Homemadesimple.com suggests installing a bulletin board to display washing instructions, a stain-removal chart and fabric care labels. The Web site also recommends designating a laundry bag for dry-cleaning -- it's much easier to grab and go than search everyone's room.
But Buttigieg's most important tip is to teach family members how to do the laundry.
"It's a life skill everyone needs to learn," she says.
Who knows, maybe the kids will start washing that stack of towels piling up at the bottom on the stairs -- after all, they use them, too.
Wash day blues
Sticks and stones not only break bones but they were the main instruments used to wash clothes. Rocks, sticks and sand were used by our Stone Age foremothers to pound clothes clean. Now, thankfully, we only have to toss the grimy garments into a machine. But before automatic washers, women spent many back-breaking hours on this necessary chore. Here is a timeline on the evolution of the washing machine, courtesy of Whirlpool Canada:
- 1797: Dirty clothes were dragged along a corrugated scrub board, requiring strong upper-body strength and approximately 50 gallons of water.
- 1846: The manual washer was patented. A lever moved clothes between two curved and ribbed surfaces.
- 1858: A rotary washing machine with a cylindrical tub and revolving paddles was patented.
- 1861: The wringer was introduced to squeeze water from the clothes.
- 1937: The first automatic machine washed, rinsed and extracted water: All in one appliance!
- 1950s: Manufacturers introduced machines with a spin-dry function, replacing wringers forever.
- 1965: The permanent press cycle minimized wrinkles, thus eliminating the need to iron many fabrics.
- 2000s: Front-loading machines reduce the amount of water and electricity needed to complete the cycle.
From the archive.
