You mean you're suppose to wash it? Hmm, no wonder it looks so dingy!LOL!
Actually we had a rug made for by the front door so I just pull out the carpet cleaner and give it a once over every now and then..........won't do it again until after winter now.
the ones by the door from the garage and the back door get thrown in the wash if I happen to think of it, which isn't often.............

Throw rug? Not entirely sure what that is - sounds like a tripping hazard to me :)

I have a doormat outside the front door, and an absorbent mat inside, that is vaccumed whenever I vaccum the sitting room rug. It's not actually washable, I think.

My treasured doormat is a woven rope one, made in the traditional style by my Dad. He made them as house-warming gifts, and many family members and neighbours of my parents' have them. It brings a smile whenever I see it (and I have TWO - he made one for the boat)

Used to be as needed or about every 2 weeks but since my Maytag washer is very very old and I'm trying to preserve it I send them to laundromat with housekeeper every month...along with the throw rugs in kitchen and bath. Those things are heavy when wet and hard on washer! I buy the smallest all-cotton rugs so I can exchange them out easily and often.

Used to be you could find rugs for $3-$5 sometimes at KMart, etc. Have such a large stash haven't bought any in awhile. I was the annoying woman insisting on the clerk picking thru whole stack to find the black/white/grey striped patterns...LOL josh

My mother had a penchant for rag rugs, and we convinced her when she began to have mobility problems, that they were a safety hazard for her. God, she was easy and put them away. I have inherited her rag rug collection and they get laundered on occasion, when I switch patterns. Mostly they get taken outside and shook.

Now, in our living room is an oval rug, not room size, but not throw size either. It was a spluge for me to buy it, I'd never paid that much for a 6 X 8, but it went with the decorating and complimented the rustic style of our house. I gets it home, and of course it has a beige background and find out the cleaning instructions say to take a damp cloth to it. roflmao. You gotta be kidding me. We are gardeners!

Too big and heavy for even a large machine and I was about to toss it, when my dh comes up with the idea of power washing it. That was a brilliant idea. We lay it out on an outside greenhouse bench and he let it fly. It looked brand new when he got done with it. Now, once a year, after the vacuuming stops working, I haul it outside and power wash it. It's three years old now and none the worse for wear.

I have a runner in my entry hall. It matches the area rug in my diningroom and both are vacuumed at the same time.

Sara - throw rugs are little ruglets either pile or woven, usually about 20"x36", that are put just inside the door. It's amazing how much dirt they pick up even when a proper doormat is outside the door.

I agree that they can be a tripping hazard, especially if an elcheapo is washed and dries wrinkled. I avoid the slipping hazard by whipstitching rubber mesh to the back (yes, it machines washes well) which also cures the tendency to cupped corners.

LOL, Suzi. I have an inexpensive 6x9 that is used in front of the fireplace during winter (I could care less if it gets spark holes, so of course it doesn't). After it got grungy, I called rug cleaners to price a freshening. Nope, I couldn't bring myself to pay more for cleaning than I did for rug! DH took it onto the patio and used the garden hose and car-cleaning tool to power-spray it. Yep, gets it clean just fine, but we have to allow about four days of 90° for it dry.

Well, Meldy I think we should just open a new business partnership in power washing area rugs. LOL. I know there have been times I wish I could just bring in the gas-fired power washer, stand in the middle of each room and let it rip in my house! LOL

Why on earth do the care labels state that those carpets cannot be washed? I suppose the manufacturers figure the backings will ravel if machine laundered, but they wouldn't fit in a machine anyway. It's really a dis-service to make people think they can't be cleaned at home, or would somehow melt if you scrubbed them with a hose or brush. Ours power washed beautifully and looked new after the process.

Way back when I was little the carpets would be taken outside when there was a snowfall, laid face down onto the snow and beaten with the carpet-beater (yes, there was such a thing). As snow was not so frequent in Frankfurt, it was an occasion. Carpets came out fresh and bright, and most service yards had gray squares in the snow, where this cleaning took place.
As we all lived in apartment houses, the early bird, so to speak, got the clean rugs.
Each building I remember had also a rack to sling the carpets on to get beaten, snow was just a special cleaning.

we can still get the rag rugs pretty cheap here...at wally world and family dollar.
we dont use them at our entry tho. they are at the floor of the kitchen sink. we use the sturdier, mat type rugs for the entry. i dont think they are washable in the machine, but if the cats get them too messy i take a broom and scrub them down....remember how they used to clean rugs in the
'old days'?
g

Ditto here for the small rag rugs, although I mostly use mine in front of the kitchen sink as they get strewn around by the dog if they're in front of the door.

