I miss my washing machine. I’ve retyped that line over and over, but the simple truth is, I just miss my very own washing machine.

Instead of doing a load every day or so, now I have to wait until we can’t stash the dirty clothes any longer.  Then I must partake in the whole sharing-a-washing-machine-with-the-public thing. I know. I know. I AM the general public, but still.

It’s expensive too! Probably $15-20 a week, which adds up quickly. That’s if the dryers actually dry the clothes, otherwise add $5-7 easy.

To combat my frustration, I have developed some strategies.

#1. I wash all my whites with bleach. I feign that this will clean the washing machine from residual general yuckiness while washing our stuff. You know, kill anything left from said public.

#2. I wash every non-white load with hydrogen peroxide. I learned this tip from the website that I purchased our Turkish towels. It softens the towels by removing excess soap residue. It also kills public “germs” and seriously softens, well, everything. I am a big fan. I know I’ll continue this when I have a washing machine again.

#3. I use my wool dryer balls with germ fighting essential oils. I know the clothes should be clean, but this is my added safeguard. I’ve got to tell you, we took apart our old washing machine before we sold the house and the inside was so full of mold. I can’t even. So, I KNOW these public machines at least have some.

#4. I hand wash if I can. I bought a little washboard bowl. When we have water, I wash the little stuff and the polyester stuff (thank you sons for loving polyester, it suds (sudsess?) up in seconds flat). Socks, underwear, bras, the boys shirts and shorts, these are all easy to hand wash. The constriction is hanging space. I can’t wash too much at once because campgrounds frown on airing of clean laundry outdoors. I pretend the boys shirts and shorts are “swim wear” which seems legit at almost every campground. Otherwise, I hang items in our shower, a few pieces at a time, and move them to the towel racks when they aren’t dripping as profusely.

Hand washing helps me stave off laundry mats. Again, I understand I’m a member of said public needing wash machine access, and I’m so thankful they are everywhere, but less often is best. When we resettle, I will hug that washing machine. Give yours a little pat for me?