Originally Posted by bearisgray

I had a wringer washer for many many years - as did my mother and my mother-in-law.

By the time the dirty farm clothes were put in the washer, the water was getting very murky - in some cases it was close to thin mud and there was a layer of dirt in the bottom of the machine that had to be flushed out.
So - were clothes cleaner? I don't know how one can get clean clothes out of dirty water. They were less dirty after going through murky rinses than they were before they were washed - but not nearly as clean as if these filthy garments had been the first batch of items washed.

The guys would wear their work/farm/barn/mecahnic clothes/coveralls until they were very very dirty - my mom described it as "being able to stand up by themselves".