how did ppl in the past clean and dry their clothes...?

Question

when it was really cold and snow without loundry machines.

how did they dry them?

Answer 1

Without machines they used streams-- then clothes boilers and literally boiled them-- using a washboard and homemade lye soap or even a plain piece of wood to scrub them with a brush. Clothes dried on clotheslines or bushes or fences outside-- on chairs and hanging on wooden pegs from the rafters indoors.
When necessary, snow or ice was melted. After the clothes, the family bathed in the wash water using a gourd dipper to rinse themselves-- usually with the smallest first and the biggest last-- no, they didn't change the water-- remember that wash kettle held-- maybe 25 gallons of water and every bit had to be brought in by someone, from a stream or a well-- a bucket at a time. Thus you now know why folks tell jokes about a bath once a week! Usually Saturday night because Sunday was church meeting time-- the primary entertainment for a family in days gone by.
The lye soap was made in the fall after hogs were killed for the winter-- no refrigs or freezers remember-- so they used smoke houses, pickling and dry rubs to preserve the meat. Canning as we know it wasn't known until sometime after World War I. Lye soap is made from ashes of hardwood trees and lard from the pig-- the lard was rendered ( liquified) from cooking the pig skin until the fat was out of the flesh-- leaving "cracklin's". Which our foremothers (sorry about that) then made cracklin' bread-- and yes, it's good. Present day we have pig skins-- same thing but cooked a bit different.
Now if anyone wants to make lye soap-- find a receipe use wikipedia or google-- I think there is a third ingredient and I can't bring it to mind-- age you see... The last time I remember my mother making lye soap was about 1945 or so-- the US was at war you remember-- and all sorts of things were required of our citizens to support our troops and our allies. Rationing being one.
OK-- end of history lesson. I hope I answered your question.

Answer 2

They wash with hands and hang to dry... sometimes they would have a room for hanging the clothes or just use the kitchen where its warmer.

Answer 3

they washed them inside in a boiling pot over a fire inthe fireplace,back then everyone had a fireplace,thats hoe they cooked and kept warm!and they dried they by hanging them up in the house at the mantle or wherever they could!

Answer 4

Infact.. the more dirt the clothes, the more cold it stops...
So, they might not even wash ..

I have even more basic question..what did people wear in past??

Answer 5

They'd probably get ice and melt it to wash the clothes. That or they just didn't wash them.

Answer 6

wash it in streams dry in the sun or over a fire