Laundry

Why is doing laundry in other countries always so complicated? When discussing laundry, I’m always reminded of Seinfeld’s stand-up piece about clothing (dry-cleaning) on “I’m Telling You for the Last Time”. He basically says that the “dry clean only” label in clothes is “the only warning label human beings do respect.” … ‘Cigarettes – it’ll give you cancer, emphysema, definitely kill you, babies, everything – screw it, I’ll do whatever the hell I want! Don’t take this medicine and operate heavy machine – who cares, glug glug glug, that’s for beginners…I’ve been working on this job for twenty years! But, try to put something with a dry-clean only label in the washing machine and people yell “are you crazy, are you out of your mind?!’

When I was staying with Gwen my first month here, she told me exactly what settings to use on her washer, so everything was fine. However, when left to my own devices in my own flat with my washer, which is slightly different from hers, things were not so simple. At least I was smart enough to begin with a “test load” of just socks, underwear, and a pair of jeans. But really, does laundry need to wash and spin for 2h40m? And does it need to be at 65°C?

I have been doing my own laundry for 13 years now and all my clothes have always been the same color, shape and size coming out of the machine as they were when I put them in – even when I was in the Netherlands, Geneva, and China. But these poor socks and underwear are all a nice shade of either pink or grey. Blasted one pair of red socks that I’ve washed several times before with no issue, decided to spread their color to their friends.

I finally got up the courage to do another load of laundry, after spending quite some time studying the one page chart of the different wash settings (there are about 10-15 of them, with options for the spin cycle, pre-wash, delay wash, etc.) This time, I figured I’d play it safe and only wash things that were pure white. Success! Actually, more than success – my whites have never been so white. Maybe there is hope for my foiled first load – perhaps those socks will once again be white? Here’s hoping… A few loads later, I seem to have the hang of it, at least I think I do. The black and dark navy clothes I washed last night came out still being black and dark navy (not grey or some lighter variation) and in the same size and shape.

The secret – I discovered the “handwash” cycle which is the ONLY coldwater wash cycle out of the 10+ options. (And, it’s the shortest – at a quick 1h03m wash/spin.) I’m not entirely sure how effective this “handwash” cycle is as the clothes don’t seem to be moved around much in there, meaning not rotated in the bin. Rather, they just seem to sit there and soak and rotate occasionally over the hour. Granted, all the soap is gone, so that must count for something. I figure if I smell, someone will tell me. But not on the Tube as it seems 7 out of 10 people smell on there, or have horrible breath, or some terrible combination.

Lastly (as I’m sure you cannot believe that I’ve already devoted five paragraphs to laundry), this machine is a small ‘one stop shop’ machine for washing and drying. The ‘regular’ size load that fits inside is about the US equivalent of a medium-small load. And the drying is not really drying but just a fan that blows air / sucks out the moisture, basically steaming the clothes. I just air dry everything. I think most people always have clothes lying about on drying racks, over railings, etc. You’re basically always doing laundry since the load sizes are so small, and due to the temperamental nature of the different wash cycles, you want to be sure you’ve separated your clothes appropriately. No wonder the majority of the women in the office wear all black – makes laundry much simpler.