When I was a kid my mother and Grandmother washed EVERYTHING by hand and that was the way they wanted us to do it. My Grandma had a washer but it was only for special occasions. I never understood that one. What is a laundry special occasion? It sat there for years and years until one day they tried to use it and it was dead. We were 6 people in the house and every item had to be hand wash. Being in Puerto Rico they didn't bother with a dryer, meaning that we had to hang everything on the line and pay attention when it was dry in case it rained, or worse. The worse case was during the summer, when they were burning the sugar cane stalks and the ashes flew all over town, landing on everything. The sky would turn dark and everything would turn black by the time they finished. No, that doesn't mean I am too old to remember that, like my son said. I am only 46 yrs.
I guess we all have our laundry memories.