Laundry Day!

I never thought I'd miss an automatic washing machine and not at the same time. I now have a wringer washer but started with a washboard (used it solely for a year). Ironically, the washer cost me less than the washboard...

What I have learned are these inevitable facts:

1. Cloth will compost.

You put soil, water and carbon you get decomposition. And if you add in poop (I use cloth diapers) it happens at a very high rate. A nice hot compost.

2. Washboarding IS torcher!

I honestly don't know how women kept up on laundry! I sure couldn't! Using a washboard is a very slow process. It probably would've been fine had it just been my husband and I. But we have little boys and diapers to wash.

3. Wringer washers are awesome!

The wringers get a ton of soil out of the clothes that even the automatic washer doesn't. However, you still have to man it to keep it going through different cycles.

4. Keep it dry!

This is actually in relation to point #1. If it gets wet it will compost. So if you don't have an indoor or covered laundry room (which I don't) you have to use other means. For example, a covered garbage can.

5. Don't let it build up.
Trust me. You'll never catch up without extra work. I got a build up and it's taking me forever to get back on track again.

6. Winter time laundry is rough.

Learn how to deal with numb hands. I hate taking the time to start a fire to heat water for laundry but sometimes it's necessary. Drying clothes outside in the winter takes days rather than hours.

7. Rinse your laundry in a separate tub.

I learned this one from a young Mennonite woman. You can keep the washer going and going if you just plunge you washed laundry in a separate tub of water for rinsing. Slosh it around with your hands or a stick and then run it through the wringer. Works great and it halved my laundry time. I'm just too busy to keep on top of mine.

8. Wringers are dangerous.

After I got my wringer washer I heard multiple stories of either themself or a relative whose fingers got caught in the wringers and their arm drug in and tore up badly. Take care and caution! Don't be careless! It could be your arm!

9. You still need a washboard.

Washboards are a useful tool for stain or debris (ie. poop on diapers) removal. So don't toss them aside completely. I use mine in the tub of water I drain out of the washer for prewashing poopy diapers. Seems to work fairly well.

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So these are the things I've learned over the past two years about dping laundry off-grid. I'm hoping that some of my experiences help someone do better than me.

Take care and happy washing!