02/23/2026
This may be the longest video I put up, maybe ever.
This is for the people who;
-Can't afford a washer/dryer
-Don't have the funds to repeatedly pay to wash their clothes at the laundrymat
-Have lost power and need to do their washing
-Are looking for ways to slow down their lives and bring back the intention to even menial tasks
I don't use the scrub board very often, but I genuinely love doing it when I do.
I will not pull it out when I'm in the wrong headspace because I don't want to resent it.
Performing this task this way brings me joy. People used to laugh at me when I said I wanted a washboard and to live like the pioneers, and now that I am an adult I get to, and with the shift toward homestead culture, there are fewer people bullying others for wanting to do things by hand.
Washboard washing:
1) fill a recepticle with water. It can be a tub, bucket, tote, a big bowl, a sink.... as long as it holds water and isn't too big it doesn't matter what it is. Unless you're washing in the stream. Then this step doesn't matter. Unless it's illegal... then refer back to sentence 1.
2) put your clothes in the water
3) grab your soap, get it wet, and get some on the board.
4) grab your clothes and start scrubbing.
5) rinse
6) dry
Some things to note:
Modern vinyl decals may peel off with scrubbing, so wash those clothes inside out and gently if you want to preserve your decals.
Dryers bake stains into fabric. Literally. Air dry is best. Yes even in winter! The cold, especially extreme cold, evaporates the water faster.
A warm summer breeze is the best dryer sheet in existence.
A bar of or is less than $3, and can last for months, even with consistant use.
A washboard brand new is around $40. Antique stores sometimes carry them for less. They will outlive you.
You have buckets at home that can hold water, so if you washed laundry by hand for a month, you could save $100 or more between soap, water, electricity, dryer sheets, and supplies if you continued your regular wash habits by hand.
The leftover water can be used to scrub the patio, water the garden (if you use all natural/plant safe options), or wash the car if you want to get some more use out of it before dumping it out.
ANYONE can learn how to clothes, and you don't have to worry about littles getting stuck in your
To the best of my knowledge, there is only ONE washboard company left in production in the US, the Columbus Washboard Company in Logan Ohio. I will post a link to their website in the comments.
Hopefully this video can help answer questions for anyone that has them, and for those who don't, I hope you found this educational and at least mildly entertaining.