Monday: laundry day!
It's Monday morning, about eleven o'clock, so I say coffee time. Time to relax with coffee and a cigar after work.
I have just filled the washing machine with the colorful laundry and to speak with Trafassi, “let it run”. First did the white laundry and it is already hanging to dry in the morning sun. Later in the evening (or early in the morning), when all the laundry is dry, I fold all towels, underwear, handkerchiefs, T-shirts, etc. and neatly stack them in the closet(s)
Women's work
That's women's work, you might say, but then you're wrong. I know quite a few men who have also taken on the task of washing. Why? Well, in the first place it is a matter of division of labor within a household. That was already the case for me in the Netherlands (my late wife and I both worked) and now in Thailand it is the same again. My Thai wife looked at it strange at first, but she is now used to it. She can do a lot, you know, she is a great cook, keeps the house clean, manages a mini shop, takes care of me and our son and so on, but washing and everything that goes with it is not her strongest point. Of course I look at that with a Dutch eye, don't I?
Back in the days
I won't elaborate on how things used to be at my parents' house, but when I think about it, I can still smell that drying laundry on a rack around the coal stove. From the navy time I have the habit that everything should be neatly stacked, actually in a fixed place, but that can now vary. Doing the laundry is not really a typical Dutch habit, only if there is no other option. That happened to me during longer trips abroad, where I had the laundry done by the hotel. I often did that just before I went back to the Netherlands, so that instead of a mountain of laundry I brought everything home clean.
Washing machine
Years ago, when my Thai wife and I moved from an apartment to our own house, a washing machine had to be installed. So we went to different stores to make a choice and we eventually ended up at - what was then called - Carrefour. Dozens of machines in a row and I let my wife talk to the salesman about all kinds of details of the different machines. Price range was between 8 and 12.000 Baht. I walked around and saw another row of machines, which suddenly cost double. When I inquired about the rather big difference, the monkey came out of the sleeve. The washing machines that my wife looked at had no heating element and therefore worked on "ordinary" tap water. “How can you wash in water without heating it”, I asked. In the Netherlands we do the different types of laundry in 40, 60 or 80 degrees water. I got what I wanted, there was a machine with heating.
Nowadays
That machine gave up the ghost after a few years and because my wife couldn't handle those different temperatures anyway, a larger machine was added, this time without heating. Not necessary in Thailand, my wife thought and I just resigned myself to it. I still divide the laundry into white and colored, but I also see that what was once white will never become white again, slowly but surely it all takes on a gray tint. But yes, it is clean. I also hang the laundry, because, believe me or not, a Thai can't do that. When my wife does it, everything hangs higgledy-piggledy, as long as it dries, she thinks, but those false folds that form during drying don't make it any easier to fold neatly.
Monday – laundry day
Well, traditionally we did the laundry in the Netherlands on Mondays. But because more and more men and women both worked, that habit has slowly disappeared. We do it when it suits us. Coincidentally today is Monday, but here in Thailand there is no specific day for that. Although…, one habit has stuck with me: hanging the laundry outside on a Sunday is not possible, even in Thailand I don't do that!
To smoothe
No, I don't iron. My wife originally did, nothing for me. Have you ever seen a Thai woman ironing? Well, my wife just sat on the floor the Thai way, the ironing board on the lowest setting and ironing. She only ironed what was necessary, shirts, blouses, dresses, T-shirts and so on. In the Netherlands I knew women who ironed everything, including socks and underwear, but I don't have to. I also knew women who hated ironing. Ever heard from a colleague that his wife said to him when he got married, I'll do everything for you, but you iron your own things. His daily routine was, so get up, take a shower, iron his shirt and get dressed.
The laundry is out the door
My wife also got tired of that much ironing and we then decided that the laundry that had to be ironed after the wash was going out the door. There are numerous smaller laundries in Thailand where you can go and where - usually - a friendly lady washes and irons all the laundry offered. It can be done the same day, but if you routinely bring in the laundry, she'll have a little more time. An ideal solution and what is important, it is not expensive. If you have your laundry done in a hotel, there are different prices for different items, but with the laundress there is only one fixed rate. We now pay 500 Baht for 80 pieces of laundry, whether it's a shirt, dress or T-shirt.
