In UK, the tradition of washing on Mondays dates back to the days of wash coppers, dollies, washboards etc. when washing clothes for a family was an all day task. Before there was soap powder one of the jobs was to make flakes by shaving a block of soap. There was also blue and starch solutions to be made up and a heap of other tasks. In those days most people had a roast for Sunday lunch and there would be meat left over to make a simple cold meal such as cold meat and pickles on the Monday. As you would not have had a fridge it made sense to use up the leftover meat the next day. So, as the only day the housewife could get away with not cooking a meal, Monday was the obvious choice for doing the washing.
Why did they only wash on Mondays????
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whirlcool
Well-known member
In New Orleans it was traditional for the wife to cook up a batch of Red Beans & Rice on Mondays which was also a traditional wash day. You could set up the beans & rice in the morning and let them simmer all day long while you did the washing.
Mayby or Maybe Not
Have several Victorain, Edwardian and laundry manuals up to the 1930's from Britian, France and the UK and am here to tell you Monday was not the universal wash day.
For one thing it would mean that that manual separation, pre-treatment and soaking would have to take place on a Sunday, a day of rest and religon. Manuals suggested housewives or others use any day early enough in the week to get the job over with but allowed the family to have clean wash before the weekend.
Soap flakes could be found on both sides of the pond by the early 1900's which saved all that shaving. Of course if prepared product was out of a household's budget, then yes it was shaving off bits from a bar.
Have several Victorain, Edwardian and laundry manuals up to the 1930's from Britian, France and the UK and am here to tell you Monday was not the universal wash day.
For one thing it would mean that that manual separation, pre-treatment and soaking would have to take place on a Sunday, a day of rest and religon. Manuals suggested housewives or others use any day early enough in the week to get the job over with but allowed the family to have clean wash before the weekend.
Soap flakes could be found on both sides of the pond by the early 1900's which saved all that shaving. Of course if prepared product was out of a household's budget, then yes it was shaving off bits from a bar.
optima
Well-known member
Monday
Our Nanna always used to wash on a Monday morning using her Colston Twin Tub which used to annoy me especially if i stayed there at weekends hoping that she might just wash on a saturday or a sunday for a change, but she never ever changed her ways Monday was always washing day 100% of the time.
Our Nanna always used to wash on a Monday morning using her Colston Twin Tub which used to annoy me especially if i stayed there at weekends hoping that she might just wash on a saturday or a sunday for a change, but she never ever changed her ways Monday was always washing day 100% of the time.
whirlcool
Well-known member
When I was growing up our household laundry day was Monday. I remember coming home for lunch from grammar school to the smell of bleach in the house. And if we visited my Aunt Evelyn on Monday she'd have her Maytag wringer out. That's the one I always got chased away from. Both my aunt & mother said that those machines rip little boy's fingers, hands & arms off.
It never dawned on my to ask "if those machines are so dangerous why do you have one?" I probably would've gotten slapped for that.
It never dawned on my to ask "if those machines are so dangerous why do you have one?" I probably would've gotten slapped for that.
rolls_rapide
Well-known member
Wash day on Mondays?...
Not always.
When my great grandmother lived in a block of tenement flats, there was a single washhouse with copper boiler in the back yard, which was shared between the various flats. Each had a different day to do their laundry, although it was usual for the women to ask each other if they wished to use the facilities for the odd item when the primary user had finished - no doubt if it was a fine sunny day.
Not always.
When my great grandmother lived in a block of tenement flats, there was a single washhouse with copper boiler in the back yard, which was shared between the various flats. Each had a different day to do their laundry, although it was usual for the women to ask each other if they wished to use the facilities for the odd item when the primary user had finished - no doubt if it was a fine sunny day.
Copper
When I first moved to Scotland in 1997 the house I bought was very primative, with no bathroom or hot water. In the kitchen there was a big earthenware sink with a cold tap and in one corner was the wash copper. The tub itself was cast iron rather than copper and the fireplace bit underneath looked too small to be very effective. I don't know if a fire would be lit from scratch or hot coals might have been taken from an open fire or cooking range.
When I first moved to Scotland in 1997 the house I bought was very primative, with no bathroom or hot water. In the kitchen there was a big earthenware sink with a cold tap and in one corner was the wash copper. The tub itself was cast iron rather than copper and the fireplace bit underneath looked too small to be very effective. I don't know if a fire would be lit from scratch or hot coals might have been taken from an open fire or cooking range.
Coppers
One does not need a large fire. Suppose hot coals could be brought from the range to start a fire, or one simply make up from kindling and coal or wood. Long as there was a proper draft a properly built copper would get water hot soon enough. The main problem was filling the things with water, then getting all that hot water out again.
The term "copper" in relation to laundry is or was generally used for any vessel used for boiling water. This ranged from large tubs placed on top of ranges to what we're on about; large pails built into what amounts to fireboxes.
In most of the UK only the very wealthy would have actually had coppers made from that metal. Cast iron was the most common material and was found in terrace housing to private estates. Many well off families would have the copper outside in the outhouse, for terrace estates and others it would have been built into the scullery.
