So this is something I never thought I would do-- hand wash my clothes. But when we moved into an apartment without a washer and dryer, costs quickly were adding up to do our laundry at the apt. machines. At a $1.45 per wash and then another 1.45 per dryer load and doing anywhere from 3-5 loads a week, we were spending from $9-15 a week on laundry, which turned into the lovely amount of $36-60 a month! That is awful on our student budget!!!In order to save money, we found this amazing little hand washing machine. It costs $43 at http://www.laundry-alternative.com/ and is great! You put in your water, your detergent, then your clothes, turn the crank for 2 min. to wash, drain the water, then rinse, and voila! clean clothes! Here are the advantages as listed on the website:
-Washes a 5-lb. load super clean in just a couple of minutes.
-Has a patented pressure system that forces detergent into the fabric at high speed for a fast, efficient, economic and very easy wash
-Is ideal for campers, single persons and even for the housewife with small frequent loads like hand washables and diapers.
-Is ideal for delicates such as woolens, silks, knitted dresses and cashmere garments.
-Uses 90% less water and detergent than conventional washing machines.
-Uses far less water than even hand washing.
I still do our under garments in the conventional washing machines along with Margaret's clothes. But everything else is done by hand. We can't hang clothes outside to dry so I either take my wet clothes to the dryer (at least I'm saving half the cost of doing laundry!) or wring them out really well and hang them on our makeshift clothes drying rack inside.
At times I feel like a pioneer and get excited about our new found way of saving money. But I do admit, sometimes I get overwhelmed at how quickly laundry piles up and the fact that I have to spend about 30 min of my time after Margaret goes to sleep doing laundry (just about every other night). But it's a budget saver for us and therefore is worth the extra effort to me!
7 comments:
That's cool. I've never thought of something like that! I think you are so smart to find a way around the quarter laundry dilemma-I just grumbled for years and was overly ecstatic when we moved into a house with a washer/dryer!
I'm not part of your blog but I read it all the time (I'm a friend of Cramster). I just had to leave a comment on this because this would be a GREAT thing to add to the emergency preparedness inventory. It would be terrible to not be able to wash clothes (except in the sink) if we were out of power (a real possibility for those of us living in tornado/hurricane zones). Thanks for this post! Thanks also for your blog, I enjoy reading it and knowing there are other young moms trying to make it all work and finding ways to laugh during the journey.
I have considered buying one of these. I don't have a washer/dryer anymore and have to go to the laundromat. What a pain! And expensive, too. I was hesistant because the reviews on the website look so great but I couldn't find any reviews done by anyone not with Laundry Alternative...
So that is great to know! Maybe I will consider it after all. Babies make SO much laundry!
I definitely recommend it!! My only complaint is drying... I guess I'm way too used to having my clothes come out of the washer after a spin cycle almost dry. So taking the time to sqeeze out the water of each individual piece of clothing is sometimes time consuming. And since we hang them inside, we give them another sqeeze before we hang them up. Needless to say, my hands gets tired of sqeezing.
But I thought it was going to be too small to do more than a few shirts at a time. I did a load last night of 10 medium weight, men's L cotton t-shirts and it fit just fine. I was surprised at how much I could fit in!
I love it!!!!
Wow, this is very interesting and such a great point about emergency preparedness.
I love this idea too! It would be great for those times when I finish up all the laundry and realize I forgot to add the pair of jeans that was the main reason I wanted to do the laundry in the first place...
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