Laundry

I am sitting in the Golden's basement .  It is a little loud right now.  No, the kids are quiet.  Hallie is playing a game with Jon (Dungeons and Dragons), Eryn is watching a movie (Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles) and Liam is in the bathtub.  But the dishwasher is finishing our supper dishes, the washing machine is washing a load of clothes, and the dryer is drying a load I washed a few minutes ago.

I am thinking about how nice it is to have machines that do the washing for you.  This post is about laundry, so I will skip talking about the dishwasher.  We have to do laundry a little different in China.

This is a picture of our washing machine in China.

Don't worry those wires are not always hanging out, this was when it was broken and we finally got a repairman to come and fix it.

This was also before it was fixed.  Our washer machine is much smaller

 than standard US washing machines.   We just wash smaller loads.  We are very thankful that we have a working washing machine.  This winter, our washing machine broke just before Chinese New Year holiday. We had to wait two weeks before anyone could come and fix it.  

Our washer only washes in cold water.

We do NOT have a clothes dryer.  Once our clothes are washed, we hang them out to dry on our back balcony.  In the summer they dry pretty quickly, but on wet cold days, it takes a long time for clothes to dry.  We usually bring some inside to finish drying during the winter.

Especially in the winter, we wear our clothes for more than one day.(just not undies)  Everyone does.

Since washing machines are so small, it is pretty hard to wash comforters and blankets.  On sunny days you will see blankets put out to "sun".  Sunning clothes and blankets not only freshens them, but it also kills germs. When there is a sunny day, we also sun our blankets and pillows.

This is not all bad.  Many of these habits could carry over to the US.  It could save a lot of money.  If you washed your clothes in cold water at least most of the time. You could save a bunch.  You could wear your clothes more than one time before washing them.  How many times do we wear something for just a few hours and then throw them in the laundry?  You could hang your clothes to dry.  Dryers use a lot of electricity.  It is also healthy to let your bedding sun occasionally.  Just something to think about.

Right now, I am thankful for the luxury of having a large washer and a dryer.