|
|
Post by Di on Oct 20, 2012 20:58:30 GMT -5
If you keep up with your clothes, I suggest putting up another shower curtain rod over the center of your tub, wring the clothes out as best you can, then put them on PLASTIC hangers and hang them over the middle of the tub. If you have a portable fan, plug it in and aim it at the clothes with it set on high. I hang almost all my clothes to dry this way...even after washing them in a washer. And during the times when I hand washed it was a great way to dry them, and because they were hung fairly heavy with water, it pulled the wrinkles out, so I had very little ironing to do.
|
|
|
|
Post by ClutterBlind on Oct 20, 2012 23:17:03 GMT -5
Just an alternative to washing in the bathtub or at your mom's:
I have found ways to save at the laundromat. Since I pay for each load, it makes more sense for me to do two - three loads at once as I've found that I can fit all three loads into one larger, industrial size dryer without crowding, and dry it all for the same rate and amount of time as drying one load.
Also, I dry hang dry a lot of my clothes, too. I routinely pluck out all the ones I do not want to go in the dryer as they come out of the washer. It is actually the heat from the dryer that kills, fades, puckers & shrinks many clothes. This also saves a lot of money. There is no rule that just because something went into a washer that it has to end up in the dryer, too. Maybe save the thick, bulky clothes & towels that are the hardest to wash & wring out for the laundromat. Or for the few times you can tolerate your mom.
The times I do handwash items, and they aren't squeezed/rung out well, I let them lay along the edge of the sink for about 15 minutes, laying them upright as much as possible, so the water drips down to the bottoms. I squeeze out the excess water from the bottoms before hanging them.
Once they are hung, again I allow gravity to pull the water down. Give all the bottoms a squeeze every half hour for a couple hours or so, which really wrings out a lot of water. After a while, they dry more evenly.
And as Di said, the gravity & weight of the water pulls out wrinkles too.
|
|
|
|
Post by sunshineshouse on Oct 20, 2012 23:43:21 GMT -5
Once I have clothes that are past the drippy stage but still damp, I put them in my truck if the weather is sunny and warm. It helps to bake the last bit of dampness out of them. I lay them on a towel on the front seat or over the seats. The clothes may need turning or readjusting once or twice to get really dry. I do this when I have too many clothes that aren't drying fast enough (such as in the summer when the a.c. is going). I have also used the heat in the truck to dry things while I am running errands or even driving to work. I have no working washer or dryer either. I did have an outdoor clothesline, but gave up on that because of mosquitos. Lots of good ideas here - I learned a few new things  |
|
|
|
Post by dayeanu on Oct 21, 2012 1:08:14 GMT -5
In Carla Emory's Encyclopedia of Country Living, she recommended using a (new) toilet plunger to agitate your clothes when washing. I have tried this, and it definitely does work better than a stick, and easier on your back. You get a lot of agitation with a little effort.
About your clothes dryer - check to make sure your lint trap, slot the lint trap fits in, and the vent hose in the back are all clear and not clogged with lint. Lint-clogged airways in your dryer will make it not work very well, and can also cause the dryer to catch on fire. Make sure your dryer's airways are all clear.
|
|
|
|
Post by downandout on Oct 21, 2012 1:13:55 GMT -5
all you need for a clothesline is a sturdy rope and 2 things to tie it to! where i live im not allowed to have a clothesline in the yard so on my porch i tied one end of the rope to the top part of the one door (to the outside) and the other to the banister on the stairs and then i use hangers to put the clothes on the line. i also have a tall rotating fan out there. works great! sure its not real tall or anything and it slopes on one end but i solved that problem by putting knots in the rope so the hangers cant slide. when im not using this i untie the rope from the banister and just push the rope next to the door so no one would even know it was there unless they really really looked. |
|
|
|
Post by ellen on Oct 21, 2012 15:42:28 GMT -5
I wash out clothes by hand a lot, since I don't have a washing machine right now. I found out that I can take jeans and even though I can't wring them out very well (both of my hands are bad), I hang them up outside and they dry in about three hours anyway...but I do live in south Texas...so it is hot here. I would like to have a wringer but was surprised how expensive it is to buy a new one. I may take a close look at mop buckets.
|
|
|
|
Post by sparkle on Oct 21, 2012 15:56:16 GMT -5
I think the solution that Charis posted is brilliant. In case you missed it I'll post it again.
That you have to sit to make it work is right up my alley. I now need to keep an eye out for four of these buckets, three for hand wash and one for catching a very smart mouse.
|
|
|
|
Post by ClutterBlind on Oct 21, 2012 18:50:33 GMT -5
I think the solution that Charis posted is brilliant. In case you missed it I'll post it again. That you have to sit to make it work is right up my alley. I now need to keep an eye out for four of these buckets, three for hand wash and one for catching a very smart mouse. For the mouse, that is what the cat in the video is for.   That 3 bucket device is ingenious!  I think holes on the very bottom of the bottom bucket would also work, as the water goes directly down and there is no standing water left in the bucket. If one can't find empty buckets along the sides of the road, Home Depot and other hardware stores sell clean, empty ones. |
|
|
|
Post by Jannie on Oct 21, 2012 18:53:38 GMT -5
My Mom had four children in six years. To help with all the diapers (no disposables in those days) she bought a small portable table top washer. When I was first married, my cousin loaned me her portable clothes washer. It had two areas- a metal tub for the wash and subsequent rinse water, and a spinner. You filled it with a plastic hose and drained it into a sink or bathtub. Had to lift the clothes from the metal tub to the spinner. We used it for several years in various apartments. Sold it for $40 when we moved into our own home with a regular washer and dryer.
