Glorious Washing Machine!

I caved in. 

I finally got my washing machine. I struggled for months whether or not to get one or to keep employing some mama who needs to feed her kids. When one of my friends offered to pay for it (and my family saw what a process it was just to have someone come wash my clothes) I decided that it was a good thing. 

Having someone come wash your clothes is not easy. Well at least not for me. Most families have a full time househelp (maid) who is able to wash clothes every day as well as just maintain the house. Since my house is so small, I have the time, and I don't have the money,  we don't have anyone who comes in and cleans our house. Therefore, we have to call someone to come wash all our clothes every week. 

Depending on the person, you have to prepare a head of time. We had a lady who liked to wash outside. That was great but there is no water source outside so we used to have to fill buckets and buckets of water and bring them outside for her. We couldn't leave her because if she ran out of water, we would have to fill up more buckets. It usually took her all day to do our clothes. I felt like I was babysitting her. 

Then we had another one who was quicker and less demanding but he liked  to wash in our bathroom. So for hours, we would have this man sitting in our bathroom washing clothes. I am so awkward that I wouldn't like to ask him if I could use the toilet. So I used to hold it till he left (sometimes like 3 or 4 hours!). 

I am not comfortable when people are in my house working. I like my space. I also don't feel comfortable leaving people in my house, so I always had to be present. And many of them couldn't speak english, so Kelvin always had to stick around as well to make sure everything was going well. Half of the time, they would show up late or not at all. Then I would be stuck with piles of clothes stinking up my house and going mouldy. 

On top of all that, it was getting mighty expensive. I am not sure if it is just that I am white or that the area we live in is a little more upscale, but we used to pay a lot for our clothes to get washed. I used to cringe whenever Kelvin would agree on a price. 

SO all of that saying that the decision to get a washing machine was the right decision for us! 

And it is glorious.

It's been quite the hassel getting it all hooked up. 5 days later and the fundi still hasn't finished. I have been frustrated so many times with the way they work and their funny little politics. 

But its all worth it. 

They literally had to bang through our cement walls to hook up more pipes. 

 Cement everywhere! It flew to all corners of my house. I am still trying to clean it all up. 

 I know this is random. The day the machine was all hooked up, we celebrated with Kraft Dinner! My family left me a few boxes that I am savouring. Kelvin doesn't think Kraft Dinner alone is real food so I added in some left over ground beef. But oh KD has never tasted so good! 

Ta da! There it is! LG Turbodrum wonderfulness. I stared so intently at it the first time I used it. Kelvin said to me, "Goodness! You would think you are a kid who has never seen one before." It has also inspired Kelvin to do more laundry! 

 I love the way it is done in like half an hour. I love that the clothes are barely damp when they come out (instead of completely soaked when washed by hands which only makes them smell if they don't dry fast enough). I love that we can turn it on before we go to bed. I love that we can chose when to wash clothes so if it is raining, we don't have to wash them. It is such a gift!