How to do laundry by hand

The only hold back to doing our clothes by hand now is that we do not have a wringer and that is something that is a must. When we do clothes it is nearly impossible to wring out all the water by hand my hands do get sore if I do really big loads– and takes far too long. Otherwise, the process is simple so I will share that with you. First, I fill my tub sometimes sink as thats easier with the kiddo's with hot water and dissolve some of my homemade soap powder in it. Then I fill the tub with the items to be washed. Everything soaks for about a 30 minutes to an hour in the hot water bath. Then I put in the washboard and I scrub – it depends on how dirty things are to how long I scrub. I also go in every once in a while and plunge the hell out of my clothes. Then i wring them all out by had but im not that picky they can still have some water in them espically because i use little soap. Then i drain the tub and refill it with water- and my homemade fabricsoftener. I agitate the rinse water (with my hands or a clean plunger) and make sure everything is free of soap – very important – and then we wring each item out by twisting it. Once the wringing is done it goes on the clothes line to dry.

Yes, it is a tedious process but the clothes are so exceptionally clean and smell wonderful. I think one of the things to remember is that the soap doesn’t actually do the cleaning – the soap softens the water so that it can lift the soil from the fabric. With that in mind you won’t add too much soap that will be difficult to get out of the clothes. Just enough soap to soften the water. If you live in an area where you have very soft water, then you might possibly need.

here are my recipes---


Laundry soap 2 cups Bar Soap, Grated into fine flakes. (I used some of my homemadesoap. You could use Fels-Naptha. Half of a bar.)
2 cups Borax (I use 20 Mule team Borax.) 2
cups Washing Soda (Not Baking Soda)(I use Arm&Hammer Super WashingSoda.) Available in the laundry aisle of most supermarkets. I put bar soap shavings in a bowl and added 1 quart of boiling water tomelt it. Once melted I poured this into a bucket and added the boraxand washing soda and stirred together to dissolve. Then I added 2gallons of water. This makes a thick liquid. I give it a good stirbefore use each time. Use ¼ cup per load.

Fabric softener -added to rinse water... 2 cups cold water 1 cup baking soda 1 cup vinegar 1- Place baking soda in LARGE bowl and pour vinegar over it; while it'sbubbling, pour cold water in and mix. 2- Store in sealed container and shake before using to combine allingredients. 3 -Add 1/4 cup of mixture to rinse water. Be sure to give it a shakebefore using.

Spray for Stain Removing
1/2 Cup Ammonia1/2 Cup White Vinegar2 Tablespoons Laundry Detergent (see above)2 Quarts WaterMix well, and store in spray bottle.