Got me a new clothes dryer

[Ladyhawke1]

When I was a little kid, we did not have a dryer and we hung up the sheets and towels. I do not remember even the towels as being scratchy. I use to have to fold them and put them away. Maybe the mere fact of smoothing them out while folding them softens them.

Does anyone use a washboard? I am thinking of getting one.

 

[pioneergirl]

LadyHawk...I'd like to get one too. I used to have several, before I made the choice to take my life down a few notches, but I got rid of them all. Now the adventure is finding another one! HAHA

 

[ToLiveToLaugh]

This might sounds dumb, but how does soap "work" when using a washboard? You mix it into the water, right? So what sort of laundry soap works for this? Would the standard fels naptha work?

 

[pioneergirl]

I would say, if you make the kind of soap listed here on SS, either in powder or liquid, and mix it with your washing water, you'd be good to go. Since you are the 'agitator' for the washing, and the board is helping you scrub, then the standard soap would be fine.

No, that wasn't dumb at all!!!!

 

[ToLiveToLaugh]

So I looked it up on ehow (lol!) and it looks like one option is to just rub a soap bar directly on the article you're washing. Then, as the soap gets mixed into the water, you can skip this step. This seems to me like one of those skills that would be DANG useful to know.

 

[big brown horse]

When I was a little kid, we did not have a dryer and we hung up the sheets and towels. I do not remember even the towels as being scratchy. I use to have to fold them and put them away. Maybe the mere fact of smoothing them out while folding them softens them.

Does anyone use a washboard? I am thinking of getting one.

I taught the children in my classroom how to wash their cloth napkins and washcloths on a washboard. It works great and it can be very soothing...almost zen-like.

The trick is to lean the top of the washboard near your tummy rather than leaning it against the back of the sink/tub. That one little change will keep it from being a back breaking chore. Your tummy sorta holds it in place leaving you with two hands to work with.

We used ivory soap bars. Get the cloths wet, lay them on the washboard and rub the soap over them a few times to create a bit of lather, then scrub them up and down on the washboard until you think it is clean. After a few articles have been washed there is enought soap in the water to do more without using the bar of soap.

 

[pioneergirl]

Now there are some great tips!!! Thanx BBH!