Holidays
Most people who live here or stay longer know how it all works. If you are on holiday in Thailand, just walk out of the hotel or other accommodation with your laundry and guarantee that there is a laundry available for you within a radius of 500 meters.
Trafassi
So, the coffee is gone, so is the cigar, by the way, so I'm going to hang up the next load of laundry. In conclusion, enjoy the Trafassi video below:
Reposted message
Cold washing also has disadvantages;
Annelies van Bronswijk, professor by special appointment of Architecture (healthy buildings, health studies) at Eindhoven University of Technology indicates that never everything is removed, such as soap residues, but also organisms that make us ill. Fungi, worm eggs (Enterobius vermicularis), house dust mites, the coronavirus (cause of SARS) and all kinds of bacteria remain in the laundry. According to van Bronswijk, there are two types of clean, namely optically clean and microbiologically clean. Washing at a minimum of 60 degrees for a certain period of time is usually sufficient to kill off.
This is especially important for young children and the elderly.
That's why I always wash the clothes that come back from Thailand here at 60 degrees. Possible cockroach eggs etc. are therefore harmless. I always did this when I came back from the tropics after a sea voyage.
I don't understand then that the washing machines in New Zealand and Australia also have no heating at all motels.
We used to clean the floor in the kitchen with hot water and green soap. Later a Johsons representative came and said that hot water cooled immediately on a cold tile floor. The cleaning products used were adjusted. Think the same is true with detergents. Because can't believe developed countries as mentioned. Only do this to save electricity.
Not only will your laundry be cleaner if it is washed at a slightly higher temperature, but running your washing machine "hot" once in a while also cleans the inside of the machine, soap, bacteria and grease residues are then removed.
Washing is also my responsibility, my wife puts far too much laundry in the machine and hangs the laundry neatly, which makes ironing easier, she does not fully understand, sorting by color and material is not necessary, according to her.
The only problem is the male part of my in-laws who don't understand why I don't let her do it.
Regards,
Lex K.
Good, Gringo, I do laundry too, just at room temperature, I just hung it neatly outside.
Many people have a bacteriophobia, it is nonsense that you can get sick from clothes that have not been washed at 60 degrees or more. "Kill 99 percent of all household germs," antiseptic soap, that kind of nonsense. (I'm talking about regular households, not hospitals and the like). Bacteria are almost always extremely harmless and useful critters, we are all full of them, internally and externally. That toilet obsession is good for nothing, on the contrary, if you kill innocent bacteria, the pathogenic bacteria seize their chance.
I used to live in Vlaardingen and there is a Unilever laboratory there that has an annual open day. I once visited the department that tests cleaning products. The head told me that everything is aimed at obtaining a 100 percent clean product, that's what the customer wants. If we halve the amount of cleaning agents, the time, the temperature and the amount of water in dishwashers and washing machines, it will be 99 percent clean, maybe occasionally some slightly dirty pants or plates, he said. I think the pursuit of perfection in this regard is more harmful than beneficial.
that's exactly how it is, if we kill all the bacteria, we humans die too
When I moved in with my girlfriend, she washed the laundry with her hands in a large bowl outside. Because I'm used to doing my own laundry, and the two of us still use a lot of laundry, I thought a washing machine was appropriate. The initial outcry has long since disappeared. I also consciously chose a washing machine that is loaded from the top. There is no drain pump, the laundry is washed with cold water, but there is fuzzy logic. This ensures that more or less water is allowed in and the washing time is also automatically adjusted to the amount of laundry.
I myself think that the laundry will be clean enough, because the water here almost always has a temperature above 25 degrees, now even above 30 degrees in this warm time. A washing machine in the Netherlands, where you have to deal with winter temperatures, must be able to heat. You don't need this here. We never wear our clothes for more than a day and now that it's warm, we change garments even more often, which immediately go into the laundry basket. The laundry is not really dirty, but it is always fresh. Bacteriologically it will probably not be as clean as in the Netherlands, but hey, we don't smoke and hardly drink alcohol…. 🙂
Although the average Thai does not use a washing machine but rinses everything in plastic tubs, it is surprising how the laundry comes out.
It often hangs outside to dry and then also regularly next to the railway track or highway.
