I live in a block of flats where we share a washer and dryer. Was ok for a long time, and then we got a new neighbor who uses an incredible amount of some stinky stuff in either the wash or the dryer. The pair of machines are in the basement, but the vent is just outside the front door. Whenever they are doing laundry the lobby reeks so badly that we have to literally hold our noses until we can get from the front door into our own place and stuff a towel under the door to keep the stink out. If not, the kid gets a coughing fit and I get the equivalent of an asthma attack that requires medication. So that's one day out of the week.
We have another neighbor who lives in the basement flat (across from the laundry). They have a school-aged child who, apparently, is not always toilet trained. From what we can guess, they save up all the soiled laundry and then do it all at once - usually on a Sunday morning. The smell wafts up to our floor and is seriously a gagging stink. (As in, nausea inducing.) The towel under the front door takes care of that, but we're prisoner to it until it dissipates. There is no chance of going down to the basement when they are doing the laundry because of the smell - it's truly awful. Going downstairs to get out of the building involves a mad dash and considerable breath-holding. This has only been happening for the last few months, so we're not sure what's going on. My sympathies for them having the problem - it must be ghastly to deal with. But doing that laundry in the only communal washer and dryer in the building instead of sending it out?
I am on the fence about mentioning it to the management on the thought that if they could afford to send it out they would be doing so and I don't want to add to what has to be a horrific problem they already have - I would really be concerned that the management would boot them out. I can hold my breath for a bit one day a week.
Stink aside, one washer, one dryer. That means that the residue from the chemically-overpowering-synthetic flowers gets on the clothes of whomever uses the dryer next. I can only imagine what gets on the clothes of whomever does a load of laundry after the basement flat does their usual Sunday morning.
So we've been taking our chances on the laundromat. Heaven only knows what's been in the machines before us, but it's a good bet it's better than the above two options. And those big machines rinse a lot better - they have quintuple-loaders that get blankets, etc., really clean, and good big tumble dryers. It's actually not very expensive.
However, with cold weather coming on and being tired of having to listen to the MAGA types down at the laundromat (where one is a captive audience until one can get the laundry folded and get out of there) I started looking around for options for portable washing machines. It's amazing the variety that are out there these days! I had one that hooked up to the sink when the kiddo was little and it was a life-saver, but it was fiddly to use. They have some really nice ones now that are lightweight and look pretty impressive for the money.
But being the cheapskate that I am, I went for the low-tech. Not the so low-tech that you put the water and clothes in and then turn a crank to work it, but kind of a step up. I'm trying one of those ones that holds about 10 pounds of wash, you add the water manually (using the intake hose or a bucket), run it, and then it gravity drains through a hose into the shower drain. The you re-fill it manually again with water to rinse. The other side of the machine has a high-speed spinner that is supposed to spin the water out, or you can use another hose to feed water in while it's spinning to help rinse out more of the soap, if that's an issue. There were several to choose from. I went with one from Walmart rather than Amazon, because if it breaks I can stuff it in the car and take it back to Walmart. All the ones on Amazon that I could get warranty info on required the units be sent back at the owner's expense if they fail during warranty. (And, apparently, that is to China in some cases!)
I don't mind doing the manual stuff - my social life is not so full that I can't take the time it already takes to do all the underwear by hand to use this machine. I do hope it works! It's tiny, and it's plastic (except for the wash tub and the spin tub). Which I don't like. But the only moving parts on the thing are the rotary timer and the motors that turn the tubs. Supposedly we can do a few shirts and a pair of jeans and undies at a time. Fingers are crossed.
Has anyone used these things before? I got this model, but on a discount.: "Gymax 17.6 lbs Washer Spinner Compact Portable Washing Machine Twin Tub for home or dorm". Apparently a lot of people who live in their RVs use them? It is to be delivered on Wednesday.
And yes, we could move to a place with a W/D in it - it's actually very unusual to not have a W/D in the flat here, but this place is incredibly cheap for the local market, rather large for a two-bedroom, my heating/cooling bills have been very reasonable, and that laundry issue is pretty much the only thing we don't like about living here. They have hardly raised the rent since we've been here, too. Should that change, we can go elsewhere. That has a W/D in the flat. And maybe a fireplace.
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