If you can manage brute force better than bending over and scrubbing for each item, a clean plastic trash bin (the big rugged kind, meant to replace classic round metal curbside cans, not a little beside-your-desk type) can be a field expedient clothes washer, as long as you have a hose or something to fill with and somewhere to dump the water out that won't put the detergent directly into the ground water - a gravel driveway will probably do, or an actual drain, even the lawn as long as you keep moving around (the nitrates will even make it greener as long as you stick to SMALL amounts of detergent as I said) but too often on the same patch of grass will kill it from too much.
You just put some laundry in (but not too much - remember that water is HEAVY and you're going to be doing this by hand. Elbow deep without packing them down is as far as I'd want to try it) add a VERY SMALL amount of detergent if you must, preferably none if they're not really badly soiled, and enough water to cover them, maybe let it soak for ten minutes or so, then tip it up on one edge of the bottom and walk along rolling it back and forth for as long as you can stand it. Tip it down on its side carefully to pour the water out while using a hand or a stick, or I guess even a laundry basket as a sieve if you want, to keep the laundry from spilling out as well and getting dirty again, then refill and repeat (possibly after a break) to rinse. Once should be enough unless you find it leaves your skin itchy wearing them later even though you can keep repeating this several times and still have cloudy water; washing machines do not actually do that great a job of getting things really clean in that respect anyway, and I once spent literal days trying to get an old shirt pulled from behind a shelf to rinse clear despite it looking like it was just fine. If you really feel squeamish about it, a single hand-rinse for critical items will probably do, and still be faster overall than having hand-washed.
At that point, it's just a matter of hanging things up to dry as you normally would when hand-washing. If you were really going to go all-in on a manually-operated barrel you could probably rig up something with a frame and replacement lawn mower wheels to spin in place, and maybe a stationary bicycle to spin it, but at that point you're as well off to just buy a real washing machine. I will note that The plastic barrel does have the added bonus of being able to really hose it out and get the dirt out of the bottom, which you can't do with normal washing machines, even if front-loaders are better about not collecting scudge as much as top-loaders, along with being easier on the laundry. Seriously, the agitator in a top-loader adds a LOT of clothing wear, don't ever put stuff with embroidery, beading, appliques, or that's starting to go past broken in to feeling thin in one if you think you'll want to keep it more than a dozen or so wash and wear cycles. Some of my regular-wear clothes are still perfectly servicable despite being bought in the mid-90s thanks to being minimally mindful about fabric care.
You just put some laundry in (but not too much - remember that water is HEAVY and you're going to be doing this by hand. Elbow deep without packing them down is as far as I'd want to try it) add a VERY SMALL amount of detergent if you must, preferably none if they're not really badly soiled, and enough water to cover them, maybe let it soak for ten minutes or so, then tip it up on one edge of the bottom and walk along rolling it back and forth for as long as you can stand it. Tip it down on its side carefully to pour the water out while using a hand or a stick, or I guess even a laundry basket as a sieve if you want, to keep the laundry from spilling out as well and getting dirty again, then refill and repeat (possibly after a break) to rinse. Once should be enough unless you find it leaves your skin itchy wearing them later even though you can keep repeating this several times and still have cloudy water; washing machines do not actually do that great a job of getting things really clean in that respect anyway, and I once spent literal days trying to get an old shirt pulled from behind a shelf to rinse clear despite it looking like it was just fine. If you really feel squeamish about it, a single hand-rinse for critical items will probably do, and still be faster overall than having hand-washed.
At that point, it's just a matter of hanging things up to dry as you normally would when hand-washing. If you were really going to go all-in on a manually-operated barrel you could probably rig up something with a frame and replacement lawn mower wheels to spin in place, and maybe a stationary bicycle to spin it, but at that point you're as well off to just buy a real washing machine. I will note that The plastic barrel does have the added bonus of being able to really hose it out and get the dirt out of the bottom, which you can't do with normal washing machines, even if front-loaders are better about not collecting scudge as much as top-loaders, along with being easier on the laundry. Seriously, the agitator in a top-loader adds a LOT of clothing wear, don't ever put stuff with embroidery, beading, appliques, or that's starting to go past broken in to feeling thin in one if you think you'll want to keep it more than a dozen or so wash and wear cycles. Some of my regular-wear clothes are still perfectly servicable despite being bought in the mid-90s thanks to being minimally mindful about fabric care.
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‎noli esse culus
‎noli esse culus