Surviving Without Your Washing Machine For A Week

Surviving Without Your Washing Machine For A Week

A washing machine is an essential item in most households in the UK and is definitely an appliance that is a central part of family life whether it’s filled with school uniforms and PE kits or lots of baby clothes.

Many washing machines are not great for the environment though and use a huge amount of water and electricity when they are used frequently. It’s important to do your research when buying a new machine to make sure you get the best you can afford and one with good energy ratings. The best way is to read reviews before you buy. There are loads of reviews of household appliances available online. Check them out here, or shop Picki Reviews for the best washing machine buys.

Ransom Spares are challenging us to see if we could live without our washing machines for a whole week and to help us, they’ve created an emergency Survival Guide with lots of tips for coping without your washing machine. There are also guides for coping without an oven and a fridge/freezer.

One lucky winner will receive an A+++ rated Hoover Dynamic Next washing machine worth £249.

We’ve actually had to cope without a washing machine on a few occasions in the past few years, and one of them was very recently.

The first time was when we were on our honeymoon in New York where we’d rented an apartment for two weeks. We thought we’d just use laundromats when we were there like we’d seen in so many American films and TV-series set in New York City. The only problem was that we couldn’t find any laundromats where you could go in and do your laundry yourself. We were staying in a very central location so there must have been some but we couldn’t find them. We searched online and only got results for ones where you leave your laundry to other people to do it and we didn’t fancy that. The reviews were all bad and said the clothes weren’t washed properly and hot water wasn’t used so we decided to hand wash for the following couple of weeks.

Luckily, I had brought a trusty hand washing detergent from home and every couple of days we just washed a few items in the bathroom sink and hung them up to dry. It was the middle of a very hot summer so drying didn’t take very long at all.

The hand washing tips in the Survival Guide are very helpful if you’re new to hand washing.

Another situation when we were washing machine free was when our washing machine/dryer broke! It just stopped working one day in the middle of winter when I was heavily pregnant and trying to prepare everything for our first baby’s arrival. Because it was winter it was very difficult to hand wash and dry everything and we only washed the essentials and let the laundry pile build up until our machine was fixed. Getting someone in to fix it took longer than we expected though so it was hard.

The most recent event was when we had our kitchen floor up and couldn’t use the washing machine because of that. It was actually quite nice to not do any laundry for a week but with a toddler I still had to do some hand washing to ensure her clothes weren’t permanently stained. She’s a messy eater!

Knowing how to hand wash your clothes is a great skill that comes in handy in emergencies, for stain treatment, delicate items and when travelling. I always pack hand washing detergent when we go on holiday so that we can wash some things while we’re there so that we don’t have to stuff our suitcases quite so full.

Contains a sponsored link.