I once had a perfectly good wringer washing machine.

[democrank]

Sure, it needed a new plug and the pump didn’t pump, but I made the best of it. After washing, I emptied as much water as I could into a bucket on the floor, then tipped the machine against my knee to get the last few cups of water out. Stood her back on all fours, wheeled her to the kitchen sink, and filled her up for the rinse. It was great. You should have seen how those rollers worked. Slick as can be. They could flatten just about anything. I really liked that rig and got a wee bit possessive about it. MY washer, don’t mess with it.

My neighbor couldn’t understand why I wouldn’t buy a new washing machine. She showed me how hers worked and gave me hints about where I could get the best deal. I fought the concept of modernization because I liked things just the way they were. MY washer, don’t mess with it.

A few years later, I changed a little bit and bought a new washing machine. For some reason, I couldn’t do it without a compromise thrown in, so I got the basic model with not one bell and not one whistle. It was okay. Nothing to write home about, just okay. Way down deep I missed my wringer.

Going forward many decades————I still fight modernization, and I’m still inept at using (or understanding) anything electronic.

My daughter-in-law recently purchased a new washing machine which has a button for everything. Want to soak a single sock that has tar on it? I bet there’s a button for that. Want it to sing to you when the cycle is completed? Press here. It has more lights than a rocket ship dash board, and secretly, I was scared to death of it. One day when she was at work and I was there alone, I forced myself to use the darned thing. I screwed up, accidentally got the door locked before I had all my clothes in it, but I did it.

I’m not certain why all this came to mind today. I’ve been thinking about some resistance here to new ways of doing things. Like why do we need new if the old is okay? Why did I need a new washing machine if I could balance the old one against my knee and get the same results?

Then it hit me. Progress, in the hands of the right people, can not be stopped. It can’t be squashed. It can’t be diluted. It can’t be tampered with. If the right people are in charge, they won’t go backwards or tread water and call it progress.

Our country and our world needs some serious forward motion right now. Like going from a wringer washer to one that sings to you when the job is done.

[TEB]

1. Man democrank

That brings back memories of my mom and grandma doing wash and both ladies were liberal 😉

[malaise]

2. What a great post

Yesterday I decided it is time to learn some of the new features on both my new computer and the internet server I use. I used to be great at this stuff but it is now ahead of me - so it's two hours a day until I master it.

Either move with progress or fade away.

[moniss]

45. Fading

isn't so bad. You can be sure there will be lots of company. At least you'll likely find yourself sitting in a group with people who are capable of conversation rather than sitting around tapping on their phone. I'm enjoying fading immensely. Started going to the library again. But that's just the old revolutionary in me. Always going against the flow and standing out in the crowd.

[malaise]

46. I don't own a smart phone

That annoys lots of friends and family but I like to be tech savvy on my lap top

[True Blue American]

62. I have one

But prefer my IPad. That is my constant companion. Got a Mini as a Christmas present.

Now learning streaming on my smart TV. But I have a couple of family technicians who guide me through on the phone. They insisted I have a computer in the first place. Little did they know they created a monster!

[malaise]

70. ROFL re the monster

I used to love the IPad - it was useful when my last laptop crashed on me. Now I use it when I travel.

[Oppaloopa]

89. I don't even have a cell phone.

[KentuckyWoman]

96. The cell phone generation communicates just fine

They communicate differently than I do, but they interact with each other and the world they live in just fine.

This said, I still feel cheated by a birthday text / email and I won't read on a Kindle. I want the book. I want the letter. I want the call. I want a piece of paper.

[ProudLib72]

3. By the same token, we don't need every bell and whistle

We need something well built, something that works the way it should. We need a political washer that cleans the hell out of politics!

[Scarsdale]

34. What we need now is

something to "get the ORANGE" out.

[Backseat Driver]

4. LOL - I've always wanted my dryer to play

Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody when the load is done or maybe Freddie's new post-mortem release which may be his best. No luck yet, but a girl can dream of the app that will make it happen!

[Totally Tunsie]

8. Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody...

Perfect selection for the task!

Welcome to DU.

[True Blue American]

63. How about

Battle Hymn Of Republic?

[FakeNoose]

5. Yes but it's also a generational thing

Maybe you don't want that new washer with all the buttons and whistles, but they don't make them for you. They make them for your kids or grandkids, and they do want all the add-on features.

