Old School Laundry

Last Updated on April 13, 2016 by lydiaf1963

Is there anything more mundane and humble than the act of doing laundry?

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Sort, wash, dry, fold, put away…repeat.

Not to mention the hand washing of delicates…

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Can you imagine using one of these?

Or these?

How about this one…you can get your exercise at the same time. Note she’s also knitting… I think she may be my hero…

Our washer is a front loader which holds a decent sized load. In our little apartment it’s located in the kitchen next to the sink. The cycles are extremely long, and Rick is skeptical that the clothes really get clean with the seemingly low volume of water used. Despite his worries, it works fine and just needs to have the gaskets wiped down on a regular basis to help prevent a funky odor. It also helps to use the hottest setting we can when we run a load of whites.

In the Summer the hot sun dries the clothes quickly. In the Winter it can take two or more days for the clothes to dry– longer if it is rainy. All of that means even though there’s only two of us we have to keep up with the wash.

Here in Spain we don’t have a dryer, and we don’t know anyone who does. I do have three lines for hanging and two clothes racks (called tendederos). We’re lucky to have a spare bedroom. It becomes the defacto laundry room when needed. My mother didn’t have a dryer until after I moved into my own home. She had clothes lines in the basement for cold and rainy days and always seemed to have a pile of ironing to do. Now I understand why!

Everyone has their own way of sorting. My categories are whites, darks, underwear and linens. We manage to accumulate a load of one or another most days of the week. After washing, it’s either hung out on the line or on one of the racks. The stuff that’s dried gets ironed if needed or folded and put away. The limited hanging space has to be managed so we’re not able to save it all for a marathon session of clothes washing although, as was the case with my mother, the ironing seems to get backed up regularly… We set the ironing board up in front of the TV and put something on Netflix. Good thing Rick likes to iron, because most of his clothes are cotton or some wrinkly blend.

Your situation is probably different, but I’m sure you have your own laundry challenges. Perhaps a houseful of boys? Or maybe a baby? Tell me about it in the comments!