Sunday, June 20, 2010

Using My Non-Electric Hand Washer

Remember how i put together my Lehman's Hand Washer a few months ago? Alot of people wanted to know how it worked - or even IF it worked, because the washer itself costs about as much $ money$ as buying an electric clothes washer, which means for most of us eco livin' folks it's a big investment! Up until recently I had been washing my clothes in the tub, and I used to also use the wonder wash hand spun washer (2 pound load ideal for a single person who never needs to wash blankets or sheets)......
Using this larger wash load Lehman's Hand Washer is seriously easy, and I am now using less arm strength then the 2 pound load hand spinner ---> I can fit a shit ton of clothes in there, and even my neglected blankies ( which were really hard for me to wash the last few years!)
The way I have it hooked up for the summer is I set up the washer on my porch, I have a hose running from my Gravity Fed Spring Pump, to the washer to fill it up with water...
I fill up the basin with water, and put either lemon & baking soda or just nothing with the clothes to give them a better wash. I don't use soaps or detergents at all- so when the water drains out it isn't going to do any harm to the dirt, plants, trees and insects it touches.
Once you fill it up, you simply push the handle back and forth and the washer starts making a swooshing, cleaning noise I reallllllly like.....
Oh and ya' have to pose like a happy super model and sit your ass on top the washer for photo ops, and realize only after tha' pic is taken that ya got your butt all wet.
LOOK how nasty dirty that water got, that swooshing thingy pushed all that junk out of my clothes! Isn't that super grody-fied?!! Cat hair, Leslie Hair, pieces of the forest I picked up like crushed leaves and twigs.....
I let the water out the bottom drain by twisting the black nob open (it's underneath the washer), I have the drain hooked to a long hose.
I then fill the water up for a second rinse...
Once I am finished with the final rinse, I let the water out and then I get to the really awesome part------>
SQUEEZin' the clothes through the wringer!!! The wringer is completely worth every penny it costs because it makes it so clothes hanging on a line dry way faster, and more evenly. Wringing my clothes by hand had stretched stuff out and left them much more wet then this cool invention.
You can even put sheets and blankies through this thing, and jeans too! All you do is spin the hand crank round and round...
Even if you use some kind of clothes dryer, the wringer helps - I hang mine on a line to dry though since it's free, good for the earth and smells so good when the sun bakes the water out the fabric. :)
Xoxox