Momma always had a schedule. Because she worked she did everything connected with the house on Saturday.
Saturday was wash day. We lived in an apartment complex. In the basement there was room for you to store your washer which would be a wringer washer. There were six deep sinks where you could soak clothes in bleach or starch and rinse water. The rest of the basement was devoted to clotheslines. At that time, this setup was pretty upscale as far as apartment living went.
Saturday, Mom got up early and started washing clothes. She usually had 2 or 3 loads and it took all morning. The whites were always bleached so that tub was filled. The colored clothes had to be sorted so the really dark colors would not fade onto the others. There was a tub for hand washable items. As the clothes were added to the washer, Mom would start each cycle manually. The washer held the soapy water and agitated the clothes. When the clothes were sufficiently washed, she removed them from the washer by running them through the wringer mechanism and let them fall into the tub filled with rinse water. When they were sufficiently rinsed, the wringer was turned so she could run the rinsed clothes through it and put them in the basket. They went from the basket to the clotheslines if they were not starched.
It was a labor intensive task and took up most of the morning. The phrase, "You will wear that tomorrow." was not uncommon. You simply did not waste clean clothes. You did not change clothes several times a day either.
While she was washing clothes, the kids were dusting the furniture, cleaning their rooms and, in general, doing something or being quiet. After hanging up the clothes, Mom would do the heavy cleaning like mopping the floors, cleaning the bathroom, washing windows and any number of things she thought needed doing. She ironed Saturday night all the clothes that were washed on Saturday morning.
This was done every week. Every spring and every fall, the clothes were changed. In the spring, winter clothes were put away in storage with mothballs and summer clothes were brought out. In the fall it was reversed. She was able to fit a family of four's seasonal clothing into a small trunk and it was stored in the basement. It was locked and no one bothered it.
So what happened to me? I was right there with her and saw how well her schedule worked. A schedule is something that escapes me when it comes to cleaning. But it does work so much better when I do. My attempt at scheduling cleaning time lasts about 2 weeks and six months later, I remember I forgot.
But, hey! Life goes on anyway!
Did you ever get anything caught in a wringer?
ReplyDeleteI remember everything, but especially from the wringer washer like it was yesterday when I was a student I did my laundry, and two white blouse that I had to buy myself have remained caught in the wringer and came out every tear and full of fat black and my mother when she was doing the washing, was putting himself in the sacred cause of clothes caught in the wringer, after the engine caught fire, and my father replaced it and start over.
Mom occasionally got something caught in the wringer, particularly if too much went through and it just kept getting wrapped around the wringer. Then she had to partially dismantle it to get the clothes out.
ReplyDeleteThey apartment complex first put in a dryer that cost 10 cents for 10 minutes and practically burned up the clothes.
It would be interesting to see some of today's women have to deal with all that. I think the children might be more disciplined as to what they wore and how often they changed clothes.