Have you ever needed to wash your laundry without electricity?
Washing clothes by hand and hanging them to dry brings about a bit of of nostalgia for me. I used to watch my grandmother wash her clothes and then hang them when I was a child. Now-a-days we use our electric washer and dryer to do the job, but there is another way that is handy to know just in case.
You can make your own hand-powered washing machine
You can make a washing machine from a rubber toilet plunger (new please! and set aside for that purpose) and a 5 gallon bucket with a lid.
Any bucket will work, it just needs to be about twice as big around as the cup on the plunger to aid with suction. Make a hole in the bucket lid, big enough to put the handle of the plunger through.
– Enter the giveaway below –
To Use:
- // Fill the bucket 1/2 full with warm water and add your laundry soap. You need less soap than you think, so experiment a bit.
- // Stir or agitate with the plunger until the soap is dissolved.
- // Add the clothes items, don’t overfill.
- // Insert the plunger into the lid and secure the lid on the bucket.
- // Raise the plunger above the water line in the pail and lower it with quick up-an-down strokes
- // The plunger should come above the level of the water on the upward stroke but should not hit the bottom of the pail.
- // Wait a few seconds between strokes. I found it helpful to put the bucket between my feet to steady it.
- // Continue agitating your load until the clothes are clean, the number of strokes you need will depend on how many articles you have in the bucket and how dirty the clothes are.
- // Rinse your items in clean water in a separate bucket. Add a sanitizer at this stage.
- // Consider a rinse of inexpensive white distilled vinegar, which can be used to whiten, brighten, reduce odor and remove mildew.
You might want to set up a cool outdoor laundry station, like these ladies and really master the skill. You may want to make your own laundry soap by using my favorite recipe.
You should also consider a way to wring the clothes so they will dry quicker on the clothes line. Hand wringing is the pits! Here are a few ideas at Amazon – an actual clothes wringer and a mop wringer. Either would work to get the excess water out of your fabric. You can purchase a 40 foot retractable line or a space saving 12-Line Outdoor Umbrella-Style Clothes Dryer, which is what I have in my yard.
I love to hang laundry to dry on the line. I love the crisp scent when they are done and saving money by not running the dryer. Kevin’s Quality Clothes Pins are made from reclaimed wood and they are bigger than most pins. I think they are beautiful. Don’t have a clothesline? They make easy to install ones for your shower or umbrella ones that hang off a post. Check out this post – 20 Awesome Uses for Clothespins.
Kevin’s Quality Clothespins Giveaway
This giveaway is being sponsored by:
Hilary & Kevin Jones of The Frabjus Lady and the Screwy Carpenter.
Website: http://ladyandthecarpenter.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ladyandthecarpenter
Twitter: https://twitter.com/FrabjusLady
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/frabjuslady/
KickStarter: Hilary and Kevin have a Kickstarter going on this month – here is the video.
What: 30 Clothespins – Handmade, heavy duty, made of leftover hard wood end pieces from the manufacturing of guitars. A $58 value
Perks – 10% Off New Orders from March 10th to March 23rd. Enter this code at checkout, BYG10TOTAL3 at the Lady and the Carpenter Store
How Many Winners: Three Winners Of 30 Clothespins Each.
When: March 12th 12am EST to March 21st 12am EST
Who Can Enter: Anyone 18 of years or older, and residents of the USA.
Winner Notification: The winner will be notified by email and will have 24 hours to respond. If we do not hear back from said winner in the designated time period of 24 hours we will choose another winner and they will have 24 hours to respond from the time the notification email is sent
Giveaway Terms & Conditions: http://h2hnetworkingbloggers.com/giveaway-terms-conditions/
I would love to win, because I hang a LOT of things on our clothes lines: rugs, and ‘dog’ towels/bedding. and our bedding gets the priority. The winds that snort through here are deadly to clothes pins! Good drying days may leave twisted or grounded items, REAL clothes pins would be welcomed!
We use clothespins all the time. It would be nice to have some heavy duty ones.
I would love to win a set of these clothespins. I have some, but noted that they are not much to brag about, and will probably break easily. I would love to start using less electricity this summer, and having the tools to do it with would be great!! thanks for the opportunity to win!
What a wonderful giveaway! I was just searching online for good clothespins and came across your blog in my search. Great timing!
I use clothespins all the time! Oddly enough, not for clothes drying yet but we are putting up a line this summer! I’d love to have these as a start to clothes drying 🙂 !
I’m new to your blog but quality clothes pins would be a wonderful addition to my laundry room. Other pins break too easily. Thanks for a chance to enter this giveaway.
I love these clothespins but can not afford them – so winning would be a “dream come true” !