Oh, the Laundry!

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I've never enjoyed doing laundry. It's always been my least favorite part of being a stay-at-home mom. Actually I never even liked it before I was married. Even in the states where I had a nice, big washer and dryer, I still didn't like it.

Well, let's just say, I still don't love it in the UK. Our little washing machine here, and let me emphasize the word "little", does not hold very many clothes. (The picture on the left is the newer style, I'd say ours is 2-3 years old). It says it can hold 6kg, which I'm not even sure how much that is, but I know it's not a lot. I figure I can do about 3-4 big towels at a time. It wouldn't be so bad if we didn't have messy kids. I swear, Sammy can't eat a single meal without getting it all over him. Bib or no bib. I'm thinking of stripping him down to his diaper at every meal. So, in order for the laundry not to back up (which believe me, is not a pretty picture), I do a couple small loads everyday. I know, you're thinking that doesn't sound like a lot, but when you don't have a dryer and have to hang everything up in your guest room, it makes things a little harder. The racks we have to hang clothes on don't hold very much. It takes a day or so for the clothes to dry, depending on how high we have the fan on and the fabric of the clothing. Then after everything dries, they need to be ironed. Luckily, we don't get out that much for people to see our clothing, so I don't worry about ironing a lot of the clothes. It's a crazy laundry world. That's one thing I'll look forward to returning home to. I guess it could be worse, a majority of the people in Brazil don't even have a washing machine and have to do it all by hand. I did that for a year and a half, and that was plenty for me. Although laundry is still not my favorite chore, I'll be thankful for at least the small washing machine that I do have. I'm posting some pictures of my life without a dryer. Enjoy!





Comments

Lisa said…
Kill me now! I couldn't do it! You're awesome!
October 10, 2007 at 2:22 PM
Cheryl said…
Loved all the photos! Great post!
October 11, 2007 at 2:28 PM
Karen said…
Wow...that's a full time job.
October 11, 2007 at 8:29 PM
Michelle said…
I sympathize with you! Trevor and I have been looking to move into a different apartment and my only requirement is washer and dryer hookups. I also did lanndry by hand for a year and a half. What a pain! We're so spoiled here in the States. Good luck with all those loads.
October 13, 2007 at 3:54 PM
Janae said…
Wow, you are SO amazing. I don't think I could handle that. And the facilities to give birth in are so different than U.S. You are definitely in for a lot of fun adventures while you're there! I guess it helps you appreciate things, and me to be more grateful too...
October 14, 2007 at 6:42 PM
Laura F said…
Amanda, I feel your pain, but we were just plain dumb when we moved into our house here. We lived without a dryer for a full month because apparently the breaker had tripped and there's some trick to getting it back on in older homes beyond just fiddling with the switch. I was so embarrased (but grateful!) when my dad fixed it in about 10 seconds flat! But a whole six months... man oh man. Good luck, and think of all that energy you're saving and how you're helping save the environment and all that stuff...
October 14, 2007 at 11:41 PM
Joe and Amy said…
Good luck, I will happily fold my laundry tonight after reading this post.
October 15, 2007 at 8:28 PM
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