Anyway, I wash mine once a week until they start to fall part & then I buy a new one for about $5.00. They seem to last 18-24 months when washed every week.

Lilo, I had been wondering when someone was going to mention the carpet beater. My mother used to take our homemade rag rugs out and beat them like a banshee. I beat up my smaller rugs from time to time It's a great way to combine venting anger and cardiovascular exercise. Mostly I shake and vacuum them. I have large area rugs in my house that are wool so, the cleaners come in for those (which reminds me, it's been too long and I should call them).

Sara, I think throw rugs are rugs small enough to pick up, shake out and then "throw" down on the floor again. That too can be a satisfactory way of venting, particularly if you cry "take that!" when you toss them to the floor.

I have a carpet beater. A real one with heavy wire in a curvy loop and the wooden handle is getting pretty worn. Hangs beside the porch broom and is used on smaller but heavy pile throw rugs. My arthritis is bad enough that I can no longer keep a tight grip on the rug to give it a good shake-flip-snap, but I *can* throw the rugs over the clothesline and give them a hearty thwap-thwap-thwap. Great upper arm exercise, too.

I've never figured out why that super-powered vacuum leaves so much dust that I can see it fly out when the rug whapped.

Missy finds nice rugs at yard sales for a buck or so. The people around here buy new ones before the ones they have wear out. We hang them on the line and beat them or if really dirty we lay them on the patio and hose them with the high pressure nozzle. Always have spare ones as she can't pass up a bargain so change of decor is frequent.

My Grand mother had a loom and made rag rugs on it so when I was young we had them all over the house. Hard wood floor surfing is fun for the kids but a little tricky for the older people. We also used tree wax on the floors in Iowa and used old socks to polish it while hardwood skating. That was a required job for us kids about once a month.

"Hard wood floor surfing"

LOLOL Don, the dogs still do that, and sometimes on purpose. Yes, my cousin (a man) has one of those looms and I have a few of his items. I make rag rugs too, out of my fabric scraps. I have a braided coil up in my sewing room now I use the really ratty old sheets and scraps for. The ones too far gone to use in quilting. I made one about three or four years ago about six feet round and it's under my dining room table.

Sheila, I still have a carpet beater too. Lilo, I've heard of the snow method, and it makes sense. My Daddy since he was a big strapping boy was the one in his family of ten kids who did the carpet beating. Grandma had jobs for all of them and worked them like a little regiment. LOL.

The rug inside our front door isn't washable, so it gets vacuumed once a week. It's a 2x3, so if I wanted to take it outside and shake it, it would be managable. We have ceramic tiles in our entry and used to have a 5x7 rug over them. However, it, plus all other small rugs--kitchen, bath mats, runners, etc.--have been taken up. DH has some difficulty walking and doesn't need any hindrances in his path. For the same reason, we had our carpets removed and wood laminate floors installed. IMO, they're easier to walk on and also to keep clean.

I remember carpet beaters, too; in that vein, have you ever stretched curtains on wooden frames with small nails around the edges to hold them tight? The curtains looked great and didn't take long to dry, but I remember pricking my fingers trying to get them on the nails!

My mother had a curtain stretcher and I remember her setting it up in our back yard and doing my g'mother's lace curtains on it. It always put me in mind of the bed of nails Hindu mystics were supposed to have lain on. She was a cleaned-mouthed woman, but I think I heard a few blue utterances from her as she got impaled. Were they used for things other than lace? That's all I remember her using them for.

I don't remember us having lace curtains; I think they were sheers that would dry without wrinkles if stretched tightly enough. It was the frames with nails that has stuck in my memory.

I remember the curtain stretcher at a Great Aunt's home but probably as soon as nylon and other synthetics became available after WWII the sheers and even lace curtains no longer needed stretching to dry wrinklefree and didn't shrink. Plus I think "venetian blinds" (remember when they were called that) became widely used in homes of the late forties/early fifties. Ours were wood blinds and I don't remember any sheers...just drapes.

