Live in the Philippines

Live in the Philippines helps expats with visas, moving and other services regarding the Philippines.

Washing your clothes, Philippine style

Philippine Culture, Video / by

I hear from a lot of foreigners who tell me that they plan on buying an “American style” washing machine when they are in the Philippines.

Another alternative to a US style washing machine is an Asian style washing machine.  The Asian style machines are all plastic, and usually not nearly as fancy as the US or American style machines.

American style washing machines are a lot more expensive, often around $1,000 for just the washing machine, and a similar price for the dryer if you want one of those too.

Asian style machines are much less expensive, just a fraction of the cost.

But wait… there is an alternative.  Have a look at the video below.

What do you think?  The vast majority of people in the Philippines wash their clothes like what you see in the video, by hand!  You can do it yourself, or maybe you will have a labandera (a laundry lady) who will do this for you.  I suppose it is more “green” than using a machine.

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  1. I bought an Asian washing machine when I first arrived here but found it better to hire an Asian washing machine, She use my machine for some things but for heavily soiled or stained clothing prefers had washing and believe me when I say, she is a washing machine! better for me, and puts money into her family budget.

    • Bob,
      My fiancé Anne prefers washing clothes by hand. She says she can get them cleaner that way. She is currently in the US with me. I told her we have a nice Maytag washer here to wash clothes with. She still washed most of the clothes by hand. Well that didn’t last long. She now washes all clothes with the washing machine lol. Have a nice day

      • Hi PapaDuck – Feyma used to say the same thing…. hand washing gets the clothes cleaner. I argued that hand washing was hard on the clothes and put holes in them and such. I also felt that the clothes were not actually as clean as machine washed clothes. After about 12 years, we both agreed… machine washed is better, and that is what we primarily do now.

      • I HAVE A FINANCEE IN THE PHILIPPINES WHO WASHES CLOTHES BY HAND AND SHE GETS SO MUCH BACK PAIN FROM IT ..IT REALLY UPSETS ME I DO NOT WANT HER TO HURT HER BACK COZ OF A TRADITION OF WASHING BY HAND ..TO ME CLOTHES CAN BE REPLACE …BUT A HUMAN BACK CAN’T …SHE IS ONLY 39 YRS OLD STLL YOUNG BUT SHE SUFFERING TO MUCH ..AND YOU MAY ASK WHY DON’T I BUY HER A WASHING MACHINE WE LL I AM GOING TO …I

    • Hi Joe – Over the years, we have used different types and combinations of different types of washing methods. Now, we do the majority of our clothes washing in a US style machine, with a few items still hand washed.

  2. My wife came to the U.S. and I showed her how to use our washing machine and our dryer. She used the washing machine for my clothes and did her own by hand. If we still had access to a hanging line, she would still be doing it and hanging her clothes to dry.

    I think the washer is a lot easier, but we always did line dried when I was a kid. I think they last longer line dried than in a clothes dryer. That lint has to come from somewhere, and I think it’s slowly taking parts of the clothing apart.

    So, I know I will have a washing machine around, and maybe a dryer for those very humid and rainy days, but I think line dried is going to be what we will use most often. I’m just hoping I can find a rental house with a nice covered area so we can hang the clothes outside during the rainy season without keeping them wet. 🙂

    • I am like you, Scott.. I really like the freshness of clothes that are hung out for drying. Thankfully, we don’t have a rainy season in Davao, so we can hang our clothes out throughout the year.

  6. I have no problem with hand washing as long as there is presoak, it the rinsing thats difficult. Most dont want to change the water 2-3 times to get the detergent out, and when it dries, stiff as a board.

  7. A lot of folks around our place wash their clothes and themselves in the river. I’ve bathed in it myself. I try not to think that it’s the same river that catches the runoff from the piggeries and outdoor CRs. But, they wash ’em and rinse ’em then spread them on the rocks to dry. Often, in addition to wringing the water out of them, they swing them over their heads and beat the water out of them on the rocks. Filipino friends in the US joke that, when they go home, their underwear and t-shirts get stretched into odd shapes from all that slinging and pounding.

    Take care,
    Pete

    • I have had that problem too, with clothes getting stretched into strange shares and such. Finally I started having my clothes cleaned by the dry cleaner.

  8. this is such a funny thread… before michael move here from the US. he kept telling me we dont need a maid to stay with us. I can wash clothes, wash dishes, etc. I told him NO, there is no need to deny a person her employment just because we can do some stuff for ourselves. well he has been here over a month, and i have not heard any word about washing his clothes or washing the dishes….. in fact, he seems very happy having someone wash the cloths and dishes for us….. one weekend when the maid took her day off. i look at him and said “honey, there’s lunch dishes to be washed …. by hand” (winking) we had a good laugh then.