Despite all this, you can see the many company clothing from, among others, the opticians look great.
Will this be taken to the launderette? Can hardly do otherwise.
What is forgotten is that a washing machine uses tap water. This has a reasonable influence on the life of a machine. There is a lot of lime in the water.
A steam iron also suffers from this.
How things are put together bacteriologically: Mai pen rai.
One of the nicest things there is in Thailand is a laundry service every 100 meters.
Take out the laundry. No more broken washing machine. For 40 baht per kilo
washed and ironed my laundry. Fantastic. And someone also deserves a sandwich (bowl of rice) 🙂
I also do laundry and ironing. Now I use pumped groundwater, but later when it rains again, rainwater from a large jug (2.000 liters) Use a top loader, rinse in a large black container, then in a container with fabric softener (my wife's requirement) and then again in the machine for a short spin. When the 2nd round is out of the machine I can usually fold the 1st round again. I only iron my wife's dresses and my trousers.
Hardly a wash goes by without one of the neighbors saying something about it. The women mostly to my wife, but many men give me the thumbs up for approval. In my area there are several Thai men who do the laundry and ironing. When someone asks me why my wife doesn't do it, I always say: "My wife takes care of the food and I take care of the laundry."
Hello Gringo, wonderful housekeeping story, I can smell the laundry here! I am also from Falang country, and used to (and think it's normal) that you do the things that are necessary in life together. It soon turned out that this system had to stop with my Thai wife, as far as housekeeping was concerned. years ago I gave up trying to do anything in our joint household. For her it is the most natural thing to take away all these straws from my feet, before I even saw them myself! And which gives me a warm heart is that it is done with a lot of love towards me. I don't have to worry about all that triviality, I just have the task to relax and enjoy my life as much as possible. She would even wipe my ass if that too much trouble to do yourself!
Well, what are you going to do with your stiff, emancipated, all-knowing Dutch head?
Accept,enjoy,and love her very much… right?
Dear Tina,
Why use water to clean your clothes?
You can iron the dirty clothes right away,
because the hot iron kills all the vermin in the clothes.
Finally… a washing machine without a heating element is also possible.
between the water supply and the washing machine an electrical one
boiler installed ... works excellent
In the past, laundry in the Netherlands was put on the bleach. The ultraviolet in the sunlight bleached certain stains (as bleaches in the Netherlands do when washing at high temperatures) and killed many bacteria. In Thailand there is much more ultraviolet in the sunlight, so that process is going much better here than in the Netherlands.
Nice that drying with those ultra-smooth samples on your laundry, but I like a towel that is wonderfully soft and dries wonderfully with delicate skin. But just a technical question. Do detergents in Thailand still contain phosphate?
Laundry hardens during drying. The fibers then stick together. You can prevent that by letting it dry in the wind or in the tumble dryer. So drying outside produces extra clean laundry and it is soft too.
As far as I know there are no phosphates in the detergents in Thailand either, but a percentage of phosphonate will still be in it. A pity, really, because Thailand exports animal feed (containing phosphates) to, among others, the Netherlands, which means that the Netherlands has too much phosphate (cow and pig manure) and Thailand has a shortage in many places. The Thai farmer has to make up for that shortage with fertilizer. He cannot escape that. Unfortunately.
I also do laundry with cold water here in a top loader and you can get white clothes white again by adding some bleach. Just rub white collars with lemon soap and let it soak in, gentlemen.
I iron my own clothes because my daughter-in-law always throws everything in a pile and hates washing and ironing, I folded everything neatly several times, but I just stopped.
Nice to read here that men do the laundry, I have been married for 36 years, well my ex only looked at it
500 baht for 80 pieces of clothing in pattaya? Then tell me where, Gringo! I always pay per piece of clothing in Pattaya and that varies from 5 baht to 20/25 baht. Definitely not the bargain price you mention. I'm curious.
5 to 20/25 baht is also a bargain price…. and if you had 80 pieces of 5 Baht, I think this would only be 400 Baht…. 😉
Idk, we pay 6 bth for 3 pieces in soi 100 on 25th road, so that's even less than Gringo, the lady will probably be younger and prettier! 55555
@Danzig: Just checked with our lovely Thai laundry lady this morning. She charges 500 Baht for not 80 but 70 items of clothing. My story was already posted two years ago, that's why.