I don't really think I need a smart phone but my son and daughter-in-law insist that I have to have one. They can't live without theirs, but I hardly use the one they gave me. Usually I forget to even charge the stupid thing.

Progress is usually defined by the ones who are embracing the changes and finding a way to make them work. I'm 68 and I'll hang on to what I've got as long as I can.

[UniteFightBack]

14. You'll be glad to have that phone if you break down or if you get lost...it really can be an

indispensable tool.

[True Blue American]

64. I call AAA

On my smart phone.

[Oppaloopa]

90. I just ask to borrow someones for a local call. No one has ever said no to me. I am a white haired

senior woman.

[The Wizard]

20. Bells and whistles

mean more shit that will break. I liked our old washer with a mechanical on and off function, mechanical control for water level. The rest is crap designed to break so you need to buy a new one.

[The Mouth]

21. And when it does break

it requires an entire circuit board, usually costing half as much as the machine, to be replaced, instead of just a fuse or a solonoid or re-soldering a wire.

I have an awesome new stove with all kinds of bells and whistles, but the old Viking I could tear apart, replace a few wires, maybe a valve.

Anything that can't be repaired and must be replaced when it breaks is junk.

nothing beats a tube amp, or a pump shotgun, or a 1940's car or a rotary dial landline, all just stupid fluff for people who can't *FIX* stuff.

[FakeNoose]

23. Ha! I remember the old days in the 50s and 60s

... if your TV set went haywire, you called the TV repair man! No really! The guy came to your house with boxes of tubes, he opened up the back of your set and tested all the tubes. When he found the bad one, he replaced it with a good one. TV set was as good as new! The whole thing took maybe 20 minutes and you paid the guy about $10.

What happens now when the TV breaks? It goes to the landfill and we order one from Amazon for $400.

[Mr Jimmy]

26. When I was a kid the worst thing we could hear the TV repairman say

His name was Herb BTW, was "well, I guess it'll have to go to the shop".

That usually meant 2 week without Howdy Doody.

[Freddie]

27. My uncle (RIP)

Made a good living for 30 years fixing those TVs and installing antennas on roofs. Sadly he had a massive heart attack while installing an antenna, managed to get himself down but died in the ER, only 52. Nowadays he’d probably end up a salesman at Best Buy.

[NotASurfer]

36. $10 in 1960, adjusted for inflation, is about $85 today

Repairman made a decent living, if that's taken into account, for 20 minutes of skilled labor

And if you run it the other way, that $400 TV you throw away would have run somewhere in the $45-50 range in 1960

Sounds trivial in contemporary terms but I remind myself about that every time a more seasoned person fusses over ten dollars. That ten dollars might have been a really good steak dinner to them, not all that long ago through the filter of memory.

[FakeNoose]

39. Well I don't know what they charged because my parents paid them

I'm guessing it wasn't a high fee, but I'm just using this as an illustration.

[moniss]

44. Actually

where I grew up back then you didn't need $10 unless you had the family with you. My neck of the woods many of the taverns (yes if it has bar stools it's a tavern and not a grill or pub etc.) always had fish fry on Friday and fried chicken on Saturday. No such thing as a "family" restaurant. We didn't call them that. It seemed implied. I saw old newspaper ads from that time when I was a kid and a tavern my family used to go to had an ad for fish fry for $1.95 and that was with coleslaw and rye bread. It was all you can eat. The price for the fried chicken on Saturday was $2.50 and it was all you can eat too. Mashed potatoes or fries. If you watch old movies that have a diner scene in them look for some of the prices in the background. I used to get my grandmother a loaf of store bought bread for 17 cents. Dime for a bottle of soda. But the good times were ending by the early '70's. I paid $75 a month for a two bedroom upper in a duplex in town. I was in one of the higher priced places in town. Heat and water included.

[radical noodle]

51. We had a local store that carried the tubes

My dad would open the back of the tv, find the offending tube and drive 2 miles to town to buy the replacement then put it back together.

I love new gadgets. The last washer I had wasted so much water because, for just the two of us, our loads were not that big. It had a low, medium and high water level but low filled half the washer tub. My new washer (with those bells and whistles) does a little dance, determines how much the load weighs, then fills the water accordingly. I've saved a ton of water since we got it. There are good uses for many of those new-fangled things.

[Oppaloopa]

91. We used to take out our tubes and take them to the hardware store for testing.

Remember when we had all night car repair shops? It's even harder to find shoe repair shops.

