Wringer Washing Machines

The green movement has given us a chance to look back at older ways of doing things to see if those long forgotten methods might be a better way to live compared to a modern lifestyle that cause us to leave a large carbon footprint. In travel, the bicycle has been around for generations but it still is one of the best approaches to green travel that is economical and healthy as well. So even in the simple task of washing our clothes, there may be alternatives to the conventional top loading washing machine that are more economical and easier on the environment.

A look at an old movie or a trip to the museum will show us old style washing machines that used a wringer to get the water out of the clothing rather than the spin cycle in your conventional dryer. These old wringer style machines look quaint and primitive but you have to say one thing for them and that is that they were green. Before anyone gave a thought that out environment could be hurt by all of our modern technology, early washing machines left little carbon footprint because much of the work of washing clothes was manual such as the wringer style machines required.

While there is no real movement to go back to washing machines with a wringer attached, it is good to look to ways to reduce how much energy we use up when we wash out clothing and even use some manual methods rather than always have to run a load through the washing machine using up water and power with each load. The old practice of "rinsing out a few things" is a way to get a small number of items washed without using the washing machine at all.

The truth is that in the process of washing clothing, the most potent agent in the operation is cold water. Far more gets out with a cold rinse than with laundry soap or any of the sophisticated mechanical maneuvers the machine performs. The "old fashioned" practice of just taking a garment and putting it in a small tub of cold water and letting it soak seem primitive but it is quite effective. You do that to a blouse or really any kind of laundry and then gently work the items you are rinsing with your fingers ending with a gentle squeeze to get the excess moisture out and you will have given your clothes a cleaning that is just as good as the washing machine can do.

You can also save energy and get your clothing dry in a way that makes them smell great by hanging them on a clothesline in the back yard. It uses nature's on drying system, a warm summer's breeze with zero energy used and no carbon imprint. This approach to laundry brings back some good we lost when we left behind old systems like the wringer style washer. Not only are these methods effective, inexpensive and green, they are many times fun for the family to do the laundry "the old fashioned way".