I almost posted this in the homestead forum. From an e-mail going about.



'Washing Clothes Recipe' -- imagine having a recipe for this ! ! !


Years ago an  Alabama grandmother gave the new bride the following recipe:

This is an exact copy as written and found in an old scrapbook - with spelling errors and all.


WASHING CLOTHES

Build fire in backyard to heat kettle of rain water. Set tubs so smoke wont blow in eyes if wind is pert. Shave one hole cake of lie soap in boilin water

Sort things, make 3 piles
1 pile white,
1 pile colored,
1 pile work britches and rags.

To make starch, stir flour in cool water to smooth, then thin down with boiling water.

Take white things, rub dirty spots on board, scrub hard, and boil, then rub colored don't boil just wrench and starch.

Take things out of kettle with broom stick handle, then wrench, and starch.

Hang old rags on fence.

Spread tea towels on grass.

Pore wrench water in flower bed. Scrub porch with hot soapy water. Turn tubs upside down.

Go put on clean dress, smooth hair with hair combs. Brew cup of tea, sit and rock a spell and count your blessings.
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Paste this over your washer and dryer.   Next time when you think things are bleak, read it again, kiss that washing machine and dryer, and give thanks. First thing each morning you should run and hug your washer and dryer, also your toilet---

(those two-holers used to get mighty cold!)

For you non-southerners - wrench means rinse.

thats great! the washing machine is said to be the start of the emancipation of women so to speak. I absolutely believe it.

After reading the washing clothes email, and having 100+ degree temps, I got motivated to hang my laundry outside. Put up a new clothesline. I went out there with a load of big (heavy) wet bath towels & started hanging them on the old clothesline, and wouldn't you know it, the dang thing started to snap. I was suspicious that it might, so I had only draped a few over the line to test it. Fortunately, it didn't snap clean thru, so I had time to get them off before they hit the dirt!

I dried 3 or 4 loads out on the line last week. Yep, the towels were stiff as boards. I wonder if using a liquid fabric softener would help with that? I know, it's not the permie way, but hell, I didn't have to heat my house up with the clothes dryer using even more electricity, so that was a very good thing. Being able to hang the clothes out was therapeutic in a weird way, reminded me of being a kid. My great aunts lived next door and they were using a wringer washer in the 60's, maybe even the early 70's. They would hang laundry out all the time. I think I'll do a load today! 

Drying it old skool! 

there is something cool about seeing clothes on the line. when our dryer gave out on us I tried to dry out side for a while. but being near dusty old country roads the stuff came back in dirtier then it was when I washed it! I had a dryer the next day after I showed my husband the mud streaks the towels left when you tried to dry off!

i can't imagine the frustration of the old pioneer women in the windy parts of the country. to spend all that time washing by hand only to have mother nature ruin your work while drying or have to have all your laundry hanging inside in a tiny cabin. nope. I like the modern way of doing laundry.

I remember how dusty that road used to be by your old place! It was really an improvement when they finally paved it. Dirt roads are something I'd have to get used to, for sure. Lived all of my life so far in or near an "asphalt jungle"!

It hasn't been visibly dusty here lately & I sure wouldn't hang clothes out if it was! The amazing thing about hanging them out on a hot day was how FAST they dried! Particularly the sheets, pillow cases & t-shirts! It was faster than the clothes dryer!

For those with pollen allergies, I can see where line drying would really aggravate them!

Meanwhile, I'm having fun with line drying the clothes on hot, wind free days.  Sure keeps this little house cooler!

Leah Sattler wrote:
thats great! the washing machine is said to be the start of the emancipation of women so to speak. I absolutely believe it.

I bet the emancipation could have come much earlier with a Yukon Plunger!:

http://www.wisementrading.com/washing.htm

I don't own a clothes dryer so  I always hang dry my laundry- even  in winter. I love the smell of sun dried and air dried laundry!  Towels that seem stiff when you remove them from the lines seem to soften up in storage.Also, air drying increases  the longevity of fabrics.

lynn crow wrote:
air drying increases  the longevity of fabrics.

I totally believe that! everytime I empty the dryer lint I think 'there goes half the clothes!'

I stopped drying bras in the dryer years ago. They truly last much longer if you don't. I have found that a lot of stuff shrinks in the dryer, but not if you line dry it.

Many dark colored items would fade in the hot sun, maybe even quicker than the dryer. Especially if you left them out long. We get some blazing hot sun around here!

I think that is the true eco flag:  clothes on a clothes line!

Did I mention that I started line-drying my clothes and what a huge cost savings it is?

In my little condo with just my son and myself, by line-drying our clothes and hand washing dishes instead of using the dishwasher, I cut 40% off my power bill! 

I don't use fabric softener, and I don't mind the stiffness. Most things, even jeans, soften up just fine with folding and then wearing.

And even more cost saving... yes the sun is a brilliant bleach so I wash my whites on a cool wash (not the recommended 60 degrees C) and let the sun do the rest.  Even our cloth nappies come back in off the line looking like new and that after 3 children using them!  There's no way I'd give up my line.  I reckon I use the tumble drier maybe twice a year max.  If it's not on the line cos it's raining then it's on the pulley over the wood-burning stove/cooker.  I do love the washing machine though.