Doing the laundry isn't something that I eagerly anticipate doing, but at the same time I don't mind doing it either. It is quite easy to do now compared to what it was as a new mother with a toddler and an infant in tow.
Monday mornings would start with the usual barn chores followed by preparing a hearty breakfast. Right after we were done eating I would take care of any leftovers but the dirty dishes could wait while I sorted the clothes and filled the washing machine and rinse tubs with water.
We had a small sandbox in the basement for Sailor to play in and be happily occupied where I could keep an eye on him without worrying he would get too close to the little gas engine or get his fingers in the wringer. Rosebud would be in the stroller and after washing a load I would carry it out to the clothesline and then go back inside to push the stroller out with Sailors help. He loved trying to help which slowed me down but that was fine.
After hanging everything up the next load was ready to be rinsed by hand unless the baby was hungry I would stop the agitator and take care of her before continuing.
If I was lucky I was able to get everything out on the clothes line by 11:30 and it was already later than I usually started making lunch. It usually took an hour to prepare a meal if the oil stove was used so laundry days required simple things that didn't need to be cooked long. I would pile the dirty breakfast dishes into the sink and have a half decent meal on the table by the time LV came in from the fields.
Right after lunch I would again stack the dishes in the sink and after putting the children down for their naps I would empty the washing machine and rinse tubs and wash them out and sweep all the water down the drain and then hurry outside to bring in any of the clothes that were already dry. By the time the children woke up most of the laundry was folded and put away except for the pile of ironing that needed to be done the next day and a few pants and rugs that were still drying.
At four it would be time to get the children ready and we would head out to the barn to get ready to do the evening milking. Once the chores were done I would head back to the house to prepare supper while LV finished everything up in the barn and then after supper was over we would help each other wash three meals worth of dishes before heading to bed happy that another laundry day was behind me.
I like how doing laundry now doesn't consume nearly every minute of my Mondays. Other than folding everything there is really nothing to it any longer and I couldn't be happier!
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How much easier our household chores are nowadays.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoy my modern washing machine :-)
ReplyDeleteMrs.B
I remember helping my mother hang out the laundry (we had an electric washing machine, but no dryer for years.) It's probably easier in a warm place like South Carolina.
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother used a wringer washing machine for years, and hung her laundry outside to dry. That machine used to fascinate me, but I'm glad I don't HAVE to use one!
ReplyDeleteWhen we first moved into our house I used to try to hang laundry on one of those umbrella clothes-lines, but we get no sun in our little yard and I was forever having to bring in damp laundry at night only to have to hang it again the next day. I gave up, and other than a few things that get hung on lines in our basement, everything goes in the dryer.
I will never ever ever complain about doing the laundry again. That was quite a chore, especially with 2 little ones.
ReplyDeleteWe don't have a washer (our septic won't handle it) so I have to go to the laundromat to do the wash. There's always been one in the same shopping center with whichever grocery store I use, and when the kids were all home (we had three daughters and raised my husband's nephew)it was easier to do six or seven loads of laundry all at once. We sorted it at home, and everybody had a job to do with getting it in the machines, then we all trooped to the grocery store. I made up the list so that I could sent the youngest and oldest off on one side of the store while I took one other child and did the other side of the store, and one person stayed behind to keep an eye on the wash.
ReplyDeleteI've always had a dryer, but really, really prefer to hang things on the line. In the winter, or if it's rainy, I'll put it in the dryer, but I've been known to put my sheets in the freezer until I can hang them out! My husband is a great help with the hanging up and folding, and the clothes smell SO good when we bring them in.
Would the use of paper plates been allowed on wash day?? I don't remember my Grandmother ever using them.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was young, my mom still used a wringer washer until I was in about 3rd grade.
I have a front loader washer and dryer, but still use my clothesline when the weather permits. I love going to bed with sheets and quilt smelling good from a hanging out on the line.
You've made me very thankful for my washer and dryer. They sure make life easier!
ReplyDeleteI actually wrote an entire blog about doing laundry. At least my Grandmother doing laundry.
ReplyDeleteGrandma told me to never leave your whites in the moonlight as they will yellow ! Should that happen though, lie them on the grass in the morning dew and they will be bleached white again.
Ever heat of that ?
We had a clothesline when I was younger but Dad took it down. ( I think he might've feared the dogs we had then getting to the clothes. ) I miss having it! I imagine it'd be better than using our over 10 year old dryer.
ReplyDeleteI will never complain about doing laundry again!
ReplyDeleteI'm not thrilled to do laundry, but I definitely have to agree that it's easier on me since there are just two of us, and we have modern conveniences. You might find this fun to read http://kathleen-thewordsmith.blogspot entry dated Oct 1, 2009.
ReplyDeleteBen...that's funny! I've heard just the opposite about leaving whites out in the moonlight. Also have heard that if you hang stained things outside on a foggy night, the stains will be gone in the morning. Who knows?
When I was a child, we hung our clothes on the line to dry for several years when we lived in lower Alabama and were too poor to afford a clothes dryer and the power to run it. I loved the way the clothes and sheets smelled, all crispy and oxygenated. Then when I was an older teen, Dad put up drying lines again at our new house. It was my job to hang and pull in the dried laundry, and it saved us $ once again in lean years. I still have that bag of clothes pins, almost twenty years later. Good memories! :-)
ReplyDeleteHi Alyssa,
ReplyDeleteI found your blog and am catching up on your latest posts. You seem to be very busy...don't know where you'll fit in quilting (: