When the Grand Duchesses had arrived from Tobolsk - and their nickel-plated beds shortly thereafter - the trouble began. The girls were accustomed to fresh bed linens every day (doesn't that sound wonderful), and thus after a mere two weeks the house had accumulated a laundry bill of eighty seven rubles. Commandant Avdeiv found this astonishing. He asked the Grand Duchesses to do their own laundry; they confessed they knew not the first thing about it. Comrade Avdeiv had taken on the challenge to teach them properly.
The only problem with this was that he himself did not know the first thing about doing laundry either. In typical male fashion (I say this as a problem-solving male myself) he apparently went first to the public library, then to the bookstores, and so and so on, he could find nothing remotely helpful. He had all but given up when serendipity intervened. While lamenting his troubles to a fellow soldier, he learned that 'Citizen Andreyev' knew quite a bit about laundry! And so Andreyev came to hold the title of "Comrade Laundry Teacher to the House of Special Purpose"... They all apparently liked him, from what I recall (I'm writing this from memory)...
The Imperial children were definitely instilled with a work ethic and took pride in rolling up their sleeves. They had been taught modesty and restraint, however having grown up in such opulent surroundings, they just didn't know what that consisted of to ordinary people. So for instance, the IF loved to take daily baths, so much so that the water supply to the Ipatiev House was constantly in jeopardy. You can imagine the incredulity of their captors.
These kinds of little stories are what allow me to more vividly imagine their captivity and the sorts of issues that arose.
As to the logistics, I'm with Sarushka...
