It's The End of Washing As I Know It

The end of an era came this week. My washing machine, a loyal cleaner and friend, washed it's last load of dog hair covered clothes.

A little over 13 years ago, when I moved to North Carolina for my first big girl job, my parents bought me a washer and dryer. I remember what a surprise it was. My dad had helped me move and at some point while I was sleeping or who knows what, he snuck out to Lowe's and bought the set for me and the next thing I knew I was the owner of appliances that could actually wash and dry clothes. No more laundromats or apartment laundry rooms or bumming the use of the washers and dryer at the school. I had my very own!

The set has lasted me all these years. I've washed countless loads of clothes, comforters, quilts, dog blankets, etc. etc. No doubt thousands of loads have been in and out of that Maytag machine. In the past few years, I've had to call a repair man three times to fix something that had gone awry with the washer. The past few months, I couldn't use the largest load setting because the water wouldn't cut off and would come spilling out of the washer. This woke me up from a nap on more than one occasion.

This past week, I put in some clothes to wash and the basket wouldn't spin the load, leaving the clothes soaking wet. The repairman came out and fixed what he thought was the problem, but when I went to do a load after his repair work, I was having the same problem and I think I knew in my heart of hearts that my machine had washed her last load of clothes. The repairman came out again and sure enough, the transmission was shot and it wasn't worth it to repair. Let me also take this moment to say how awesome my neighbor Jeff is - he came over both times to let the repairman in while I was at work. Seriously,  hit the jackpot with Jeff as a neighbor. He is the best.

So, Thursday, after my trip to the doctor, I ventured over to Lowe's to purchase a washing machine. Thankfully, they were offering 18 months interest free financing because otherwise I might be spending the next few months at the laundromat. I purchased anther Maytag, a top loader, basically the same kind I had before but obviously a model that's about 14 years newer than the one I had.

The guys from Lowe's came out on Saturday and took away the old one and installed the new one and I've been feverishly washing clothes ever since. Every waking moment has been spent washing clothes. That new washer is definitely getting a workout. The new one is quite a bit different than the old one. For one, there's no agitator which I guess is the norm these days. Also, the load is weighed when it's placed in the basket and that's how the machine knows how much water to use. It's all very new and fancy.

So, it's the end of a washing era and the beginning of a new one. I'm thankful that I was able to go ahead and buy a new one and very thankful that I once again have some clean clothes.

 The old

And the new