Washing laundry in a wringer washer outdoors.

This is what my laundry room looks like when I am not using it. I pull the wagon with the two big tubs over by the washer on the right. Then I turn on the water faucet and begin to fill the washer. I use the recommended amount of laundry soap on the bottle. After I turn on the agitator and get the bubbles going I begin adding clothes. I add clothes a piece or two at a time and water to the top. The clothes must not only agitate but they must move to the middle of the washer, on down and around the outside and back up in order for the machine to be working and washing the clothes properly. After I get the first load of clothes going I fill my two rinse tubs. The first tub has a splash of white vinegar to cut any soap left in the clothes. The second tub has a splash of fabric softener. If I am washing towels I skip this rinse so my towels remain absorbent. If I were washing cloth diapers I would skip this step as well and just rinse the second time with plain water. After the clothes have agitated about 15 min. I go inside and do some work in there while the clothes soak in the washer. After while I go back outside and begin running the clothes through the wringer for the first time of the day. I hang on to the clothes as they pass through the wringer so they don't fall onto the ground and get dirty again. As soon as I have all the clothes from the first load into the first rinse I add a tad more soap and then the next load of clothes so they can be agitating while I am doing the wringing and rinsing of the first load. After I have wrung the clothes out the first time I then put them into the first tub. Remember this tub has a splash of vinegar. I use my wonder washer/breathing washer to agitate the clothes a few times in the first rinse. I do this for maybe 3-5 minutes. I grab a piece of clothing from the first rinse and squeeze it out a bit. Then I run the garment through the wringer. This is the second time the garment will go through the wringer. After I wring the item out I place it into my second tub which has a splash of fabric softener in it. I move my wonder washer/breathing washer to the second tub and agitate the clothes there for a few minutes. Just plunge up and down a few times. Its really easy. Now for the third and final run through the wringer. With big bulky items like jeans I lay them on the washer to situate them. Some of the old wringers would break buttons and zippers. Mine must be newer because the rollers in the wringer move apart when a bulky item is run through. If your machine is not like mine and will snap or break buttons and zippers its a good idea to fold the buttons or zippers to the inside of some of the fabric. Run the clothes thought the wringer for the final time. Hang on the line to dry. I hang the jeans like this because I read that if you hang wet jeans upside down like this that the weight of the jean/water will sort of iron the jeans and they wont be wrinkly. It works. The first load is on the line. As you can see I wash in small loads because that is all my machine will handle. In this load was a pair of jeans, a pair of denim shorts, a pair of denim Capri's, a pair of mens under drawers and two t-shirts.

• I have read some places where people say this is a hard way and time consuming way to wash clothes. I don't think it is hard and really I don't think I spend much more time doing the wash this way then I would running to a laundry mat. Plus the savings for me are considerable. Add in the fact that public laundry mats gross me out. I always sit on the edge of my seat and try not the think about how the people who have used the machines before I do live their lives and what weird things they do with their clothes. I know I am weird and silly but that is how I am.


• The best part about doing my wash this way is that I can be watering the garden while I am washing clothes. I also use the water twice. Well really many more times than twice, I wash 2-3 loads with the same water, just adding a bit more soap for each load. After I am done with the wash and rinse water I use it to water the garden or shrubs.

• I don't have to pay for the water here in this rv park but that is no reason to waste it. I asked Jeff to change out the cap on the dump drain so we can be using the gray water from showers and dishes to be watering the garden and shrubs as well. This is a tiny bit harder than the way we do it now because when we need to flush/dump the black water we will have to change the caps and then change them back. But with the water situation the way it is I think its a small thing that I can do for God's world.