Which garment does not matter, so washing underpants is just as expensive as washing and ironing a shirt.
I only bring clothes that need to be washed and ironed. Her laundry is on Soi 27 of Naklua Road. If that suits you, I'll tell you exactly who and where.
I have a washing machine for 10 kg without a heating element. Functions perfectly. The laundry comes out clean and well spun. Hang it up and it will be dry in no time.
I never iron and I outsource what needs to be ironed.
Because people in the west are so exaggeratedly "CLEAN", we suffer from all kinds of allergies. One of the causes of eg hay fever seems to be the absence of worms in the body. I come from the tropics and the only thing that was hot washed back then (cooking wax was indeed cooked in a large metal tub on top of the fire) was the work clothes of my mother who was a nurse in a leprosy. It is precisely because of not being “hygienic” that I have built up an enormous resistance and can eat and drink things that make the average Westerner very ill. Although often stepped on rusty nails, ripped open by barbed wire etc, I have never had a tetanus shot. So I don't care about any remaining bacteria, eggs, etc.
I also fold the laundry neatly (from experience that is knife width) and place it in a permanent place in the cupboards, mentioning that I am single and do not burden my girlfriends with my household, however long they stay over. We do take turns cooking. She Thai and I farang food and of course Surinamese.
Hi,
Last January we were in Thailand, in Chiang Mai, where I rented a house for us,
my daughter, my son who lives in Thailand, my daughter-in-law and my granddaughter.
The house was fine, but indeed a washing machine without a heating element.
To my surprise everything came out clean; in my opinion the soap powder or gel is very
aggressive in Thailand. A gigantic washing machine for 17 kilos of laundry, water level was too
arranging, rinsing the laundry a number of times, drying everything on a rack under a shelter and after an hour it was possible
you fold everything up, that's it. You can get used to everything!
Inge
The best washing method seems to be the Indian one: beating wet clothes on a stone or wood. All dirt is literally knocked out. The disadvantage, however, is the greater wear and tear of clothing. I sometimes use it when I have to quickly wash something in my hotel room and there is no washing powder or laundry nearby. Smack it on the bathroom floor. But clean afterwards!
In the block where I live there are three pre-programmed washing machines 7 kg 20 BT more 30 BT; The whole procedure takes 53 minutes from pre-wash to spin; (spinning) The actual washing just 9 minutes.
I have the habit of soaking the clothes the day before and rubbing the cuffs with washing powder. Everything then has to soak with washing powder all night. The next day, after filling the machine, add 3 more scoops of powder on top. I see that the Thai residents usually wash here on Saturday and Sunday. I personally wash twice a month around 1 and 15 when there is a machine available. The machines are cold water top loaders, but I find the 9 minutes far too short to really wash clean, sometimes something flies back into the laundry basket. No problem, I have way too many clothes. T-shirts or polos all week and shirts on Sundays and special days.
Hello Gringo, add a tablespoon of "Baking Soda" to your whites and you will be amazed at the result.
Greetings
We had brought the washing machine from NL, where we (I read) did the laundry at 20 degrees, white and colorful separately. Only towels and bed linen at 90 degrees with a splash of vinegar (to descale). After 3 years in Thailand, the machine was finished and we bought a new one from Elektrolux (in NL this is AEG), the same method as in NL. Wash in and spin out again. Here too we do the towels and bedding at 90 degrees with a dash of vinegar. I always add a tablet from the dishwasher to the white laundry, then it comes out nice and everything at a cold temperature.
On the one hand, I regret that I did not choose such a top loader, which you have nowadays from 18-20 kilos. Then you don't have to wash so often.
So washing is my department, ironing is done by my wife.
Ls,
Recognizable, When I am with my son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter, I also see
the washing ritual, in machine with cold water. I noticed when we were together, in ChiangMai
were, where I had rented a house, that the washing powder is very aggressive.
My granddaughter was 3 years old at the time and they had special baby detergent for her clothes.
I also found the washing machines very large, 1 of 9 kilos and 1 of 15 kilos, so we didn't sit together
in the way. Incidentally, my son always does the laundry and ironing! My daughter-in-law thinks so
“great”. Why not; she cooks “great”.