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Doing Laundry (Dec
2005)
For a long time (almost a year) we let our "family"
do our laundry. They more or less destroyed my white sox. I couldn't
understand why they got so long -- going from 12--14 inches to a a foot and
half, with a corresponding loss of elasticity, and then I studied what they were
doing. Scrub board! Lots of energy!
Eventually, we got a washer, a beat-down Lady Kenmore (ca
1965) that couldn't fill herself. We filled it with a hose (nothing but
cold water anyway, huh?) and used it pretty well for about a year. Then we
had an opportunity to buy a fairly new basic model from some missionaries who
were selling out, and we went "fully automatic."
We were criticized for having a machine because we were
putting some enterprising Belizean women out of work. Maybe so. But
we did take a little better care of our clothes. They didn't get much
cleaner. It took Rick, doing 15 months in the US, to learn how to turn out
sparkly clean whites. The secret is SHOUT, or something like
it. (Spray & Wash, etc.)
When I got back to Belize, Charlotte gave me that (now old)
machine. It had a little leak in the (unused) hot water hose, but I stuck
the end in a bucket next to the washer and emptied it between washes. I
had brought a bottle of SHOUT with me, and I found some in Chetumal when I
looked, but then the supply seemed to vanish.
What to do, when you can't get SHOUT, etc.? Well, I was
using ERA (liquid) for my basic detergent. So, I took 2 or 3 ounces of
Era, put it in the SHOUT bottle, and filled it with purified water. I used
that the same way I would use SHOUT -- spraying the soles of the white sox, and
the collars and cuffs on my shirts, and then letting it sit for a while.
An hour, a day, whatever. Then I washed. Wah-LAH! Clean
whites! Use some on your jeans -- cleaner, more faded
jeans!
I quit looking for SHOUT in Mexico, altho, now that I'm back
in the US, I do use it.
If you don't have a dryer, you hang your clothes out on a
line. Actually, pretty enjoyable in my back yard,
as long as it's not too rainy. (String a line up in the car port in the
rainy season. ) One thing you will need is fabric
softener. They have a lot of brands at the store; I had a favorite
-- name escapes me -- but the important thing is to smell it before you buy it
and be sure you like the smell.
A dryer is a big time saver, but what's time to a retiree?
A slice of life in the Tropics,
Rick Zahniser (December 2005)
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