[End Of The Road]

61. I so agree

I have a mechanical Whirlpool dryer, maybe 15 years old. When something goes haywire, I’ve discovered it’s a cinch to fix with a little help from YouTube. And usually cheap. Discovering that I can do this myself is all the progress I need.

[FakeNoose]

72. Sure, as long as the parts are still available

Eventually there will be no parts for those old appliances, and the days of doing-it-ourselves will be over.

[Ferryboat]

6. Needed to use a thermometer

On a family member running a temp. Had to ask the wife as she sent me out the door, " why do we have a thermometer that needs batteries "?

Brought back the batteries and old school thermometer.

New and improved isn't necessarily better.

[marlakay]

7. This made me laugh because i would like

To have my regular just wash the damn clothes wash machine back from 20 years ago. I have one now probably cost me almost a $1000 and has all the buttons, front loader etc, but after only a year metal ring around rubber broke...sometimes the clothes doesn’t wring the water out, you can’t soak in a front loader, and the new dryer keeps overheating my clothes if i put down on medium doesn’t dry...ugh...

[Freddie]

28. And if you drop a sock

While loading you can’t open the machine after it starts and throw it in like you could with the old ones. Grrr.

[marlakay]

29. Actually mine has a window

I hit pause, then click on little window and stuff in what I forgot, only good feature

[Tess49]

33. Still using my 20 year old Kenmore, almost every day. My dryer is almost as old. The dryer had an

issue with the door latch not working. It won't work unless the door is securely closed. I went to an appliance repair store online, where I figured out what part I needed. Cost about six dollars. It came with a how-to video. I did the repair myself following the instructions step by step. My son came over to fix the dryer for me, and was astonished that his old Mom had taken the dryer apart and replaced the part. Me? I was damned proud of myself.

[Oppaloopa]

92. I am proud of you.

[Tess49]

95. Thank you!

[True Blue American]

65. I stayed simple on that one.

Regular wash, Permanent Press and gentle. Hot, cold warm. Even then I use permanent press and gentle, hand wash.

[llmart]

9. Have lots of engineers in my family.

The ones that are mechanical engineers don't usually like all the bells and whistles on appliances and cars. They say the more crap you put on something, the more that can go wrong, and they can no longer fix things themselves because of all the electronics.

I can understand the new features that cars have that are for safety purposes, but does anyone at all pay attention when a car alarm is going off other than to give an annoyed look? When a car alarm is going off in a parking lot or in my neighborhood, I don't give it a second thought.

As far as washing machines go, they're as big as my first car, and I use the same two cycles all the time. I learned to do the wash on my mother's wringer washing machine. I would not want to go back to that, but do we really need ten wash cycles?

As the old saying goes, we don't always need to throw out the baby with the bath water. We can keep some of the things that work just fine and add improvements to suit today's life.

[The Mouth]

25. I still miss my 1949 Chevy

I'd still be driving it if someone hadn't of run into it (killing themselves) when it was parked.

Got perfectly respectable mileage (lots of post WW2 cars did, people well remembered gas rationing), tube radio, 3 on a tree shift.

[moniss]

43. Drove

my 1946 Chevy every day back and forth to work and all around. That was the '70's. Never failed to start in winter either. 4 door. No radio. When people would ask why I was driving that old car I would give them a ride or let them drive and the smile on their face was almost immediate. The only question they would have afterward was if I would sell it. The drive home from work was about 10 miles after you went through town and I would take the back roads so the drive lasted about a half hour. Window down, no radio, no cell phone. Best way to decompress and get perspective back that I ever found. While I would drive I would notice the birds sitting on the fences and see the long grasses in the ditch waving in the breeze and making patterns as they did. I could watch as the days went by and they changed colors as the summer went into autumn. Once I got home and walked in the door Mrs. Moniss would immediately start screaming at me about whatever was on her mind. The good old days. I sure do miss that 1946 Chevy. Mrs. Moniss not so much.

[The Mouth]

47. And being able to work on it

I mean I love tech, hell I work in IT and am a Science Fiction convention kind of guy, but the elegance of an oil bath air filter, and being able to do a valve job were great.

and with a 235 straight 6 I got 32-34mpg! I know because as a 18 year old college student I made every penny count!. Still seems strange that this big beast of a car got better mileage in 1979 than my Honda CRV did in 2014

[moniss]

53. Changed plugs

only one time and points. Just kept cleaning the plugs and gapping them and filing the points. Changed the oil in my 216 stove bolt six about once a blue moon. Just kept running. Like you I got fantastic gas mileage. Only bought tires once and that's when I first got it. It had been in a garage for years and still had the old original tires. Plain old bias ply tires brand new cost me about $20+. Ran tubes in them.

