Alternative Laundry Washing Techniques
Washing and drying our clothes is a chore that unfortunately most of us must do at least a few times during our lives. Typical washers and dryers can be troublesome to install and expensive, but they solve the clothes situation fairly painlessly. But when you are in an apartment that doesn’t come with a washer and dryer or doesn’t allow you to have a traditional model, you have to come up with some creative solutions for doing your laundry.
I’m going to go ahead and assume you already know the laundromat is an option, albeit one I hate. I’m all for you being able to do laundry in the privacy of your own home, without having to make a trip to the laundromat and waste time sitting around, waiting for your next load to finish.
One option is to purchase a portable washing machine. These appliances are boxed-sized machines that you roll over and connect to your sink’s plumbing. They do their thing, and then you reattach the hose to your sink and roll the appliance back to wherever you store it during the rest of the time. Obviously, these machines can’t hold as much laundry as a typical washing machine, but many of them hold about half a normal load of laundry, more than enough for singles or a small family. You might have to get used to doing the laundry daily instead of weekly, but the freedom to turn on the washer and then do whatever you want is definitely worth the sacrifice, in my opinion. The Haier Compact Portable Washing Machine is the best-reviewed portable washer on Amazon, and retails for $300. Not cheap, but considering you can bring it easily from apartment to apartment, and that’s it’s much cheaper than a standard washer, it may be worth it in your situation.
Your other biggest option is some sort of agitator, whether electronically or manually powered. Think of these as big blenders that shake and stir your clothes, creating friction and rubbing that will get the grime out of your clothes. These washers can be quite cheap; however, you will need to take out the clothes at the end of the cycle and rinse out the soap yourself, not to mention having to add the water before you start, and emptying it out again when you’re done.
There are some excellent manual handwashers available, including this pressurized, hand-cranked one at Lehman’s. As long as you don’t mind getting a bit of a workout while doing your laundry, you could save hundreds in water and electric bills over the course of a year. Apart from perhaps hand-washing, a manual clothes agitator is definitely your most frugal choice for washing your laundry. Apart from the initial outlay – Lehman’s is about $50 – the only other cost you’ll ever incur is in physical exertion.
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