Laundry day today

Its just odd to think about it being over 60 degrees in March in Michigan. But its even more odd to think about the fact that I was bit by mosquitos while washing clothes today. Mosquitos in March. Crazy.
Anyway, I pulled the good ol' Speed Queen out of the "laundry room" and out onto the patio and take advantage of the fair weather to get a few loads of laundry done. While I am getting set up, I happen to notice that the cord on the washer is getting a little dry-rotted and needs to be replaced. I had to call three repair shops before I found one that said they could do it. I think everyone was thinking that I was playing a joke on them when I told them it was a wringer washer. But one of the Maytag repair shops said I could bring it in and they would replace it for me, which is good because I know that cord isn't going to last much longer. They may even be able to put a longer cord on it too so I don't have to plug it into an extension cord anymore. Yippee!
I have to admit there is something fun about actually "doing laundry". So I have decided to write a little how-to guide for using a wringer washer for anyone feeling brave enough to try it. I personally think its greener. The SQ uses less energy, (because it plugs into a 110 outlet and has less of a draw) less water (because it doesn't drain if you don't want it to, so you can reuse water that isn't too dirty) and doesn't have to drain into the sewer or septic if you use a bio degradable soap (so you can water plants with the water when your done).

1.  Fill the tub with hot or cold water, depending on if your washing whites or colors, and add soap.
     I use a bio degradable soap so I can use the 'gray water' in the garden when I empty the washer

2.  Its a good idea if you have young kids, to start with their clothes first. The idea being their clothes might not be as dirty as your own, allowing you to reuse the water to wash your clothes, thus saving water. Set the timer and wait.

3.  Now comes the fun part. Wringing out the clothes. Most wringers can feed in both directions. So if you set up your rinse tub on the wringer side of the washer, you can have the water feed back into either the washer or the tub. My wringer is on the right, so I set the tub on the right, and set the rollers to feed form left to right. A little metal flap closes off the right side under the rollers and all the water wrung from the clothes is diverted back into the washer.

4.   Rinse out the article of clothing in the rinse tub. You can do this a few ways. Push the clothes in and out of the water with your hands or you can get a wash plunger, they look like a metal cone with holes in it on a stick. If you use the wash plunger it acts as an agitator, helping to rinse the clothes easier without getting your hands wet, so to speak.

5. Wring out the clothes again. Set the rollers to feed from right to left and when you feed the clothes through, the water will dump back into the rinse tub. If you are lucky enough to have found a double rinse tub, then you would repeat the rinse and wring step one more time. If you find that that your clothes are a little stiff after they dry, then a second rinse might be a good idea.

6.  Now you are ready to hang your clothes on the line to dry. Open the valve on the washer hose to drain out the water. Take the agitator out of the washer to expose the lint trap and clean that out. Then you can rinse out the washer with clean water and replace agitator and your ready for the next time you use it.

Heres a few quick tips about the wringers. Anything that has snaps on it, like baby t-shirts or pj's, put through the wringer un-snapped. If they go through while done up, the wringer will smush the snaps and they will never stay snapped again. Although clothes with buttons should be done up and put through with part of the clothing folded over the buttons so the wringer won't break or pop the buttons off. Last but not least. Should anything ever get stuck in the wringer, hitting the front of the wringer will engage the emergency release and stop the rollers. My MIL says she remembers her grandmother saying "don't get you tit caught in the wringer". LOL. Well I guess they didn't call  them manglers for nothing.

You can still buy everything I talked about today brand new from Lehman's including the Speed Queen, or just keep you eyes open at garage sales. I picked up mine for $20.00 but I've seen them go for as much as $200. Still not too bad when you consider a new one would set you back an easy $900+.