I may have a skewed perspective though as most of the homes of friends and relatives seemed to be in the new "subdivisions" springing up after the war. Ours was called "Delano Heights" after FDR, of course. This was the first real home we'd had since before the war other than a 6 month stay in a new house bought in Columbia SC...otherwise it was rentals as we followed my Dad from post to post...and I don't recall what the "window treatments" were like. Probably some roller shades...remember those? Thwap==thwap==thwap! lol josh

You know, I don't remember exactly when wrinkle-free fabric became mainstream, but my clothes in childhood always had to be ironed. The first clothing finish was called 'drip-dry' long before permapress and all the people I knew had wringer washers and most hung their clothes on the line. I can remember my mother converting to an automatic washer, just kicking and screaming how they couldn't hold a candle to a wringer machine and clothes were hung in our basement when the weather wouldn't cooperate. So, I suspect wrinkle-free cloth was widely accepted when dryers came to most homes.

Yes, I loved those old venetian blinds, and have as close a style to those as I can in my own windows under the valances. Big fat wide wooden ones. Our old schools had the thwap, thwap, thwap blinds and when the janitor brought up the projector for a film we had to pull them down.

My mother's curtains then seemed to be those heavy, heavy cottony jobs, no sheers, and I have found some I remember from my childhood carefully packed and put away in some of her trunks. Still nice looking. Do you remember when they were making fibre glass draperies?

Oh, yes, I remember the wringer washer and clotheslines. The washer was in a separate small building though, with laundry tubs, I guess to keep the steamy mess out of the house (built 1948 I think). Not sure when Mom got an automatic washer ...although I think it was before the dryer. I do remember in early fifties starch was still used, and most everything had to be ironed. When did colored knittedware become popular for sportsclothes...wasn't IZod one of the first? I'll bet some woman folding her hubby's undershirts unironed got the idea...lol Before that revolution men played golf and women gardened I guess in starched cotton blouses/shirts.

Meldy...hope you don't mind the wandering far afield here from entryway to laundryrooms...josh

Those old wood Venetian blinds are back in style and now are very $$$$. They came with this house & I've got to admit that we've just gotten rid of the last of them. They are still a huge PITA to clean.

Now does anyone remember having a mangle? At least that's what we called it at home. It was a big almost industrial sized iron that was used to iron sheets & table cloths & was sort of the size of two big ironing boards that would press together to iron big flat items. I remember my mom setting it up in the basement of out house and ironing the bed linens & table cloths. Sure beat trying to do the job with a regular iron. I have no idea what happened to the one she used, but I imagine they are $$$$$$$ if you wanted to buy one these days.

I have two of them. Both my mother's. One is in a stand you flip the lid on and have a work surface, and one is a 'portable' one and I mistook it for one of my father's photographic enlargers, lol. My Mama called it a Mangle too, must've been a brand name. I managed to mangle enough ironing on one. Never did get the hang of it.

i wonder where one can get a carpet beater today?
susy, you are a woman of many talents. in the years i have known you i have learned that there isnt much in this old world you havent done/tried.
golly, i remember my mother hanging sheers on those frames. ours were hung in the dining room and those frames took up the whole room. i was too young to do any of the hanging back then, but thinking about it now, what did my mother do with those frames when the curtains were dry? i dont remember them being 'dismantled' but i am sure they must have been.....or else that was yet another thing that went into the attic till the next week.
curtains dont seem to look as nice nowadays as they did back then, least wise not in my house..
mom also used her wringer on the back porch. she hung everything all year, summer fall winter spring. seemed senseless to me in the winter. she'de get on her coat and gloves and hang that wash and an hour later she'd take it down , froze solid, and hang it in the dining room...LOL...thank goodness for dryers! altho i used to love to hang wash and did it until my arthritis stopped me from carrying those heavy baskets up the stairs. now it is all dryer for me..kinda sad to see the poor lines hanging vacant out there. gonna take them down one of these days........
g

Well in the age of the Internet you can find anything.

Here is a link that might be useful: Carpet Beater Dources

As a child I remember almost all our clothes had to be starched and ironed, but first they had to be dampened so that the wrinkles would smooth out. Of course, if all the ironing wasn't finished at one time, the dampened pieces would be put in the fridge overnight to stay damp. If that wasn't done, they'd begin to smell sour and have to be rewashed -- or else they'd have to be unfolded and hung over something to dry. That didn't work too well, as once redried, the starch made them too stiff and there seemed to be more wrinkles than ever. So, they'd have to be washed again, too.

