Doing the laundry at camp

[Eamonn]

Yes, I'll admit to being very spoiled.

My mother took care of all my laundry needs until I got married.

What goes on in our laundry room at home is something I'm happy to leave between Her Who Must Be Obeyed and the Maytag Man.

I know a few years back when it came time to replace the washer and dryer, I was informed that it "Had to be Maytags"!

The last time I was in Lowe's I was very surprised how cheap washers and dryers were!! Then I found out I was only looking at the bases you need to hold these appliances!! I couldn't help thinking if they needed to be higher from the ground ? Why the heck didn't they make them that way?

I'm now hearing from HWMBO that a steam dryer would be nice?

Of course in my little world I don't see that laundry should be rocket science!! It's just the stuff that you have to do before you stick all that dirty stuff in that big hole that is hard.

One year I did try my hand at this fine art of laundering.

We were at the International Scout Chalet in Kandersteg. The Scouts looked good at the start of the camp in their new white t-shirts with the international scout emblem across the chest.

After my laundering they looked shall we say very fetching in their pink t-shirts with the international Scout emblem across the chest!!

As a rule when I go to camp I take enough stuff. Which means I don't have to do any laundry.

When I did need a uniform shirt washed I used to give it a quick rinse in washing up liquid.

We did try the bucket and plunger thingy at the jamboree.

I think we must have been a bit heavy handed with the soap. We had a heck of a job trying to rinse it out of the clothes. I gave up and we went back to using washing up liquid.

I have ended up with the wrong shirt a few times when at Wood Badge I offered to do the laundry.

Yes I'm the one who sends letters home telling parents to mark the clothes clearly with their son's name - What's that they say about practice what you preach?

I did get lazy at the 2005 Jambo and bought a new pair of socks, rather than just washing a pair. -They are nice they have the jambo logo on and only cost $2.20 a toe!!

Eamonn.

[Gold Winger]

Good gosh! How 1950s

 

I learned how to do laundry as a Cub Scout and it is a good thing that I did because my wife didn't understand how to separate colors (colours to you).

 

FWIW, steam dryers are nothing but a scam to take more of your money away from you. It uses more water and you can tumble out wrinkles on low in just a few minutes, not the 15 that the steam dryer takes. Heck in 15 minutes, I can starch and iron three shirts.

 

 

[Stosh]

large cook pot, small toilet/sink plunger a little soap and one can do the laundry. If one doesn't have this equipment a good rinse in the creek should do the job. Unless it's raining out, one should be able to dry out their stuff in about a half hour. Otherwise, with such things as socks, walk them dry. After all if one is fording creeks on a hike, dry socks are a luxury, not a necessity.

 

Stosh

[Gold Winger]

I view dry socks as a necessity. Wet socks promote softening of the calluses on the feet which can lead to some incredible blisters.

 

 

[gcan]

ok, so boys actually do wear clean clothes at camp? I was under the impression that no matter how much I sent, he's gonna come home with maaaybe two outfits actually used. Would I have better luck teaching the whole troup to do laundry, or just packing 7 days worth of stuff and hoping for the best?

 

[Joni4TA]

Our Troop washes only their towels and field uniform shirts (class A) at the mid-camp point.

[epalmer84]

Before deploying to Saudi Arabia/Iraq in 1990, I went to an old hardware store and bought a brand new scrub board. When washing clothes or dishes, you want only a minimum of suds too much makes it hard to get all of the soap out. I spent six months washing heavy clothing by hand and I'm darn glad to have machines to do it now. I still take that scrub board to camp and wash my clothing as needed.

 

Ed