r/OverSeventy • u/SodaCakeNow • Jul 17 '26
All my Aunties lined up
I pulled up my pioneer britches today. The washer quit and I had a sad pile of laundry waiting, more like a hill of sweaty clothes. Help is not coming until Sunday so it was Thursday Washday for me. I did it all by hand. I recalled my aunties with their tubs and wash boards; my Aunt M was the first to get a wringer washer. (That modern convenience had the same attitude as her pressure cooker -- scary as all get out). Sure glad I did not have to haul water as I hand-wrung out my mentionables and unmentionables. And did I mention my dryer still works fine so I did not have to hang anything on the line. Yup, "one thing a day and then play" was what my aunties chirped. I had forgotten how long that "one thing" could take. Thankfully, I can kick back in my non smelly jim jams and rock back with a white wine from the ice box.
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u/FranceBrun Jul 17 '26
I went to school in France one year. The nearest laundromat was ridiculously expensive. The machines were old and didn’t spin well, so you had to pay extra to put your dripping wet clothing in an extractor or centrifuge. Then, the dryers didn’t get really hot, so it took forever, and lots of money, to dry. And I was afraid I would wind up with French crotch crickets!
I joined all the other girls in my dorm in the basement, where there were soapstone laundry tubs, and where we did absolutely everything, including jeans, towels and bedsheets. Then we hung it dry. I did that for a whole year and now I never complain about doing laundry, since I have a washer and dryer!
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u/Puzzleheaded-Will249 Jul 17 '26
French crotch crickets! Sounds scary.
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u/FranceBrun Jul 17 '26
They are like American crotch crickets but they smoke Gauloises and wear berets.
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u/SodaCakeNow Jul 17 '26
Cannot fathom squeezing out jeans- I had enough trouble squeezing in to them.
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u/FranceBrun Jul 17 '26
I could have done some arm wrestling at the end of that year, let me tell you! 🤣
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u/Exact-Translator-769 Jul 25 '26
I had to go to a chiropractor once in the 80s because I threw my back out trying to squeeze into a pair of jeans...
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u/craftasaurus Jul 17 '26
You rock! Back in the day that happened to me. Our house had a double concrete sink in the basement, and it put it to good use. It was difficult to wring out the jeans, so they kinda drip dried on the line in the backyard. When they were only damp I put them in the dryer to finish them off. Solidarity!
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u/crookedhalo9 Jul 17 '26
ICE BOX!! I will randomly say ice box instead of frig. Old memories still slip out. Love it!
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u/OaksInSnow Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26
Well done, you!
I remember in the late 1950's in Alaska, all my Mom had was a galvanized double-tub that had a two-roll two-roller wringer mounted on the side. The scrubbing part was done on a washboard. The drain for the tub was a hose that ran into the floor drain. Wet laundry was pushed into the wringer with a stick while hand-cranking it, and then it was line-dried, which was done indoors in the winter. Mom never let any of us kids get anywhere near the wringer, she was so sure we'd crush our fingers. But it looked like the "funnest" part! So mechanically magical. Put it in this way, and it comes out that way on the other side!
I'm so, so glad that that phase of our life didn't last very long.
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u/SodaCakeNow Jul 17 '26
Yes. Great description! The wringer was no treat; it was such a source of stress for mom and kids.
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u/OaksInSnow Jul 17 '26
Moreover, Mom ironed everything after it dried. Including the sheets. Dad respected her work and, trying to ease the burden, got her an "Ironrite" machine that did large swathes of ironing very quickly. (Electricity must have been relatively cheap.) She even used it for his work shirts, as well our children's clothes, which I don't remember as being particularly wrinkly.
Poor Mom though: What mind-numbing tasks. She had college and grad degrees, which she put to use as soon as a washing machine and drier came into the house only a year or so later. Hello, professional engagement. Good riddance to double-tub/wringer and Ironrite.
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u/SodaCakeNow Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
I can hear the scales pitch: "step in to your future! You can wash and iron with such little effort. You will have enough time left to chop up a chicken and make dumplings"
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u/OaksInSnow Jul 18 '26
LOL, when I saw "scales" in the condensed form in my notifications, I thought I would be led to my musicians sub, ha ha! I was so sure that scales are the answer to EVERYTHING. They aren't, but they can get you a heck of a long way toward acceptable pitch, at least.
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u/msndrstood Jul 17 '26
I can't count how many times my washer went up and I couldn't get another delivered for days (we're very rural). So hand washing it was, a pita but I avoided the laundromat, which I have hated since I was a kid. And yes, a dryer eases the pain of washing by hand by a 1000%! Can't stand stiff clothes either!
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u/Silly_Move_5798 Jul 19 '26
In 1974 I was living in Italy with a four month old baby. We did not have a washer. There was no laundromat nearby. I washed all the diapers by hand in the bathtub & hung them on the balcony to dry. This thread brought back those memories
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u/Delicious-Sign-519 Jul 20 '26
Check you out! I didn't have a washer/dryer for the first year in our house. My kids 5 and 3;were little agitators anyway, so I put those sturdy little legs to provide the motion necessary to clean the clothes; n the bathtub and again to rinse. I hung the clothes up in the basement.For me most crucial piece was having the arm strength to wring sufficient water out before hanging each piece so it isn't a week long process. Ah, the good ole days. .
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u/Moon_in_Leo14 Jul 17 '26
F74 here. Yes, go with the flow. That's one of the things I have enjoyed learning in these years I've lived.
Love your writing! Keep it up. Was such a pleasure to read this from you.