Trash and garbage collections were weekly and in hot weather, if one had "smelly' garbage, it, too, might end up in the fridge till collection day. My DH said he had never known folks who kept laundry and garbage in the refrigerator! LOL (Since there was no plastic wrap, I don't remember what either the clothes or garbage were wrapped in--but it had to be something!)

We had a wringer washer, but no dryer; I loved putting the wet, dripping clothes thru the wringer, then taking them outside to hang on the clothes line--in windy, sunny weather, that is. Sheet and towels smelled so fresh and clean. IMO, none of the products--Downy, Bounce, etc.--can hold a candle to that natural, outdoorsy smell.

There were plastic laundry dampening bags. I found one still at my mother's house. Sturdy and with a zipper. The garbage? OMG. It went into the metal garbage cans with no liners. Stank to high heaven in summer and somebody had to wash out the cans after the refuse men took them, cause they'd be full of maggots. I don't remember what went inside the inside trash cans. Probably nothing, but people put a lot more effort into what and how they threw things away. My mother had a special little can in the kitchen into which she put food scraps one would cmpose nowadays. You didn't just throw 'slop' in our kitchen can. Some people had fancy brick trash burners behind their house. Looked a lot like a bar-b-que because there was no ordincances then to burning them, or leaves, or anything else you wanted to. The city dump looked like purgatorio, with a perpetual fires and burning embers, and the smell of charred garbage.

The mention of mangles sent me looking but they seem to have had rollers like wringer washers. We had something Mom referred to as a "flat presser", a version of which seems to still be around. Ours was about 24" long and maybe 12" wide with a fabric covered surface on bottom and a steel plate on top with heat. You placed the dampened bedlinens or Dad's khaki work pants or my box-pleated skirt on bottom surface, pulled down heavy top, then pulled a rod down to apply extra pressure. Don't know what happened to it...guess it was sold or donated when permanent press stuff came along. It would be great for jeans today...but that thing sure wasn't portable...I'll bet it weighed 40 pounds. josh

Here is a link that might be useful: Flat Presser

I remember my mother putting some stuff in the fridge in the summertime & also remember she had a thing she put in the top of a Coke bottle that she'd use to sprinkle water on shirts, etc. when she went to iron them. Now when I eventually get around to my ironing, I use a small spray bottle (a plant mister) to do the same thing. Some things need to be moist when you iron them. The steam from the steam iron doesn't do the trick.

I remember wringer washers. The tub was filled with buckets of really hot water, and then soap flakes were swished in; and then you used the same water to wash [in order] the delicates and whites; light colors and sheets, dark colors, reds, and work pants. Each item was run separately through the wringer --and I remember when those rollers were NOT motorized! Such a thrill when we finally got a motorized unit. Anyway, by the time that washwater was discharged, it looked blackish and you had to swipe out the tub to get the residue of grime off. Then you refilled the tub and rinsed in the same order, sometimes the darks and pants got an extra rinse and the discharge water would be light gray. Oh, and a cup or two of vinegar was put in with the rinse water. Thinking back, I sort of wonder about the cleanliness of the dark stuff, but it always looked and smelled clean.

So I looked to see if they are still being manufactured -- and they are. But LOOK at that price tag!

Here is a link that might be useful: Wringer washer

I'm pretty sure we have one of those trash burning receptacles in our alley. Ours is cement; a couple of neighbors have them too, but of slightly different design. Ours has three sides, and I haven't figured out why it has a bit of a shelf about 2/3 the way toward the top. I do a bit of composting in it.

I used to wonder about the shelf, too but I am guessing it was to catch the unburnable stuff, like tin cans so those could be dumped somewhere. The rest went to ash you could shovel out without having to 'sort' out the metal.

As for getting a wringer washer at Lehman's...forget it. They need to update their website. I called them about a month ago, and they don't sell them anymore. Nor do they sell the treadle sewing machines they advertise. But, you can still get those directly from the manufacturer. I hope the inet isn't going to be their downfall with fame going to their heads. I used to go there to shop, I don't live far from them. They seem to be getting away from the real authentic and necessary stuff you need for living off the grid and into more gimmicky stuff.

