Life before washing machines....

Cookie_monster_7

What was it like?

I'm really interested to know what sahm's lives were like before you could stick your kids infront of cbeebies so you can get a few things done in peace (I bet there are very few mums today who don't do that to buy themselves a few minutes each day)

I come down with my 2 in the morning and get the washing machine going, provide cereal and toast for breakfast, make packed lunches, run the hoover round, maybe go to a toddler group, stick on the cartoons for 10 minutes while I check my emails or put on my make up. Pop to a supermarket....and so the day goes on.

What was a typical day in the life of a sahm in the '40's, '50's or even earlier?

soappie

You don't even have to go back to the 40s or 50s. When I was first married in 1977, we didn't have a washing machine. Every Saturday, I'd fill the bath with hot water and a good slug of washing powder in it. I'd then sit on the edge and scrub my husband's shirt collars with a nail brush.

Rinsing and then manhandling out to the garden was a real chore! Even my Mum, in the 50s had it slightly easier with her mangle...

Swan_2

I wasn't a mum in the 40's or 50's, but I didn't have a washing machine when my oldest boy was born & I hand-washed everything, including his terry nappies & plastic pants (it was before the days of disposables or the fancy terries you get now)

so new mum just home, I put them through the wringer attached to the middle of the old-fashioned double sink, I did the nappies first, fine, & then put the plastic pants through too

I remember standing there watching the growing 'bubbles' at the back of the wringer & then actually being surprised at the bangs & pops as one by one the lot burst!

BitterAndTwisted

I remember when I was a child in the 50's my mother did most of the household laundry in a boiler-thingy as most of the textiles were made of cotton and were pre-scrubbed with Sunlight soap and a nail-brush. We kids ran things through a mangle out in the back garden if we were found loitering around with nothing better to do. I can't count the number of times I got my fingers pinched in that thing. It was a cause for celebration when my parents acquired a spin-dryer because it took all of the really hard work out of rinsing. It was a very long time until our family could afford to invest in a twin-tub machine. Laundry started on a Monday and it took the best part of a week to get it all washed, dried and ironed. In the cold weather stuff was left hanging on a pulley in the kitchen.

juliethemuse

my SIL didnt get a washing machine until the 90s, after washing all the babys nappies in the washing up bowl :eek: she would wring them out by hand then hang them on washing lines she had hung up in the kitchen, that was in winter of course when she couldnt get them dry outside,
when we visited them we had to be careful we didnt hang ourselves on the drooping washing lines or skid on the lino as it was all dripping everywhere:rotfl:

seabright

But how did you keep an eye on/keep entertained the children while doing it? Especially really young toddlers who can't really entertain themselves? Washing by hand always seems to take me ages when I do it - or maybe it just feels like it takes ages because I hate doing it!

lilac_lady

You didn't keep children entertained, they entertained themselves. Remember, no tv to babysit, just a FEW toys and items like a button box or empty cotton reels. Sounds boring but the children were happy.

seraphina

I reccommend a book called Family Britain, which has a great contrast between the improvements in men's working lives in the 1950's (unions instigating shorter working hours, free healthcare, leisure time, disposable income as you only had to hand over pin money to your wife and it was up to her to make it stretch to feed the house/dress the kids and herself etc) with that of women (15 hour days of unrelentless drudgery, washing by hand, social opprobation if your whites weren't whiter than white etc...)

An Italian once got into trouble recently because he claimed the washing machine had done more for women's lib than all the rest of the feminist movement put together. I'm not sure he's not wrong - certainly it improved women's life no end.

And it makes me want to weep when people on this board whinge about modern life and say "oooh, wouldn't it be nice to live in the Victorian/Wartime/1950's, everything was much easier then!"....

kittiej

I know it's still a sort of washing machine but I really really miss my twin-tub.

I wish they'd do them again because they really give the laundry a good beating and my washer doesn't come close.

I went automatic about 8 years ago but it takes 1 and 1/2 hours per load whereas I could do my complete washes in that time.

Ahh alas.

Material_Girl_2

kittiej wrote: »

I know it's still a sort of washing machine but I really really miss my twin-tub.

I wish they'd do them again because they really give the laundry a good beating and my washer doesn't come close.

I went automatic about 8 years ago but it takes 1 and 1/2 hours per load whereas I could do my complete washes in that time.

Ahh alas.

I didn't know what a twin tub was but just googled it and you can still buy them - have a look at Amazon or just type twin tub in google

kittiej

Lol material girl - that made me chuckle

Edit

Just had a look at Amazon but the machines look a bit plasticy, but they're the type of thing.

Pull it out chuck some water in, chuck some powder in put the whites in first. Turn the temperature setting on and the timer and let it do its stuff.

I had a pair of wooden tongs then to fish the clothes out and drop into the spinner, the water from the spinner went back into the wash tub part ready for the next load to go in.

Oh what fun. I'm easily pleased lol.