Anyone do their laundry by hand?

allydowd

I used to use an old salad spinner as a spin dryer to get the moisture out of hand washed clothes. The type I used was like a bowl with a handle that you spin round and round. It worked! You often find them in charity shops. This type of thing:

http://www.shopworldkitchen.com/index.asp?pageID=231&upc=70950022612

stitching_witch

When I lived in Wales, many years ago, we had no washing machine as we had no electiricity or running water. I was given a mangle which helped enormously and I did get good arm muscles eventually.

I suppose the only drawback was that I had two babies in terry nappies at the same time and boiled the nappies in a huge pan on the stove. I can't remember the number of people who commented on the odd smell of my "dinner" cooking :rotfl:

I would consider going down the same route again, but only when DS leaves home as he is a vehicle technician and his work clothes are changed every day as they are so filthy.:eek:

Austin_Allegro

Hi all
I haven't been on for a while as I'm working in India for six months.
This place could teach you a thing or two about O/S living!

One thing I've found is that I do perfectly well without a washing machine.

There are launderers here (dhobiwallahs) but they cost about £4 for a week's wash, which all adds up. Plus they wash in the local rivers (which pollutes them) and whack your clothes against the rocks which damages them (the clothes, not the rocks).

So I do my own (including sheets) by hand in the big bucket they have here for washing (water is scarce). I do two washes a week to break up the job. I put the clothes in soak overnight then scrub them in the bucket for about ten mins, then rinse for a further ten mins, wring and hang on the roof to dry. The whole job takes little more than half an hour.

This of course is made easier by the hot climate, where wringing wet clothes dry in an hour or so. If you have a family wash to do, it would of course take longer, but it's opened my eyes to the fact that a single person doesn't really need a washing machine (with all the expense it entails).

joyfull

I've spent time in India & Australia & well remember how easy it is to get dripping stuff dry in no time. Happy days!

I still hang dripping stuff on line & it dries in windy warmish weather, plus there's the lovely fresh air smell to it. I get a bit of an OS kick out of it.

Nargleblast

Sometimes you need to go and see how people live in other parts of the world to appreciate truly how high a standard of living we are used to in this country. I certainly like it when I can hang washing out to dry instead of having the dryer thrashing away all day racking up the bills! It is simple things like that which can make your day, not whether you have the latest designer frock or technogadget.

missychrissy

I managed for 7 years without a washing machine when I first got married back in the seventies. I used to put things to soak in 5 gall buckets that I placed in the bath. After soaking for a few hours I used to use a bar of Fairy soap and a scrubbing brush to get anything really dirty such as collars and cuffs clean. After rinsing I would then drip dry on the line or over the bath.

It was bliss when I could afford a small spin dryer that happily spun away for years. My brother bought me my first washing machine, a twin tub, as a present on the birth of my first child.

Austin_Allegro

Missychrissy, do you mean you only scrubbed collars and cuffs and just rinsed the other stuff once it had been in soak? Did this work? I thought clothes had to have abrasion to get clean. Mind you, I once heard of someone who put his dirty clothes in a sealed barrel of soapy water, put it in his car boot and let the slopping action whilst driving clean them, so who knows?

missychrissy

Yes I only scubbed the stubborn dirty bits after a few hours soaking as most of the dirt, stains etc disappeared after soaking. I had to 'agitate' the washing by hand in my 5 gall containers.

I have an automatic washing machine now but i could easily go back to the 'old way'. When I got my first automatic washing machine (bought because the kitchen, after a house move, only had a space for an automatic and not the twin tub I already had), my husband complained that his shirts were not as clean.

westcoastscot

I washed without a washing machine for many years - including my OH's fishing clothes (deep sea fisherman) - I still think that with a soak and a wee scrub on the draining board they came out cleaner than the machine. Now I have to wait a week to get a full load i'm planning on going back to hand-washing daily over the summer when I can get clothes out to drip - I have a pully in the kitchen I use year-around for drying laundry.

rachbc

I was in india for 3 months when ds was 3 - dhobiwallers all the way for us, and if I had no machine here it would be the western equivalent of a service wash I'm afraid!