Washing Clothes By Hand

[benshelpmeet]

We just started washing by hand on Tuesday and we absolutely love it. We have a covered side porch and we rigged up a triple stainless steel sink we connected the drain to our French drain. It works great.

I use a plunger to agitate the clothes and a wash board and soap to spot clean, then we rinse. It uses much less water and no electric.

We are going to wash ''every morning'' and the clothes will not pile up. It only takes about 30 min to do all our clothes from the day before. We all enjoy washing '' buy hand '' and using the ''clothes line.''

We have been using the close line instead of the dryer since last summer, we even used it all winter and added a large close line in our basement. Now that's really saving us money. ;D

I got my wash board from a Mexican store. Also Zote laundry bar soap from the Mexican store is great to wash with , just cut it in half.

We are wringing by hand right now and it's hard work, but we are ordering a wringer this week.

www.wisementrading.com/washing/wringer.htm

The first wringer is the one were getting, Athens Alabama is about 1 hour from us. We might just go pick it up ourselves depending on how much shipping costs.

I'll post pictures later.

P.S. We use to use a shop sink to wash our clothes in that worked really well. I used the plunger then too, and we used our spin cycle on our washing machine to wring out our clothes. I know people who have washed by hand in their bath tub, but that is too hard on my knees. A shop sink is about $50.00.

[michelle]

I don't think that I'll give up my washer any time soon, but I've always hung clothes to dry. Now both my husband and I are allergic to pollen, so we don't dry them outside. I have three drying racks and also a place to hang clothes on hangers that I set up each week to dry on. My basement is heated, so they dry in about a day (though I don't fluff and fold them until Monday).

[Deleted]

Ah Michelle, you are a godsend! I couldn't figure out why our allergies were bad when I dried our clothes outside, pollen is on everything! Thank you very much!

Katrina who is denser than cordwood lol

[michelle]

You're welcome Katrina. Though I must give credit where it is due, and that is to my husband. He's the one that said that I needed to continue to dry clothes inside when we moved into our house because of the pollen.

Prior to moving into our house I hung the clothes inside because we were in apartments.

[jessicasherrow]

Darlene, I might could pick it up for you. You know my momma lives in Athens. It would give me an excuse to come see ya'll again. Let me know.

[benshelpmeet]

Dear sisters,

I haven't been on in so long I hardly know anyone on this site except a few that have been here for a long time. We use to have alot of sisters on here who liked to wash their clothes by hand, homestead, can the food they harvested from their gardens, sew their own clothing, dress plain, etc.... at one time the brethren here were against TVs, Videos, DVDs, even against holidays.

I came back on with the same conservative interests and ambitions I had before. They might seem a little too much for some, but it sure does thrill me and float my boat. Their might be others out their interested in the things that interest me, so I'll keep posting my crazy adventures. ;D

It really is fun and relaxing to wash by hand, it is frugal and saves tons of money, and teaches my children how to be tough and survive without modern convinces, it teaches them how to be frugal, and it blesses my hard working husband because it saves him money that can be used to make principle payments toward our land loan. Yes! What a blessing it is to wash by hand. My girls ranging from 18 - 8 are having a great time washing by hand, even my few who do not like to do chores are exclaiming what fun it is to wash by hand. They love plunging the clothes up and down with the plunger, the girls were talking about how clean it is getting our clothes, because the water gets so dirty.

It only takes a short time every morning to wash the 1 load from the night before. The water actually feels refreshing on hot days.

We have also decided not to run the air conditioner this year, only fans, maybe a small air conditioner at night when it's too unbearable. But maybe not, it's been pretty hot and we've done without so far, no one is complaining... Maybe guests...we haven't heard any negative comments though. Were having two families (friends of ours who are main stream christians) on Saturday for a cook out. They will be using our out house, and fellow shipping in our home with no AC. I think they will enjoy their selves and not really miss the norm.

I love finding ways to save money, and trying to pay off our land so we can be debt free. To me it feels good to save money and still have a nice quality of life. I love teaching my children these most helpful values.

Dear sister Jessica,

That is so kind of you to be willing to do that for me. I ordered my wringer this morning, it will arrive on Monday by (UPS).

This wringer takes out more water than a washer. We are so excited to get it. It will clamp right on to my stainless steel sink, it connects to just about anything even a saw horse. That's pretty neat, we can even take it camping.


