2011/078: Laundry

I hate laundry. Hate it, hate it, hate it!! Ok, it’s not the putting a load in the washer or in the dryer part, but the folding part I could do without.
Melissa has been folding hers (although she needs a refresher course), Greg is hopeless, and Sara is just a little too young, but everyone puts their own clothes away. We have a sectioned hamper, and everyone knows where everything goes, so the laundry is already pre-sorted. It’s just that darn folding part.
I can’t remember how old my washer was, but sometime last summer I noticed white flakes on the clothes, thinking it was detergent that didn’t completely dissolve, and switched to liquid. Found out much later that it was a problem with the washer, and not the detergent at all.
Then a few months ago, the loads became unbalanced. It wasn’t anything I did wrong, it was the washer. It got worse and worse, and every once in a while, the water wouldn’t drain during the spin cycle. I tell you, it’s no fun, having to baby-sit your washing machine all day. Running in the to fix the unbalanced load, or opening the lid and closing it again at the start of the spin cycle. That seemed to fix the water draining problem, but there was still this burnt rubber smell if I didn’t make it in there fast enough.
Then finally with the tax refund and Greg’s bonus in the bank, we looked for a new washer (thankfully the old one hung in there just long enough!). It’s bigger than the old one, and a front-loader instead of top-loader, and it’s a high-efficiency model. Not only does it save energy and uses less water, but the clothes come our so dry, it saves about 20 minutes of drying time in the dryer! AND it plays a happy little song when it’s finished. I still don’t like doing laundry, but it isn’t quite as bad as it was before.