DIYbanter - View Single Post

wrote:
Jeanne wrote:

I've done the washboard thing (spent a year in, yep, China) and all I
had to wash were my own clothes (no towels, no bed linen, etc) and
discovered that man was right. Washing one pair of jeans by washboard
wasn't too much fun. Neither was rinsing and wringing.

Understood

But what if you owned clothes that were easy to wash
and care for up front?

Oh, I had silk and cotton clothing which were easy to wash and I
probably had what is considered a *very* limited wardrobe (5 days worth
of clothing) but it's hard to get around either 1) the frequency of
doing the wash or 2) just how much time you spend wringing water from
these garments. Also, the dorm had *wonderful* 6-7 feet long
trough-like sinks so I had LOTS of room to wash, rinse, and place wet
clothes (waiting to be hung up for drying). I'd hate to think about
handwashing 3 days worth of clothes in the sinks one finds in US laundry
rooms (deep but relatively small).

What if the materials in the clothes were strong yet
quick drying and light?

It was the rinsing and wringing that was the problem not the drying.

IOW.... maybe we own a lot of clothes that by there
very nature make life more complicated cause they
require more care and attention.

Yep. It's amazing how few clothes you want when you need to hand wash.

Jeanne