The weekly wash 1930s style - Stock-Video

The washboard and soap and the wooden wash tub on its stand was the things that the housewife required in order to do her weekly wash. The dirty clothes were soaked then the soap was applied to the garment and it was rubbed over the ridges of the glass washboard. The wooden washtub would have been made by the local joiner with the metal bands supplied and attached to the tub by the blacksmith also a local tradesman. The water would have been heated on the farmhouse fire. The washing was done outside or in the washhouse if it was wet. The water was heated by several kettles of clean water being added to the tub. Once washed the clothes had to be rinsed in hot clean water from the fire in the house. The washed and rinsed clothes were put through the mangle to extract as much water as possible before the garments were hung on the washing line in the garden with clothes pegs made by the tinkers who came to the area with their goods. The weekly was usually took 6 hours. The skills of doing the washing were passed down from one generation to the next.