Doing Off Grid Laundry

Our washing machine died so we decided to try out off grid ways to do laundry. We are quite pleased with what we came up with! It works!

Products:

Any products we mention or show on our videos have been purchased with our own money and are recommended or not based on our own experience.

[eatwhatukiii]

IMPORTANT TIP: if your old washing machine conks out, find parts or someone who repairs the old ones, because the new “smart” ones are CRAP.

[stevestewart]

One thing about people back in the "old days", we didn't wear something once, rip it off, throw it on the floor, and then in the washer. We wore our clothes to school or work, and if they weren't dirty (except for socks and underwear), we would hang them directly in the closet or put away until the next time we wore them. If they needed a little refreshing, we'd hang them up to steam in the bathroom or hang them on the clothesline to air. We changed into old clothes for play or working or sitting around as soon as we got home. Same thing with shoes. People were so tidy back then and took good care of their clothes and shoes. When I was growing up, the people I knew didn't take a bath or shower every day unless they really needed to; they scrubbed their dirty and dainty parts with washcloths in the sink and didn't waste water. My grandmother always used rainwater from a rain barrel to wash hair. She said it made our hair soft. It looks like the generations since mine will be learning these things all over again soon. No, we didn't suffer. Life was enjoyable back then.

[peggyannparkes]

During my early married years, we went without a washer for several months. We did all the laundry in the bathtub. (No dirty diapers, thank goodness.) My children were 3, 4, and 5 years old. I put the kids and the clothes in the tub with some warm water and soap and let them dance and splash around on the clothes for about 20 minutes. Then I drained out the tub and refilled it with warm water and let the kids play again. Drain the tub again and put the kids down for a nap, (which they were more than ready for) add more warm water and a little fabric softener. As they napped. I did the final rinse and wrung out the clothes by hand. After naps we went outside. The girls played in the yard and I hung out the clothes on the clothesline. On the days when the weather was bad, I hung it on wooden and metal racks in front of the woodstove. So, as you can see -- where there's a will, there's a way.

[JeanneKinland]

Grandma's recipe for washing dirty clothes. 1. Build a fire in the backyard to heat kettle of rain water. 2. Set tubs so smoke won't blow in your eyes if wind is pert. 3. Shave on whole cake soap into boiling water. 4. Sort things into 3 piles: white, colored, work britches and rags. 5. Stir flour into cold water to smooth then thin down with boiling water. 6. rub dirty spots on board. scrub hard. 7. Take white things out of kettle with a broom stick handle, then rench, blew and starch. 8. spread tea towel on grass. 9. hand tea towels on fence. 10., Pour rench water on flower bed. 11. Scrub porch with hot soapy water. 12. turn tubs upside down. 13. Go put on clean dress. smooth hair with side combs. Brew a cup of tea. set and rest and rock a spell and count your blessings. Just FYI this is information I found at a local museum that actually had a display for an old fashioned outdoor laundry station.

[saundramorris]

I have been without a washer and with 4 little ones, when I was a young mother. I have washed a many a load of laundry in the bathtub. Using my feet to “stomp” the clothes clean. Drain the tub, rinse them the same way and then hand wring everything out. Then hang them out to dry. It was the longest 2 weeks on my life. I’m grateful for my washer and dryer even more now as I’m much older with great grandchildren. Blessed beyond measure.

[NoMoreTears]

I live in an apartment so clothes lines outdoors are not possible. I have put up 2 additional shower rods over the tub. This gives me ample room to hang things and the dripping goes into the tub.

[annazimmerman]

Wow, this video is such a gem. Turning the death of a washing machine into a delightful education for all of us! And full of all your childhood memories 💛 thank you for sharing with us.

[robertbedell]

To conserve water in a grid down...one can use rinse water for the next load of wash. Also use natural Castell soap and only rinse once if at all. Same with dish washing. Living in a primitive setting and carrying water, we used rinse water for washing hands and pits and other bits in-between showers.

[GamerXenith]

If you're very poor or don't have access to online, you can use a new plunger with several holes drilled through the rubber to allow water to pass through as an agitator, as well. I was using that in a 5-gallon bucket (small sink) when I was in a bad place financially. (The one she uses in the video is ideal as it's made for laundry, though!)

You can also use 3 of the 5-gallon buckets for straining. Drill a bunch of holes in the middle one for draining and put the wet clothes in it, then use the third bucket to push down (or just sit in it to apply pressure like I did 😂). It's tough work, but it got the job done and it was better than hand wringing.

[niteal]

If a real grid down situation ; save all gray water to flush the toilet, mop the floor, water outdoor plants.

