Hug Your Washing Machine Today! (9-Minute Mommy Peptalk Video)

Hug Your Washing Machine Today! (9-Minute Mommy Peptalk Video)

Hate doing laundry? Then watch this… Learn about the arduous 8-step, 3 to 4 day laundering process of our great-great grandmothers.

 


photo credit: mallala museum via

3 comments

  1. I, too, am very grateful for my washing machine. Then again, not to, um, pour dirty wash water on your parade… people used to have far fewer clothes…and they were washed far less frequently. Also, only the lowest class of women did their own washing. For a closer examination, I highly highly highly recommend the book “More Work for Mother” by Ruth Schwartz Cowan.

    From Ruth’s website:

    In this classic work of women’s history (winner of the 1984 Dexter Prize from the Society for the History of Technology), Ruth Schwartz Cowan shows how and why modern women devote as much time to housework as did their colonial sisters. In lively and provocative prose, Cowan explains how the modern conveniences—washing machines, white flour, vacuums, commercial cotton—seemed at first to offer working-class women middle-class standards of comfort. Over time, however, it became clear that these gadgets and gizmos mainly replaced work previously conducted by men, children, and servants. Instead of living lives of leisure, middle-class women found themselves struggling to keep up with ever higher standards of cleanliness.

    Twenty-five years after its initial publication, the insights of More Work for Mother are still fresh, reminding us of the unintended consequences of introducing technology into our daily lives.

    http://ruthschwartzcowan.com/selected-publications/moreworkformother/

    May you repairman come hastily and repair efficiently! May you launder in peace and serenity all the days of your choosing.

    P.S. While dealing with laundry, I sometimes fantasize about moving to a Jewishly observant nudist colony…then I would only have to launder sheets and towels! I guess this is part of our expulsion from Gan Eden…

  2. Now you know why they wore the same dress all week and changed only for Shabbos, just they wore aprons which got changed as needed. socks and maybe underwear was changed more frequently. many people owned only 2-3 changes at most. Especially if you consider that most people wore home made clothing.

Leave a Reply

RSS
Follow by Email
Instagram