… and easily trade cost and environmental impact, for time!
“Do laundry”… what does that mean to most of us? It means carting a large pile of clothes in a bin or basket to one’s home washer and dryer, or if you’re one of the many unfortunate bunch like me, you cart it to a nearby laundromat’s washer and dryer. I’ve only “done laundry” once since moving into my new apartment, and as I don’t own a car–you guessed it–I packed my clothes into a massive backpack and pedaled it across my neighborhood to the laundromat, swaying all the way. Obviously not an impossible scenario, but surely an uncomfortable one!
But as with so many other things about living a modern American lifestyle, my conscience shouts louder and louder each time I subscribe to certain activities that I know to be environmentally harmful. The toxic chemicals in many common soaps aside, purely the use of electricity (when knowingly powered by coal plants, as is true for my region) is a harmful act. I don’t like living with the idea that I must contribute to environmental devastation each time I want to wear fresh-smelling, tidy clothing! Not washing clothes at all, ever (as many of my “crust-punk” friends do) is not a reasonable option for most of us.
The clock was ticking. I had only an hour or two to make my decision, before I had to leave for work.
Today was the periodically dreaded day when my laundry bin reached critical mass, and I realized I needed to do laundry.
Do I take it to a laundromat, dump it into appliances, and read a book while my clothes become easy-breezy clean? The consequences of that are: energy use, travel energy, and cost! Washing and drying clothes at a laundromat can cost up to $5 a load!
But what if we could re-invent our notion of what “doing laundry” means? Forget “high-efficiency” washer and dryer appliances that, while an improvement in terms of water and energy use, still perpetuate widespread and probably-ultimately unsustainable practices. Where can the energy–and water–come from that would be sustainably sourced?
Your hands. And your sink. (And for clothes-drying? The air.)
It’s such a simple solution that I might almost have missed it!
Em-bed-ded journalism
My first attempt at handwashing clothes gave me mixed results. First and 
foremost, I felt good about my choice. (After all, that is the main reason we decide to do anything!) It felt good to do it myself and learn a new skill meanwhile. Using my hands to knead and wring the clothes definitely gave me an unexpected work-out!
Summarizing the instructions from this excellent VideoJug clip, I let my clothes soak in a soapy solution for a few minutes (I was sure to use a gentle, biodegradeable detergent that would not harm aquatic life in my region’s waterways). Then I kneaded them all together, and proceeded to rinse each item one by one under the faucet.
My strategy didn’t work out so well for all items, unfortunately. It was hard to discern when the item was truly flushed of detergent. Socks and underwear–these were easy to rinse thoroughly. My bath towel was another story.
First of all, the towel soaked up all the water in the sink as soon as I put it in! (This is a seemingly obvious result, but I’m not too bright sometimes!) The towel then became so heavy as to be almost unmanageable. I rinsed and rinsed and rinsed it, but because the material was so thick and so absorbent, I wasn’t sure if I had rinsed it clean of all soap. Upon drying it… I clearly did not. It was stiff and starchy, smelled like detergent, and was very unpleasant to dry off with. Boo!
The other point, that must not be over-looked, is time-consumption. Most of us accustomed to washers and driers expect our clothes to transform from dirty to clean in an hour and a half, at most. Using the hand washing method, air-drying clothes may take two days before the items are fully dried. (Yikes!) Plus, during the time you’re washing your clothes, you can’t go and read a book or do something else, like you can using a washer… you are literally busy washing your clothes!
My advice to the new home washer is: socks, underwear and delicates are great things to wash in your sink. You’ll enjoy all the environmental benefits of handwashing clothes, plus that extra work-out! They may even come out better than they would from your washing/drying machines.
Big, heavy fabrics–like jeans and towels–should probably not be washed in just your sink. You need more space and an adequate agitator to wash these things fully.
We are all part of a learning, green community. Please share your advice for handwashing clothes–especially with respect to the environment–below!
photo credit: public domain (Wikimedia Commons); Ashley Anne at Life Tonic
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
And how much water did you use to rinse the soap out of your clothes while hand washing them? I’m sorry, but there are plenty of energy efficient, water saving, washing machines on the market.
