How did you do laundry when your children were small?
Darlene
September 22, 2006 7:41 AM
How did you do laundry when you children were small?
I think having to go to the laundromat is a terrible pain! One of the
places we lived in in Texas had no running water except through the
toilet. The water would make you sick if you drank it. We had to use a
rope and bucket to draw water out of a cistern. I had a new baby at the
time and 3 other small children. I had one of those little table top
washing machines. So I had to draw the water, heat it on the stove, do
the diapers, empty the water and draw more to do 2 or 3 rinses. We would
go to town once a week to the laundry mat for the big washing. Not a
laundry mat like today. It was wringer washers with 3 rinse tubs. No
dryers. A water extractor that spun the water out of the clothes. You
then took them home and hung them on the line. There was no such thing
as fabric softener. Lots of ironing!
We also had draw water from the cistern for cooking, drinking, bathing
and so on.
I thought I had died and gone to heaven when I got my first automatic
washer, although I had one before we moved to the place with out running water. When we moved back to civilization :-) I got another automatic.
Didn't have a dryer though til much later.
Susan Y
September 22, 2006 10:28 AM
We were living in Plainview in 1974 when Joshua my oldest son was born.
We were living in married student housing and there was a washer and
dryer 2 doors down.......spend a lot of time there.
Geez, Darlene....I have raised "Holy Heck" when my washer or dryer was
working and I had to take the kids stuff to the laundry mat.....I hated
it. Hate to see how I would have been if I had to do all the work you
did.
Joan
September 22, 2006 10:47 AM
I had an apartment size stove, and I would put the big tub over the 4
burners. Fill it and heat it. Had my washer on the porch and would
bring it into the house and fill it. Use my kitchen sink to rinse the
clothes and hang them outside to dry. Worked fine, except in the
winter. Had beautifully white diapers as they would freeze dry. I
still love to hang clothes out to dry. Did yesterday, all of my
bedclothes. Love the way that sheets smell when you put them back on
the beds. Of course, it is raining again today. We have had more
rain than we have ever had in September.
Sammy....
September 22, 2006 2:20 PM
When I was about 8 years old my mom had an old wringer washer, not an electric one , this one had a lever on the side that had to be worked back and forth by hand to make the agitator work. Us kids had to stand
out in the yard and work the lever . Our arms would get so tired. Then
she had an old black was pot which she had a fire under to keep water
heated. Water had to be drawn from the well. I sure wish I had that old
washer now. The tub was made of wooden slats like a barrel with metal
rims around it to keep them from coming apart. It was an antique then.
Can you imagine what it would be worth now?
Sammy....
September 22, 2006 2:22 PM
| I can remember having to wash diapers by hand in the bath tub and dry
them on the wooden racks. Then go to laundromat on weekends for other
laundry, Hated it then, Wouldn't do it now. |  |
Darlene
September 22, 2006 3:50 PM
Susan
Was that Plainview Texas?
Lee
September 22, 2006 6:54 PM
When I was married to my first husband, I had to go to the laundermat or wash in the bathtub. Daddy got me a washer when Leigh Ann was born. Our apt. had no room for a dryer, so I hung the clothes out side in the back yard and you had to climb steps to the clothesline. I hated those winter days when the clothes froze on the line.
~Hilda~
September 22, 2006 8:03 PM
When I first got married, my sister gave me an old washer. It would wash but wouldn't spin out. So I had to wring them out by hand and hang on the line. Then someone gave me a washer that wouldn't wash but would spin, so I washed them in one and spun them out in the other and then hung them on the line.
Then when they quit, I had an old rub board, I know some of
you probably know what a rub board is, LOL, and I washed clothes in the
bath tub and hung them out. Then my MIL gave me an old wringer
washer. Never had a dryer until about 35 ?? yrs ago. When the kids were in diapers, I had about 6 doz or more but still wasn't enough. So sometimes in the winter I can remember hanging diapers on the line and before I could get the second clothes pin on them they would be frozen solid.
Now
this was still here in Mobile. Seems like we use to have colder weather
here than we do now. :o) And many times I have hung them on the oven
door after washing them to get them dry from the oven heat and also if
in a pinch I would stand and iron them dry. And the mothers with babies
now days think they have it hard. LOL
Thanks for starting this thread. Brought back a lot of memories.
Darlene
September 22, 2006 3:53 PM
Hilda
I have clothes on the line now. The sun is actually shinning! We've had an awful lot of rain in Sept too.
I don't dry the bed clothes on the line. They pick up pollen and that makes me miserable.
Kath
September 22, 2006 11:47 AM
Doing laundry was an all day CHORE, in the earlier days for me too, at
first did it by hand mostly, my folks lived a few blocks away, and I'd
drag the bigger stuff in a little wagon, to Mom's and use her wringer
washer, but always hung them out to dry, loved the smell of line dried
things. We had those little wooden dryers too, for bad weather, it was
many years before I had a washer of my own and many more before I ever
had a dryer.
But we did what we had to do.