There are so many things I've yet to learn, it is a fun and rewarding adventure we are on as a family.

[jessicasherrow]

Sister Darlene, I enjoy reading about your adventures! I have been interested in drying my clothes outside for over a year now, just haven't gotten a clothes line. Robert is going to get me set up soon, though. I have even started to think about washing our clothes by hand. It sounds like an impossible task as we always have tons of clothes and it seems I can never keep up! But, I think it would be fun, and like you said, a great learning experience for the children. Robert was okay with that too. I think in the summer months it will be a fun excuse to get outside. I think one reason we get so hammered with too much laundry is that our children just have too many clothes! We are trying to limit them to a week or so worth of clothes.

[Deleted]

I really miss sewing. Fabric is too pricey up here (not to mention I'd look like a couch...Finns haven't caught on to the idea to nice wearable fabrics lol) and I love to sew back home.

I enjoyed washing our clothes by hand when we lost our washer some years back. It was a learning experience. How would you wash towels and sheets? The same way?

Our washer is getting old and isn't long for this world.

Katrina

[michelle]

What I find so relaxing is to sit and knit

Unfortunately, with my skin issues, my husband would never allow me to hand wash the clothes. He doesn't like me washing dishes right now even. (I just spent the past 6 months with a very bad patch of eczema on my right hand).

[Deleted]

I feel your pain there too! I never thought I'd love cortisteroid creme to stop itching but it's a beautiful thing. I am still battling p. rosea but thank God it's better.

Can you use a pure no-scent dish detergent? I find scent bothers my skin the most.

Katrina

[michelle]

My husband is a Dawn only type of guy. However, I think that I might try the Method dishwashing liquid that isn't scented.

[Tyler's Helpmeet]

For the dish soap you might look into Seventh Generation. It is natural eco friendly soap and they have a dye and scent free one. I just bought 24 bottles for .50 each on sale with coupons. Since it is eco friendly it might also be a little more skin friendly too.

My dryer never worked that well to begin with. I think it is either worn out or the vent that goes up through my house is clogged with hair and won't vent. It would take three cycles to get a load dry, what a waste of power. One day the lint trap screen thingy broke. I was actually happy. We have not been able to find a replacement. At first I had my husband rig up a line in the laundry room, I also bought a drying rack at the thrift store. Laundry was all over the house. I finally was given money as a gift to buy a clothes line. I live in a neighborhood with an HOA but so far no one has said anything.

I use an eco friendly soap in my washing machine (not into the hand washing thing just yet) and dry everything on the line. It smells so good! The only issue I am running into is that the rainy season is hard because you never know when a storm might pop up.

I love line drying!

[Sister Penny]

I just recently purchased from ebay a plunger from getpreparedstuff.com for hand washing, it is made like the old fashioned metal ones that agitate the water inside the plunger, this one is a heavy duty plastic and was about $18.00.

We also have a new "old" hand crank wringer device for our tubs...this will all have to wait until my arm heals, I fell recently and fractured my elbow....

Sister Penny

[benshelpmeet]

Sister Debbie's post on washing clothes outside reminded me of the fun we had last year and the money we saved. As it warms up we will wash out side again.

What a good thing for us all to learn how to do, in case your washer ever breaks or electric ever fails.

For those who live in an Apt they can wash in the tub or kitchen sink, and rig up a hand cranked portable ringer to use, close can be hung inside too, though it can get crowded.

It's good to hear ladies are interested in this.

[Sister Penny]

My beloved Gram had a wringer washer, I have one too but the motor has to be rebuilt by hubby, an auction find for a mere $20 or so, I forget. I am using my solar wind powered dryer as we speak and find that plain ole white vinegar in the rinse water leaves our clothes softer than any commercial fabric softener. Can't wait to crawl into my bed tonight with line dried sheets on it.

Hubby is also putting up a pulley clothesline for me so I won't have to walk far to hang up the clothes, we just are not sure where yet as I don't want it too close to my woodstove pipe so clothes smell smokey and I am not sure how he will run it off the back porch somehow up a big oak tree..

Lastly, homemade soap doesn't irritate my hands as badly as commercial detergent does that will make your hands red and really burn after a couple of loads I found..


Happy Scrubbin'
Sister Penny