I have many happy memories associated with helping mom with the laundry. I was the one who "guided" the clothes out of the wringer so they wouldn't wrap around again and jam the rolls. I loved it that I could be an actual help to her on laundry day. I remember when dad bought mom the automatic washer....not the dryer, just the washer cause mom loved the smell of clothes line-dried outside. She was very fussy about her laundry and didn't quite trust the new machine; she wasn't certain that it would get the clothes clean. She was pleasantly surprised.
Mom always pre-soaked my dad's white socks and they were blindingly white. She always used Fels-Naptha soap on the collars (no ring around the collar here) or any other areas that needed some extra attention. Even after she started using the automatic washer she did all that pre-treatment. Now me, I'm not into any more work than is necessary. I will pre-treat spots and if something is really dirty, I will pre-soak it but usually I just wash them as I regularly would and I have nice clean laundry. Maybe mom did all that extra work unnecessarily. But I'll tell you, when someone would compliment her on her whites, she would beam.....so the extra work involved brought her great joy.
Now Kenmore has been around for years and years. That old wringer washer probably is still working somewhere. Because of my parents' luck, I stuck to the same name brand and haven't been disappointed so far. I may hate to iron, but I love to do laundry. Call me weird, but I have stood, leaning on my elbows, and watched the clothes agitate in the washer for several minutes at a time; it has a calming effect on me plus I love the smell of soap. Pictured below is my set.
9 comments:
Ha ha. your story reminds me of a story my grandmother told me, of the memorable laundry day when her brother put turpentine on the dog's tail. The dog's jumped from one tub to another trying to get the turpentine off. My mom managed to get her hand caught in the wringer and in her panic forgot to use the "release" mechanism.
I prefer laundry to any other chore. I too love the smell of soap and I still use a clothesline and nothing beats that fresh smell!
Glad I happened upon this today in my A-Z rounds!
My mother is a laundry fanatic. She always had the automatic washer and used a dryer although most of our clothes were hung on the clothesline too. Oh, and she used Kenmore only and that is all I have ever used too. I don't pre-soak clothes nearly as much as she does AND she counts the amount of clothes she places in the washer because she refuses to overload it. Therefore, she does laundry twice a week (that is just clothes) for her and my dad. Then, she does towels twice a week, and sheets another day. Yep, she is washing everyday of the week for the two of them,unbelievable,right? I love her but she clearly is a little nutty with the laundry,don't you think? But at 82 I am not gonna change her or argue with her either (well,maybe I argue with her a tad LOL)
Lucy from Lucy's Reality
Well, I started to write, "You won't believe this," but of course you will. I've always chosen Kenmore, too, and my washer appears to be identical to yours. The placement of knobs on my dryer is slightly different, though. I remember now that I couldn't get the dryer in the matching model because of space requirements.
I remember the new-fangled wringer washing machine well. One sat on our back porch. I don't guess it was fun for Mom, but I thought it was.
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we had a ringer washing machine was I was a little girl in San Francisco. I remember my mom telling me to keep my hands away but one time I got my fingers in the rollers. Ouch! I used to sit by my mom and watch her. Nice post. Brought back memories. Hey we can't be THAT old can we????
Growing up the laundry was hung outside all year. I can remember wrestling the frozen sheets through the porch door.
Now I use the dryer during bad weather.
Unfortunately, my washer is now having some problems. I shopped around a little to see what is now available and can't find any machine I like.
They no longer let you chose your own water depth or a warm or hot rinse. Others have mentioned the same problem...particularly a few quilters and some people who work in animal rescue and need these choices.
My mother not only used Fels-Naptha on the laundry, but on us when we got into poison ivy!
Wow, you brought back some memories with this one. My mom had a wringer washer and of course the requisite two rinse tubs when I was growing up. She kept the washer long after she got her automatic one, she said it was better for some things like blankets, and she liked that she could soak a load in it easily. We used the rinse tubs for pet bathing in later years. :-) My mom too hung clothes on the line when we were young, I remember how good those air-dried sheet smelled! And in the winter she dried things on lines strung in the basement and it took much longer. Women took more pride in their laundry back then, I guess I've retained that from my mom, I hate dingy socks!
I do remember how wringer washer! Was renting a flat up in Darwin way back when I was in my early to mid twenties. They had one of these and I just HATED it as everytime I tried to wind my sheets through they would start winding around the top part and hitting the lever to stop it wouldn't work so by the time I did get it to stop I had one big mess and would take me ages to unwind it as it was wound around so tight.
and put rubber diapers through that wringer diapers and explodes and I ruined a couple of shirts
And you had the clothes you déjas caught in the wringer? or ruined a couple of shirts?
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