Ellen

I still hang out clothes...not underwear tho. 2 weeks worth takes up too much room and clothespins. In Maine, we hung clothes out winter and summer. One day, I was helping my mom and got the frozen clothes off the line. My father's longjohns were too long to fit in the basket so I folded them and broke off one of his legs. She almost had a heart attack till she found out it was his longjohns....Now, THAT she found hysterical.

Sierra

Wonderful memories! The ringer washer, putting the "whites" water into the big plugged sink and reusing it for a slightly darker load (even reusing that is it didn't look too bad for the work clothes)! Being warned enough I really took it serously to stay away from the ringer! Wiping down the lines before putting the clothes up each week (Mom did that, I handed her clothes from the basket). Remember my parents arguing about enlosing the porch so Mama wouldn't be so painfully cold each winter wash day (she won and sliders were put in to the upper half around the porch). After the war she got a front loader Bendix and it had to be bolted into the floor; the bolts would come loose and Mama would have me and the hired hand's boy sit up on top to keep it from bouncing too much... what a hoot that was. To this day I have the drying rack Mama used (twice the size of the ones in use today) for when it was raining outside and expected to continue.... plus clothes hung on hangers and put on the frames of the archways between the "public" rooms down stairs. And ironing! Pillowcases on up!!! Mama used to leave the winter clothes in a huge basket, unironed, until winter came again, and the same with the summer clothes... not enough room in our dressers for both! I have a front loader that gentle and throughly washing things w/o twisting, and am waiting for my old dryer to die so I can get a new one.

Iron? That something you do to seams as you quilt to make them flat! I have to admit that when DH and I got married I gave his non-wash and wear shirts to Good Will and bought him new ones (also dumped some of his worst ties!). He was startled, but presumed that was the sort of things new wives did!

dcamarote

Oh boy. You are really bringing back memories. Ditto for me. Mom and the wringer washer. Hung everything outside unless it was raining. No wonder the sheets smelled so good back then. Did your mom also have a stick to push the clothes down inside the washer? Mine did.

delma_paulk

I remember Mondays as wash days and my mother had an iron kettle and 3 wash tubs. We would boil them, then bleach them, then rinse them twice, then hang. I got to build the fire when I got older and tote the water from the well, with a bucket on the end of a rope, down the hole and up and over and pour in a can ang tote to the wash pot and tubs. Miresable in the Winter because of the cold and miresable in the Summer when it was hot. I was tasked to rise those clothes good and wring them as dry as I could and don't drag them on the ground when you hang them.

When I baby brother was born when I was 14 daddy bought mama a wringer washer, what a miracle! AND by now we had running water instead of an open well. Life was wonderful and washing could be done in the kitchen in the winter and on the porch in the summer.......no fire to build, no water to tote!

delma

judys

All the memories this thread brings back! Our sprinkling bottle was a 7UP bottle. My mom did the same thing with the ironing in the fridge. And bluing, it came in a bottle with a lady on the label but that's all I remember about it. I know when I helped my aunt hang out laundry we had to put the sheets and towels on the outside lines so they would hide the 'unmentionables' from neighbors and passersby. Then when my children were in diapers I remember hanging out 3 lines full of cloth diapers just to have a passing flock of blackbirds land in the closest tree. They had just raided the berry patch and I had to rewash all but 1 diaper!

crafty pat

This sure brings back memories. Until I was six years old we lived way out in the country on a farm. My Dad owned the county store. We did not have running water so on Monday My DM would start a fire under a big black iron pot and carry water from the well to it. She lined up several wash tubs and filled some with cold water then when the pot was boiling she carried hot water to the first tub with soap she hand made and a scrub board. Three rinse tubs a starch tub and a bluing tub for the whites. Hand rung out and put on the line to dry. That night everything was sprinkled down and rolled up for Ironing day On Tuesday. When we moved into town when I was six DD bought her a ringer type Maytag and she thought she was in heaven. When I think of all the back breaking work she had to go through just to keep us in clean clothes. We really do have a easy time now don't we.

Weenween

yep i remember it very well i got my hair cought in the wringers mom had to back it out.wash days was on monday & thrusday.good memories but i will take my automatic machine any day.i know where 2 of them and in working order the best i can tell you.

Karen1956

All of you are bringing back wonderful memories. Yes, we had a wringer washer until my baby sister was about 3 years old. I can still see her diapers hanging on the line in the winter!! I still hang my wash outside to dry whenever possible. The neighbors love it!!

Onebyone

I don't have any memories of laundry at all except for throwing dirty clothes down the chute and helping my aunt put pants stretchers in my uncle's pants.
I don't want to hang clothes outside to dry. That seems a waste of time compared to pushing a button. When it comes to housework my view is hire a maid or do it the easiest and fastest way to get it done and over with.

BCM

While reading these postings, what pleasant memories are retrieved about washing and ironing. Remember the metal stretchers that were put in blue jeans to put the crease down front and back and reduce ironing? Wish I had some now.