[True Blue American]

66. Same here

But the Engineers enjoy all the bells and whistles. A car that parks, keeps you on the right side of the road, turns on the wipers when it begins to rain? I am waiting for the self driving, great as we get older.

[llmart]

71. "Great as we get older."

Unless you're independently wealthy, we won't be able to afford a car like that.

I'm now the proverbial little old lady who drives less than 8,000 miles a year and can barely see over the steering wheel as I shrink with age.

[True Blue American]

73. Join the crowd!

But I have to make a 50 mile trip today each way because the kids now have the big picnic.

Upset me for a while but then I realized it was not so bad. eat,enjoy, watch the men grill, the younger women clean up the kitchen.

We do not have to leave anything, buy the darned self driving car before we have to shell out to a Nursing Home!

[Elmer1007]

10. My grandmother had a wringer, i got my arm in it up to the elbow

I was 8 and standing on a stool putting a sheet into the rollers. Man it was quick. Pulled my arm into it up to elbow. My grandmother had to unlock the rollers to get me loose.. ahh memories.

[Codeine]

24. How much damage did that do?!

I’ve never even seen one so I don’t know how dangerous that would be, but it sounds awful.

[Elmer1007]

48. Wringer rollers

Two rollers at top, u feed the wet clothers into the rollers. One is powered one is somewhat spring loaded. Some black and blue. Lot of yelling.

[True Blue American]

67. Only my fingers.

Yeah, it was quick. My Mother bought one of those ironers that ironed sheets and pillow cases. Big rollers.

I actually saw one at the Museum last summer.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

11. How long did it take you to do laundry with that old machine?

We had one when I was a child, and it took a lot of time to do family laundry, especially once there were six children and two parents. Although we did wear clothes more than a couple of times before they were put in to be washed.

I recently bought a new washer and drier with pretty much all the bells and whistles and OMG! They are wonderful. For one thing, the washer has a much larger capacity and so I'm doing fewer loads. That's nice. Likewise love the drier. It sings to me when it's done, and I do like that.

Oh, and I put on clean clothes every single day. I like that a lot.

[moniss]

42. We

had been meaning to talk to you about that everyday thing.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

49. What everyday thing?

I'm guessing it's the putting on of clean clothes every day.

I've noticed that older people (and I'm one at 70) seem to start skipping that, as well as skipping the daily shower. Shudder.

[moniss]

52. I'm right behind

you and "luckily" I'm able to "forget" some of that stuff myself. Not much interrupts a good nap.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

59. ?

[True Blue American]

75. LOL

My Mother was a clean fanatic. Clean house, clean clothes, clean yard.

But oh how I hated those beautiful white criss cross curtains that had to go on a stretcher with pins that stick. Then the starched ruffle had to be irnoned.

[No Vested Interest]

82. Wow - I haven't thought about stretchers for curtains for 65 years...

Forgot such a thing ever existed.
About 10-15 years ago I bought a pair of pant stretchers from Vermont Country catalogue.
Thought it would make my slacks nice and straight after washing.
And it did fairly well, but I guess I forgot about it over a summer when wearing shorts, and haven't used it in a number of years now.

Stretchers for curtains reminds me also of rugs hanging on clothes lines, and rug-beaters, those tennis-racket-shaped things that one was to use to get the dust and dirt out of rugs.

Thankfully, my mom was not a clean fanatic. We never had curtain stretchers or rug beaters. We never made dozens of Christmas cookies and we didn't can jellies and vegetables. And I'm talking about the 30's and 40's.
So I feel no guilt about not doing those things because they were never really a part of my life. I just observed some others doing it.

[True Blue American]

85. Sad to say, I followed in my Mothers

Footsteps. One woman said my 2 Sons were the only kids in school with ironed blue jeans.

I remember those pants stretchers. They were easy compared to the curtain stretchers.

Now, if I could only find those towels that dry. I just finished my latest house purge. Years of collecting I am now going the other way.

[Demovictory9]

12. my aunt had one of those wringer ones. It was kept outside.

