do laundry by hand - PEP BB nest.sand.handlaundry

Washed with some baking soda, oxygen bleach and a dash of washing soda, and some hand-made soap that was made with just coconut oil, lye and lemon oil. I scrubbed each clothing article individually, and then walked all over them with my bare feet. Then let them soak for 30 minute and did it again. Then rinsed twice. Then squeezed as much out as I could. All in all, it took an hour, and I have new appreciation for my washing machine.

Gosh You Guys! I had to wash clothes without a washer many times when the kids were little. Bathtub, any soap available, barefoot wine-making method, plus extra scrubbies and soap on anything more than just sweat dirty! Double or triple rinse depending on size of load (I didn't want to run separate loads for darks vs lights) and what kind of soap I'd used. Hung where ever I could, and several locations/homes had lines already run out back. No, I never took pix. No, I don't think I want to repeat this BB to get the credit since my back is killing me just thinking about a small load. (Multiple back injuries and arthritis setting in.) There was also the place where I had an old style washer with the wringer, and the place where I only had the washer but no water hooked up, so had to fill each time with the hose. I learned that not using fabric softener in a hard water setting (well water in 29 Palms close to the Marine Base) left clothes very stiff after drying. Not fun!

I too have serious appreciation for the power machines of today!!

After I got the kitchen sink cleaned, I washed the clothes in it!

Two loads:

Sink One:

Sink Two:

Drying:

Dry and folded:

My first BB...

I happened to read this thread this week. Also our washer died this week. :( We've ordered the piece we need, and it only comes as a big assembly of parts, and it costs probably half of what a new washer would cost. Even so, we've decided to fix it rather than buy another. This is partly out of principle, and also because--once I've detailed (super-cleaned) the inside, now that it's taken apart--everything will be shiny and new and in perfect shape.

Anyway, seemed like the perfect time to get my first BB.

A wheelbarrow seemed like the perfect large tub for this purpose, and it's even raised off the ground for ease of use. It also makes it easy to dump the greywater wherever you want it in-between loads and rinses. Highly recommended. Just give a little clean first. And use garden-safe detergent.

1. A shady spot under the maple to make the work pleasant! (Note that these pics are actually out of order. This is my second, smaller load. The water looks disgusting because they are literally very dirty farm clothes.)
2. Fill it up with water, dirty clothes, and a little Nellie's detergent. (Handy tip: let hose sprawl in sun for awhile to heat some of the water. I ended up with a mix of hot and cold, to make lukewarm.)
3. Close up of the water after some vigourous agitation with my hands.
4. No clothesline at the moment, so hung to dry on the unfinished deck railing.
5. Folded and hung on hangers, nice and dry and ready to put away.

I washed by hand today. More than I usually do when washing by hand. When I am camping I wash my underwear in the shower (while I'm showering I wash them on the floor of the shower), so I don't run out of clean underwear. But you asked for at least 6 larger items and some small stuff. There are no socks today, I don't wear socks when the weather is hot. So I added some of the kitchen cleaning rags. As large items there were also bathroom rugs.


Dirty laundry, bucket, home-made liquid soap for laundry


Home-made liquid soap for laundry (recipe from the website of Green Evelien)


Using my feet as washing machine


Also possible while sitting (and have a cup of coffee)
As you see not everything went into the bucket. The rugs and trousers wait for their turn


Rinse a few times with clean water. Give the used water to the plants (willows)
I kept the last rinsing water to start the second batch of laundry.


First load is out of the bucket. And wrung.


Second load in the bucket. No new photos of the treatment, it was the same as the first time.


Everything hanging on the laundry-line. About 9:00 in the morning.


About 3 PM. The willows are happy they got that water. Now they give me some shadow while the laundry is drying in the sun.


About 6 PM. Sun is disappearing from the garden. Most items are dry. I take them of the line and fold what needs folding.


Dress and blouse won't be folded. They will hang in the closet. The folded items are in the basket on this photo.
The bathroom rugs were not yet completely dry. They'll go to the indoor laundry-line until they're dry.


Hanging in the closet


Folded items at the other side of the closet

The hardest part of this was the drying. The only place for setting up a line sits in the shade most of the day. It's also a small area, so drying had to go in rounds. Thankfully it was a breezy warm day with lower humidity, so I didn't have to wait for direct sunlight to start.