laundry kit

monday is laundry day at our house. it pretty much takes me all day starting with my first load around 7:15am so caleb's blanket can be done by 9am for his morning nap, and ending with doing the ironing while watching a movie after natalie is in bed. when i have more than four people in my family someday i might have to change my system. or just not let things like this happen:

yes my children are playing in a mountain of clean laundry on the floor. at least this time it hadn't been sorted and folded before they pulled it all down off the couches.
i would also have to change my system if i had to wash by hand. i think then i would have to wash everyday. thank goodness for electricity! anyway, here is the laundry kit instructions, and my laundry kit experience:
 

Laundry Kit

Suggested Materials

·         Water

·         5 gallon bucket with a lid

·         Plunger (not black)

·         Clothes line and pins

·         Detergent

·         Wash board and tub

This is the cheapest way to do laundry without electricity. Cut a hole in the lid of a 5 gallon bucket just big enough to fit the handle of a plunger through. Put clothing and detergent in the bucket. Pour water (temperature depends on the color of the clothes, hot for whites, cold for darks) over them until clothes are immersed. Put on the lid and agitate the water with the plunger by pumping vigorously at least 20 times. Dump out water and wring out clothes.  Put clothes and clean water in the bucket and rinse by agitating again. Rinse again if there are still any suds on the clothes. Then wring out the clothes as much as possible and hang them in the sunshine to dry.

If your clothes are particularly dirty, you may need to use a washboard to scrub them. Fill a tub with several inches of water to soak clothing. Add detergent and put small amounts of detergent directly onto the stains. Scrub the clothing on the washboard until clean. Be careful as this wears out clothes quickly. Rinse in a separate bucket. Wring out and hang on the line to dry. You can either store detergent or you can store materials to make your own.

Here is a recipe:

Powdered Laundry Detergent

1 bar of soap

1 c washing soda

1/2 c borax

Grate soap or crumble into pieces until fine textured. Mix all ingredients. For a light load, use one tablespoon. For a heavy or heavily soiled load, use 2 tablespoons. Yield: 3 c detergent, (approx. 40 loads)

now lucky for me, kent and my mom got me ritzy laundry equipment: a pressure handcrank washer and a solar drying retractable line. wow, right? =o] my mom also gave me clothes pins and material to make a pouch, so guess what natalie and i did for her project in preschool this morning... 

here we are last week doing the wash (yes we did it in the bathtub. it didn't know what it was going to be like and it was night so i didn't want to go outside.):

it really wasn't that bad, it just takes a while. and it is more involved. like you can't just stick it in and forget about it until you hear the buzzer.
anyway, here is all the equipment:

notice the specified wash water storage containers in the background. =o]

good luck and have fun!