Hand Laundry

The advertised washing machines have not materialized, and we cannot find a place for wash, dry & fold, so we are doing our laundry by hand. In so doing, it appears that we are simply acting local. Everybody does laundry by hand here, including the American teachers.

Sarah did not understand my emphasis on lightweight clothes, but now that she has washed and wrung out her jeans, she has seen the light, and wants to buy more pants. Light weight pants.

Directions: Put water in bath tub. Add detergent and bleach, if necessary. Sometimes the water has a slightly muddy appearance, but that can't be helped. Put color sorted clothes in water. Wash by rubbing the cloth together, working hard on stained areas. In the case of my son's socks, removing stains is a hopeless case, so I just rub until I get sick of it. They are at least somewhat improved through the process. Drain water from tub, squeeze water from clothes and then refill tub for rinse. Wringing the clothes well is key to having them dry in a reasonable period of time, particularly when there is high humidity, as here.

This morning I only had time to finish the white clothes, and I've laid aside the dark clothes for tomorrow. I'm trying to consider it this way: Instead of spending time in standing traffic, I'm spending time doing hand laundry, which is both good exercise and good thinking time.