How do you wash your clothes?

We hand wash, use enough detergent, if you have delicate skin use gloves, soak em if they are extra dirty. Use preen or similar as required.

Do my old mum's trick and wring em out and wind em up your forearm as you wring. If your hands are too weak liz get Neil to do it.

G'day Neil,
We use 2 off 20 litre plastic buckets for the clothes & I made a great agitator to use with it.
I got a STRONG plastic funnel & drilled 20mm holes randomly around the conical area of the funnel. Then I got some white poly pipe around 40mm dia x 1.5m long & pushed the end of the funnel into it. This is then secured with self-tapper screws so the funnel will not fall out.
To use, you put warm soapy water in one bucket & clean cold water in the other. Starting in the bucket with soapy water & clothes you grip the poly pipe in 2 hands & push up & down repeatedly to on the clothes to wash. The upside down funnel in the bucket agitates the clothes & the water escapes thru the holes in the funnel back into the bucket.
Repeat above in clean water bucket & job done. Builds up the muscles in your arms too!

Cheers
Stu

Neil,

My travelling mate has the best bush washing machine available. Capable of up to five loads in an afternoon although wash quality does drop off towards sunset. Very low maintenance, just on occassional back rub accompanied with words of encouragement and a glass of Baileys at the end of the wash cycle.

Here's a photo....











(Sorry Neil, I just couldn't help it ;-)

My parents bought a twin tub. They use it off the house batteries in the back of the camper. Mum also uses at home on occasions as she says it uses less water than the main one in the laundry

.

Wash clothes? What, when you're camping?

Your'e joking......... aren't you?

Hi Liz and Neil

Two 20 litre buckets with sealing lids - one for wash for the morning and on for rinsing in the afternoon; the rougher the road the better. If stationary, i have a plumbers plunger to use to agitate the washing. Wringing out is the only hard part and we do it in a towel between the two of us. I usually only use water from an outside source so as not to deplete our tanks. We can do all but sheets this way. We aim for a laundromat about once a week to give everything a good wash so don't hand wash all the time.

Motherhen

Gday
I take mine home and drop them on the floor in the laundry ,,I don't know what happens after that............

We just buy a new hat every five years or so. Who wears clothes?

We take "not so good" clothes for an extended trip so that even if CP washing machines don't do as good a job as your washing machine at home, it doesnt really matter. Often water is hard too, so detergent doesnt work so well.

Unless we are really remote we usually end up in a CP every week or 10 days and use the machines there, though if we are only staying overnight getting things dry can be tricky, especially for towels and jeans. If the dryers are working all is good. You have to have enough clothes to last the distance though.

When away from washing machines we use a couple of square buckets, one for washing and one for rinsing. If water is scarce and I need to discard dirty washing water I use the rinse water for the next wash and use fresh water for rinsing. I use a plunger made from a plumbers plunger with a couple of holes in the side of the rubber bell - this works very well (good exercise too). Hand wringing is the hard part - I can remember when I was very small my mother hand wrung all the weekly wash. No way could I do that, so John may need to help.

We carry a length of thin rope for a washing line and plenty of pegs, plus one of those folding washing baskets - very handy. Also carry a spare plug and/or piece of rubber tube for those occasions when laundry tubs have no plugs.

If you are staying put for a day or so that makes washing easier. We are usually moving most days and under those conditions it can be hard getting washing done and dry - unless in the desert. I have tried soaking as you travel but I dont think the water gets mixed around enough, but at least the clothes get a good soak.



Cheers,

Val.

Hi Neil,

I usually take enough clothes to last the trip but on the canning I rigged up a keg with a seal able opening lid with an over cam latch. I'd throw a load in, 3/4 full of water and 3 rubber balls (3" pigs used for cleaning water pipes).

You drive along corrugations for the day and youd be surprised how clean they get a quick rinse then ready to be hung out.

Cheers Wilko

.

Sealable Kegs, Plungers, Wringers and Twin Tubs even.
Sounds almost Un-Australian!
Haven't you heard of dry cleaning?........If its dry, it's clean.

At least Mick O's Baileys as a final rinse additive does double duty.

And Richard,........... a hat is barely broken-in at five years.

In all seriousness Neil, I do actually wash and the secret as far as I’m concerned is having a fairly large tub (I tend to use one of my square storage tubs these days rather than a bucket) and using warm or hot water! We carry a 10l stainless steel bucket (Can be purchased for $30 at most field days) that sits on the fire when water is available. If the water is stinking hot, the clothes soak for a while before they get scrubbed. I usually separate and move through the items in order, shirts first, then underwear and jeans and sock last. Same with the rinse water although this is usually cold! If you use warm rinse water, at the end of rinsing, this becomes wash water for the next load.

Wringing usually involves two people. For jeans you can wrap a leg either side of a branch, the bullbar or what ever and twist. Don’t really care on water content as if they drip dry, they don’t need ironing.

Ironing....

I usually prefer to heat a large rounded river pebble in the fire for at least an hour before smoothing out the wrinkles on the bonnet of the vehicle. I’d advise welders gloves to hold the rock but riggers gloves will do in a pinch. The flatter the rock, the better but don’t overheat as they tend to explode. For permanent press or fine wool garments (Like Michael J’s safari suits), I generally put them under the mattress in the camper while still slightly damp. Just make sure the creases are OK.

OK that last part was bulldust but when you are out for a few months at a time, washing is a necessity.

Cheers Mick

Thanks everyone for your ideas some practical ones and some laughs. We do use the generic nappy cleaner in the loo, so might also try it on the washing and had forgotten about wringing clothes out in a towel so will try that too. Usually try to find a CP every now and then to catch up with larger items but try to avoid them if we can, the CP's I mean!! Have fun out there, regards Liz & Neil.

Hi Liz & Neil
There is a secret to it. We wear only darker clothes and we have other stuff in darker colour as well. This way even if it is not perfectly washed during a trip, we do not look dirty. To my standard, washing machines in public laundromats don't wash well either, even with use of Omo.
When we come home, I soak everything inside washing machine in Omo for about 2hours and then I wash it in double of amount of water.
Ciao Dana

We use a toilet plunger. Make sure its one with a thread on the end so the plunger thingy dosent keep coming off. For wringing out wrap the atricle around the bull bar and then wring it - it will get most of the water out. Well it works for the missus...lol

Washing day at Dalhousie Springs