We don’t think much about washing clothes. Which is to say most of us don’t think it’s an enjoyable occupation. This is true whether we take our washing to the laundromat, or have the luxury of a home machine. For some bizarre reason, every time I use the washing machine, I think it’s some kind of miracle. Dirty clothes in; clean clothes out. I don’t have to take my clothes to the river or haul water to boil over a fire. Less than one hundred years ago, women in rural America, lacking both electricity and running water, did this every Monday.

Robert Caro, famous for his multi-volume biography of Lyndon Johnson, wrote about wash day in Texas during the 1930s. First, pump water from the well. Next, cut wood and lay a fire outside. Boil vat of water. Now, it’s time to do the laundry.

Scrub clothes in a tub with lye soap. Move the clothes around with a paddle. Shift soapy wash to a rinse tub. An average tub held about eight gallons of water.

Another method, illustrated here used a smaller tub. But clothes still had to be scrubbed on a washboard and eventually drawn through a wringer to remove as much water as possible before hanging the wet laundry on a line.

In 1933 women with access to piped water and electricity could utilize the THOR-32 electric washing machine. It had a revolving, reversing cylinder to “lift and dip the clothes through active, soapy water.” And it featured a “wonderful metal swinging wringer.”

In the 21st century, we take washing machines for granted. Mine adds the soap, washes, rinses, spins and produces clothes that are practically dry already. And, yes, I do have a dryer to complete the process, as well as a clothesline.

This amazing machine rewards us with the gift of time. It also uses energy produced by electricity or gas. Both affect our environment. It’s a trade off.

One of my loyal readers is an economics professor. Last week he sent me a link to a talk Hans Rosling presented at TEDWomen2010. From an analytic perspective, Rosling explains the impact such a simple machine has had on our world and points out the thousands of people, like the woman in the first photo, who still lack even this labor saving device. The video is nine minutes long and well worth your time.

Hans Rosling. “The Magic Washing Machine.”

Here’s the link.

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Photo of woman washing on banks of the Li River, Yanghshuo, China by Author.

Remaining illustrations in Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons.

REA Woman Works Washboard.

Bailey Wringing Machine.

THOR 32 Electric Washer, 1933.

Clay Coppedge.”LBJ and the Sad Irons.” TexasEscapes.com.

The post Wash Day Miracle first appeared on Sandra Wagner-Wright.

And, as long as there has been laundry, people — usually women — have complained about having to do it. But the truth is, washing clothes today isn’t nearly the chore that it used to be.

In bygone days of yore, laundering by hand was a lengthy back-breaking job that involved soaking garments in hot water heated by a fire underneath a cauldron. This required gathering wood and hauling water before the job could begin. After the first soak, the clothes were beaten and scrubbed before being rinsed. To conserve resources the least soiled were washed first so the water could be reused.

After rinsing, the clothes were twisted by hand to extract water, then hung somewhere to dry. In summer, a clothesline could be used. In winter wet clothes were more likely to be hung near a fire. Nothing like the fresh smell of slightly burned fabrics. As illustrated above, the same basic method was still in use in the early twentieth century. But, a new day was dawning.

Electric washing machines became available for the handful of people who had electricity. As stated in the above postcard advert for the Happy Day Washing Machine, the new modern washing machine saved women time, labor, nerves, clothes, and strength. Thus transforming Blue Mondays in to Happy Days. This, of course, brought up the obvious question of what women would do with their newfound free time?

The washing machine as we know it didn’t come into common use until after World War II. But suddenly there were new concerns about laundry. Stains became the new enemy – whether they be grass, blood, wine, or the dreaded “ring around the collar” featured in a long ago ad campaign for Wisk detergent. If you’d like to see one of the ads, click here.

As Jerry Seinfeld commented,
“Now they show you how detergents take out blood stains, a pretty violent image there. I think when you’ve got a T-shirt with a bloodstain all over it, maybe laundry isn’t your biggest problem. Maybe you should get rid of the body before yo do the wash.”

Great, yet another laundry day chore.

There are tips to make laundry a less daunting job. Here are a few of my favorites.

1. Don’t come home and throw your clothes in the laundry hamper. In researching this blog, I discovered many people don’t bother to wash their jeans at all. They put them in the freezer to freshen them up.

2. Don’t let stains set into the fabric. Treat them immediately. If you’re on a hot date and spill ketchup down your shirt, simply excuse yourself. Go to the rest room and wash your shirt in the sink. Wring it out, Put it back on and saunter back to the table as if you’re 007. Such a quick response proves you’re a person of action.

3. Stop accusing your innocent clothes dryer of eating your socks, and declare a sock bankruptcy. Buy a dozen pairs of identical socks. You’ll never be left without a match.

My point is, while your wash goes through the spin cycle, say a silent thank you to the nameless person who invented the first electric washing machine.

Acknowledgements:
Featured Image: Greek vase. 450-480 BCE. The Louvre, Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons

Whitson Gordon. “Ten Ways to Breeze Through Laundry Like a Boss.” March 30, 2013. Here. 

The post Make Laundry Day a Happy Day first appeared on Sandra Wagner-Wright.