And as for air drying, this is fine if you have sufficient space inside to set up drying racks, but your towels and comforters or blankets will take forever to dry (unless you have an outdoor clothesline). Sometimes, you just have to make trade-offs when you are striving to be more “green”.
Bravo for giving it a shot!
I haven’t tried this yet myself, but I’ve read several times that using the bathtub to do bigger items is a better bet – and using a clean plunger to agitate is much easier and better at getting things scrubbed up and cleaned of the soap.
Another thing to consider if you decide to do this consistently is to invest in a) a scrubbing board (yes, a la the old washtub scrubbers – they still make them!) and/or a wringer washer. Try Lehman’s for both. I’ve heard they still offer them. The wringer washer might be a bit of a big ticket item, but in the end it could be well worth it. If the power goes out, you’ll be the only one on the block with clean clothes.
Good point, Melonie… and thanks for the suggestions!
There is actually only one washboard manufacturer left in the USA.
I live alone in a very small cottage. I have been washing by hand for years & am fortunate enough to have 2 clothes lines outdoors. I have managed to cut down going to my laundromat to about once a month. I change my bed linens once a week. I wait until I have 4 sets of linen & 4 sets if towels in my hamper. Prior to this, I wash all my lingerie, shirts, washable pants, sweaters, etc by hand. I do not wash sweatshirts, sweatpants, etc that I wear when I come home from work but they are added to my laundromat hamper. Everything else, including dishtowels, I wash by hand. Dishtowels are treated to boiling water as are my sponges. When I know the weather will be good, I hang my down comforter & my down pillows on the clothesline & love the way they smell when I go to bed. Even if you have a washer/dryer, I would suggest hanging pillows & comforters outside. You will love the fresh air scent when you go to bed. Most of my clothes have this scent as well.
I’ve been reading your articles since this past summer when you were living in the tent. I started my own sustainable living project this past may, a permaculture homestead. Not entirely off grid but getting there. I use 1 to 2 kWh of electricity a day and about 4-5 gallons of water per day. 90% of my waste is composted or recycled and human waste is composted for use on fruit trees after two years. But, the point of the comment here is that you may want to look into the wonder washer, http://www.laundry-alternative.com/products/Wonderwash.html I don’t have one yet but will be ordering one next week. Uses no electricity and will wash small loads via a hand crank/tumble action that is sealed tight and creates high pressure thus forcing water and soap into and through the fabric. Looks like an ideal solution for those of us that want to wash manually.
Thanks for the great articles.!
I have to agree with the first person who suggested you might be using more water by doing this. Yes, you are using a more Earth friendly soap but I can buy biodegradable laundry soap that works quite well in my front loading high efficiency washer. It works so well that by the time the clothes come out it takes only about 20 minutes in the dryer for them to be dry. Of course, I usually hang them on the clothesline outside, which gets them dry in only a few hours instead of a few days.
Many studies have been done on dishwashers and concluded that washing dishes by hand is less efficient than using a dishwasher. I am guessing the same might be true for washing clothes.
I have been handwashing all my clothes for a couple months now and have a system that has been working out pretty darn good I believe. First I observed my washing machine and took notes on exactly what it did to the clothes and couldn’t see any reason why I could not do at least as good of a job with no electricity and a useful workout to boot. All the thing does is fill with water, swish for 3 minutes, drain, fill, swish again and then spin. So anyway, then I got two of those big blue storage bins and fit them into my bathtub and ordered a plunger/washer thing from Lehmans. The water for the days laundry comes from my 9 year old standing in one of the blue tubs for his shower (which might sound gross to some, but hey its not like he works in a coal mine or meat packing plant or something), then in goes the eco-friendly laundry soap and clothes, then I spend 3 minutes swishing them with my washer thing, then I prop a laundry basket over the tub and put the wet clothes in to drain, then they get put in the next tub with clean water to rinse and same thing, 3 minute swish and then drain -then I wring them out a little more by hand if necessary (I don’t have a wringer yet). Then, since its cold out now, they get hung on a drying rack placed over a heating vent in the kitchen. The water from the laundry is then used throughout the day for flushing the toilet -I turned off the water to the toilet and we just pour in a bucket of water to flush. I know this cannot possibly use more water than a machine because it is recycled where the machine cannot. I think those studies that tout how much water the dishwasher, washing machine save must be funded by the companies selling the machine -I also hand wash the dishes, one wash tub one rinse tub and then the water goes to the garden -2 gallons, and our dishwasher uses 13!
