Wash them clothes....how?

[Mortblanc]

Is making soap from scratch a lost art in GB?

We do it at historic sites all the time as a demo of 18th century rural skills.

Leftover cooking grease and whatever fats can be found, lye made from wood ashes, a good soap kettle and a morning of boiling will set you up for several weeks/months. You can make either soft soap or hard soap to cut into bars.

Back then the sequence was to separate the clothes into dark, colors and whites. Whites were done first, then colors, then darks.

Clothes went into a tub of BOILING SOAPY WATER first.

After a good boil to kill the lice they were dumped onto a solid surface and the dirt beaten out of them with a "battling board".

Then back to the soapy water for a slosh.

After that they got a good rinse, then were wrung out by hand and hung to dry. Whites and linens were spread on the grass for sun bleaching.

No need for plungers, agitators, plastic buckets or specific crap. A bit tub to boil in and another tub for rinsing, and a good solid table for the scrubbing/beating/battling is all you need.

My Mom washed all our clothes by hand like this for the first few years of my life. I was 9-10 before she got a washing machine and there were no coin operated centers in our area.

Back then women that wanted to keep a reputation as being worth keeping spent a full day at washing, then a second day at ironing.