Wash day blues – 1950’s style
The room was filled with steam, and the strong smell of soap. It was wash day. A large metal bowl was on the stove (cooker) and mum was standing over it with wooden tongs, stirring and lifting clothes out, then dunking them back down in the hot soapy water. To the right of the stove was the sink, a deep square sink, filled with soapy water. This was where the larger, and coloured items of clothing and linen got washed. Mum put the tongs down and moved over to the sink, scrubbing and dunking, scrubbing and dunking. The more soiled bits were scrubbed up and down on a washboard. Mum’s hands were red with all the hot water and rubbing. She emptied the soapy water out and ran the cold tap, filling the sink again to rinse the soap out.
Once the soap was rinsed out, mum squeezed out as much water as she could by hand and placed them all, dripping, into another large bowl, which she carried over to the mangle. Piece by piece she fed it through the two rollers, turning the large handle, the clothes coming out the other side flat and stiff. I was fascinated by It and stood watching, helping by taking hold of each piece of flat, stiff clothing and placing them, one on top of another.
Once it was all finished, mum shook everything and draped it over wooden driers, that had several slats of wood and stood on the floor. She draped the remainder over the backs of chairs. Wet washing hung everywhere until it dried naturally.
In the summer, if you were lucky and had a garden, you could hang it out in the sun to dry.
Some years later, I remember dad buying mum a really great dryer, to make life easier for her. Here is a photo of one.
Ours was slightly more modern, but only because it was finished off a little better. It was fixed on the ceiling over the bath, to catch the drips. That allowed washing to dry without hanging all over the living room. When it was dry you just lowered it using the pulley to get the washing off.
I find it hard to believe that we lived like that in my lifetime ;O)
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weechuff | 5 July 2008 at 11:13
I love all these old memories, and can see mums hands now, all red from washing. Sadly this took it’s toll, and she was to end up in her later years with twisted, painful fingers:0(
Kathy | 5 July 2008 at 11:27
Count the ways our lives have gotten easier over the years. And yet I still complain that I actually have to put laundry in the washer and then fold it when it’s dried. Where do I find a machine to do that?!
Babs (Beetle) | 5 July 2008 at 14:31
Weechuff: We also washed by hand when we were first married.
Kathy: Yes. All women did, in those days was wash, clean & cook!
Swubird | 5 July 2008 at 15:21
Babs:
Very interesting little story from your past. Well written. I could see the scene clearly, and I could almost smell the damp, steamy room.
I also remember those days of hand washing our clothes, and wood stoves for cooking our food. In this time of miniature computers and space travel, it doesn’t seem possible.
Wonderful post.
Happy trails.
Babs (Beetle) | 5 July 2008 at 18:52
Swubird: It is hard to believe how far we have come in 50 years.
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LadyBanana | 6 July 2008 at 18:53
I myself didn’t have a washing machine until my first child was almost 2!
We also used cloth nappies which I boiled on the cooker in a large metal bucket!
And the kids these days complain about loading the machine.. if only they knew!
Well they do know but they just can’t comprehend how it really was..
Jennifer Robin | 6 July 2008 at 19:30
Thanks for the memories. I have a thing for clotheslines myself, a holdover from childhood!
Drowsey Monkey | 7 July 2008 at 6:03
Technology certainly has come a long way. And I remember when ‘wash day’ meant just that, the entire day!
ZOOLATRY | 8 July 2008 at 23:42
… and after all that, she had to iron, too!
Jay | 9 July 2008 at 14:51
Oooh! Oooh! I remember that too!!! At least, I remember my Nan doing the washing by hand like that – and she used a ‘blue bag’ in the kitchen sink for the whites!
My Mum was luckier, she had a washing machine! For the fifties, it was very high tech: tall and square, it was a top loader with a lift-off aluminium lid, and had an electric mangle attached. What you did was wash all the clothes, empty out the water, fill with cold clean water to rinse, then lift the clothes out one at a time and put them straight through the mangle and into a basket.
We did have the overhead pulley drier over the bath too, and I want one now. Sadly, our bath is upstairs and the ceiling is too low to allow it. They were great!