[demigoddess]

13. boy did you make me miss my old Maytag. I had a Maytag for 25 year more or less.

So long I could not remember the year I bought it. Recently, a couple years ago, I had to buy a new dryer. Got a Maytag. It works pretty well, but the door opening and closing it can be problem. The handle can't be grabbed, only by fingertips. I have had several of my fingernails ripped off from opening and closing it. They just don't pay attention to the details anymore.

[UniteFightBack]

15. I understand where you're coming from but it seems like a lot more work for a similar result.

Work smarter not harder.

I also had to look it up but I do confirm it looks 'familiar'.

[Karadeniz]

16. Thank you!❤ Loved your story...in general, I don't find new is necessarily improved.

[MineralMan]

17. My grandmother had a washer operated by a small, two-stroke gasoline engine.

You started it by stepping on a pedal. It was a Maytag. Coolest thing ever.

[keithbvadu2]

54. My grandfather had a one year warranty for that... spark plug not included. 1926 I think.

My grandfather had a one year warranty for that... spark plug not included. 1926 I think.

[MineralMan]

76. There are quite a few of them out there still running.

If you like old engines, they are a great way to get started restoring one. Affordable, too, compared to old stationary farm engines.

[BluesRunTheGame]

18. (Good Old) Electric Washing Machine Circa 1943

[AllaN01Bear]

19. my late mom had one of those .

there is (was ) one for sale at our local restore (habitat for humanity) in sonora ca .

[Doitnow]

22. My grandmother was the first person in either Malden or Marlboro MA to buy a

wringer machine. She had 11 children. My mother had one when we lived in a log cabin for a little over a year while a house was being built---in the 40s. Now all my relative s know who I am, for sure.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

30. I remember helping my mon run the clothes through the ringer....

and clearly warning me to not get my fingers caught. The thing had a quick-release lever to disengage the rollers for those events or if clothes got hung. Next, they were carried to our clotheslines to dry in the sunshine. Those were the days.

Much of the stuff you mentioned that annoy people like us is promoted by big corporations simply to make more money and their bells and whistles simply are not all necessary. They do that so maintenance must be done by a high-tech service person, since most all appliances contain a mini-computer that everyday Mr. Fix-its like me can't diagnose. And, those circuit boards are very expensive.

I had a Maytag washer and dryer we bought in '78 and they lasted over 30-years and I could repair both. Not sure I'll even try with my new fancy ones when they break.

KY.............

[politicaljunkie41910]

31. I remember those days, but sorry; I wouldn't trade my Maytag for a ringer washer for anything.

I did have a repair guy tell me many years ago that the most likely item to go on your appliances is the electrical panel that you press for the various features so I avoid buying anything with an electrical panel. i.e. Microwave, Washer/Dryer, refridgerator, etc. I buy the appliances with the turn switch. I also stick with Maytag and Kenmore, though I'm not sure how much longer Kenmore will be around, if they are still around.

[Scarsdale]

32. I had a wringer washer.

What I remember most about it is all those broken buttons! I was constantly replacing buttons that had been broken. I was happy to get the new one.

[moniss]

41. Sewing

on a button. Another lost art I never mastered.

[leftyladyfrommo]

35. My uncle George used one til the day he died.

They really get your clothes clean. You just have to watch and not catch your fingers in the wringer.

[Honeycombe8]

37. It's the nature of human beings. We adapt, and we progress. Can't stop it.

It's part of being a human being.

[NewJeffCT]

38. I don't remember my parents having a wringer washer

but, I do know that the newer high efficiency washers use a fraction of the water the old ones used - like 10% to 15% of what used to be used in the older machines.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

50. Bingo.

I love my almost brand new washer. I got it last fall. I love the way it figures out how much water to use. I always select the extra rinse, and I think what I love best is that the spin cycle removes almost all the water. My old washer, which came with this place when I bought it ten years ago, was no longer doing a terrific job of spinning out all the water. What I like best is that I now am doing two loads of laundry each week. One is sheets and towels, the other is clothes. With the old washer it was one load for sheets, another for towels, and two, maybe three clothes cycles.

I'm sure a wringer washer would be a vast improvement over totally by hand (we still had one of those scrubbing boards when I was a kid that I think my grandmother had used) but I'll take 21st century technology every time.

Someday I'm going to write a science fiction story in which someone goes back from, say, 2019 to 1985 and spends the rest of the story complaining about no cell phone, no internet. Or one in which someone goes back to 1940 and has to do laundry.