[christinemarie]

Remember growing up, we where poor. Everyday I would say good by to my mom and go to school and she was doing wash by hand in our kitchen sink. And I would come home and everything would be hanging on the clothes line. When it was to cold to be outside she would hang them in the basement. It would take 2 days to dry.

But I remember seeing her ring out the clothes but had. I did not understand at the time how hard it was for her to do it, I feel bad that she did all that for us everyday and never complain just asking that we would change our clothes all the time.

I remember she would wash everything from clothes to blankets by hand! she amazing women! I had to do wash myself that way for a few times over the past few years. Depending on my life has planned.

I know where I got my hard working style from my mom. Thank you mom!

[bria]

Came back to mention the 3-bucket "wring" method. Stacking order of the three buckets and their individual design: Bottom bucket has two to four 1/2 inch holes drilled, spaced out on the side of the bucket, right above the bottom, to drain the water. Middle bucket has many small 1/4" holes in the bottom, keep the holes about 1 inch away from each other. The middle bucket is where you place the clothing to be "wrung" out. Top bucket (no holes) with a lid (you could put a round piece of wood on top), goes on top of the middle bucket - and you sit on it. Really! * Your weight pushes the water out of the clothing in the middle bucket, into the bottom bucket and it will drain out on the ground (or in the bathtub, if you are try to save water. Then, the clothes will be ready to be hung up to dry. Brilliant in its simplicity, it works, and stores easily. Having worn skin off of my hand wringing clothes out, in the past, I will be making one of these today, in case of emergencies.

[northwoodsprovider]

Oh my goodness, does that bring back memories! I am nearly 70 and would help my grandmother in doing the laundry in the same way. Old wringer washer that would take your arm off, hanging out clothes no matter the weather, just work work work at such a young age. But I am better for it and I don’t think the younger people nowadays realize what they are missing. Yes, it was difficult work but it was an incredible blessing, though I didn’t think so when I was seven. We live in a rural area that is quite cold and we try to keep dedicated water aside for laundry or doing dishes should the well pump go out. We’ve already lost power more than three times this year, and had to rely on those common sense preps. I am nearly 70 and taught at the University level as well, and I seriously lament how much the younger generation is missing. Thank you for your video. (we had dirt floors and rats in the basement when we were kids.)

[susananderson]

And I mumble to myself every time I have to walk down to the basement to do my one load or two per week . I'll think twice about complaining next laundry day. I have a greater appreciation for what our fire mothers had to do to take care of their families.

[aubrey]

Oh, my God, I am totally blind, and even though I sort of kinda got the idea of what a ringer was, you explained it in such a very clear manner I know it now makes perfect sense of how this laundry ringer works. Thank you so much for the description

[marthasundquist]

For folks with larger families... the bathtub foot stomp works or like military folks put clothes in the shower when they shower, and smoosh them around when they clean themselves and again when they rise themselves...being sure to see see the water running out from the clothes runs soap free

[meryldykstra]

This video brought back memories. In my early years for a time I was a home health aide. One of my clients was a woman in her nineties who regaled me with tales of the weekly 'laundry days' of her youth (probably in the teens or 20's of the last century). It sounded unbelievably exhausting, as it involved boiling clothes in copper kettles. Funnily, as a youngish woman myself in the early 1980s my husband and I lived on the top floor of a 19th century rowhouse in DC, with no washer or drier, and the nearest laundromat a good 10 blocks or more away. For at least a year I washed everything (and I mean EVERYTHING!--sheets, towels, the Works!) By hand in an old claw-foot bathtub, and dried them over our staircase railing. One day one of my husband's coworkers visited and asked "Oh, are you painting?" because of the draped sheets. I remember my embarassment to this day! And I am now grateful daily for the life changing convenience--especially for women--of automatic washers and dryers. Thanks for these memories!. 💞

[brandilowe]

the mop wringer idea addition...brilliant hack

[kidwellmegan]

I really appreciate getting a visual lesson on these things. I'm less intimidated with the ideas of doing things differently than my current routines. ❤

[delaineb]

I had four children under 7 years old and we had a terrible ice storm and no electricity for two weeks for the majority of our city (kind of like what Texas went through last year!). I remember as if it were yesterday. My baby was 5 months old, and it was in March, and all I had was cloth diapers. My husband left me before the youngest was born, and I had very little money, , so disposable wasn't an option. So, I washed and rinsed his diapers by hand in the bathtub! Then I wrung them out by hand, and hung them on the clothes line. I had bleach, and it wrecked havock on my hands, but my baby's bottom stayed clean and his diapers sanitized, and thanks be to God that the rest of the kids were potty trained!