My Get-Rich-Quick Scheme: Laundromats!

Jeff and I will be spending most of the next two weeks in rural towns and villages, so yesterday was laundry day. When we lived here, my amazing mother bought us a washing machine (a true luxury item in Patna), so I never fully appreciated how long it takes to wash clothes by hand.

The directions on the Tide package don’t fully represent the art of the hand-agitated-two-bucket-wash system that Jeff developed last summer. Suffice it to say, I was soaking wet, my forearms were sore for hours afterward, and I felt like I’d taken a ride in an industrial-strength washing machine. But my clothes were clean!

Yes, the unit of measurement in Step 1 is "half handful of powder"

Which got me to thinking about just how much time Indian women spend washing clothing by hand. If one could jump the bureaucratic hoops, befriend the right people, set reasonable prices and get a sturdy generator, a Laundromat would have a dramatic impact on a neighborhood, improving productivity and freeing up women’s time.