One year and two months ago we spent alot of money on a new dryer. Appliances in Singapore, just like everything else, are not cheap! We spent a little over $600 SGD for a dryer that dries about 4 towels or 3 pairs of jeans at one time and takes 2 hours and 5 minutes to dry either.
2 months after the warranty ran out our “motor is spoilt” and there’s a hole the size of a dryer in our outdoor “laundry room”. The dryer is now costing us about $930. Ouch.
The technicians took our dryer away this afternoon to put an unspoilt motor in it. We’ll pay them $330 when they come back on Monday or Tuesday with it. At least I hope they come back. And I hope they bring us back our dryer. And I hope they are honest and put in a new motor. I’m not sure we’ll ever know or even care. I guess if we get a dryer back and it works we’ll be happy. I can think of so many things I’d rather spend $330 on right now but such is life. We are blessed beyond what we deserve to even have clothes to dry and electricity and all that.
So… the question at hand. To dry or not to dry??? I can either not do laundry for the next four days or I can machine wash and hang dry everything. Most people here do that but I’m a pretty big fan of soft, dryer dried clothes with a fresh Bounce smell that come out warm and unwrinkled. Not so much a fan of crunchy air-dried, wrinkled clothes that birds and bugs have probably climbed all over and have to be ironed. My luck, it would rain all day for the next four days anyway so I think we’ll just try to make it through and take a laundry break. At least until we run out of underwear. We brought the underwear that we like from the US and can’t just go out and buy more.
I guess we’re “spoilt” too!
Put white vinegar in the washer like you would liquid fabric softener. It works well as a softener. No your clothes will not smell. Kills germs like bleach. Your towels will be more absorbant because they are not coated with a waxy softener. It’s what I use all the time. I quit using Bounce, Snuggle, etc about a year ago.
Interesting. I’ll give it a try. Certainly cheaper than fabric softeners.
as you may remember, we told the LL to take back the dryer we had here, I didn’t want to be ‘tempted’ to use it and pay the extra fuel bills.
So, yes, my washing is hung outside. The plus for me is that we are on the 18th level, have a large balcony, no birds (is that a plus?) and a very small family of two …. so not near as much washing as you would have.
We purchased the stands that have the 5 long poles between them ….. so we can put it away when we are finished with it ….. but there is a plus there too.
The t shirts, etc … anything with short arms …. are hung along the poles. Thru one sleeve and out the next, so never needs ironing. I hang all the shirts on clothes hangers and they need minimal ironing. …. pants are hung upside down, folded along the centre crease line and pegged to the poles. Again little ironing.
This morning I have stripped the bed, washed the kingsized sheet and pillow slips, all are out on the pole hanger on the balcony …. they will be dry by this afternoon when I get back from Borders.
Towels I wash every second day and hang out (do not use softener on towels, prefer them ‘scrunchy’) , but use softener on everything else. I also like the smell of the Softlan Spring Fresh softner, especially in the bed linen.
Crystals idea of the vinegar sounds good, will try that.
I have hung a small line in the bathroom – over the bath – for extra items when needed….. especially for swimwear or ‘wet’ things.
Dryers and their benefits, suit most people, but not everyone. If I didn’t have to pay the power bill…. maybe I would have one!!!
If the apartment comes furnished (inc dryer) then the LL is responsible for replacing or repairing usually. Depends on the contract though. We pay the first $100.00 for any repairs according to our lease.
enjoy your non-washing and non-drying weekend!!!
That washing machine is so little and cute.
hahahaha!!! shut up.
I am really just happy that we have one.
Leone, we had to buy ours so they are our responsibility. I’m sure there will be someone here to give them to when we leave. He did provide a fridge so we were grateful for that.
Btw, it’s been raining ALL day here so far.
Our dryer motor is like a old over-ripe tomato.
Hey, with the luck we had in Brazil it may take a month to get your dryer back, so you might want to start hanging a few at a time in the kitchen.Didn’t want to bust your bubble, haha