Laundry in the 60s

In the house where I grew up there was no
laundry room because there was no washer
or dryer. Mom washed our clothes once a
week in an old wringer washer on the back
porch off the kitchen. One of my favorite
childhood memories was waking up to the smell
of bleach wafting through the house. That meant
Mom was washing the whites and I could stir the
clothes in the rinse tub!

Washday, as we called it, was never the same
day each week. Back in those days, there were
women who washed on Monday, ironed on
Tuesday, vacuumed on Wednesday, dusted on
Thursday, etc. In our house, we had to wait for “a
good drying day” to do the laundry, one where
the air was dry and hot with a good breeze
blowing. On such a day, my sister and I had to
run to our neighbor’s houses and ask if they
were going to burn garbage that day. If not, we
were to tell them it was washday at the Foster
house.

Back then everyone burned garbage and there
was nothing worse than hanging out your
laundry only to have some inconsiderate or
thoughtless neighbor burn their garbage,
sending the smoke billowing through your clean
clothes. Then you’d have to rewash and rehang
the entire line.

I loved laundry day. Loved stirring the clothes in
the wash tubs, watching mom run the clothes
through the wringer to wring every last bit of
water out of those clothes, lugging the basket out
to the clothesline, grabbing a handful of
clothespins from the pin caddy and hanging up
the clothes to dry in the good old fresh air. The
pin caddy was usually a hand-sewn bag on a
clothes hanger that held all of your clothespins
and hung on the clothesline. You pushed it
ahead of you as you hung the clothes. If I wanted
to get to Mom, I’d put about five pins in my mouth
and mumble, “Hey, Mom” so she’d look at me
and gag. She couldn’t stand to put clothespins in
her mouth.

Every one had their own method of washing the
clothes, their own laundry helpers and product
brands they relied on to get through, their own
method of folding the clothes. For us it was
Oxydol laundry detergent, Clorox bleach, Downy
fabric softener, straight clothespins (as opposed
to the ones with springs).

We used pant stretchers to hang Dad’s work
pants so they would have a perfect crease down
each leg, front and back. Towels were folded in
half, then half again, then in thirds so they would
fit better in our small linen closet. Everything was
folded, including underwear (I don’t know why,
they just were. At least in our house they were.)
Of course, wash day always followed ironing
day. (Permanent press was unheard of). If I was
good (!) Mom let me sprinkle the clothes, roll
them up and put them in a wooden basket with a
plastic liner. Then she would spend the day
ironing clothes as we watched soap operas on
CBS. Love of Life, Search for Tomorrow, As the
World Turns, The Guiding Light---we watched
them all as I waited patiently for her to finish so I
could iron Dad’s handkerchief’s. (I don’t think he
really liked ironed handkerchiefs, but they were
something small that I could iron and it kept me
relatively quiet while I waited for her to finish.)
Everything was ironed, including sheets (again, I
don’t know why.)

One fall, a laundromat/dry cleaner opened in
town and for years it was the only one we had.
Washday became wash evening for half of the
year, but we still did our laundry on the back
porch every spring and summer until Mom got a
job at the local restaurant. Then the job of doing
the laundry fell on Kathy and I and we used the
laundromat year-round. They hauled the wringer
washer away and planted flowers in the rinse
tubs. The pin caddy is still hanging on the old
back porch. We use the pins to hang wet
swimsuits on the new collapsible clothesline that
stands just outside the back door.

I don’t think they even make Oxydol detergent
anymore. Wood clothespins and rinse tubs are
high priced antiques at flea markets. We wash
and dry a load of laundry a day at our house and
think nothing of it. But every once in awhile, a
“good drying day” comes along that brings back
fond laundry memories.