Why I cannot wait to own a Washer/Dryer

15th June 2007

Why I cannot wait to own a Washer/Dryer

posted in Cleaning |

I currently live in an apartment. It’s a very nice apartment, with an open floor plan and a large kitchen, BUT it did not come with a washer and dryer in-unit. It has connections, but a year ago, I thought, “Hey, I’ll only be here for a year and I don’t want to move a big heavy washer-dryer when I leave.”

Oh, how I wish I had just sucked it up and bought those majestic cleaning machines of love.

I have been using the complex’s laundry room all year. Before I went over there for the first time, I went to the bank and got $30 in quarters. I was prepared!

Well, when I walked into the laundry room, I noticed something odd. Only one of the four washers takes quarters. The other three require a laundry card. Two of the four dryers take quarters, and two use the card. So I went to the leasing office to inquire about this phenomenon, and was informed that I must purchase a laundry card from them. The laundry card cost $5, but it has NO VALUE when you purchase it. You must then add value to the card at the machine in the laundry room.

No problem, right? Well, the machine doesn’t take quarters, only bills. And I never have cash on me. So I had to go to the bank again to withdraw $10 to add value to my card. Back in the laundry room… the machine doesn’t recognize the new bills. So, desperate to wash my clothes, I went into the street where I hustled strangers for an old $10 bill.

I ended up trading with an older Korean man… he gave me a 5 and four 1s for my 10. Win for him! And I got to do my laundry.

Now, that is only the first problem I came across. The second is that, except for the top-right one, the dryers usually don’t dry your clothes. They just make them warm. Warm and wet.

So it is often the case that I either have to run the cycle twice (2 hours!!) to dry my clothes to the point where I can touch them. And it is not uncommon for me to lay my damp clothing all over the carpeted floors of my bedroom and dining room overnight to dry. Ridiculous!

Then there’s the fact that I have to cart my laundry to the laundry room. This isn’t that big of a feat, but it does cause me to avoid beginning the process. Of course, I don’t only have to carry my laundry. I also have to bring the detergent, any pre-treating products, quarters, my laundry card, a couple dollar bills in case my laundry card is empty, and the access card to get into the room to begin with.

I also cannot start the laundry and then go run errands, because the one time I tried that, someone took my clothes out of the washer and placed them (wet) on the (not-so-clean) folding table, even though there were three other empty washing machines to choose from!

All of this combined leads to me putting off the chore of Laundry until I am wearing either fancy clothes or ridiculously out-of-season clothes (think sweaters in South Carolina in June).

As soon as I get to Florida, I am buying a washer and dryer if there is not one in my house already. It would be bliss to have a day of the week for towels, one for sheets, and a couple for clothes, to not have to worry about people taking my wet clothes out of the washer or the dryer just barely warming my clothes…

What washer/dryer do you have in your home, if you have one? Would you recommend it? How many days a week do you do laundry?

This entry was posted on Friday, June 15th, 2007 at 9:08 am and is filed under Cleaning. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1 On June 15th, 2007, Jen aka ladyariadna said:

I heard the LG washers/dryers are the best… I plan to buy them when I get a house. We only do laundry once a week because of the lack of appliances thing, but I used to do it twice a week in Florida.

posted on June 15th, 2007 at 9:13 am

2 On June 15th, 2007, admin said:

I love the LG commercial with the steam one, where the girl refreshes her dress after a day of muck and grime, before she goes out that night.
If you buy one before I do, let me know how it goes.

posted on June 15th, 2007 at 9:31 am

3 On June 15th, 2007, Irene said:

I haven’t used the dryer for the last year, at least. My wallet is much happier that way (our natural gas bill went down about 20 Canadian dollars a month!!!), and so is my eco-minded conscience.

I have an access to a backyard, so now I have this: http://images.canadiantire.ca/media/images/products/images/Laundry/IndoorOutdoorDryers/0428860_450_CC_388c9.jpg

When we lived in an apprartment, we had this little foldable dryer: http://www.hozshop.ru/img/Rocky.jpg

Either way, it works fine! Especially for smaller things. Not so good for drying big bedsheets, but I manage.

Also, in winter, when you dry your laundry inside, it adds humidity to the air, which is a great bonus during a cold Canadian winter when the heater is on full blast and the air is very very dry.

My washer is a front-loader. Can’t recall the make; Fridgidaire, maybe. Anyway, I’ve always had front-loaders: much more efficient!

posted on June 15th, 2007 at 10:47 am

4 On June 15th, 2007, Wendy said:

I have Kenmore super-duty (heavy capacity) washer and dryer set from Sears. I’ve been uber happy with them (and with getting them from sears. I’ve had them about 4 years now and before that Mom’s always gone with products by sears. So yeah, I’d recommend it.

I’ve also heard great things about Sears outlets where you can get good deals on floor models that have some cosmetic scratches or something.

I do laundry probably 4 or 5 days a week. My husband has to dress in uniform for work and he only has two so that’s every other day. I do sheets on Saturdays (hehe, during saturday morning cartoons) and towels on Wednesdays. I do them on a schedule just so I do them consistantly - not forgetting when I last did them and doing them too often/not often enough.

posted on June 15th, 2007 at 2:41 pm

5 On June 15th, 2007, Becky said:

Oh. My. Gosh.
Can I sympathize with you.
I have been living in an apartment for FOUR horrid years, and have the same problems with laundry. Never mind the clothes that were ruined by people leaving bleach drops in the washer, or me getting rashes from God knows what people put in with their clothes before I get there. Or waiting forever to get a washer only to find that some grease monkey washed their overalls in the washer I was about to use for my unmentionables.

