# hand washing clothes



## sapphira (Mar 24, 2003)

Well, my washer is going up and it will probably be at the most inconvenient time. I had read where you can splunge clothes in a large container with a drain plunger. If this is true and anyone on here has done it - could you give me some tips? What container - can I get a cheap round toy bin from dollar stores, or trash can, and do you only use liquid detergent? Do you just hang up soaked and let drain and then at a time put them in the dryer? Any tips to make this more livable would be welcome ! thanx-s.


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## Learner (Jul 4, 2011)

Hi! I've been handwashing my family's clothes almost exclusively since October. I started with a rapid washer (plunger type thing) and a five gallon bucket. I found that wringing the clohtes out was the worst part, so after a month of doing it I bought a spin dryer (it's an electric thing that spins the water out of the clothes, leaving them a little dryer than a traditional washer does).. it was 170 dollars but has paid for itself by now (I was spending almost 50 dollars per month on coin laundry.

Recently I bought a plastic washboard too because the rapid washer doesn't agitate stains well.

What I do:
Soak clothes in bucket of warm to hot water (set in the bathtub) usually for 20-30 minutes or longer (even overnight) add a small amount of laundry soap, agitate with rapid washer maybe 1-2 minutes max, let sit a bit, agitate again and dump bucket unless I will be doing more than one "load".. if that's the case I just squeeze the water out of the clohtes bit and let them sit in the tub to drip a little more..

I do two rinses and put into the spin dryer to spin the water dry. If you don't have a spin dryer, you can invest in a mop thing that squeeze the water out. I bought an extra tension rod to hang in the middle of the bath, I hang all the clothes on hanger (smaller things go in a special clip thing..) and they're dry within 4-5 hours, tshirts within 2 hours and jeans take maybe 8 or more..

For clothes with visible stains, I use soak them, rub with a bar of soap and rub them on the washboard. I do this for ALL of my kid's socks (they get nasty!).. otherwise unless I can see a stain, it isn't necessary.

For the three of us, I do this every night or every other night and it really doesn't take that long. I love that I don't have to let laundry pile up and I know I'm saving a lot of money. 

wringing the water out of the clothes is the hardest part. I did it for a month and hated it. It really took over 24 hours for them to drip dry .. I guess since you have a dryer then you might be able to just put them in there while still fairly wet. 

Good luck! Also, I just use normal liquid laundry soap although I did use powdered homemade for awhile (just haven't made any more)


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## backwoods (Sep 12, 2004)

Years ago, I washed clothes in our bath tub. Cleaned it first, of course. Fill half way with very warm water and laundry detergent. Let soak 20 minutes, then got in with my clean feet and squished the heck out of them! Be careful and hold onto something, it's slippery! Let soak another 20 minutes, repeat. Drained the water, rinsed under the faucet briefly and wrung by hand just enough to get out excess detergent. Then I refilled the tub with warm rinse water, and squished it all again, drained, repeat twice. Wrung out the laundry by hand and hung up in the shower or on the back porch. Be VERY careful not to add too much detergent, only add enough to get the job done. I always put detergent directly on obvious stains, and the clothes came out cleaner, than they did in our apt. building coin washers! The wringing out by hand is HARD. Get you dh to help with that if possible, especially on towels and such. I still did take large items like blankets and sheets to a coin laundry. Otherwise, you'd need a back yard and two people to do it.


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## Aranaea (Oct 17, 2005)

I did the bathtub technique too, and wanted to emphasize that it's like squashing grapes to make wine. You use your feet more than your hands because women have more strength in our lower bodies than our upper bodies. I forget how many years I did it, but it took a lot less time and was quite a bit more pleasant than the laundromat with two toddlers and no car. I don't know how we would have saved up for our washer with the constant haemorrhage of quarters.

It sucks and I hope you have a functioning washing machine again soon, but it's seriously not as bad as people think it is.


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## MidwestGal (Nov 5, 2010)

You can use an old five gal bucket (usually free from delis or restaurants) and a dollar store plunger. Drill a few holes (or use a large nail and hammer through) on the top of the rubber part of the plunger and plunge away to clean clothes. You may do this in the bathtub or outside (to protect floor from the splashing).If using the bathtub, you may soak clothes over night in said tub. 

Any soap should work. Start out with a little then add more if needed. I make my own:
1 bar soap
1/2 cup borax
1 cup washing soda
grate the soap, mix in the borax and washing soda
1/2 T per bucket load should work as I use 2 Tablespoons in the washer.


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## anahatalotus (Oct 25, 2012)

I was hand washing clothes for a couple years, with one or two in cloth diapers and no running water... I love five gallons buckets! I followed a soap recipe similar to Midwest gals. Using homemad soap. If things were ally gross I would soak in Lye water from wood ashes. not to strong or too long cause it ate a few diapers, lol.
The most important things in my opinion are to haul you laundry to where there is water because you're going to rinse rinse rinse. As for raining out clothes this time around I would have my oldest kid grab one end and twist it while I grabbed the other end and twisted. In the past I have used a mop bucket. Mop buckets are luxury hand washing, the built in wringer is worth the money if you have it,lol. Plus with the wheels on it it's easier than hauling the soak and rinse waters in five gallon buckets to water things,only reuse the final rinse water when you have no scent or bubbles left...


