Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Through the Wringer

My washing machine quit cooperating with the spin cycle a while back, but I developed and perfected a wonderful method for it:

1. Turn heater on low.
2. Prop heater up against front of washing machine, placing it exactly in the front and tilted up, (very important).
3. Make sure heater is in its proper position for the last 11 minutes of the wash cycle, (not 12 minutes, not 10 minutes, 11 minutes).

It worked wonderfully!
Until I had sheets, towels, and work pants to wash all in one day.
And then it didn't.

Sigh.

I have however learned a couple of things about wringing out one's everyone's laundry by hand:

1. This one is very important! For gods sake, do not use cold water for the wash cycle!
2. If you wring out each load on top of the next load to go in, you can cut down on trips to the bathtub.
3. It's a rotten way to finish off one's workout.
4. It might be a valid option to only allow one change of clothes per person per week.

You know, this is not what I had in mind when I said that learning is fun...

22 comments:

  1. Oh lil, that's awful. I just went through this myself a couple weeks back. I however am not nearly as inventive as you are. I just didn't do laundry until it was fixed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. faerie,
      It will probably be a while until it's fixed...They're all unreasonable and seemed to think that one change of clothing a week just wasn't enough...Lol.

      Delete
  2. I love how inventive you are, truly.
    But I really hope you find other options to get your laundry done!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. bleuame,
      I was thinking about other options...The best I came up with was to tie a towel to each child and tell them to spin in circles...It might not be a valid proposal though.

      Delete
  3. Wow, your ideas are ingenious. "Necessity really is the mother of invention". Hope your machines gets fixed quickly.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. sunnygirl,
      in all fairness, the heater was Alpha's idea--but I did perfect it! Until it didn't work...Lol.

      Delete
  4. You're a lot more resourceful then I am, i just took everything to the laundromat till my washer was fixed.it was a pain hauling it there, but I got it all done at once.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mrs. D,
      I spent so much time at the laundromat as a kid, I will do quite a bit to avoid one lol.

      Delete
  5. I still remember my Mom using one of those old wringer washers.
    THAT would fix you up!

    (until you caught your thumb in it, like she did... Which is when we lost the functioning antique.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jz,
      Ooh, I'm pretty sure that I could get at least three parts stuck in there at one time. I'm thinking thumb, hair, and maybe a toe. I don't think that's stretching my talents to much, do you?

      Delete
  6. That sucks lil. Hope you get if fixed real soon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. dancingbarez,
      Thank you!
      Unfortunately, we live in a place where you can't exactly get a repair man from down the street...I'm till secretly hoping that it decides to work next time I do laundry...

      Delete
  7. Ack, very resourceful. Hope you get it fixed soon! Actually, mine's on the way out too!

    Hugs
    Roz

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Roz,
      Oh it's just no fun when those appliances decide to stop cooperating!

      Delete
  8. Oh no i would be lost, but i do applaud your resourcefulness, me i would be straight on the phone to the bossman in a panic expecting him to sort it out!

    Hope its fixed now.

    x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. tori,
      oh...I'm afraid it's going to be a while--appliances aren't his strong point, and we live so far away from everything that its kind of a big deal to get it worked on.

      Delete
  9. That is terrible!

    I spent a summer handwashing once. I put children on one end of my people wringer and me on the other and we had some fun with it...after many weeks of practice.

    I hope you don't get many weeks of practice!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Susie,
      It is a tragedy isn't it?
      I do find that I am suddenly pining for summer even more than before--could hang it all to drip outside, and cold water isn't nearly as painful!

      Though, I do hope that I'm not in the boat of having perfected wringing laundry by hand once that time of year rolls around...

      Delete
  10. Ugh, I feel your pain. We just got a new washer after ours broke months ago. I was stuck doing laundry by hand. We didn't have the money or means to get to a laundromat.

    *hugs*

    Turiya.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, yea--wringing it all out is nothing compared to doing it all by hand!
      Though, the thought does kind of make me feel better about ringing it all out by hand...

      Delete
  11. What is it with home appliances? It's like some kind of conspiracy where they all take turns going out, one at a time, so that there's never a time when everything works? First it was our oven that blew out a heating element, then the dishwasher leaked, then the refrigerator leaked, then the handle on the microwave broke. As soon as one gets fixed or replaced, another one takes a turn!

    Sigh. This rant is just my way of saying that I feel your pain, lil. Best of luck with washing machine repair!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jake,
      But pain is so much better when shared instead of experienced alone! Lol.

      Ooh, so my washer broke because we got a new vacuum!

      Our fridge has been fritzing now and then for a while...I'm thinking that propping a heater up against it isn't a valid option for that particular appliance...
      But if we replace it, we'll end up needing a new dryer...

      Delete

Play nice.