I know this is kinda long -I just think my system is working out very nicely! The clothes of course take longer to dry, but I cut our electric bill by about a third by just not using the dryer anymore. I have yet to see the new water bill, but its got to make a difference!
Another thing I have found is that if you shake the laundry after it is dry it will soften up A Lot! My three year old and I have fun doing this together!
I am mom of six children and my husband and children and I homestead. We started hand washing all of our laundry last fall. It has gone very well. We all work on it together in various ways, the clothes are much cleaner, the children are gaining in skills, strength and independent thinking and we use less electricity. We also feel connected to more people in the world as most people don’t, in fact, use machines to wash their clothes. We have a series of blog posts and videos showing how exactly we wash our laundry and how this new level of green simplicity has affected our family, in case they might be helpful to anyone here. We really like hand washing our laundry and it has become a part of family life here. Thank you for your post.
I personally do all of my laundry by hand. I’ve found my bathtub makes an excellent place to wash clothes – including towels and jeans. I found a Lehman’s glass washboard at a flea market and a vintage clothes wringer on eBay, both work wonders and are USA-made. I fill my tub with hot water and eco-friendly laundry soap along with a few drops of essential oil and use a mop handle to agitate it, and use the washboard. Sometimes I even get in and use my (clean) feet to stomp and swish it all up. It’s a fantastic workout! I drain the tub, fill it with clean water and again agitate it all to work out the soap. I drain the tub again and stomp on the clothing to squish as much water as I can out, and then I use my vintage clothes wringer which is awesome at getting more water out than the spin cycle in the washing machine. Finally it’s out to the line to dry – I live in an apartment with a small gravel area of my own, so I picked up a USA-made clothing line and pulley system at Home Depot and rigged it to go from a hook in my windowpane out to a hook on a tree. It works wonders! I hang my laundry out as early in the day as possible so I get the most sun, and sometimes I even wash it the night before and put it on two collapsible drying wracks I found at a thrift store (again USA-made! yay!) overnight to speed up drying. This is especially important for towels – I put them on a drying wrack standing in the bathtub overnight so they’ll lose a lot of the water they’ve soaked up and then they’re much lighter for line drying the next day.
It’s completely doable, and it works as an exercise routine
I think hand washing is appropriate for some clothes such as delicates, tops, certain skirts, and trousers. Towels and blankets etc are too hard. I’ve never had to use a dryer, and air drying is the best option for me as the clothes feel nicer, fresher, and also less likely that something will happen to them. I also think that another important point is wear and tear. My clothes have lasted a very long time because I have hand washed them whenever I could. As consumers we can save money on buying new clothes by simply hand washing them, and also placing clothes on the rack after wearing them only once, airing them out and wearing them again is a better option than washing after wearing something only once.
A drying rack permanently set up in a convenient place is also a good idea, as clothes are more accessible. It’s all about organisation.
Also hand washing is a skill that brings us closer to the nature of work, and it is also therapeutic, not to mention great exercise. Our children can also learn this valuable life skill and it is also good for them to do.
Happy washing!
Hi all,
Someone has asked to answer the question ‘Is it Best to Wash my Clothes at 30 or 40 Degrees?’ on my blog, but I am not sure of the answer. You can see his question in full at http://www.ecobloke.co.uk/2010/01/is-it-best-to-wash-my-clothes-at-30-or-40-degrees-which-releases-less-carbon/
Any ideas? Any help would be wonderful
Yes, this is a very good plan towards a green environment. In fact if people started hand washing their clothes it would not only save time, energy and money but the condition and quality of your clothes would also not be affected. I also suggest drying them out in the sun rather than using dryers, another step towards the ‘go green’ slogan. You can easily find portable clotheslines and racks to dry your clothes in the sun.
Check out these guys – http://www.breezedryer.com