Hand-Washing Body Washcloths?

[SophieGirl]

Any suggestion for sanitarily hand-washing the washcloths that I use to take my daily sponge-bath? (Yes --- sometimes I shower still --- but only on days when I have to wash my hair --- the rest of the time, though, I find I get better results from a sponge-bath.)

Problem is ---- towels (especially the ones I use for body-washing --- though also the kitchen ones as well) are still in the category that I have to haul off to elsewhere that there existeth a washing machine and a dryer.

With my other clothes (except for towels and undies) here's what I do. First, I check for stains --- and if I find any I wash that with a stain-removing spray (then I leave it for about ten minutes) and then get to the rest of the washing process. What I do is I put my clothes in a bucket with a tiny bit of laundry detergent and fill it with cold water. I swish the clothes around well. Then I leave it for a period of time no less than an hour, but no more than several hours. After that, every twenty minutes or so, I drain all the water from the bucket while holding the clothes in, fill it with fresh cold water, and swish the clothes around again. That part I repeat (usually about 2 or 3 times) till the water, after those twenty-or-so minutes, stops appearing soapy. After that, I hang the clothes to drip-dry using an extra rail I hung over the center of the bath-tub (so all the dripping gets drained away properly). When the clothes are not yet dry, but no longer dripping, I transfer them to another rail I have (on wheels) in the endogarden (which is what I call the room that houses my really-tiny indoor herb garden). And when I am confident that they are completely dry, then I put them in the "just cleaned" area of my wardrobe closet (or fold the clothes and put them in their respective places).

This works well for most of my clothes --- but I'd like to also be able to wash my towels at home --- including the ones that I use for sponge-bathing. I'm just concerned, how do I do this in a way that is sanitary?

Thanks,
Sophia

[Miss Cellane]

By sanitary you mean killing germs? You could use boiling water instead of the cold water and follow your normal routine. And you could add bleach to the bucket with the boiling water or do a separate step using some bleach to kill any germs.

Do you have any place where you could hang the towels out in the sun to dry? Sunlight is a natural disinfectant of sorts.

[SophieGirl]

Around here? Unfortunately, I don't have any place I can hang them with direct sunlight. I wish I did --- but I don't, and there's no place where I can safely set that up. The endogarden probably gets more sunlight than any other room in the house --- but even that is a limited amount, and it's not direct.

The rest of what you say though, I can definitely do. Will that be sufficient, if I do everything else you suggest? Or, do you suggest I put this whole idea on-hold for until such time as I *can* safely set up an outdoor place in the sun to hang my towels?

Thanks,
Sophia

[Mrs-M]

I second, Miss Cellane's, boiling water/bleach method. If you want to start washing towels and panties, too, the only thing you'd need is a larger unit to wash in, and for that, I recommend an old plastic baby-bath (a dime-a-dozen at any thrift store), or a large, Rubbermaid tote.

As for hot water use, a little would go a long way in your case. (I'm thinking, two, maybe three, kettle fulls per load). Of course you would have to add a little warm water to the wash-tub to top-up the level, but as long as you have enough to swish a few towels/panties around in, that's all you'd need).

For large loads, a second wash-tub would come in extra handy, because all of the sudsy laundry could then be transferred into a waiting tub for holding, while you worked on finishing up all the washing. That way all the freshly cleaned items would have a place to themselves, a place that would ensure they stayed clean, and, out of the way of your work space.

The washing part could be done with a toilet plunger, which, IMO, would make for a much easier washing operation, and speed up the rinsing process, too! In the case of rinsing, I'd be tempted to fill the bathtub with a shallow amount of water, and rinse right in the tub. Simple.

As for drying, do you have any windows with full-sun exposure? If so, one or two drying-lines could be easily strung across the exposed area to aid in the drying process, and to allow you a little access to whatever natural sunlight is available. Even so, using a combination of both bleach and hot water, that in itself would cover-off all sanitation requirements/concerns nicely.

P.S. Could you explain your situation a little further, Re: access to sunlight?

[Mrs-M]

To add, my mom washed oldest sisters diapers in the bathtub for quite a time before she had the money to buy a wringer-machine, and she tells of hanging the diapers up anywhere and everywhere she could to see them dry in time for re-use, because she didn't even have a clothesline at her disposal at the time. In those years she relied on a ribbed, glass-fronted washboard to scrub, and the bathtub was her soak-and-treat basin. She'd fill the tub with hot water (enough to wash in), add a splash of bleach, let the diapers sit and soak for a while, then she'd go to work washing and rinsing till done. She still brags, "nary a diaper rash", which tells me that the sanitation factor was more than adequate and well in-line with acceptable. i.e. Germ-killing. So with towels and panties, I say no problem.

[Mrs-M]

Revisiting yet once again. Gosh I like this thread! I was thinking, with body-washcloths, they really don't get that soiled (really, truly), so if one was to allow them to soak for 15-20 minutes, then plunge-wash for 2-3 minutes, I believe that would be more than satisfactory enough a process of seeing the whole entire wash-procedure through. Likewise with bath/hand-towels, even underpants for that matter.

[Mrs-M]

Bump