Need to wash in a hurry but don’t want the hassle of going to the Laundromat? Are you in a college dorm, or living on your own in an apartment? Retired? No matter your age, running out of funds on your laundry card often occurs and quite inconveniently prior to payday. So does running out of quarters.
Don’t like Laundromats? Does the mere thought of carrying weeks of deferred laundry in bulky baskets make you feel tired before you even begin? Dreading the thought of having to compete for dryers? Is it an all-day project? There are so many better ways to spend your time.
Correspondingly, why not get a small washer and put it in your bathroom or on your countertop? This will reduce your trips to the apartment laundry room or loading up your car and going to the Laundromat every 2 weeks. Again, you wouldn’t need to buy a washer/dryer unit for your space because the cost is out of reach, and, whether you realize it or not, the probability you will move again is high because change is inevitable.
Let’s say you get another job, or you and your roommate aren’t compatible, you may graduate, move to another state, or get married, and you wouldn’t want to have to haul heavy appliances along. Your expenses related to your move are greatly increased when you have heavy or bulky items to move across long distances. In such scenarios, owning a portable washer makes sense. You put it back in the box and it fits snugly in the trunk of your car, or on the floorboard of your vehicle. Want to shop and compare? There are several models to choose from. Just go to Amazon and enter “portable washing machines’ in the search field. Cautionary statement: Be sure to read the reviews.
Therefore, unless you have $1500 to $2000 to invest in a full-size washer, it makes sense to consider a small, portable washing machine. For example, if you are a Barista at Starbucks and need to wash your aprons every 3 days, laundering can be done from the space on your countertop while you are doing other things, like studying or planning your next career move, better yet, calling your Mom. If you live in a cold climate, you can now stay indoors and out of the blowing snow and bone-chilling cold. If you live in a hotter biome, that’s one less 105-degree day you will have to go out, and you will have the added benefit of drying your clothes outside, if that option is available to you, and your HOA or your neighbors don’t object.
If you don’t fancy yourself handy or mechanical, that’s fine. There is very little up-front work involved in setting up your portable washer. You will need a kitchen sink and a faucet. Easy, right? You attach the hose fitting onto the faucet, and just make sure the other hose, the all-important drainage hose, is anchored with something heavy inside the sink to keep it from spraying you and making a hot mess all over the kitchen walls, and on you!
What others say about the bucket-washer:
What to expect: The agitator will stop and start on purpose. Don’t be alarmed if there are pauses.
The good news:
• Saves money on detergent. You only have to use half a shot glass of liquid or powdered detergent; roughly 1/8 to 1/6th of a cup. However, if you are washing baby clothes or you work in construction, you will want to double it to ¼ cup, and soak for 15 minutes prior to washing.
• Foldable/collapsible.
• You can choose the # of minutes for the wash, depending on how soiled the load is. 2, 5 and 10 minute increments…….or it may have low medium and high speed levels
• Fit on top of your toilet tank.
• They became very popular during the pandemic because people didn’t want to go to public laundromats and risk infection;
• Portable. When company comes, you can pick it up and easily move it to another room. You can move it to your bathtub and draw the curtain if you are washing cloth diapers or odoriferous baby clothes.
• Makes it easy to wash different colored laundry. You can wash delicates one day, dark clothes the next, and bold colored-clothing on the following wash, then do the sheets and pillowcases. Very cool.
• There are even side-load models that fit on your counter.
• It’s better than hand-washing because there is more agitation action.
The bad:
• It’s noisy. You may want to leave it in the bathroom and shut the door if it disturbs your sense of calm and your peace and quiet. On the other hand, you may even like the white noise.
• Some models don’t have a rinse cycle. This means that after you wash, you will have to turn the bucket upside down and empty the wash water residue, then fill it back up with warm water and start a new cycle; this time you don’t add detergent! That’s your do-it-yourself rinse cycle. However, some models feature an outlet valve with a cap you can remove and drain the wash water. Less mess.
The ugly:
Mold is a health hazard. To avoid mold accumulation inside your machine, be sure you air out your unit every time you use it in a room with good circulation, or even better, outdoors!