A bit of blue sky, a gentle breeze, springtime on the farm...ahhh, fresh laundry. In reality, under an overcast winter sky I have PILES and PILES of freshly washed laundry that I did at the laundry mat this morning. During the height of craziness last week with show preparations, my washing machine died. All the way. I thought I could try my hand at going off grid for a bit while I researched machines, but this morning I gave up when faced with a week's worth of dirty laundry from ten people. It's not that I'm against off-grid, I'm just not prepared. Jabbing at the clothes in the sink was a brief attempt at laundry the old-fashioned way, and now I just need to sit down and figure out what will work for us. Has anyone out there (with a large family and maybe even a farm) transitioned to the old wash basin way?
18 comments:
Our family has not transitioned to the old wash basin way. It would be fun to try it one of these days though. Huh, you sparked an idea. Maybe I will do laundry that way one of these days. Anyways, I am glad that the weather is transitioning a little over there. We could transition a little of our 80 degree weather over towards your end of the country. It may help some. Many blessings to you Mrs. Regan and to your family. :)
In Christ,
Joshua :)
You should really know that I just loved reading this. I'm itching for spring now:)
No!!! Your washer wasn't that old! They sure don't make 'em like they used to. You won't be getting any wash basin advice from me. A family of ten needs a washing machine - trust me on that one!
We're only a family of 5 and I have not tried my hand at wash tub laundry. However, my husband talks about his grandparents who still did this up into the 1970's, early 80's. The thing he remembers most was that they had a wringer to get the water out of the clothes after washing them. This would be a huge benefit since wet clothes are soooo heavy. Try Lehman's catalog and see what they have to offer - they sell lots of things to the Amish. Oh, and you might use a bucket with a CLEAN toilet plunger to do the washing.
In Korea, they have these rubber basins they use for blankets. What they do is put soap, water, and then step away inside the tub. Yep! Jumping is fine, too, but just plain ole stepping. Also, I have found for my personal use, a washboard so so great!
I think that's why everyone who used a washboard had only two sets of clothes per person ...lots of WORK! I went to the laudrymat a couple of weeks ago to wash some giant comforters...I was amazed at how easy it actually was..washing several loads at once. To bad it wasn't FREE! Love seeing your blanket on the line...I've been tempted to freeze dry some laundry lately...but then I realize I might FREEZE-Dry myself inthe process;)
Thanks for a fun post!
I just found your blog through Passionate Homeschooler. So glad to be here! My daughter wants galvenized tubs in which to wash laundry, a line on which to hang it, a cow in the back yard, a butter churn, sheep to shear, a spinning wheel, and a loom. She wants to raise chickens, grind her own wheat, knead her own dough. And she's only five. Makes me tired just listening to her idea of "fun."
Oh I do think that jumping right in with a weeks worth of laundry would be very daunting. I know I tried handwashing all our clothes when we were short on water last summer - it took AGES & there are only 6 of us! Certainly made me more thankful for our washing machine & more in awe of the amazing ladies who do it by hand all the time!
Hope you get some answers to your questions!
Have a wonderful day
Renata:)
wow- I think my washing machine would be the last thing I would give up (in addition to the fridge and the stove)- my dryer, fine- dish washer, fine- but I really don't see how it would be practical to go without a washing machine...but using a washing tub to 'prep' laundry that has stains, etc or to hand wash some things is a practical idea
Well We only had 4 people in our family, but when I was a teen we moved to the jungles of Guatemala with my parents. (We were a missionary family.) My mother and I took turns or sometimes we went together and walked down to the lake in the village where we lived and washed clothes on a rock in the edge of the lake for our family of 4, then we carried the wet laundry home and hung it out to dry. We lived about 3 blocks from the lake... so it was a lot of walking with very heavy wet laundry! We felt so very civilized when my dad helped us find a really big tub and a wash board and then helped haul water with my brother from the well so we could wash right outside of our house instead of shlepping all the way to the lake and back! Oh the joy of those modern convieniences!!
These days I am so very very thankful for my little washing machine! She is old, and ugly, but she gets the job done so I don't have too!!! Which is really nice when I have so many kiddos getting thing dirty!
