Wonder Wash Manual Clothes Washer - Does It Work?

A Wonder Wash is a small plastic manual washing machine. It will wash about 5 pounds of clothes per load, and takes no electricity. It does need water, but it can be poured in with a bucket or hose, or put in via the faucet in a bathtub or shower. It takes very little detergent, about 1 to 2 teaspoons. It's relatively small, 16 inches tall and 12 inches wide, and stows easily in a closet when not in use.

I bought my Wonder Wash for three reasons:

1. To wash my delicate lingerie
2. To take with us camping
3. To have a means to wash clothes if we ever lost power for an extended length of time

First of all, I have some lingerie that is too delicate to put in an electric washing machine, I don't trust it not to stretch or rip them. I have always washed them by hand, but I never really felt like they were all the way clean. With my Wonder Wash, they are agitated and rinsed gently enough not to damage them, but vigorously enough for me to feel like they really are clean.

Secondly, I hate having to find a laundry mat when we are camping. I hate even worse to come home with every single thing that we had with us, dirty and needing to be washed. Would you like to come home from vacation to a mountain of dirty laundry? This little gem of a washer changes all that. I can easily and quickly wash our undies, t shirts, and socks every few days, and just hang them up in the shower to dry. It is so convenient, I would not give up this little washer for anything when camping.

Finally, I am a firm believer in emergency preparedness. No, I am not a doomsday prepper, but I do believe in being prepared if an emergency comes up. We are well stocked on lanterns, oil lamps, firewood, can goods, books, games and now this great manual washer. If we ever lose power, even for an extended length of time, we are good. Life may not be normal, but we will have light, food, heat and clean clothes to wear. Not to mention a half a dozen board games, a deck of cards and dozens of books!

Now that I have explained to you why I have (and love) my Wonder Wash, let me take a minute to explain how you use it. It is so easy! I place it in the bathtub, fill it half full with water, drop in a couple teaspoons of detergent, (or Woolite if I am washing lingerie) and load in the clothes. I usually fill it up about 75% full if I am washing regular clothes. You put the top on and screw the handle till it stops, that seals it up so it does not leak and creates pressure inside. Then you simply crank the handle to agitate the clothes. I do it slowly for lingerie and medium speed for regular clothes. Crank it for about 2 minutes. (this is a great upper arm workout)

When you are done, you unscrew and remove the top, push in the drain pipe and turn to lock and the water comes pouring out the pipe. Once the water has drained, remove the drain pipe, fill the tub back up to half full, replace the lid and crank to rinse your clothes. If the clothes are light, one rinse should be enough to get the soap out. However, if you are washing pants, sweatshirts or jeans, you may want to rinse twice, or just take them out and rinse under the faucet. When you are done rinsing, wring out your clothes (I prefer to use a hand wringer because wringing by hand can stretch clothes and cause them to become mishaped) and then hang them up to dry.

That's it. It really is just that easy. Let the Wonder Wash dry and then stow it in the closet until the next time you need it. It's small, simple to use and only costs around $40, what more could you want? Ok, I want a personal laundress too, but since I don't think that is going to happen, this may be the next best thing!

With the hand washer and the wringer below you will be set to do your laundry, no electricity needed. Great for apartment dwellers, camping, or washing delicates you don't want stretched and twisted in an electric washer.