My grandma once told me that there is no excuse for someone to not have good hygene, soap doesn't cost that much! Laundry can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be. Going through the different videos and posts on the subject, I can see a large range of suggestions on what the "basics" are.
To wash clothes you need water, something to hold the water, some kind of detergent, and something to agitate the water (a stick, plunger, your hands, washboard, etc). With the previously posted handmade washer ("Essentials: Laundry Part 2") we have these elements ready.
I have had some experience with manual clothes washing, or at least the drying part. While I lived in Japan for a year, it was common for a family to have a modern washer but no dryer. So they had drying racks they would place just inside a screened door to allow some breeze and sun to dry the clothes. I always found it a bit odd that the clothes came off the rack really stiff but I hear that is because there wasn't enough breeze getting to the clothes to stop the stiffness.
(Before I did a load in my washer, I did a dry run to make sure the plunger wouldn't release a bunch of black rubber in the water, and make sure the holes allowed for good water flow).
I filled the bucket about 1/3 full of warm water. Placed 2 gym shirts, 2 gym shorts, and a pair of socks in the water with 1 Tbsp of my homemade detergent. Since they were sweaty gym clothes, I let the clothes soak for an hour. Then I plunged the clothes vigorously for a few minutes (the lid helped keep the water in the bucket, but if I didn't have the lid I could just do this in the bath tub).
Then I drained the water. Rung out the clothes a bit. Then filled the bucket 1/3 with warm water again but no detergent. Plunged the clothes for a few more minutes. Then drianed it again. I repeated that step again so I rinsed the clothes 2 times total.
After the second rinse, I rung out the clothes as best I could to get as much of the moisture out as possible.
Now for the drying. I do not have a drying rack, it takes up space and is not very multifunctional other than to dry things. If I were going to always handwash and line dry my clothes, I would invest in one. My HOA would frown upon my stringing some trees with nylon and hanging my clothes in the Florida sun unless disaster struck and we all HAD to do it that way. They also would frown at having my garage door up and stringing it in my garage. So indoors was the way to go this time. But where? The shower rod wasn't big enough. There is a real lack of locations to string rope in a house. So I got an ingenious idea! I flipped my ironing board upside down and strung the rope around the legs! Perfect temporary solution!
I laid some dirty towels and a trash bag on the bottom because no matter how much you ring out the clothes, within 5 minutes, they are dripping. Then I draped the clothes over the strings. The ironing board barely fit the 6 objects I washed.
But it got the job done.
So thoughts? I was looking in the garage for potential hanging locations and those are rare even in the garage. I was thinking for bigger laundry needs, having a couple garage strings would be nice and might catch a breeze better. I might try those stick on hooks to see if the nylon will stay on those hooks (because the hooks seem pretty shallow and the nylon might just slip off). I would also need to see how much weight it could support and for how long. If that didn't work, maybe premarking where studs are and then having some eye hooks in the hurricane kit might be a good idea. Don't really want to put holes in the walls unless absolutely necessary.
Also heard that adding vinegar to the first rinse will soften the clothes and not leave them smelling of vinegar. So I might try that to see how it goes. Indoor line drying does not allow a breeze to soften the clothes, so they are slightly stiff once dry.
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