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Laundry the old fashioned way — 10 Comments

  1. When I was about twelve, our washing machine broke and the parts took several weeks to come in. My grandmother and I did the laundry for all of us on a washboard in the basement sink, wrung it all by hand, and hung out on lines to dry (we had no dryer). Lots of work, but it remains in my memory as one of my favorite times working with my grandmother – and hearing stories of her childhood.

    You left out the cameraderie.

    • Camaraderie is a good point. I am sure that there was that going on as well, at least in some cases. I’m not sure there would be as much with professional char women who did laundry as a living thought, but I don’t know for certain. Great point, Catherine!

  2. We had a water pipe burst and had to cut off the water to the house until it could be fixed. We already had bottled water for drinking. Our next door neighbor was kind enough to offer the use of their outside hydrant so we could have water for other needs. Over a time period of about 4-days, I carried about 20 gallons of water between our houses. I didn’t realize how much water it took to flush the toilet. I heated water for our sponge baths and had a whole new appreciation when our pipe was fixed and we had water back in the house.

    When I was a kid, my grandmother had one of the old wringer washers. I thought it was fascinating as I watched her put clothing between the rollers and it squeezed out the excess moisture. We so take for granted the spin cycle on our washers today. This was a fascinating historical post. In the movie ‘The Girl with the Pearl Earring’ we see her learning how to do the laundry from their maid of all work. She did many of the things you mentioned. Delightful post. Delightful post.

    • I think we don’t appreciate modern plumbing nearly enough. It really is amazing how it makes modern life possible. My grandmother had a wringer washer too. It was fascinating as a kid. A little scary too…

      • Before my great-grandmother passed away I asked her which of the modern inventions she appreciated the most. (She was born on a farm in 1898.) She said running water.

        I do a lot of historical costuming – Viking, Regency, Tudor and Elizabethan. When I need to launder my (handsewn, hand embroidered) historical “body linen”, I’ve found using a short handled sink plunger, dedicated to laundry use only, is very handy for getting water/soap through the fibers. And I use baby shampoo as well, it’s very gentle, inexpensive and easy to rinse out.

        Most of the time I only wash the evident spots – arm pit area, hem, cuffs or other parts that show from under the outer clothing. I would only fully wash the garment after wearing it a few times. Do this saves time, effort and makes the garment last that much longer. I can imagine laundresses of yesteryear would do the same thing.

  3. Goodness, and I thought that laundry day was exhausting now! once when our machine broke and we didn’t have money for the laundromat, I washed a few loads in our bathtub. It was when I had infants and toddlers in the house, so there were lots of little pieces. I did throw them on the rosebushes to dry–it worked great!! Fortunately, I only had to do one week’s worth. Jeans are the *worst.*

    Thanks for the wonderful post!!

    Warmly,
    Susanne 🙂

    • I’ve washed jeans in a bathtub and it was quite the workout! WE definitely don’t appreciate the washing machine nearly enough! Or modern detergents, but that’s another post…

  4. Back in the late 70s, hubby and I lived in West Africa for two years. No washing machine, dryer or running hot water. Sometimes, no running water at all! Thankfully, modern fabrics meant that clothing could be worn washed after only one wear, as the climate meant we needed to change from the skin out on a daily basis. So, when I got home from work around 3pm, the previous day’s clothes would be pre-treated where needed (collars and cuffs scrubbed etc), then left to soak in cold water and detergent until the next day. Then they were rinsed and hung to dry, before repeating the whole procedure with the previous day’s. In that climate (90F plus), no need to wring before hanging to dry! I did have a day off on Sundays! Everything that was dried outside had to be ironed, as some flies could lay eggs in the clothing and the grubs would eventually hatch. Can you imagine what ironing did to the elastic in your underwear? Droopy drawers!

    So, I can sympathise with those who had to do the laundry back then.

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