We used a wash basin ONCE :-) in a season of our life. But it was an old tub that we washed the kids in :-) hee hee
When we lived out in the country, where no one could see the grub and grime our children wore on their bodies daily, we bought them all two pairs of overalls, and then they had one church outfit and two town outfits. That was being generous too. Times that by 10 people and you've still got lots of laundry.
Sorry I was no help at all except to say I feel your pain.
hugs~ Cinnamon
I never did my laundry by hand but I can relate to the mountain of laundry to be had with a large family and a farm. One of my best friends is my wringer washer. If I had to choose bewteen it and my front loader - I would take the wringer. It makes laundry so fast. It is work, yes, but then it is done! For 2 days!Check into one. It washes and rinses at the same time as I am hanging it up ( or out). Uses way less water and detergent.
We are a family of 7 and our washing machine broke 2 falls ago. It was a very tight time for us so I thought I would have a go at hand washing. The only purchase I made was a plunger from lehmans. After breaking 3 toilet plungers. Lehmans makes a metal end plunger that is very sturdy for washing by hand. It was around $20.
At first I loved doing all our laundry by hand. We did it outside when it was sunny and all the kids helped. We did not purchase a hand ringer although that would have made it much easier. We rung it by hand, which is not too bad on the first 2 loads but on the 7 and 8th your hand are aching and very sore. Probably the best thing about it was our clothes were amazingly clean. I know we in no way conserved water. It was a job that took 2 rinses to get the soap out. It also scared me how much dirt was actually in those clothes. The only draw back for the timing for us was that we were planting our fields at that time so my boys pants were mostly dirt and I mean a lot of it. They love to ride on the back of the seeder and jump into the fresh plowed dirt. I really clamped down on the amount of clothes they went through and we reused pants as much as we could.
Jeans are so hard to hand ring. But if you think those are hard try a towel full of water and a queen bed spread.
If I had been able to have the right tools for the job, waste high tubs (no bending over), a hand wringer, and more time. I think I could have stuck with it. It was poor timed for us to purchase those things and I dreaded spending so much to save money. If you have someone give you those things or can find them used in your area I say go for it, it is a real learning experience. I learned how hard I really am on my washing machine. By overloading and combining clothes that should be seperate. I now wash all socks seperate and jeans don't get washed with anything but jeans. Anything light gets an extra rinse as well.
We had one in cloth diapers and a bed wetter at this time. So that side of it was very overwhelming to me. Thank goodness my kids were so helpful or I might have lost my marbles.
Another side note there are a ton of people who do their laundry by hand that you can learn from on line. They have all kinds of great ideas that help make it easier.
It was a necessary transition for us at that time. But I am so very thankful to have a washing machine again. I figure I saved myself enought in the 4 months we did that to purchase a machine that was working in proper order. If you are feeling ambitious give it a try. Although I have to admit if I had the gas money at the time I would have run to laundry mat too.
Prayers, Leslie Burks
Oh, I've never tried wash tub washing...but I"m really interested in that. I live in an apartment complex and have to pay to use the washer/dryer here at the complex. It's nice and definitely cheaper than a public laundromat. However, for small items, I hand-wash very delicately. However, I would like to try hand-washing larger batches of clothes, just once,...to see what it's like!! If you do try it, post about it. I'd be curious to read about what your experiences/thoughts on the subject would be ;) :) Love and hugs from Oregon, Heather :)
I love laundry drying on the line. And no I have never gone the wash tub method and I have to admit I like my laundress (aka Whirlpool front loader;-) I am missing hanging the wash, right now the line out has 18 inches of snow beneath it!
We only have 8 people, but I know what a weeks worth of laundry for us would be like. I can't imagine trying to wash clothes the way our grandmothers did. My mom tells me the stories about that :-) I agree with PBKisses, that's the reason they only had 2 sets of clothes :-)
I hope you are able to get it fixed soon.
Blessings,
Marcia
Sorry I don't have any words of wisdom. Just wanted to say hello and tell you how much I've enjoyed my visit here. Best wishes on your laundry research. The picture is inspiring. I can't wait for spring breezes to air out the whole house!
hugs,
Leslie
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