What is National Laundry Day?
Benjamin Franklin may have skipped one thing in life: laundry. On April 15th, we will be able to assess our laundry habits and teach our children how to make healthy ones.
Humans have been washing in various ways for as long as it has existed. One of the earliest methods was to beat the dust and dirt out of our clothes and bedding with a stick or pounding the grime out against a rock in the river.
From a mixture of animal fat and ashes, early soap was created. A river washed washingboards and tubs. The grime and stains were removed by scrubbing the fabric over the washboard's ribs and soap's ribs. Humans were also washed their clothes in manually cranked tubs. These tubs eventually led to the first automatic washing machine. In 1910, Alva J. Fisher was granted the first U.S. patent for an electric washing machine.
Dry cleaning is another method we've used to dry our clothes. Dry cleaning has risen and decreased on the household budget these days, as many clothes are wash-and-wear.
The way we do laundry has also changed. Clothing were hanged on a line to dry before commercial washing machines and dryers were invented. Although many people line dry their washing, few people have clotheslines, although many people still line dry their laundry. In addition, the poorer a person was, the more often they washed their clothes and linens. Once a week was fairly normal, and washing day was traditionally on a Monday, as shown in several books and nursery rhymes. This is an example of a nursery rhyme from before the Victorian period, and weekly laundry washed on a Monday.
