I wanna know where the Gold at!

Happy St. Patty's Day All!

In today's blog I am going to tackle a chore that I have always despised: Laundry. Just to give you an idea of my aversion to washing clothes, in high school my parents used laundry as a form of punishment; if I misbehaved or talked back, then I would have to do it myself. Needless to say, I strove to stay squeaky clean for those years.

There are many reasons for my hatred of this task:

• The looming fear of shrinking, dyeing, or otherwise ruining some of my favorite clothes
• The sorting ritual; whites, colors, hand-wash, dry-clean only, cold water, lay flat to dry...
• Moving clothes from the washer to the dryer and dropping them on the floor in-between
• Deciding which cleaning product to use and remembering to put it in: detergent for colors or whites, bleach, liquid softener, dryer sheets
• The fact that you can't wash a small amount of clothes without wasting a ton of water and energy
• And lastly, the amount of time that goes into all this

Although it's true that I could just have my laundry sent to a cleaner's and that would take care of all but the first of my reasons, the cost of doing so on a regular basis is just too high. Plus there's the added fear of clothes being lost or finding someone else's laundry with your own (eew).

I realize that it's not something I'll ever be able to avoid completely (unless I finally become a millionaire), but I believe that there is a machine that could aide in my suffering: a Smart, High Efficiency All-in-One Washer/Dryer. The high efficiency in order to keep bills to a minimum and my 'help the environment' cause going strong, and the All-in-One aspect to eliminate the waiting around to switch clothes from one to the other (and the agony of dropping things in between). This way I can leave to do something useful and not worry about leaving wet clothes in the washing machine too long (I hate that damp smell they can get). These two aspects are easier to understand, but...

What makes a Washer/Dryer "Smart"?

• Built-in detergent and dryer sheet dispensers to ensure they never forgotten again
  

• The ability to sense how full the load is and change the amount of water, detergent, and time accordingly
• Traditional Washing options (water temperature, spin speed) alongside traditional drying options (level of heat, etc.) so that an entire cycle can be chosen at the beginning of a wash and not thought about until the clothes are dry, while still giving you the ability to still do one without the other
  
• Additional "Microwave-esque" quick cycle options such as a Bulky Items button for jeans, sweats, and bedding; or a Hand Wash button that gently soaks your delicates in cold water and uses room temperature to tumble dry. For these loads it is possible to push one button and know that they will be cleaned and dryed correctly, just like the 'popcorn' button on your microwave.
• A steam option to quickly freshen up and clear any wrinkles from clothes you need now

I am saving up the money to buy this machine as soon as someone (LG, Whirlpool, anybody??) decides to create it.

Until then, here are some of the current useful products on the market:

High efficiency washers:
General Information and Selected Products

At Home Dry Cleaning:
DryCleaner's Secret

Washing machine with steaming options:
LG SteamWasher

Laundry Sorter for your whites, darks, and dry clean-only's:
Seagrass Triple Laundry Sorter

And although there are all-in-one machines available, I wouldn't suggest them just yet since they take up to 5 hours to complete a cycle and have less capacity.


Enjoy a green beer today, take taxis, and have a LUCKY St. Patrick's Day!!!

And for your enjoyment, a funny rap video based on an Alabama town that claimed there was a Leprechaun in their midst:
Gimme da Gold

Also, the original news story that it was taken from (this is real)

Yes, this is where my blog title is from =-)