How hard can it be to iron? Really??

Hahaha. Well, when you haven’t ironed in a few years, add in a hyper toddler, and try to do it after a long day, it’s not as easy as it looks.

Yesterday we went around town gathering up some of the supplies I will need for my new laundry venture. The only place that had the fels-naptha bars and Arm and Hammer washing soda (not the same as baking soda) was Price Chopper. I also got a cute pair of purple latex gloves. They are long, and kinda fuzzy inside. I love them. I think I’ll have to go back and get a couple more pairs for other cleaning duties.

The big purchase was my new ironing board. It’s a cheapy, but it’ll work. I also got a storage hook that will hold that, my iron, plus a couple spray cans. I got my ironing board all set up last night, and tried to get a few things done. Holy cow, I am out of practice.  It took 30 minutes to iron 5 things. Granted, I had to stop anytime Becca came anywhere near, but still. I think I was putting more wrinkles in than I was taking out. I didn’t even know that was possible.

I’ll probably spend some time this afternoon putting together some soap and trying to get some stains out of Becca’s clothes. If everything works as good as it is supposed to, I will definitely let you all know. The actual recipe is 1/2 c. of borax, 1/2 cup of washing powder, and 1 cup of chopped up fels-naptha. Then you just use a tablespoon or two for each regular load. You can use this method for regular washers, too. And pre-treating with fels-naptha is supposed to get almost any kind of stain out of clothes, including sweat stains. I’ll probably just be mixing together the washing soda and borax, then using chunk pieces of the fels-naptha.

I have a love-hate relationship with laundry. I love the smell and feel of fresh, clean, laundry. However, I absolutely hate lugging the heavy loads of clothes up and down two flights of stairs. Or, more accurately, having Mark run them up and down the stairs, and then having to do everything at the laundromat myself to make up for it. As a friend of mine pointed out, there are just crazy scary people who use those places. And we never seem to find time to do a laundromat trip over the weekend, because I’m working, or during the week, because Mark’s working. Which means we wait until the last possible day, then do everything all at once.

I needed an alternative. I found a machine called the wonder wash, basically a hand-crank washer, but it seemed like a lot of work for what was basically handwashing. Then I stumbled across Lehman’s, a Amish-based store out of Ohio. I was originally checking there for one of the hand crank washers, but I found something better.

Washer Boards. And a tool called a dasher, which looks like a metal plunger and is used to clean clothes by swirling them around, or something. They also have hand crank wringers, old-fashioned laundry soap, and everything else I might need for my crazy attempt to find a cheaper, and easier, alternative to the laundromat. Lehman’s has a lot of other cool stuff, though. Including those old-fashioned candies that come in white bags, in horehound, sassafras, and other hard-to-find flavors. And poplar syrup. Which I had never even heard of before.

I placed my order this morning. I am getting a washer board, dasher, two bags of candy (anise for me, green apple for Mark), and a bottle of sassafras tea concentrate. That should all be here by next Wednesday, Thursday at the very latest.

To round off my laundry supplies, I am buying an ironing board, some fels-naptha bars (laundry soap), rubber gloves, a tub, and some Arm and Hammer washing soda tomorrow. The first weekend in April, we’ll be buying dryer racks and an indoor clothesline. Unfortunately, there is no place for an outdoor clothes line where we currently live. We’re going to be drying our clothes in the storage room. We plan on getting a clothes wringer within the next month or so, to make everything dry a little faster.

I’m sure to most people, this sounds like a step backwards. After all, this is the way my great grandmother must have done her laundry. And some people have wondered where I will find the time. I look at it this way- I already do some handwashing, now. Last summer, before we got the van, I did most of our laundry this way. This year, I will have the tools to make it easier, and to do a better job. I am using way less water than conventional washing methods, and the laundry soap I’ll be using isn’t harmful to the environment. Not to mention the money I’ll be saving, about $50 a month. Totally worth it.

I should be mostly set up and able to do my first load of wash by next friday, just two days after the launch of this blog.I’ll let you all know how it goes.