There isn't a home in the UK that was built say around the Victorian era through the Edwardian and probably up until WWI or later that didn't have a copper built into the kitchen area. Most often when homes were remodeled the things are taken out to make room for mod cons.
When they filmed "1900 House" it took a bit of looking but they were able to find a home with much of it's original fittings such as wallpaper,floor tiles, gaslighting, plumbing, outhouse, and the coppper still there. Mind you such things are usually covered by paint, carpets, or hidden behind new walls.
One does not need a large fire. Suppose hot coals could be brought from the range to start a fire, or one simply make up from kindling and coal or wood. Long as there was a proper draft a properly built copper would get water hot soon enough. The main problem was filling the things with water, then getting all that hot water out again.
The term "copper" in relation to laundry is or was generally used for any vessel used for boiling water. This ranged from large tubs placed on top of ranges to what we're on about; large pails built into what amounts to fireboxes.
In most of the UK only the very wealthy would have actually had coppers made from that metal. Cast iron was the most common material and was found in terrace housing to private estates. Many well off families would have the copper outside in the outhouse, for terrace estates and others it would have been built into the scullery.
There isn't a home in the UK that was built say around the Victorian era through the Edwardian and probably up until WWI or later that didn't have a copper built into the kitchen area. Most often when homes were remodeled the things are taken out to make room for mod cons.
When they filmed "1900 House" it took a bit of looking but they were able to find a home with much of it's original fittings such as wallpaper,floor tiles, gaslighting, plumbing, outhouse, and the coppper still there. Mind you such things are usually covered by paint, carpets, or hidden behind new walls.
1900 Washday
Takes you back, but thank God one never actually had to live through this.
www.1900s.org.uk
Takes you back, but thank God one never actually had to live through this.
Monday washdays: the weekly wash/laundry before electric appliances
See what it was like in the past to do the laundry by hand in the heat and humidity with no modern appliances
dirtybuck
Well-known member
I seem to remember my mom washing on either Monday or Tuesday using the '57 Frigidaire control tower washer (my dad worked for GM and all of our appliances were Frigidaire). Drying was done outside.
Laundress, I found it rather humorous in the link you provided...a coupon for a package of free Tide Pods was to the right. Too bad they didn't have them in the early 1900's. It would've made the task of doing laundry so much easier.
Laundress, I found it rather humorous in the link you provided...a coupon for a package of free Tide Pods was to the right. Too bad they didn't have them in the early 1900's. It would've made the task of doing laundry so much easier.
It also depends on what day folks burn
Where I live, houses used to have (probably until the 1970s) their own incinerators.
You burned on 1-2 days / week so that it didn't make everyone's laundry smell foul.
So that might contribute to a 'wash day.' Now, of course, we say 'Wash day? Just forget it!'
Where I live, houses used to have (probably until the 1970s) their own incinerators.
You burned on 1-2 days / week so that it didn't make everyone's laundry smell foul.
So that might contribute to a 'wash day.' Now, of course, we say 'Wash day? Just forget it!'
One Is Not Above Busting Out The Washboard, Hoover TT, Mangl
But you'll pry my *fully* automatic washing machines out of my cold dead hands.
But you'll pry my *fully* automatic washing machines out of my cold dead hands.
Laundry Smelling Foul Due To *Burning*
Hate to break it to you but if one was living during Victorian or Edwardian times anywhere near a major urban area it was always *burn* day.
Coal fired steam boilers powered everything from locomotives to industrial equipment. Coal was also the chief means of heating and cooking thus soot from such fires was everywhere.
The BBC programme "1900" house gave a taste as to what life was like. Back and front gardens had to be planted with things that would withstand all that air pollution, even then they rarely lasted more than a season or so. Laundry hung on the lines often received flecks of soot, and the closer one lived to manufacturing or a RR line the greater the chances. Even then you had the soot and smoke from your chimmney as well as the others in the area.
Where possible persons living in urban cities such as London would sent their wash to commercial laundries located in rural or semi-rural areas where supposedly the air was fresher or at least less foul.
Then there were the various other *things* people could legally do back then that fouled air. Everything from rendering fats, keeping livestock (chickens, geese, ducks, cows, etc..),and the biggest how well their outhouse was maintained. All these things meant depending upon which way the wind blew there could be a rather strong pong on your laundry.
Hate to break it to you but if one was living during Victorian or Edwardian times anywhere near a major urban area it was always *burn* day.
Coal fired steam boilers powered everything from locomotives to industrial equipment. Coal was also the chief means of heating and cooking thus soot from such fires was everywhere.
The BBC programme "1900" house gave a taste as to what life was like. Back and front gardens had to be planted with things that would withstand all that air pollution, even then they rarely lasted more than a season or so. Laundry hung on the lines often received flecks of soot, and the closer one lived to manufacturing or a RR line the greater the chances. Even then you had the soot and smoke from your chimmney as well as the others in the area.
Where possible persons living in urban cities such as London would sent their wash to commercial laundries located in rural or semi-rural areas where supposedly the air was fresher or at least less foul.