OK you guys, my question is why would anyone want to pay $900 (PLUS $175 in shipping) for a wringer washer? For that price I could buy a top of the line front loading washing machine & save myself water, energy & time.

Mangles (Over There) were just another word for a Wringer - in fact, the more common word I think. For squeezing the water out of wet laundry, before hanging it on the line to dry. I imagine the same word came to used Over Here for what Suzy described for pressing.

Hmm. Treadle sewing machine. That'd be much more environmentally sound - I might look into that.

I have one of those old rug beaters and also a wash board
that belonged to my grandmother.
We had a wringer washer most of my young life.
My sis stuck her hand in the wringer and it pulled her in up to her elbow and then sat grinding away. It sort of took the hide off as Gramps said.
She never did it again, poor kid.

My aunt had one that ran on gas or maybe she had a generator, I can't remember too much about it except I always left when they cramked it up. The noise was deafening
and I hated it. They lived in an old house up on the side of a mountain and man with that noise maker going, you could hear it way into the next county.

As for throw rugs, some are tossed in the washer, some are
shaken out and some vacuumed.
I want to replace some tile in the entrance foyer and then
get a really pretty rug for that area.
Having all hardwood floors, rugs are nice to have here and there.

I want a wringer machine because they get your clothes cleaner than an automatic, and you are in complete control of the cycles with very straightforward engineering to the system. There are no modern electronics involved, just gears/belts/motor. They literally last a lifetime, instead of a decade and the old ones, if found in decent condition do not have PLASTIC parts. The water is drained through gravity, not an electric pump and no special plumbing is required, aside from a place to let the water out. If you can tote a pail you can both fill it, and drain it anywhere you want. Not for everybody, just like fridges with no icemaker are not for everybody, but there are legitimate uses for them and that sector is completely ignored by manufacturers in this country. The washers at Lehman's were imported from Saudi Arabia, I think, and the man in that section told me the American made reconditioned square tub wringer washers are also not available anymore. Can we say reconditioned appliances are very much environmentally friendly?

Not necessarily less energy efficient or water hoggish, compared especially to a top loader. Like was brought up already, you don't flush the water out after your white wash was is done, you then use it for the light wash, and then the dark wash, and the work clothes last......instead of flushing the washer out between loads. You run it until the clothes are clean, instead of letting some electronic chip decide when the clothes are clean. Now the technology for a front loader will give the wringer a run for its money with the lower water levels, and extraction capacity. But, a decent one of those also starts about 1200$ and goes up from there. And like Jan said, they come in gasoline powered versions so that people off the grid can still have a 'modern' appliace.

Suzy, you're right about the icemakers...I didn't need/want one because I'd heard they had problems but also the ice had off-taste. But in order to get a really large side by side the icemaker was standard. I did learn to dump all ice twice-weekly and run the icewater thru very often to prevent tasting funny. I use that for plant watering but still hate the extra electricity used and less freezer space for food.

On the other hand, when buying dishwasher for my old home... only priciest models had the heat-booster so water temps in our waterheater could be set at lower level. Here in rental with cheaper model I had to keep waterheater set much higher than needed for just the 2 of us, and of course now for one person's shower it could be even lower if it weren't necessary to keep temps high for proper dish sanitation. josh

This is the one appliance I don't pull punches with, because of my aversion to washing dishes. LOL. It was my chore from childhood, and my mother cooked like I do....IOW....using pots and pans to abandon. I sent my dh out to buy the last one because it was during one of my intense sales windows and I could not go out to shop for one. I wrote down those features I had to have, and one of them was the temperature booster, a pot and pan cycle another. Looked him square in the eye and said I didn't care how much it cost (and that is not what you'll hear from me very often). He was nervous because he was afraid since he didn't 'drive' ours very often he wouldn't be able to get something I'd approve of. I told him until a new dishwasher was installed in that hole, Mama ain't gonna cook NO MORE. He came home with one. LOLOL.

This was the dishwasher BEFORE last. LOL. I got the last one. This is number three in seventeen years. See the thread about 'they don't make them like they used to'. LOL. I will and sometimes do use a washboard for my laundry, and I still get down on my hands and knees to scrub the floors, but I DON'T DO DISHES.