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## MidwestGal (Nov 5, 2010)

Here is a thread that may help, too:
http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/co...g/468427-how-wash-clothes-without-washer.html


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## fullmetal (Nov 2, 2013)

also just a thought but before washing think like a college student for a bit, how dirty is it really? a lot of things dont need to be washed just cause they were worn. if it looks clean and smells clean save your effort for after its actually dirty


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## Forcast (Apr 15, 2014)

Yep its a big pain took days for some clothes to dry guess I would rather have a washer than a drier . Maybe you can find a cheap $50.00 washer, or order parts on line to fix your washer yourself,


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## hickerbillywife (Feb 28, 2014)

We cut a plastic 55 gal barrel in half for a rinse tub for my wringer washer. I use a laundry plunger just for the rinsing part. The wringer is definitely the most valuable part of the whole set up. I also have a hillbilly washing machine made from a barrel on a stand. You tube has plenty of videos on how to build one.


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## Tabitha (Apr 10, 2006)

Been there done that. My mom says the greatest invention is the washing machine. Washing is not such a big deal, wringing it out is. Mother ALWAYS soaked everything overnight. I have her soaking tub. I soak a lot and I use TSP. that works better than anything. Makes a huge difference. Usually I put it in to soak at night and wash in the morning. Really dirty jeans I would spread out flat on the porch, take a long handled scrup brush and just brush it. They will come out spot less. This is fast and relatively easy. I use the soak water on the compost, we need the phosphate. Sheets and blankets is best to have two persons. gather up the two sides of the item, one person twists this way and the other the other way and this works super. It is important to wring out well between water changes because you want to get the dirt and suds out as much as possible and not cloud up the fresh water. It is nice when the wind blows, because it dries not so good looking. We did a lot of ironing.


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## Jokarva (Jan 17, 2010)

I saw one video of a woman washing clothes with the plunger/5 gal bucket...when ready to wring she dumped the clothes into another 5 gal bucket that had holes drilled in the bottom, put the lid on the first bucket and set it down onto the wet clothes and sat on the bucket lid. That squeezed the clothes between the two buckets and forced water out the drilled holes. Believe she mentioned not being able to wring by hand because of arthritis, so I thought that was very clever.


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## Learner (Jul 4, 2011)

I have been washing clothes by hand for years- I lived in India for a time and while we had a washing machine, it was nothing like the ones in the US- you had to manually fill and drain, it took so long that I simply washed our clothes in buckets. I am still doing it although I just moved to a place that has a washer hookup and I'm saving for a washing machine (it'll be a while!)

Someone sent me a msg asking where I got my electric spin dryer- it's from a company called Laundry Alternative (I don't know if links are allowed but here it is http://www.laundry-alternative.com/product/Spin-Dryer) I didn't have an outdoor space in my old apartment, so I had to hang inside. I cannot wring clothes dry for the life of me! I was spending so much money using the coin washers that this spin dryer paid for itself in 6 months or less. I still need to go to the laundry mat for bedding though. 

I have two messy little boys and I like handwashing because I can ensure all the stains are out. I anticipate continuing to wash clothes by hand every other day(I use the kids bathwater to soak our clothes in after they get out of the bath and add laundry soap, plunge and rinse in 5 gallon buckets now)


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## katlupe (Nov 15, 2004)

I have been washing my laundry by hand for fifteen years now. I use the Mobile Washer bought from Emergency Essentials. I don't wring the clothes out. I do the laundry outside right near the clothesline, as long as the weather is warm. In winter, I do it in a 5 gallon bucket with the Mobile Washer (plunger type thing), that is setting in a large plastic muck bucket that I use only for laundry. I set the wet clothing on a side of the bucket so it drips out, while I finish with the rest of the laundry. Then I rinse it and let that drip out again. Then I hang them on the clothesline. Soon this job is coming to an end..........and I can't wait.


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## Mid Tn Mama (May 11, 2002)

For a time, I did the bathtub thing using my feet and body weight to "wash" the clothes. After rinsing, I rolled them up in a long roll and stepped on them. This really got the water out without wringing. In fact, I had one of those mop buckets with a wringer on it but it did not work as well as stepping on the clothes with clean feet!


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## badlander (Jun 7, 2009)

I have to agree. Wringing is the worst part. 

I used a 'plunger' bucket method of washing for about 4 months while we got a utility room built and plumbing ran for my washer. The previous owner of our farm was Amish. No utility room. Poor wife had to do laundry outside in all weather using a wringer type machine that was under the back porch roof. The only conveniences she had was a drain in the concrete floor, a water supply and three walls around her. The rest was open to air. I don't know how she did it, especially since her husband had room to spare/heat and a working sink in his shop.

For years I transported our laundry back and forth to our second home during our work commute to wash and dry it. Retiring made it time to build on a utility room in our attached shop.

The biggest draw back that I found other than the wringing which really irritated my rheumatic arthralgia, was getting large items clean. Rugs, sheets, towels, etc I found to be a challenge. Wringing them out nearly impossible.

When DH got my washer plumbed in last week I literally hugged and kissed it. Some modern conveniences I can live without, like a dish washer. But I've learned how much I really depend on and love my automatic washer.


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## viggie (Jul 17, 2009)

I've been doing laundry by hand for I guess 10 years now. Used washboards, wonder washer (tumbler type) and the rapid washer (plunger). The rapid washer with a 5 gallon bucket is by far my favorite and most efficient.


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