Anyone do their laundry by hand?

npsmama

I mean ALL their laundry ...not just delicates.

I've had to do it by hand the past few days as somehow heating oil has got into the washing machine.

I've been amazed at how easy it is to do and....get this...how cleaner and brighter the clothes are!! The clothes are washed and dried faster than when the machine does it.
And that's without using a scrubber.
I do use the tumble dryer though . I wring by hand as much as possible and then let the dryer do the rest.


I may be made but I'm seriously contemplating not repairing/replacing the washing machine. :eek:

boredjellybean

crumbs - well done you I hate doing hand washing & find it always gets shoved to the bottom of the pile, I end up getting soaked too

I guess you could try if for a month or so & see if it is still as appealing ?

BB

nanokitten

My nan used to soak all the washing in the old bathwater before washing, a good old soak must reduce the amount of scrubbing needed.

LameWolf

I had to do it all by hand when I had my flat (early 80's) as there was nowhere to put a machine. There's no way on this earth I'd ever go back to it - it's bad enough doing the stuff that absolutely HAS to be done by hand. Best of luck if you can hack it, though.

Pink.

My washing machine died a couple of weeks ago. Thankfully I've had family who have helped out but I have been doing some of the washing by hand and I've hated every second of it...handwashing for a family of five is not fun!

No matter what I do the larger things are not washed or rinsed nearly so well as the machine does it and as for wringing out a whole wash, they're still soaking wet when I'm done and not having a tumble dryer, it takes forever for them to dry. My new machine is due to arrive this afternoon and I can't wait! :j

For anyone who does want to wash by hand there's an earlier thread with lots of hints and tips on how to go about it:

handwashing clothes!!

Pink

Penelope_Penguin

npsmama wrote: »

I do use the tumble dryer though . I wring by hand as much as possible and then let the dryer do the rest.

Are you using a mangle to remove the water If not, I suspect the tumble dryer is working overtime, especially so when the cooler weather comes and you start wearing thicker clothes and woolies.

It might not be so MS to use all that fuel for the TD, rather than replace the WM

Penny. x

tori.k

i did it for 3 months last year while waiting to get the part for the washing machine to get fixed, and even tho i used gloves, my hands rotted due to the constant friction they have never really recovered and i have old women dishpan hands the house was always full of wet washing and top it all it didnt save any money as my washer cost about 16p a load (cold fill) i used twice as much water and had the extra cost to heat it add my time (which is priceless)...never again!

Primrose

At times of the year when we have good sunny or breezy drying weather I often do most of my washing by hand to save electricity and let it drip dry, using the residual hot water in the tank. I just spin really thick things like towels on the Spin option of the washing machine. I know this still uses electricity. I hardly ever use my tumble dryer as I hate ironing and find that everything comes out so creased whereas outside drying often leaves clothes in a state where apart from "posh wear" you can often get away with ironing them.

rosieben

I tried to hand wash for a few weeks when my machine died on me earlier this year; I managed ok with the small stuff but I really struggled with the big towels etc; like Pink, I didnt feel I was washing or rinsing them properly; I just gave up on the bedlinen and took it to my dsis' wm! I have a new washer/dryer now and really would not choose to wash by hand except for smalls/delicates; I line dry when I can, but I'll be using the td during the winter instead of having damp laundry hanging around this already damp old house.

OrkneyStar

LameWolf wrote: »

I had to do it all by hand when I had my flat (early 80's) as there was nowhere to put a machine. There's no way on this earth I'd ever go back to it - it's bad enough doing the stuff that absolutely HAS to be done by hand. Best of luck if you can hack it, though.

I had the same thing years back when I had a rented flat and silly me did not notice no WM when viewing it! Was a nightmare......had to use the bath, the stuff was never rung properly and as I had no TD took an age to dry. I'd rather be without a TD (as we are now) than a WM anyday. Also make sure you are using good posture as you might be asking for back problems to develop (I already have some, another reason why hand washing is not for me!), and that your hands are properly protected (washing powder can make hands not very nice!). Many WM nowadays can be economical with Eco cycles etc, so for me its WM all the way!

valk_scot

I sometimes have to do the washing by hand when we go camping. Life is too short for this sort of thing imho, especially if you have a family and kids. I can see how it might work for a single person (my mum used to do most of her washing by hand and just put the washing machine on when she had a load of bedding and towels) but otherwise? I do eight full washing machine loads per week for my lot, including rugby kit, swimming and other towels, bedding, school uniform and the constant mucky play clothes. No way...that's why I have a washing machine, and why I look for campsites with a laundry room.

I do wash woolies by hand, but that's quite enough!

It's probably more expensive to wash by hand than use a 30` fast ecowash anyway...needs more rinse water and takes twice as long in the tumble drier to get them dry. If you really want to hand wash you need a spinner to get more of the water out, and if you really want to save money then line dry your clothes rather than use the tumble drier at all.