Laundry Dilemma

[JustALittleBitClueless]

Please be kind, this is my first post and I would appreciate some guidance.

DH and I have been married six months (and nine days) and I'm really struggling with the laundry. Up until now, I've had to hand wash on the sink and do our sheets and pillowcases in the bath. It's a big effort to wring everything out, and some days I can't peg out on the line. I have an old wooden clothes horse and it's not up to much.

Well now we have bought a second hand twin tub, which is amazing, but I still don't have a clue what I am doing laundry wise.

Should I put the immersion on first and then connect the hose to the hot tap, and fill? Or should I connect the hose to the cold tap, and then use the twin tub heater? Which is more economical?

When I've washed the whites, do I need to add more powder when I put the coloureds in? Does anyone know? I'll be doing DH's work overalls last, of course.

Will it be okay to do the first spin back into the wash tub and then fill the spinner water tub with cold water from the tap, and move the output hose, so that the spinner water goes back into the sink? And how many times would I do the cold water thing? Until the water runs clear, I guess.

Sorry for all the questions, my mind is in a whirl. I could ask DM, but she lives three bus rides away and neither of us has a phone installed. Although we hope to have one once we've paid off the bank loan on the Cortina.

To add to the situation, I'm expecting, due on 1st July, I hope it's a boy. I don't know if it would be hygienic to wash the nappies first, given that they will need the hottest wash. But what about the other washing? I thought if the nappies were soaked in a bucket of Napisan and sluiced off beforehand, I could wash them first, and then do the baby's nightgowns, rompers, matinee coats, bonnets etc, towels, sheets and pillowcases, our clothes, then overalls last. I'd probably need to wash twice a week then.

But at the moment, is a weekly wash going to be enough, given that it might take several days to get things dry? We have a gas fire in the living room and a wall heater in the bedroom, so I probably need another clothes horse. I'm still working Monday to Friday, so have to do my housework at the weekend. At least DH spends Saturdays and Sundays fishing, which gets him out of my hair.

Reading this back, I may be overthinking things. But you'd think I'd be able to find a system that works. It's 1979, for goodness sake, not 1879. And I'm 19, with two 'A' levels, so I have a brain.

Oh bugger! Forgot to turn the immersion on!

We've got a shower attachment for the Tap!

And my gran knitted us a toilet seat cover AND a doll to go over the toilet roll! We are SO lucky

@Frickssake, you've got a head like a sieve!

One of the tubs must be a spinner - so why are you handwringing stuff in the sink?
Personally I'd wash everything else before dirty nappies - soak in boiling water then wash.
Better than washing everything else in water infused with poo and faeces.

We don't have a shower attachment, we use a jug.

Our toilet seat cover matches the pedestal mat ( they were wedding presents), and they go with the blue carpet. I'm jealous of your toilet roll dolly.

We've only just got the twin tub @EveryDayIsADuvetDay.

If I use Napisan, does that not sterilise the nappies, pre-wash? Like Milton? I'm happy to be corrected, I'm new to all this.

Well obviously you will have more time for housework once the baby arrives and you give up work. If you want a little bit of pin money you can always get yourself a little part-time job once the children are at secondary school. We could even have our first female prime minster in a months time if things go Mrs Thatchers way, who knows what women might achieve in future.
Do you have a colour TV yet or a black and white, we got a colour one for the Queen's silver jublilee, of course the licence is a bit more but I think its worth it.

Just switched on my Flatley airer- as a child I loved playing with the wooden slats that you hung the washing on to air. 👍

I did buy a spin dryer from eBay 4 years ago which spins at 2800 revs. Really useful for towels during wet weather - get a pint of water from them following a 1400 spin in washing machine

ElinoristhenewEnid Those wooden slats are so useful for getting oddments of food that have slipped down the side of the cooker out.

@justalittlebitclueless. I was told that if you soak nappies in napisan you only need to rinse them, spin and hang straight on the line! Seriously advice from 1980s😁

Word on the street is there are things called disposable nappies - think they are called Cosi fits

In view of the forecast for snow tomorrow I hope you have lit paraffin heater in the bathroom to stop the pipes from freezing 🤔

We rent a 19" colour set, it's in the front room. We have three pot rabbit ornaments on top, and a shire horse and cart, with barrels, on the window sill. We've got two smoked glass ashtrays on the mantelpiece, although we don't smoke. But all our relatives smoke and it's nice to be hospitable.

We painted the wall over the fireplace in a colour called chocolate. We have anaglypta on all the walls. The other three walls are a colour called mushroom.

We have fitted carpets on the stairs and upstairs, but only a carpet square in the front room. It's a grey and red swirly pattern. DH's uncle gave it to us for free.

The shire horse ornamental have transported me right back to the house of our neighbour in the 1980s.. She always wore a house coat and rollers and her house smelt of deep frying. She had a pink bathroom suite with pink swirls carpet. She was lovely!

@Frickssake

Oh bugger! Forgot to turn the immersion on!

Yeah MIL has one of them too, and no central heating. There isn't even a tap attachment in the bathroom.

We need to try and sell this house.

Colour television? Ours is black and white and you have to turn a dial to tune it. You soon learn the order of the three channels.

Omg. I can still feel the rubber pants stuck to my thighs and the stick of the pin on my nappies 😥 Must have been very young, but left a long lasting impression.

Fond memories of DM and her twin tub, though 🥰

Another gem from DM. The year is 1984.

My younger DSis is coming out from England to visit us in Foreign Parts, with her toddler. She has asked us to check whether our local supermarket sells “disposable nappies” which apparently you use once and then throw away! If they’re not available in she plans to bring a fortnight’s supply on the 12 hour plane journey with her!

AIBU to think that this is a ridiculous newfangled affectation and surely she should be able to use proper nappies for two weeks. She claims that she doesn’t possess any and that she doesn’t fancy hauling dirty nappies across two continents, out and about on daily sightseeing trips, and then organising a nappy laundering setup in someone else’s bathroom. I’ve told her we’ve got a perfectly good twin tub and the washing line on the balcony is more or less sheltered from the monsoon rain so there’s at least a 50% chance it will dry. Honestly, the younger generation!

Hoping mum will let me play my LP on the music centre in the living room

Got to go. My dad's picking me up in his new Cortina

< moves cat, mouse and brandy glass over to make room for Shire horse ensemble >

Sorry I'm late to this - I only just got your telegram. I have a mangle to squeeze out the excess water - makes life so much easier.

Oh no @ElinoristhenewEnid, I hope our pipes will be safe overnight, we only have a gas heater in our bedroom and nothing in the bathroom or other bedroom.

@Frickssake, my DH is working on our Cortina tomorrow. Something to do with plugs and points and feeler gauges, apparently. I'm such a pea brain when it comes to anything mechanical.

@ElinoristhenewEnid, what's eBay?

@JustALittleBitClueless

Similar to the classified ads in the local newspaper where people sell unwanted items. If you don't want people to know where you live you can always give a P.O. Box number! Or a card in the post office window for 1/- per week!