Laundry in Brazil 101

To say that doing laundry in Brazil is more complicated than it is in the States would be a major understatement! The two big reasons that it is more complicated is that we don't have dryers or hot water. I am thankful, however, that we do have a washing machine! So, what does it look like to do laundry? Let me show you....



First of all, meet the "washing station". I made that name up, but since laundry is more complicated here you need the right set-up to make it work and most houses come ready for it. This is a picture of part of our back porch....where the "washing station" is. This is pretty different from the laundry rooms in the States for a few reasons. First, in our case it's not a room since its outside :) Second, since we don't have hot water there's a lot more scrubbing and soaking involved in the sink, so really the washer is only part of the process and station, rather than the main event. Some items (or on lazy weeks all items) are just put right in the washer and some that need deeper cleaning follow some or all of the next steps before going in the machine.

According to a Brazilian friend who is an expert washer (she even is hired by a family to wash clothes) the way to make the job easier is with buckets. Throughout the week you leave a bucket of soapy water out in the sun and add kitchen towels or any other item that gets yucky. The sun heats it up as it soaks and makes the job in the washer much more effective. Once I started following her advice I found that it really helps and I soak kitchen towels and rags in separate buckets.

Next, if there are any items (again like kitchen towels) that you really want to get bacteria free and extra nice and clean occasionally you boil them! Yes....I said boil them! I've only done this a few times and you would be amazed at how much dirty water pours off! It was quite shocking! Would anyone like to come over for a bowl of towel soup?

Next possible step: scrubbing

The sink at the washing station has a washboard all built in which is pretty handy. I always thought it would be neat to have a "washboard" but I was thinking about the abs kind, not the scrubbing your towels kind.

Next step....the washer....ahh finally the easy part! Since there's no hot water I have to run my American machine on the cold-cold cycle but it works well and is big. Many Brazilians have 2 separate machines instead of washer. The first is for swishing around the clothes. Then, you pull them out wet and put them in another machine to wring extra water out. I'm SO thankful mine does the 2 in 1!

Next, it's hanging time. This is actually a very convenient part about having your washer outside....your clothesline is right behind you! On dry days this goes very quickly, but during rainy season this is very tricky to find a moment of sun and then quick snatch the clothes off before the next downpour!

The last step is ironing since we don't have a dryer. It is really important to most Brazilian women that clothes be ironed very well ....including socks! This is where I draw the line at following Brazilian laundry technique. My preference? A few really strong shakes!