I never was in a laundro-mat, until I came to Calif.in 1978, Sure made you appreciate modern tech.
I sure admire the "pioneers" and the like that used to build fires and do it "outside" or a barn...I never had to do that one. (grin)
~Hilda~
September 22, 2006 8:09 PM
I remember my mother doing laundry in an old wash pot over a fire. The old man we rented from had one and he let her use it,but he had one thing that he told her she HAD to do. That was to clean the pot out real good and dry it real good,could not leave it wet. LOL He was a peculiar old man. LOL I call him an OLD MAN,but when I think about it,he probably wasn't any older than I am now. LOL But when I was a kid I thought anyone 20 yrs old was OLD. LOL
Darlene
September 22, 2006 4:03 PM
 | My first new washer was a wringer. I think we bought it at Sears or
Monkey Wards. I did all of the laundry, put it in baskets, emptied the
washer, filled it with fresh water to rinse. Did that 3 times, then hung
them on the line. |
It was amazing how white and clean the clothes were then.
This was before we moved to the place with no running water. The reason
we moved there was so my X could farm for his brother. We had 3 little
one's when we moved there & I was pregnant. the baby was born while we
lived there.
Joan
September 22, 2006 9:13 PM
When we travelled and the kids were little. I would put the diapers in
a closed bucket of water in the trunk and when I got where I could rinse
them. I would rinse them and hang them in the car window, hang them
outside and let them flap in the wind till they were dry. Cliff's
in-laws laughed like heck at that.
Wayne
September 22, 2006 9:14 PM
I was in third grade when Mom finally got a washing machine. We were
living in a tourist court in Toppenish, Washington and each unit had
one. Until then mom had use wash tubs and a scrub board. She thought the clothes washer was heaven.
Darlene
September 22, 2006 9:43 PM
Hilda
If the pot was iron he probably wanted it dry to keep it from rusting.
Darlene
September 23, 2006 7:30 AM
We were living in Plainview when my twins were born. We had bought a
house in a new housing area on the north of Plainview. Not far from
where Jimmy Dean was raised and where his Mom had a barber shop. My
oldest son contacted hepatitis while we lived there. I caught it and so
did my X. It was never determined where it came from. The state even
checked the water supply. There were 8 of us in the family, but we were
the only 3 to get it. We spent time in the hospital under quarantine.
Talk about something sapping your strength. I have never been the same
since. If it wasn't for a colored lady who came and took care of us I
don't know what we would have done. I was not to be ot of bed except to
go to the bath room. And wonderful neighbors who brought food in every
day.
I am a charter member of a Baptist church that was started while we
lived there.
We were living there when a tornado almost wiped Hale Center off of the
map. That was in 1964 or '63. We spent a lot of time in the cellar back
in those days! Like every night.
We moved from there to Colorado.
Mary Jane
September 23, 2006 12:06 PM
When I was growing up, we had a wringer type washer and a scrub board,
too. Lots of hard work doing laundry back then. I did like hanging
clothes on the line though. I also remember the clothes freezing &
having to dry some on the oven door. I'm so glad we have a washer &
dryer. Makes doing laundry a breeze!!
PS one time I was helping wring some jeans out & my wrist got caught up
in the wringer. That really hurt.
Shirley Jean
September 23, 2006 7:55 PM
Young folks now days would think they were DIEING to have to do laundry that way Darlene --& diapers --they think the world is ending if they run out of the disposable diapers --tell em to grab pins & a dish towel or something temporarily---Well they dont OWN safety pins of any kind--maybe no dishtowel either --& no clue how to fold & use those items anyway LOL But they DO know how to go to
Grandma & borrow money for the disposables. But I do realize they were
raised in a different time than us & cant help it. I always had some
kind of old wringer washer but for a long time no way to heat water but
on a stove & carry it. No dryers for years. My last child I finally had a modern washer & dryer. Boy I did appreciate that. Disposable diapers were new then--I used a few very occasionly when we went visiting--thought they were a terrible LUXURY HA
Times they are a changing.
Shirley Jean
September 23, 2006 8:03 PM
Guess what I am almost going to the laundramat again. Not really --got 2 washers & 2 dryers in next building in our apt complex. Buildings are close & complex small. No real hassle --I use a little cart on wheels as do most everyone to take clothes back & forth. Costs $1 to wash & $1 to dry (dryers run a long time on a buck). In icy bad weather I have my grandaughter take my laundry over there & do it --if am worried about the sidewalks & falling on my generous behind. She helps with lots of stuff for me. Hey LIFE IS GOOD
Shirley Jean
September 23, 2006 8:13 PM
Mary Jane reminded me---my youngest son ran his arm up to the elbow--where it spun on it --through the wringer of our old washer. Had a hook on top of laundry door--he got a stool --climbed up--while I was in bathroom. He was "Helping" me do laundry he said. He was about 2 1/2. The spinning caused like a 3rd degree burn--he ended up with surgery skin grafts. Had quite a scar
but over the years he grew & scar got a lot less noticeable. Once
got my long hair caught & yanked pretty good in the wringer too.
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