Washer & Dryer

[rk911]

when we were first married in 1970 we had a 1-bedroom apartment in a 16-unit apartment building...no laundry room. so we trekked to a nearby coin laundry once a week. we hated that. one day while perusing all of the wonderous things at the local K-Mart we came across an apartment sized washing machine. about waist high it was about thne size of an average coffee table and could be rolled out the way when not in use. it had two hoses, one that attached to a sink faucet and another that emptied the machine into a sink. the wash tub was big enough for a pair of jeans, a single double bed sheet, a few t-shirts, a few days worth of underwear, etc. no dryer but there was a spinning water extractor. we hung the damp clothes up over the bathtub to dry while we were at work. we did a bit of wash every few days and it was a hassle but it meant we didn't have to schlep to the coin laundry.

 

[rk911]

There's a memory. My mum used an old Coke bottle with a sprinkler cap for the starching.

my mom did the same only it was a green 7-Up bottle.

 

[Ronstar]

There's a memory. My mum used an old Coke bottle with a sprinkler cap for the starching.

my mom did the same only it was a green 7-Up bottle.

I vaguely remember our bottle, but not the brand.


I also remember my grandfather who mounted the wringer portion of a washer in his barn to wring his chamois out when he washed the car.

 

[DrRoy]

My parents had a cottage on a lake in Quebec, Canada. Next door to us was a local guy and his wife who rented cabins. In the 60's they had a wringer washer, and hung the clothes on a line to dry. One summer we got up there and they had a dryer. We heard that the husband had to put the laundry out on the line once that winter and he went and got the dryer the next day.

 

[street]

I have clotheslines set up in our side yard. I use it for heavier stuff (sheets/blankets/towels/jeans). I refuse to do socks/undies on the line because it would take too long clipping them all up.

We're in an older urban neighborhood, no restrictions... but most of the newer neighborhoods (20 years old or less) have HOAs that restrict against laundry lines.

Growing up we had a washer and dryer.

When travelling, I bring my own bungy/clippy laundry line for drying stuff I wash out in the sink.

I like that line. We used ours till a couple years ago for somethings. I actually removed our line last year. I now wish at times we still had it.

I now have to hang my bow hunting cloths in the trees in the back yard. The scent washers and dryers and soaps leave are a no no. Wash with water well and they hang outside.

Ronstar, use for wringer part of the washing machine, I seen used like that a few times. I junked one of them out about a year ago, maybe should have kept it. Lol

 

[folivier]

Mom had a sprinkler bottle like this for ironing:

 

[Ready-4-ER-at-14]

^^^^ Pure luxury, a sink!
...
Drying was on clotheline summer or winter. In winter had to be careful to lift items off the line while frozen, else shirts etc. would break.

...
Yep, those were the good old days.

I had forgotten about the frozen clothes on the clothes line! I remember carrying in overalls that sort of looked like carrying in a body alhtough flat and entirely rigid.

Brought back a smile. TY

 

[Retired Expat]

Big believer in saving energy and the planet so where we can we line dry on a rack particularly if it is very low humidity like in winter, or we don’t vent the electric dryer to the outside (we use a water lint trap) and the dryer becomes a heating source. Like using the oven on a cold day! But even if we line dry we tumble the clothes in the dryer with a couple of tennis balls for a bit to soften them up