Washing Laundry The Old Fashioned Wringer Way and Surviving is no easy task because it is, in fact, labor intensive. Washing machines were invented to help women (back in the day) to lighten the workload on blue Mondays. Yes, they called it “Blue Monday” because women dreaded the time-consuming chore.
Wringer is a mechanical laundry aid consisting of two rollers in a sturdy frame, connected by cogs and, in its home version, powered by a hand crank or electricity. While the appliance was originally used to wring water from wet laundry, today mangles are used to press or flatten sheets, tablecloths, kitchen towels, or clothing and other laundry.
The wringer washer is more labor-intensive than an automatic washer, but it is perfect for the homestead. One, it uses much less water, carrying 15 gallons of water and serves for seven loads of laundry. The wringer washer has a large tub with an electric motor underneath which drives the agitator and wringer. There is also the gearbox underneath next to the motor and you must have gear oil to lubricate the gear. Some wringer washers have a pump to drain the water out of the tub. If not, there will be a drain the water will go through; have the end go into your yard or a barrel.
Drying on a clothesline also requires some labor, but it is automatic on the homestead. It is rewarding for its natural drying; just have strong clothespins and a basket. Plus, it is cheap. The clothes smell good after drying under the sun and wind, something a dryer sheet can never do with its chemicals. Even though the wind can knock your clothes off the line and won’t remove all the wrinkles, but the fabrics are can slow fully fold in straight without ironing. Just get a prop pole to hold the line on both ends and in the middle if the heavier clothes sag down the line.
Also homemade is the laundry soap, made with bars of lye soap grated and dissolved in water. Heat it to hot short of boiling, stir, and three gallons of water to it. Add one cup of washing soda, mix, and pour into jugs till ready to use.
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