Laundry Thoughts

Laundry is a big question mark

In Germany, my military quarters had a cabinet with the kitchen radiator in it and multiple "hangers" you could pull forward (I mean pull OUT of the cabinet somehow,c though they were permanently attached) that MIGHT have been intended to be for drying laundry. I never had it explained to me and I never used it that way, but I wondered.

Europe also trended towards having myriad commercially available products readily available for using your bathtub as the drip pan for various clothes drying schemes.

It's not ideal. It's not a perfect solution. It's potentially AVAILABLE though already and if combined with hand washing, potentially at least addresses CLOTHES, though it doesn't resolve issues like dealing with bedding.

From a piece on Project SRO:

You should have the ability to hand wash your favorite silk blouse that you wouldn't dare let anyone else touch but you should also be able to hand wash a few items if you live alone and have trouble coming up with a full load of laundry and don't want to let it sit and begin to smell or if it is late in the month and you don't have enough cash on hand to put quarters in the machines.

I know from growing up in an era when it was more common to hang dry pieces in the backyard and from living in Europe in my twenties that even in a small apartment, ONE person should be able to hand wash most of their CLOTHES. In my first apartment, I had a large bathroom with space for a washer and dryer but couldn't afford those appliances and I was living alone while my husband was in Basic Training and I hand washed my clothes after work every day and hung them to dry.

So that was included in the notes on that site because I KNOW it's possible to arrange for the ability to do some hand washing of small items and hang them to dry even in a small apartment in a city. Europeans do this already by simply BUYING products at local stores designed to be used in a small apartment on the balcony or above the tub.

The problem I'm TRYING to solve for ME is a solution that will handle ALL my laundry needs within certain logistical constraints for germ control reasons. But the way to bet is I will AT BEST get back into housing and again hand wash some items while trying to figure out more solutions.