Late to this thread....but gotta add my 2 cents.
My mother's curtains were "nenon" sheers...I am guessing soem sort of rayon fabric. And once a year she would take them down and go out into the back yard with a gallon jug of carbon tet!! and dump it into a basin, dunk the sheers, allow the dirty stuff to drain and then repeat with the next panel. then she and my grandmother would get it started on the stretcher (which adjusted to size by the way) and it was my job and my grandmother's to poke it on the rest of the way. I had sheer ruffled dotted Swiss (remember that stuff?) in my room and they were also stretched ( even then they knew carbon tetra chloride was bad for kids!) but then the ruffle had to be ironed by hand.
We also had pants stretchers....and my father's "chinos" were dried on them....and I had sock stretchers that I took to college with me. You bought them in sizes like you did socks and when you washed your wool bobby socks you could insure they stayed the same size.
Wash and wear didn't become even slightly mainstream until the very late 50's and even into the early 60s'. I worked at a "major washing machine company" in their product testing lab when they were testing methods and materials to keep things wrinkle free. And back then we measured how good a washer cleaned by the standards of 10 minutes in the old square tub washer....and nothing stood up to that!
I have a mangle in my basement. Haven't used it in years....afraid the cord is frayed and unsafe. But it sure did a number on a linen table cloth and napkins....and I could iron a man's shirt pretty well....had a little trouble with the button band...but! LOL!
BUT...I want an icemaker in my refrigerator! I want lots of ice, always and I want it now! I want ice in my morning juice, in my water and even in my leftover coffee in my cup when it's no longer hot!
When my daughter went to school in the mid 60's, she had cotton dresses that had to be ironed...darling "fall cottons" in a green plaid and one in a red plaid...in those days my ironing basket was always full!
Linda C

Does that mean people don't iron anymore? I LIKE crisp, well pressed things! I LOVE the feeling of ironed sheets on my skin. I wear lots of cotton, often linen, and want it looking like it started out crisp, at least.

I just read something about Audrey Hepburn - she did her own laundry and was a fanatical ironer, ensuring she never left home with a single crease.

I had no idea I was so out of tune. Perhaps it's an English thing. ;)

I keep an ironing board set up, but use it mostly for sewing, to be honest. But, since my clothes are line dried, and I wear and buy most of my clothing out of natural materials (linen, cotton, wool and not blends or permapressed) they are wrinkled when they dry. I don't mind that for tees and jeans, but I iron dress clothing. I don't iron my sheets, but my mother always did. I wish I had the time to do it, maybe I'd resurrect that old mangle. LOL.

I just re-built my clothes line too - new chrome-plated post (it came from the boat, no longer being used) now clamped to the deck rail. New line, new wheel. Firstly, I love line-dried stuff, and secondly, I decided the dryer is the worst energy hog in the house, and if I'm serious about reducing my carbon footprint, I should make sure I use the line (or the airer in the basement) as much as possible. The iron uses way less energy than the dryer!

Icemakers are nice, for those who have lots of iced drinks. They also come in handy for entertaining, or even icing down cucumbers for pickling, or making your own for ice chests. It's just that we live in such an old house, to run the waterline to our kitchen where the fridge sits, we'd have to excavate out that part of the crawlspace (cellar only under one ell) and then go through eighteen inches of brick wall. NOT

I don't ice my drinks, have a few ice trays handy for those who do, and resent very much that device in the freezer part of my fridge. The character at Lowes said they do not make that fridge without an icemaker. Well, I got on line and found out that he lied. It would have meant a little effort to custom order it, and I guess he didn't want to burn those calories.

Actually, using an iron may not save all that much energy. Clothes dryers use from 1800 to 5000 KWh, and an iron uses 1000 to 1800 KWh.

Wattage x hours per day = daily KWh; daily KWh times 365 for the annual KWh consumption.

If my choice is to use a dryer that rates at 3000 KWh for two hours a week, or use an iron rated at 1500 KWH for four hours, then the different methods have each used the same amount of fuel energy.

