DIY RV: Home Made Clothes Washer

It wasn’t so long ago that the only option people had to keep their clothes clean was a homemade washing machine.

Though no longer necessary to wash clothes by hand, the DIY RV crowd tends to enjoy the cost-effectiveness and gratification of building something on their own.

This simple DIY RV home made clothes washer can be had in exchange for $10 and about 10 minutes of your time.

The idea was originally spotted at refashionista and though they designed it for “Hillbilly Clothes Washing” it would make a great tool for the many RV’ers sick of the expense and space a traditional washing machine occupies.

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The materials necessary for this DIY RV home made clothes washer idea are:

• 5 gallon bucket with lid
• traditional toilet plunger

Steps for creating your own DIY RV home made clothes washer:

1. Cut away the inside flap from the plunger
2. refashionista recommends that you cut holes around the perimeter on the top of the plunger to prevent overly soapy water.
3. Cut a whole in the top of the bucket to slide the handle through to prevent splash and spills.
4. Consider gettng a longer handle for the plunger so it wont be necessary to bend down during “cleaning”

The photos tell most of the story on this DIY RV home made clothes washer. After placing your clothes in the bucket, filling with water, and adding detergent make sure to add the top back on. Then apply some old-fashioned “elbow grease” manual labor to the plunger in an up and down motion.

The amount of time this takes to clean your clothes varies by the density of the items you are washing. Washing clothes by hand in this contraption will save you the price of a real washing machine, and also on energy usage.

You could also think of it as a good source of exercise. Maybe even good punishment?

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