Wow you really can buy anything on Amazon! We have no washer or a place for one yet in the house, and I had been lugging hampers to the other house, but I was using the dryer more than I ever had so it would be done by the time I was going back. So i was washing undies and socks and TShirts in the sink with Fels Naptha shredded, wringing them by hand and hanging on the wardrobe shelving that we installed behind our wood cookstove or hanging on the wooden folding drying rack. But i was rubbing the clothes with my knuckles and I thought what a nice thing a washboard would be. So I found one on amazon.com for $14...it about 2' X 15" or so, and I used it last night. i love my $14 Old Timey Washing Machine! I washed everything except a sweatshirt and the blue jeans, because I have a hard time wringing those out by hand. Dh said i should do those too and don't worry if they are a little drippy because this house needs the humidity!! So maybe tonight I'll try jeans. All that wringing by hand does make my arms a little achey but i am sure i'll get used to it.

i dissolve soap in one basin of the kitchen sink with hot water, the pour cold rinse water in the second basin. soap up the clothing and rub on the washboard, then dip in the rinse water and swish.....take them out and squeeze as much as possible, shake them out and hang them up and by morning they are dry!

Cinnamonhuskies:

i love my $14 Old Timey Washing Machine

I bought one on Amazon a few years ago. In a stretch where I had no washer and then after when we were out of electricity post storm, it was a treasure.

I had never truly appreciated my skills and self sufficiency tools until then.

Did you wring your clothes out by hand? How was it doing heavy items like jeans?

Cinnamonhuskies:

Did you wring your clothes out by hand?

Yes I did.

Cinnamonhuskies:

How was it doing heavy items like jeans?

That was hard and they were always dripping when hung so they took longer to dry. Keep that in mind and wash before you are in a bind for them.

What did you wash in? My son thought I should get a wash tub but I didnt want to add the extra expense.

Cinnamonhuskies:

What did you wash in?

I used a plastic tote we had lost the cover for. I also bought a toilet plunger just for laundry that I would use to stir the clothes for additional agitation before taking each piece to the washboard.

So plastic tote tub, washboard, toilet plunger and clothes line. A washer and dryer for under $20. You can't beat that anywhere. 

i thought of the toilet plunger too! i saw a blue one made just for laundry for $22 and thought it was silly...I'm sure just a wide plunger would work.

Cinnamonhuskies:

I'm sure just a wide plunger would work.

It does.

Get your son to help with some wringing and call it a homestead lesson and activity. My kids loved that...maybe.

Laughing aside, my oldest has actually thanked me for being weird and forcing them to do stuff like this. She headed out on her own and found life is rough. She has been able to shoulder through her own difficult times and was surprised at how much some of her friends in similar situations struggled and could not do for themselves.

Oh that's funny. Ds#2 is 16 and does not find much humourous about sawing a splitting wood every day for the cookstove. ((sigh))

i hope that Ds#1 will find those really big bumps in the road but dh says I am mean and i shouldn't wih that on him.

Some days no one appreciates mom LOL.