My almost new Maytag washer and dryer are waiting in what is almost our new house. Trust me, the first thing I do right after we close is wash and dry a load of laundry and not set a timer to take it out. I’ll go down there and get it when I’m good and ready.

I plan on doing about a load a day. Right now it’s just my husband and myself, so I probably won’t even need to do that. I have heard really good things about Maytag appliances, but I think they can get pricey. Best of luck!

posted on June 15th, 2007 at 3:05 pm

6 On June 15th, 2007, admin said:

Wendy, that’s a great idea about the scratched ones… I guess you’d have to ask specifically about it, but that’s fantastic!

What sort of uniform does your husband wear?

I think it’s great to have a schedule. I want one too!

posted on June 15th, 2007 at 3:10 pm

7 On June 15th, 2007, admin said:

Irene, that backyard laundry dryer thing looks really cool! Does it hold much, though? It looks like you’d have to do pretty small loads for it to work.

posted on June 15th, 2007 at 3:11 pm

8 On June 15th, 2007, admin said:

Ugh, Becky… four years? I’m so sorry!
I lived in a residence hall during college for four years and I guess it’s about the same, but usually they made sure most of the washers and dryers were working.

Congratulations on your almost-new house and almost-new washer and dryer! Let me know how the Maytags are, ok?

I think a load a day would be great. *daydreams*

posted on June 15th, 2007 at 3:25 pm

9 On June 15th, 2007, MrsDragon said:

When my husband and I shared an apartment for two years, we sucked it up after about 6 months and bought a washer and dryer on super sale. (Kenmores, loved ‘em). Then when we moved for grad school to a one bedroom apartment we lost our hook ups! Wah! We loaned them to my grandmother, since hers had just broke. (Of course, they dryer turned out to have the wrong kind of hook-ups).

Now that we are renting a house, we took back our old dryer and bought a new washer (another Kenmore!). I AM SO HAPPY!

I love being able to do laundry and dishes at once! Or to wash or dry just a couple things when necessary. Or to not put of washing sheets because taht $5 is better spent elsewhere. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! ^_^

posted on June 15th, 2007 at 5:51 pm

10 On June 15th, 2007, admin said:

MrsDragon, I agree so much… about doing a couple things when necessary and WASHING SHEETS AND TOWELS. oh goodness.

Looks like Kenmore has some good votes from the Joyful Abode peanut gallery. hehe.

posted on June 15th, 2007 at 6:37 pm

11 On June 15th, 2007, Wendy said:

His uniform is just a polo shirt and black pants for working in the food court.

The ones I was thinking of were the ones they send to their discounted stores - they usually have a whole seperate store for the ones that are scratched in a big city area. Of course, it couldn’t hurt to ask. If anything they’ll probably point you in the right direction.

You’ll get a schedule! I never thought I’d like scheduling things like that, but it’s the little housewifery things that always make me smile. I think washing the sheets on the same day is just one of those little things for me.

posted on June 15th, 2007 at 7:55 pm

12 On June 15th, 2007, admin said:

Wendy, I think I’ll love scheduling things like that when it’s a little more convenient than this apartment set-up.

I’m looking forward to being a homemaker, but I will also be working full-time so I hope I can find a good balanced schedule.

I wonder if there’s a dinged-up appliance store near Pensacola… must google.

posted on June 15th, 2007 at 8:19 pm

13 On June 16th, 2007, Kristin said:

We have a Frigidaire washer and dryer combo that have been working fine for us. It’s a super capacity which I find wonderful. Ours is front load, which I find easy to load and unload compared to a top load one but that’s just a preference. I don’t think it makes a difference in washing clothes. We purchased it from a Sears outlets where we saved about $900 on both just because they had a scratch on the back (you can’t even see it) The warranty was for 1 year, but we purchased it with our American Express and so now we get an additional 2 years warranty. Good luck purchasing a washer and dryer when it comes time! I couldn’t live without one.

posted on June 16th, 2007 at 10:13 am

14 On June 16th, 2007, admin said:

I think I definitely need to look into this Sears outlet thing, ladies. I don’t mind a couple scratches or bumps to save a bunch of money.
Thanks for your input, Kristin!

posted on June 16th, 2007 at 11:14 am

15 On June 18th, 2007, Jessica said:

Front loading washers are more energy efficient and use less water! Make sure you check whether you have a gas or electric dryer hook-up. Used to be that you always want gas (cheaper energy) but I’m not totally sure how the balance comes out these days.

posted on June 18th, 2007 at 9:07 am

16 On June 18th, 2007, Irene said:

> Irene, that backyard laundry dryer thing looks
> really cool! Does it hold much, though? It looks
> like you’d have to do pretty small loads for it to
> work.

I always do full loads. (My washer is “normal”, not “super capacity”.)

What helps is that I have some old pipe running under the ceiling. I bought a big package of cheap plastic clothes hangers, and I try a lot of stuff on these. The obvious candidates are, of course, my husband’s shirts, my blouses and anything that will be hanged in the closet anyway (that saves on ironing too, BTW). After that, it’s whatever: small (face) towels (I hang them on the lower “bar” of the hanger), pajama tops, some t-shirts, even socks… Whatever didn’t fit on the main dryer thingy…

If you don’t have a handy pipe like that, it can be immitated by something like this: http://www.ikea.com/PIAimages/28307_PE099496_S3.jpg

Doesn’t take much space, and can also be very useful when you’re having a party and need to hang your guests coats…