Then there were the various other *things* people could legally do back then that fouled air. Everything from rendering fats, keeping livestock (chickens, geese, ducks, cows, etc..),and the biggest how well their outhouse was maintained. All these things meant depending upon which way the wind blew there could be a rather strong pong on your laundry.
One Major Reason For Laundry On Whatever Day
Was one's religion and to an extent social habits.
If one went to church on Sunday then you wanted to look one's best (the rationale behind the weekly Saturday night bath as well), and of course not offend. So wash had to be done in order for there to be clean clothing and body linen by Saturday.
Sunday was also the only day of the week many had off from work. It was then one put on one's "Sunday best" and went visiting, to the park,courting or some such amusement. Obviously you'd want clean clothes for that!
Was one's religion and to an extent social habits.
If one went to church on Sunday then you wanted to look one's best (the rationale behind the weekly Saturday night bath as well), and of course not offend. So wash had to be done in order for there to be clean clothing and body linen by Saturday.
Sunday was also the only day of the week many had off from work. It was then one put on one's "Sunday best" and went visiting, to the park,courting or some such amusement. Obviously you'd want clean clothes for that!
My Mom used to get so mad
when someone said "Monday Washday" recall her to say " if you have babies, EVERY day is wash day" (diapers)
when someone said "Monday Washday" recall her to say " if you have babies, EVERY day is wash day" (diapers)
iheartmaytag
Well-known member
Grandma did wash on Mondays
Beans and cornbread for dinner. She washed with a gas powered Maytag which took her most of the morning to get started. Tuesday was usually ironing and mending
Mom, like many post WWII housewives washed everyday, or whenever there was a load.
I pretty much do the same, bit the big "washday" when I strip beds and the extras is usually Saturday.
Beans and cornbread for dinner. She washed with a gas powered Maytag which took her most of the morning to get started. Tuesday was usually ironing and mending
Mom, like many post WWII housewives washed everyday, or whenever there was a load.
I pretty much do the same, bit the big "washday" when I strip beds and the extras is usually Saturday.
My mom did all her washing/ironing on Mondays. And she ironed EVERYTHING--sheets, pillowcases, dish towels, tablecloths, shirts, trousers. It took all day to get it done. This is probably why I am allergic to ironing, LOL.
Sunday night she would put all whites in the suds-saver tub with water and a little detergent for an overnight soak. The double tubs had "scrubber ribs" built-in, so she'd rub a little Fels Naptha (bar soap) on items with stains, scrub them, then toss them over to the soaking tub. Monday morning, she'd pull the whites out of the water and stack them in load piles in the other tub. Then she'd lift each sopping wet load over to the washer.
Seems like a lot of work, doesn't it? But that's the way she did things.
Sunday night she would put all whites in the suds-saver tub with water and a little detergent for an overnight soak. The double tubs had "scrubber ribs" built-in, so she'd rub a little Fels Naptha (bar soap) on items with stains, scrub them, then toss them over to the soaking tub. Monday morning, she'd pull the whites out of the water and stack them in load piles in the other tub. Then she'd lift each sopping wet load over to the washer.
Seems like a lot of work, doesn't it? But that's the way she did things.
Burn days
True, every day was a burn day. I was thinking of more recent history but, of course, Monday-wash day predates that.
The 1900 house was truly fascinating. Since I think more episodes were broadcast in the UK, I wish I could see the British edition. But even the condensed PBS stuff was interesting. (So was _The 1940s House_ too but I digress).
As much as I have nostalgia for some things the ease of our lives is not something I wish to give up.
True, every day was a burn day. I was thinking of more recent history but, of course, Monday-wash day predates that.
The 1900 house was truly fascinating. Since I think more episodes were broadcast in the UK, I wish I could see the British edition. But even the condensed PBS stuff was interesting. (So was _The 1940s House_ too but I digress).
As much as I have nostalgia for some things the ease of our lives is not something I wish to give up.
1900 House
IIRC you amy be able to purchase the full BBC version from PBS or perhaps even on eBay somewhere. Of course you can try the latter for the British version as well but do not know if the DVDs are set by region.
Loved "1900 House" as well (as if you couldn't tell" but the mother's constant moaning got on my nerves. One would think with all the period dramas that come out of BBC she would have known what she was getting herself into, but obviously not.
Even leaving televison/film period dramas aside there are still plenty of women living in the UK who remember what "1900" life was like. Amoung her female family, friends and so forth someone should have been able to sit her down and say "are you quite mad?". *LOL*
Unlike the United States quite allot of homes in the UK didn't get "mod cons" until after WWII, in some cases years after.
IIRC you amy be able to purchase the full BBC version from PBS or perhaps even on eBay somewhere. Of course you can try the latter for the British version as well but do not know if the DVDs are set by region.
Loved "1900 House" as well (as if you couldn't tell" but the mother's constant moaning got on my nerves. One would think with all the period dramas that come out of BBC she would have known what she was getting herself into, but obviously not.
Even leaving televison/film period dramas aside there are still plenty of women living in the UK who remember what "1900" life was like. Amoung her female family, friends and so forth someone should have been able to sit her down and say "are you quite mad?". *LOL*
Unlike the United States quite allot of homes in the UK didn't get "mod cons" until after WWII, in some cases years after.
