I was younger I used to hand wash all my blue jeans and other outerwear in a special galvanized two compartment sink in the basement. The sink was nifty because the right side had a washboard molded into the front of the sink. It also had large counter tops on both the left and right that had a washboard surface and a 2" curb edge to keep the water off the floor.

It was great. Right side for soap and scrub; left side for rinse. It also had a bracket for a wringer but it was missing. We used an old wringer washer just for wringing.

Fill the wash sink, add soap flakes, add clothes, use a plunger to agitate for 5 minutes, soak for 20 minutes, agitate for 2 more minutes, scrub if necessary. wring clothes, rinse and then do a final wring out.

For ironing we used a Mangle.

 

[rebecca100]

I have thought about it, especially when my washer was not getting the clothes clean and I didn't have a dryer. Then dh bought me a new set and I forgot the whole idea. I suppose that if my new set went out then I would hand wash since it would save a trip to the laundromat and a ton of money.