Washing clothing without electric?

[pollypurebred39]

It sure does sound like a lot of work. My Grandmother used to say, "Those that keep talking about the good old days never lived them" She loved progress.

[Grainlady]

Here's a demonstration of an old wringer washing machine:
http://video.asterpix.com/v/8409581/...demonstration/

What is missing is one or two additional tubs of water for rinsing that were placed on racks or a table. The wringer could swing, and lock in place, so the water went back into the washer or the rinse tub. We used our galvanized tub on Saturday night for baths. Before we had a hot water heater the water was heated on a stove and NOTHING was washed in cold water. My mother also placed black metal 5-gallon buckets of water outside and let the sun heat it and we used that water for laundry and adding to the bath tub. The large canning kettle was used on the stove to boil whites (especially diapers) to sanitize them before they were laundered.

Wringers were dangerous things, which is where the old saying "don't get your tits in a wringer" came from. My mother caught her hand in one once and I remember helping her get it out - I was three or four at the time. After that she fed the clothes through the wringer using the handle of a wooden spoon. Women tied their hair up in a kerfchief so it didn't accidentally get caught in the wringer. Same with loose clothing.

The wooden spoon was also used to catch onto the clothes in the hot water to pull them out to shove into the wringer. If you weren't careful, you could easily snap off a button or damage a zipper or zipper-pull.

You washed the whites first, in the hottest water, then in the same water you washed the towels, next the light colored clothes, then darks. You added water as needed.

[Grainlady]

You might find this video using a Mobile Washer helpful.

http://beprepared.com/article.asp?ai=625&

From experience....

1. Place the bucket/s in the bathtub - you'll have a lot less clean-up to do and can dump the buckets in the tub.

2. They added WAY too much detergent for that small amount of water in the bucket and it will take umpteen rinses to get it rinsed out of the clothing. So save yourself a lot of water and use the least amount of soap possible to get the job done.

3. Use 1-2 T. of dish washing detergent (like Cascade - this is VERY low sudsing and important in this use), or a low-sudsing detergent like Charlie's Soap (http://www.charliesoap.com/), to the hottest water possible for the type of fabric you are washing. Divide your clothes into like-colors to wash together. You can rinse in cold water.

4. Add some clothing, but don't over-load the bucket, and agitate with the Mobile Washer for 30 seconds (or so), then allow the clothes to soak for 5-10 minutes. Then agitate again. Wring out clothing. This is when a mop bucket with a wringer would come in handy. Something like this: http://www.webstaurantstore.com/36-q...MOPBUCKET.html

5. Rinse clothing.

6. You can now use the soapy water caught in the mop bucket for soaking clothing to move things on a little quicker.

[miss_thrifty]

we did have a elec wringer that hooked up to the sink tap. It washed clothes very well when I was small but pain in the butt and yes u can get ur hand or fingers like I did caught in them. very painful. plus I had a hoover washer(one side washer, and the other side saved the water.)