Photo: Great grandparents at their farm in Blandinsville, IL, with five of their six children .. my grandpa was yet a twinkle in grandma's eye. Stable boy and governess also pictured. Hodges farm, circa 1903-4

Friday, June 05, 2009



Ex-chlorine-bleach-queen discovers old method proves efficient.

Being unable to use chlorine bleach products with our septic system, I have resorted to scrub some of our whites with my handy dandy wash board. It's very efficient and convenient as it sits next to my electric washer in a laundry tub sink. There's even a place for my handy-dandy bar of Fels-Naptha laundry treatment soap. This soap works great for removing stains and is part of the ingredients used when I make my home made laundry soap. If we should ever not be able to afford the electric bill in years to come, I can wash the clothes manually and hang them up to dry on my outside line;). Gosh, now I know why our forefathers only had two sets of clothes.

2 comments:

Felisol said...

Dear Mrs. Mac,
My mother used a wash board like this for years.
One might wonder why she at 84 still is better health than her spoiled daughter.
One thing I remember though, and that I have taken up lately.
One Sunday evenings, Sunday was and is a non-work day,my mother would find her Sunlight soap bar and go over the worst spots with soap. Some would lie "dry" till Monday morning, but she would also fill a huge wash tub with clothes and let them soak in soap water till the next day.
This way they were easier to clean.
I have actually tried this on grass marks, oil stains and others, with luck.
From Felisol

Mrs. Mac said...

Felisol, If we 'modern' gals could glean many of the 'old ways' of our mothers and grandmothers (not working on Sundays, we'd be well rested during the week to take on the day. This is one of my goals .. to not work on Sundays ... no housework or garden work.