Going low-tech, soaking clothes and dishes

I'm often on the lookout for ways to do my day-to-day chores without using any, or very few, cleaning products.  There are two clear ways of doing this - for clothes and for dishes.  I remember way back in the day when my mum used to soak clothes before washing them. Sometimes she used to put them into a big copper boiler and boil them while moving them around with a wooden stick. The washing