Laundry

In emergencies that last longer than a few days, you may need to do laundry by hand. Here’s how!

Pre Wash:  Before washing clothes, sort according to color and dirtiness.  Pre-treat problem spots.  Let clothes soak in soapy water at least 1 hour or overnight, if possible.  Wash whites first, using hot or warm water if possible, followed by colored, washing the dirtiest clothes last.  Wring clothes between washing and rinsing to help get out soap and dirt.

Washing and rinsing:  Here are a couple of methods for doing laundry by hand.  Please note that two good rinsings are needed to get the soap and dirt out as well.

Hand Washing:  You can wash laundry in a tub scrubbing, scrunching and swishing items around with your hands and against each other; using a floor scrubbing brush or washboard on clothes that are very dirty.  Use another tub or two for rinsing, or let the dirty water out, fill up again with clean water, swish laundry all about, let water out again, fill tub up with clean water again swish laundry about, then the clothes are clean and rinsed.

Hand-Held Agitator:  Use a 5-6 gallon bucket with a 2” hole cut in lid and a hand-held agitator i.e., a clean toilet plunger with rubber suction cup or a commercially made hand held agitator.  Just raise and lower the hand-held agitator.  Use another bucket or two for rinsing or empty dirty water out and fill with clean water for rinsing.

Washboard or Soft Brush:  Use these items for really dirty clothes (Lehmans.com). To use a washboard, rub the clothes back and forth like you were cleaning the washboard with the clothing.

Wringing and Drying: Wring items out to remove excess dirt, soap and/or water after washing and rinsing twice using one of the following methods:

• Twist and squeeze clothes.  Twisting around a stick may not be as hard on your hands.
• Use a mop bucket with a wringer to wash and wring out clothes.  Washboards sit in there well.
• Run clothing through a clothes ringer (windtrax.com, Lehmans.com, Ebay, 2^nd hand Store).  This is more expensive, but is much easier and works better than the other methods.

You can hang dry your laundry outside year round using a clothesline and clothespins or inside using drying racks.

More Laundry Helpful Hints:

• Water doesn’t have to be drinkable, only clean.
• Hand washing gets hard-to-clean clothes cleaner than any machine will.
• Linens and clothing used in caring for the sick should be bleached and/or boiled if possible.
• Set tubs or buckets on a bench to save bending over.
• Drying clothing in the sunshine will kill germs and parasites.
• Save rinse water for your next wash water.
• To save on the amount of laundering, wear clothes more often before washing.

Suggested Laundry Supplies To Have On Hand:

Tubs or buckets, hand-held agitator, heavy rubber gloves (to protect hands), clothes line, clothes pins, laundry soap, and washboard/brush.
 

How to make Laundry Soap

When washing laundry by hand, any laundry soap will do, but knowing that you will be pouring it out onto the ground, using soap that is eco-friendly is ideal.  Here are a few home-made laundry soap recipes that are very inexpensive, eco-friendly, and work great!  Ingredients are easily found at most grocery stores.

Homemade Dry Laundry Detergent

(1 tsp per load = 10 loads per week for 1 year)

1 cup Bar soap – grated into fine flakes (1/2 bar of Fels Naptha/Zote or 1 bar of Ivory)

1 cup 20 Mule Team Borax

1 cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda

(3 bars of Fels Naptha or Zote soap, 1 box of borax, and 1 box of washing soda will do 10 bucket loads of laundry per week for a year!)

Use 2-3 TBSP per load in your electric washing machine.
 

Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap (hard water version)

(1/2 – ¾ cup per load / 64 loads) 

6 cup Hot Water

½ bar Fels Naptha Soap, finely grated (can use Zote or Ivory) see above

¾ cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda

¾ cup 20 Mule Team Borax

2 gal. bucket w/ lid to mix in

4 cup Hot water

1 gal + 6 cup cold water

½ - 1 oz. essential oil (for fragrance) Optional

Mix grated soap in a sauce pan with 6 cup hot water and heat on low until dissolved.  Stir in Washing Soda and Borax.  Stir until thickened and remove from heat.  Put 4 cups hot water to bucket, add soap mixture and mix well, add in essential oil (opt)  Add cold water, stir.  Let sit for 24 hours and it will gel.  Store covered or in used liquid laundry soap bottles; keep labeled.  This is a low sudsing soap.

(1 box of washing soda, 2 boxes of borax, 9 bars soap will make a year’s supply of soap.)

Homemade Fabric Softener 

Small Batch                                                    Large Batch

2 cups water                                                   6 cups water

1 cup baking soda                                         3 cups baking soda

1 cup vinegar                                                  3 cups vinegar

2-3 tbsp hair conditioner                             ½ cup hair conditioner

Place baking soda in a large bowl and pour vinegar over it; while it is bubbling, pour cold water in and mix.  Once mixture is thoroughly combined add hair conditioner.  Store in a sealed container and shake well before using (the baking soda tends to settle on the bottom, so shake well before each use.)  Add ¼ cup of mixture to rinse water.  Use ½ to 2/3 cup if using in your electric washing machine.