Years ago, I did a real-life comparison over several months and found that a load of DH's work shirts took [on average] 35 minutes to dry near wrinkle-free with another 2 minutes per shirt of ironing for spray-starch touch-up (collar, cuffs, button bands), while line-drying followed by ironing the whole shirt required an average of 8 minutes per shirt of ironing plus a total of 20 minutes to hang up and take down the whole load from the line. When working with the actual kilowattage involved, the bottom line became that line-drying with ironing took almost twice as many kilowatts and more than three times as many minutes, as machine-drying followed by touch up. Guess which method I now always use for clothing? Note that sheets, towels, jeans, and anything else that does not require ironing are obvious candidates for line drying, even if that is followed by air-temperature machine drying to fluff.

Interesting: we clearly have very different approaches, and fuel consumption measures. I can iron a shirt in way less than 8 minutes for example. Further, I can't imagine ironing for four hours:
I only iron the things that need ironing - careful line drying will eliminate the need to iron many, many things. I iron for no more than an hour, if that.

I monitor my power consumption with a meter. Last ironing session used only 0.25kwh, so I do wonder about the source of the figures you're using. So, I can be confident I'm using WAY less energy using the iron my way, than by using the dryer.

It takes me very little longer to hang out laundry than it does shaking and folding the stuff from the dryer, so the time factor isn't an issue for me.

Those power consumption monitors are eye-opening.

It occurs to me that the figures you're quoting may be wattage? KwH is the way of measuring the kilowatts used per hour: modern dryers use about 4.5kw per cycle. (I just checked it at sust-it.net which lists lots of brands and consumption)

I think my 0.25 for ironing is still a better bet.

I confess I send my cotton and linen clothes to the laundry...I like the light starch or whatever they use...and I think I save money over paying part-time housekeeper to iron. All those years when DH and I were both working, I sure wasn't going to spend my time on weekends doing laundry. Plus I could never iron well the few times I tried. DH's minimum number of 8-10 dress shirts weekly would have taken me hours.

When talking with coworkers, I was interested how differently we all allocated our household money...I always did my own hair and nails while most women went weekly to salon then did their own cleaning, ironing. I'd rather pay for a parttime weekly housecleaner rather than buy a new outfit/theater tickets/whatever every month. After we retired I still used laundry and parttime help (nowadays really necessary) and forwent other purchases.

Thinking back, I guess I always knew that a professional whether housecleaner or laundry could save me hours of amateur effort...and I was more than willing to pay. Just like the mow & blow guys with their heavy larger equioment can do a dozen lawns a day...LOL josh

sara ~ Yes, wattage. Yes, converted into KWh so the hour comparison would be comprehendable. Yes, I *can* iron a regular man's shirt quicker [5 mins] but those workshirts were heavy, heavy 100% cotton and simply took longer to iron smooth. Usage time was actually computed (like the meter, which didn't exist back then) to actual time pulling electricity, which when one is ironing is from start to finish, not just per piece. The problem with saying a dryer uses 'X' amount KWh is that dryers vary considerably both in electrical efficiency and in which temperature setting is used.

Frankly, my thought at the end of my experiment was that laundry should be done in whatever way is most efficient *and* comfortable for the do-er, and the weekly amounts of electricity used were so minimal as to make little difference. After all, just standing in front of an open refrigerator for a minute can cause some models to consume as much or more electricity to re-cool than would be used in drying one load of lightweight wash in an electric dryer. We do have a tendency to forget that our electric usage bill is a cumulative bill, and not solely the result of one appliance's usage.

I have always considered that the time spent doing [whatever] is of value. Personal comparative value. Thus, if my time is to be spent hanging up clothes on a drying line OR watching TV, the higher value would be to hang clothes. But if my time is to be spent hanging clothes on a drying line/ironing OR cleaning the bathroom, then my personal value system puts the higher value on cleaning the bath while the machine wuffs the clothes. This doesn't mean that any one activity actually is of more or lesser true value, but that I place a comparative value on various activities so that when I have 4 hours for housework, I use the time as efficiently as possible. But to be honest, even now, when I have far more time available for household activities, I'd rather clean the commode than hang up clothes. YVMV (Your values may vary)

I quite understand: we go through that discussion a lot: sure, Himself COULD do lots of stuff on the house, but with very limited time, is it worth spending what little there is available on chores, rather than pay someone else to do it?

Everyone works out their own best way.

The frequency of washing door mat really depends on the color and on the type of door mat it is. If it's durable and thick I would wash it seldom like for example once in a month. And also that depends on the time of the year - at the summer I wash mine once maybe.

Here is a link that might be useful: washable door mat