Homesteading: A Woman's Journey

Washing Laundry by Hand

Over the weekend, the belt on our washing machine finally wore out and would no longer spin the clothes dry.  This meant that we had to wring out the laundry by hand that we had already washed. No big deal.  Then, my dear husband took the belt off so he can take it to a shop & buy a new one.  Everything seems to be going great ........until........

Today, I was faced with a situation.  Our 2 little ones are cloth diapered.  We only have enough for one and a half days of diapering for each child.  What are the chances that "Murphy's Law" will kick in and the store in the little town will not have the belt we need in stock?  Also, Joe has been getting a couple of hours of overtime lately which would put him getting off work after the stores have begun closing.

Today I am hand washing the diapers and the little ones' bedding.  Surprisingly, I am finding that I rather enjoy doing it. I am using far less water than the electric machine would use and by not using the machine, I am also saving money on the electricity.  Washing laundry by hand is not a difficult process, just time consuming.  I can easily understand why our fore-mothers did laundry one day a week.  It probably took all day to wash the family's laundry.  When you consider how many children the families had in those days, I can imagine that laundry washing was an all day event.  It was a benefit that they had less clothing than we are accustommed to today, but given how hard they worked, I can only imagine how dirty the clothing was when laundry day arrived. Realistically, I don't imagine that I will suddenly become so enamored with hand washing the laundry that I will give up the washing machine.  It is good to know that I can do it by hand though if the need arises.

Here is how I am hand washing the laundry:

Start early in the day.  The early the better to give your clothing plenty of time to dry on the clothesline.  For the little ones' cloth diapers, I am finding that washing them every few changings is working great.  You will want to keep in mind with diapers that you want to stay ahead of the job as much as possible so that you don't run out of diapers while the laundered ones are still drying on the clothesline.

The first step is to have a couple of large, deep kettles or tubs for your wash and rinse water.  If you have a double sink that is deep enough, even better!  Use hot water if possible for both the wash and rinse. The only exception would  be if you are washing something that specifically calls for cold water.  If you are using deep kettles or tubs, have them at a comfortable working height.  It really makes a difference in saving your back from becoming sore.

I use a low-suds laundry soap (see my previous blog for the recipe) which helps a great deal when it is time to rinse the clothing.  The more suds your wash water has, the longer it takes to rinse all the soap out.  I let heavily soiled clothing such as my husbands work jeans "cook" on the stove in my water bath canner.  I put the jeans in the water with some laundry soap and let the water come to a slow boil for awhile. This will help to loosen the ground in dirt and things like grass stains.  While the jeans are on the stove, I wash the more lightly soiled clothing.  Wash the clothing in order of how soiled they are with the most heavily soiled clothing being washed last.  This will save you from having to keep changing out your wash water.

Taking one article of clothing at a time, rub them thoroughly between your hands.  If you happen to have access to a scrub board, all the better!  For the dirtiest areas, you can also use a scrub brush to scrub out the dirt.  I keep the laundry soap handy so that I can sprinkle abit onto a heavily soiled area if need be to scrub out the dirt.  Wringe out the wash water from the clothing before adding it to the rinse water to prevent getting the rinse water too soapy.  You can also add some white vinegar to the rinse water to help remove the soap residues from the clothing.  Wringe out the clothing as much as possible before hanging out on the clothesline.

There are benefits to doing laundry by hand.  One being that you can take the time to work on the heavily soiled areas and prevent stains.  Another benefit is that when hung on the clothesline, the sun helps to naturally bleach out stains.  The laundry comes off the line with the wonderful clean outdoors scent that no fabric softener can duplicate!  It is so fun to take the laundry outdoors and watch Abbie running around playing while I hang the laundry.  Sometimes she comes and helps hand me the clothespins or puts the dried clothing in the basket for me.  Micah enjoys being outdoors also.  I have him snuggled to me in a baby carrier.  He looks around, sometimes making his little cooing vocalizations, and just enjoys that time.

Whether I wash the laundry by hand or not, I am enjoying the clothesline and having that time outdoors with the little ones.  The washing machine being out of commission today is actually a blessing.  Had it not happened, I might have missed out on a wonderful opportunity with my kids.

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11:47, Monday, July 14, 2008 .. Posted by gabbie427

I am glad you have found a solution to your laundry problem, and are enjoying washing by hand and hanging it out to dry.

I remember when I was little, grandma still had a wringer washing machine. We would do the laundry once a week while I stayed with her on the weekends, and we did it outside. It was a fun day, because she didn't care if it was prefect and she let us kids help out. I remember hanging all the laundry that would fit on the three long clothelines, and then what was left over, usually towels, was hung on the fence! LOL

Thanks for writing this email and reminding me of years gone by!

God's Blessings,
Amy Jo

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12:09, Monday, July 14, 2008 .. Posted by a1health

You are certainly being creative and useful with your time! I think that washing by hand would be really hard work and would cause one to complain, but you are having such a cheerful heart in doing this. That really shows alot of your fine character. What a blessing you are to your husband.
~Farrah

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09:31, Monday, July 14, 2008 .. Posted by Sara

It's amazing to me the satisfaction that you can find in doing some of the simplest of things, from washing your laundry by hand and hanging it out to dry to baking your own bread. The more I learn how to do these things, the better I feel. I'm so glad you and your children were so blessed.

sara