Anyone hand wash their clothes?

[chickenone]

I would not move into a place without a washer and dryer hookup. I am trying to imagine how much time it would take to wash my clothes by hand and what it would do to my hands. Eek. I would have a plumber come and put in a hookup and buy a washer and dryer. It would be worth it in the long run for all the time that would be saved. Time is worth money, after all.

 

[Neko-chan]

...

 

[chickenone]

I only have myself but I have more than one load a week- lights, darks, towels, sheets.

There is no way I would take the time to hand wash and/or line dry them. Why spend 20 minutes hanging them outside when I can toss them in the dryer in seconds? Also, what happens to you clothes if it storms or snows while you are at work? It just seems like so much work. I like convenience.
To each their own, I guess.

 

[FarmerDenise]

I love my washing machine.
That being said, I have done my share of handwashing. that includes loads of diapers. I do what I have to do. Washing by hand is hard on the hands and labor intensive. But when I did not have a machine and taking my laundry to the laundrymat was not a real option, I washed our clothing by hand and dried it outside or inside, whichever way I could.

Now I wash by machine and line dry. I do have a dryer, but I only use it when it rains for days on end and I truly need something dried asap, usually the dog's bed coz I'll just wear my dirty clothes again or my underwear inside out.

 

[Denim Deb]

TMI!

 

[abifae]

I don't like hand washing jeans or linens. Just big and bulky and a huge pain to get clean enough. I love line drying though, as long as there's enough breeze to keep it from being cardboard stiff.

I just happen to own a lot of clothing that I'd rather NOT put through the washer, especially a shared washer. If I had a front loader with a really good gentle cycle, I might change my mind But I'd still line dry.

 

[Kala]

Yea it's just hubby and I. And honestly we hardly go through many clothes at all. His work provides and washes all his uniforms. And since I'm now part time I only go through 3 uniforms a week. Plus we reuse our outside clothes several days before rotating to the next pair. I'm not sure that its something we'll keep up but just something we wanted to try. We plan on doing the agitation and also letting them soak. Then scrubbing any stains. We'll line dry when possible but we have an area set up in the house for inside drying. And even if it takes them several days to dry for some reason in the house we've got plenty of clothes/uniforms to fall back on that will be kept clean and put away. We'll probably still have our family members wash any big ticket items such as big blankets etc and just reimburse them for their effort as we are doing now.

We actually already have a washer and dryer just no vents etc to set them up yet in the basement. We are just the weird type of people I guess that actually enjoys these type of things. For us we intentionally do some things a little different that cause us to slow down and just enjoy each others company. Plus we only have a load max a week so it'd be fine for us right now.

Plus washers use so much water and dryers use so much energy. Iknow that I could buy energy efficient units but I really don't have the desire to drop that much $ on something like that right now.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Personally, there's no way I'd handwash our clothes! We do several loads per week...it seems like there is never-ending laundry! It would be a full time job for me to keep up with it!

 

[noobiechickenlady]

We did for the longest time. Our washer died (unfixable) so we had the choice of using the laundrymat or doing it by hand. Being cheap, by-hand won out.
If you have kids, kid's feet get the clothes about as clean as your hands would.

Just put them in the tub with soapy water & let the kids squash them over & over with their feet. My kids loved "dancing" on the clothes. Then we'd pile them up at the back of the tub & the kids would step on them to squish the soapy water out. Shower head to rinse, then out to the line to dry.
Now we have a new (to us) washing machine and I am so very glad for it. Hand washing will for sure make you grateful if you ever do get a machine.

 

[abifae]

Just put them in the tub with soapy water & let the kids squash them over & over with their feet. My kids loved "dancing" on the clothes. Then we'd pile them up at the back of the tub & the kids would step on them to squish the soapy water out. Shower head to rinse, then out to the line to dry.

That's how I wash my SCA dresses. They're too big to do by hand.