Apartment Laundry II

A month or two back, someone had posted about problems they were having getting access to the laundry room at her apartment complex.  It seemed a neighbor was always doing laundry.  I posted that I had solved a similar problem by getting a Panda washer and spin dryer, and just avoiding the laundry room altogether except for heavy things such as blankets.  Several other people posted that they had done similarly, and there was a bit of a discussion about the different appliances available for apartment laundry where there are no hookups.

The reason I am posting this is that a few days ago, my little Panda washer died, and I decided that I would buy a different apartment-size washing machine that had more features but they are significantly more expensive than the Panda.  And, at $4.00 to wash and dry a load of clothes at the laundromat, I certainly was not going to be saving any money for a new machine which is in the $300 range, all told.

My spinner still works fine so I decided to go on line and see if there were any interim inexpensive alternatives for washing my clothes.  I found all sorts of ideas on You Tube.   Clever people, those preppers are!  The best one I thought was two buckets and a plunger.  Basically, you get two 5-gallon buckets that exactly the same, drill holes all over one of them and put it inside the other (about $3.00 at Home Depot.)  Then you get a   new toilet plunger (about $4.00) from Walmart, and drill holes in it as well so that you get a lot of water movement.  You also can drill a hole in the lid of one of the buckets to put the plunger through, this keeps the water from splashing all over.  Then you just put the whole contraption in the bathtub fill the bucket up with water and detergent, add your clothes, put the lid on it and whoosh the plunger up and down for a minute or two.  Unless your clothes are really dirty, they will get quite clean.  I don't know if I am allowed to post links to youtube or not but if you search for home made washing machines you will find all sorts of things.  I just thought this was the best idea.

Now, in my case, since I do have a spinner, I just spin the clothes dry, put the clothes back in the bucket and rinse.  Also, since I have the spinner I do not need the 2nd bucket with the holes in it to drain (you get the excess water out by taking the other bucket and pushing it down on your clothes.)  

Also, you can get a drying rack from Walmart and hang your clothes to dry. Serendipitously, I discovered a way to speed up the drying process as well.  I had purchased a big powerful cyclone fan from Costco to augment my A/C and I discovered by placing it in front of the drying rack it really got the clothes dried quickly.

I keep up with my laundry by washing on a daily basis, just one load that fills up my drying rack, since it does take a couple of hours for the clothes to dry.  I start with putting in whites and pastels in the wash water, then medium colors and then dark, and rinse in the same order.  Generally, I rinse twice, but if I am in a hurry or feeling lazy, I just rinse once.  But twice is better!

It is isn't that much work, all in all about 15 minutes and the exercise is good for me, I am too sedentary.  And since it would cost me $4.00 to go to the laundry and do it, I figure I am making $16/hour tax free (in savings.)

In a month or  two, I will have saved the money up to buy the new washer, but for now I am feeling quite pleased with this temporary solution.  I hope this idea might be useful for others who are looking for ways to save money or hate going to the laundromat.