      • hi Bob,

        thanks for promptly replying to my email to you on the forum …. it’s very refreshing to have someone on blog on point. we dont have a separate labandera but an all around live in maid who goes home to her family on weekends…. she takes care of both of us, no children or pets just two reasonably organized adults who just needs someone to do the cleaning (condo, no backyard), washing and iron, marketing and cooking ….. one good thing about having a maid who can do the marketing is budget control – she is able to work within our food budget for the week, something we dont exercise well when we do the food purchasing ourselves……boyfriend is loving no cleaning, washing, trash to put out chores definitely

        kind regards/maybelle

        • Hi Maybelle – We have a house full here. 10 people (mostly kids!), 2 dogs, 3 cats, 2 turtles… let’s see, what else is there? Our maid is busy all the time, it seems! But, we are having more fun in the Philippines. 😉

  9. A dozen years ago we were hand washing here in England. Just before we moved here my washing machine died on me. We had my Mum-in-Laws dolly tub and we used that for quite some time as there was some structural work to do before we could buy a new washer. Our spin drier worked overtime, but living here on a hill the washing used to get dry on the line.
    I also have hand washed in the Philippines too. Clothes dry a lot quicker there though.

      • Hi Bob, The reaction was “You do not have to do that Mum/Tita, we will do it for you.” But quite often I had already done it before they had time to do it.
        One time I picked up the tea towel to dry the pots and was told not to so I said I was bored and needed something to do.

  10. of course, the plastic will not rust as compared to metal u.s. type machine. btw, they do have american type washers and dryers (most made in other countries, but some made also in the phils) in most large department stores. we did buy an electric dryer at our resort in case a guest wants “ruch” wash/dry but actually have not used it much.

  11. Ha ha, Washing machines are something i know nothing about.
    In my Navy days we were taught to wash by hand and iron clothes too, i then moved on to self serve laundramattes, service washes and full laundry service.
    I did own a washing machine once, for five brief years, actually my ex wife owned it not me, lol.
    For the last 20+ yrs i’ve used a full laundry service, they pick it up, then drop it back cleaned and ironed. 🙂

  12. we are by the sea and almost always a breeze and clothes will usually dry in one day except during big rain. with the sun, sometimes with breeze, it will dry in as little as 3 hours depending on thickness of material

  13. synthetics dry more quickly than cotton and cotton blend. hence, we use synthetic sheets at vbr, tho we do have cotton upon request

    • Personally i prefer thin 100% cotton in the tropics.
      I feel synthetics make you sweat more, they don’t breath.
      Each to their own! 🙂

  14. Hi Bob,
    Back when we purchased appliances for our first house, we bought one of those pretty heavy duty metal washing machines made in the Philippines, but not the American style machines. Until now it’s still covered in plastic, as it’s yet to be used.
    A labandera does a much better job of washing all our clothes, although I hand wash all my own “unmentionables” myself, as I feel shy having someone else doing them, and also worry about them about them getting rough treatment.
    The clothes are picked up at the house and charged by the piece. It’s sometimes odd to see your stuff hanging out at the labandera’s house for all to see,but she’s very good about hanging all my colorful dresses inside- out and in the shade to prevent fading. She even irons sheets along with the other clothes which is great. Ariel brand detergent is nice as I don’t like the bar type detergents.

    One of my all-time favorite Tagalog movies is “Gloria Gloria Labandera” starring my favorite Pinay comedian Rufa Mae Quinto and handsome Jay Manalo. 🙂

    • Hi Queenie – I have never seen a metal Philippine made washer! I’ll have to keep an eye out for that.

      We have a niece who washes all of the clothes in the washing machine, she does it twice a week, I believe. Than, we have a few clothes that are hand washed, and we have a labandera who comes on Sundays to do that, plus ironing and such. It works well for us. We like to have the labandera because she has been with us for years, and is a very nice lady. We like to give her the income.

      Take care, and have a nice weekend… what’s left of it.

  15. Hey Bob,
    As you know we spent the monthe of April there in the Philippines. While in Don carlos, My wife’s mom washed all of our clothes by hand, and was happy to do it. The problem is, now the clothes seem to be all stretched out of shape/deformed. So much for hand washing.

  16. Hey Bob,

    I found your site a little while back and I really enjoy your threads.

    The washing….my fiancée, Letty, has a Philippine style machine and the sun dryer. Actually, she had a laundry service in one of her commercial units and the worker washed everything for her/us. And, everything, and I mean even my underwear, get ironed. That’s something new to me but I like the feel of pressed drawers now. She will be coming here later this year then, in about two years, I will retire and we’ll be living there and I really look forward to that life. I love the Philippines and the culture and the people, and her.

    • Hi Harold – Glad you enjoyed the site!

      Yep, ironing of the underwear is the standard here! Socks too! 🙂 Nothing doesn’t get ironed!

  17. I was in the Phils about 7 years ago ,single late 50s guy.
    I used to go to the cleaner about every 5 days , found it very cheap
    and the first time I ever had my boxers ironed.
    Never get tat done in the west.

  18. Had a few shirts ruined by hand washing. I get tiny holes and stretched out necks on my t-shirts. I stick with the laundry shops now days.

  19. Before we bought a mechanical washing machine, my wife asked me to buy a new washing machine. I replied, what’s wrong with the old one? She didn’t get the joke ( she was the old washing machine ).
    Quite strangely we use all the washing methods. A laundry girl washes the whites and irons, my wife uses the Asian plastic washer and spin drier ( no one uses her machine ) and I use the fully electronic automatic LG fully 16 programable functions, which only I use because no one understands how to press one button and the job is done. Washing is not a straight forward idea when you have a Pinay and a foreigner involved. Oh by the way, the fully automatic does a great job.