Make laundry aprons of strong material – crash, denim, or colored linen.  Cut kimona shape, with roomy sleeves, and to slip on over the head.  Set a deep pocket on each side, within handy reach.  Set a smaller pocket across the front just below the waist.

Carry clothespins in the big pockets, safety pins, a handkerchief, and wiping rags in the other.  Make wide enough for free motion, but not enough to sag under foot when the wearer stoops.  Let come almost to the instep.

Harpers Household Handbook, 1913

Save money by getting soap in boxfuls, piling it cobhouse fashion on a dry shelf in the air.  Borax soaps chap the hands least.  Naphtha soaps do the best work with cold water.  Cheap yellow soaps, having much resin in them, answer very well if the clothes are well rinsed.

Any sort of soap is best made into a jelly.  Shave a bar, cover with boiling water, and simmer until soft.  If there are very dirty things to wash, add a teaspoonful of borax in powder, and as much washing soda to the cake of soap.  This is for rubbing on dirty spots.  Other things had better be washed in suds, made by putting a handful of jelly in a tub of water.

Harpers Household Handbook, 1913