Prior to steam irons, permanent press fabrics and/or clothes dryers it was common practice to take the ironing off of the clothes line damp to make it easier to iron. Others sprinkled their clothes and rolled them up before ironing. If all of the sprinkled clothes were not finished putting the sprinkled clothes in a bag in the refrigerator kept them from "going sour" or getting mildew.
Some of my very early childhood memories are of my Grandma filling a bowl with warm water then dipping her hand in the water and flinging the water on the clothes before rolling them up for the ironing basket. In hot weather the basket went to the root cellar at night if she was not finished with the ironing. In the winter time it was put on the back (unheated) porch.
When I was old enough to babysit for neighbors I earned extra spending money by adding ironing services to my babysitting. Besides being paid all of $.50 per hour for sitting I made $.25 to $.50 per piece for the ironing I did.
When the laundry was done with the wringer washing machine whites were washed first. There were two tubs for rinsing the clothes. After the 2nd rinse anything that needed to be starched went into a basket. Then the washer was drained. The rinse water was used to fill washer and clean water went into rinse tubs. Starch and bluing was added to the second rinse water. Then the clothes went back into the water for the starch.