I'm not sure if I can recall a time in my life when I actually appreciated the ability to wash clothes. Most of the time it is only considered to be a drudgery as I drag what seems to be months of dirty clothes (really only a few days worth) down to the basement and start "laundry day" again and again (isn't every day laundry day?).
As a side note, it is amazing to me how it seems like my entire family barely has any clothes to wear, and yet the dirty clothes seem to reproduce into never-ending piles. When they are finally washed and folded they return back to their normal amount and the drawers still remain half empty. It's a mystery I'll never understand.
Getting back to my original thought...I am now looking at laundry in a whole new way.
Last Wednesday, right after I finally decided to dump my dirty cloth diapers into the wash machine, it decided it had had just about enough of our endless regimen of washing and went on strike. My first reaction was to understand its pain, turn it off, walk away and assume that once I returned (after giving it a bit of a "nap time" to reconsider) it would joyfully resume its tasks and my diapers would move on to their next destination--the dryer.
Instead the wash machine insisted it was finished, had washed its last load and was throwing in the towel.
Once this reality finally sunk into my somewhat stubborn head, the next step was breaking the news to my husband. So before I dropped this somewhat burdensome information on his desk I did a quick search on craigslist, found a machine for a steal and presented him with both the good news and the bad news. Little did I know that at that very moment someone was blissfully hauling away that craigslist deal and leaving us to grope around for something else.
My husband took the news well and the search began. Our first decision--do we continue with a front loading wash machine or go back to a top loading machine?
If you would have asked me 4 months ago there would have been absolutely no question--front loading for sure! This time I was not so sure. Since we do cloth diapers I have heard over and over that top loading is the way to go. So Ben and I started looking into top loading machines only to find that the new top loading machines are made to be just like a front loading machine so the quest and debate continued. I will spare you all the agonizing details. I just have to say that buying a wash machine is definitely not as easy as I would have thought. After some stressful conversations, research and reading tons of reviews we finally found the ONE! (it did end up being a front loading machine) We threw together a last minute date night and ran out to purchase it. As we not so blissfully paid we were given the news that our wonderful new machine would be delivered promptly after Christmas. Seriously! So a little over two weeks without a wash machine??!!
I am no longer going to take for granted the privilege of washing my clothes (at least not for a few months). So far I have spent one whole Saturday at my sister-in-laws doing clothes only to find our hamper already full that evening!
So if you see me and my children walking around wearing the same outfit several days in a row (even with a few dirt spots here and there) you'll know why.