Yeah, give me the modern technology.

[moniss]

40. Progress

is in the washer of the beholder. Something like that. Myself I remember my grandmother having a big round Maytag on wheels. She also washed with lye soap that she made herself. Bleach she bought but not soap.

[pansypoo53219]

55. luddites unite. new washer a bitch. so picky. needs to be level. great-aunt used her 60's maytag til

the 90's i think. i do estate sales + time travel. i USE my vintage heaters. my old metal fans. i collect them all. toasters, desk lamps. i USE ice picks i have. shit. using my 30's drip-o-later coffee maker daily. pfft on new. don't get me started on towels that do not dry(i have great collection of vintage towels).

[True Blue American]

68. Talked to a couple. They still use their

Glass coffee pot on the stove with the metal ring underneath.

My Presto electric perk was 50 years old, slowed down, bought a new one, the cover on the light popped off within a couple of months. Gave away all the fancy coffee makers.

[pansypoo53219]

79. i also foound a stove top 1 cup percolator. also works great. find an old percolator. ebay has many

drip-o-laters.

[Oppaloopa]

93. I still have and use 40 year old towels from J C Penny's my mother gave then to me.

I will cry if that store closes.

[Kali]

56. they still make them

you can buy them new in Mexico.

oooo look you can still buy a hand operated one here too https://www.lehmans.com/product/lehmans-own-laundry-hand-washer-with-wringer/washers_and_wash_day_accessories

[Jack-o-Lantern]

57. ...sigh, at 74 all I can say is that I miss the day when my radio had only a tune, volume, and

an off/on switch. The owners manual was simple... Plug in and ENJOY.

[True Blue American]

69. Walk across the room

Change to 1 of 3 Channels?

[procon]

58. You can still buy new cothes wringers.

The ones I've seen are manual with a hand crank and big clamps that screw onto a wash tub.. If you're camping it a great thing to have for clothes washed in a galvanized tub or down in the stream.

My grandma used a wringer washer for years and none of us kids were allowed to the washroom whilst she fed clothes into the wringer. She made her own soap, whittling off thin strips from a big bar as needed. She also used boiling hot wash water scooped out of a big canning kettle simmering on a wood burning cook stove.

I loved sleepovers at grandma's house and I still miss her, and those wonderful starched and ironed white sheets that somehow smelled like sunshine.

[True Blue American]

60. Just wait until you get your fingers caught in that wringer!

That is all I am going to say!

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

74. Replacing a plug is simplicity itself -- and makes things a lot safer.

And getting the pump fixed or replaced should not have been difficult. Why didn't you.

[colorado_ufo]

77. Modern washers may be too complicated and too costly to fix, but at least

you can't get your tit caught it one!

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

86. For that experience, there are mammograms.

Or so I've been told.

[colorado_ufo]

88. True dat!

[lambchopp59]

78. First marketed to those who distrusted those newfangled appliances

The Frigidaire "Jet Cone" washer was aimed at the older demographic mid 20th century, and anecdotally advertised as "cleans as good as your washboard, without the elbow grease". Apparently the 1950's models were called "pulsamatic".
My grandmother had a model that looked much like this one, and was sold on the "rubbing action" of the agitator, she still had it in her Pasadena home in the 1960's. As a toddler, I was fascinated by the crazy contraption.

[YOHABLO]

80. My grandmother had a washer with the rollers .. it worked great. But us kids were told to stay away.

There was always the fear of us putting a hand or our entire arm through the thing and having every bone smashed.

[NurseJackie]

81. Motorized wringer? Or hand crank?

[SharonAnn]

83. As a young woman, I bought one and used it for 2 years. Worked great"

I had a basement where I could use it and then hang things up to dry. This was around 1967.

My mother thought it was funny because she’d been so glad to give up hers 20 years before.

But there was just me, not too much washing, and it worked fine for me.

[LogicFirst]

84. You should have seen how those rollers worked.

I was @ 6 yo when my thumb worked its way in between those rollers. No thanks. I'll take the new technology.

[OxQQme]

87. I once had a perfectly normal set of fingernails

when I was a wee lad.
"Finger, meet gears."

Left hand pointer fingernail still shows signs of my curiosity.
I'm 79, and now more cautiously curious how things work.

[Galraedia]

94. New isn't always better. Wringer washers are still used off grid and in rural areas.