|
|
|
|
Post by Ally on Oct 31, 2012 17:15:05 GMT -5
This thread is very handy for me now. Thanks OOM for asking the question. My power has been restored, and my very old washing machine, which should be replaced... but we keep doing DIY repairs on, just had a major malfunction. It's a front-loader, and old one from before the time front-loaders became popular. I started a load and walked away to do other things. I heard some odd noises, but ignored them at first. The machine had over-filled to the point where the drum was completely filled with water and there was water coming out all over the place, and running across the floor and into the basement. (Oh, Joy! ) I turned the water off, and tryed to put it into a spin mode, but it really couldn't spin very well and the water wasn't being pumped out as it should be. Water is continuing to leak out. What a mess... You must remember my house is still squalorous. So now I have wet squalor and a machine full of sopping wet laundry. Yuck! But at least I have power. So now to get this house cleaned out enough that I can get all new appliances. Not that I can afford all new appliances at one time... but they are approaching the end of their useful lives. On to figure out what I can do with this laundry in the mean time. |
|
Blackswan
Banned
Joined: October 2008
Posts: 6,388
|
Post by Blackswan on Oct 31, 2012 17:28:49 GMT -5
Such cool ideas. I love the salad spinner even though it didn't work. We are so creative  . For me, I would step on all of them. I would get in the tub with them when they were washing and use my feet to agitate them and then let all the water out and keep using my feet to squish out water, pull the clothes back from the drain so the water could come out and keep on stomping them. It was very good leg exercise. For awhile I switched to entirely home washing everything for exercise. They sell clothes lines at walmart for about ten bucks or less, I believe. Maybe even as much as a dollar or two? Not sure I didn't pay attention to the price when I bought one. Anyway, I would always dry outside because I didn't want smelly drip drying stuff in the house. It helps if you can pin stuff to anything to keep it from flying away. use clothespins Sometimes when there was something that I couldn't really wring out, like a towel or jeans, I would just throw the ONE item into a trash bag and take it outside and flop it on something so it would dry. The sun would get it eventually. Also, my old roommate taught me a trick she used when camping. She would wash her clothes in trash bags. You would do a double bag, put your clothes in, put some water in, all this is done in the bathtub, and then you would just start flipping the bags around and they would agitate themselves. You could do this, and then when you had agitated them and let them soak a few times, you could untie the top of the bag and pour the water out slowly. Then you drag the bag outside and put the clothes out for drying. You would definitely want to use only a few items in this method. The bags can get heavy. Also for those of us home washers, it helps to do a little bit every day, an equal amount to the clothing and items used that day by all household members plus maybe two to three extra items. That way you are always lessening mount washmore. Eventually all you have to do is wash the items that were used that day. |
|
|
|
Post by Ally on Oct 31, 2012 17:56:09 GMT -5
Eagle suggested a salad spinner, which I have also heard may be effective. I just tried it and found that it works best with small, lightweight items. Like a thin tea-towel or smaller. I tried a thick terry towel not much bigger than a tea-towel, and it was useless for that.
I have my stuff hanging off the light fixture over my kitchen sink. I'll put it in the dryer later. I have a feeling that I will be frequenting the laundromat until we get this figured out at home.
|
|
|
|
Post by dayeanu on Oct 31, 2012 19:52:32 GMT -5
Oh, Ally, so sorry about the leaky washer mess! I really understand about flooded squalor, being one who turns on faucets, forgets, and floods the house on a somewhat regular basis. Hope you can get the washer replaced soon.
|
|
Blackswan
Banned
Joined: October 2008
Posts: 6,388
|
Post by Blackswan on Oct 31, 2012 21:15:12 GMT -5
Be careful for electrocution hazards! Maybe you just have them dangling on a hanger off the light fixture? Also we should always look out for fire hazards. I once had a house fire that smouldered the entire living area full of smoke from leaving a bag of laundry next to the heater. It wasn't to dry it but it was sitting there and it caught quick when the heater came on automatically. Also, how about hair dryers? You could probably hang some stuff up and hair dry it, if you were in a rush. I think I'm slightly off topic though. I used to dry stuff on my hot aquarium light when I was a kid but I wouldn't recommend it now. That would be things like wet papers. My mom sometimes will dry a dress of mine right in the closet or hanging on a hanger in the doorway but that's usually when something is already somewhat dry from the spin cycle on the washer. |
|
|
|
Post by joyinvirginia on Nov 1, 2012 0:00:28 GMT -5
When our power has been out for extended time, usually when there is hurricane, I used a bucket to wash a small amount of clothes, then would roll the garment in a towel our wetting out the garment, then hang it on plastic hanger to dry. I hang things on the shower rod until dry. And before I had a drying rack, I just hung things on the back of chaos.
|
|
