Best way to wash clothes in an efficienct without washer/dryer connections.

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’m probably moving into a 300 sq ft efficiency without washer/dryer connections. I’d like to have some way of doing laundry at home because I’m both lazy and busy and don’t want to take the time for trips to the laundromat.

For washing I’m looking at small portable electric washing machines like this Haier or the hand cranked Wonderwash

For drying I’m leaning towards using a spinner like this 3200rpm spin dryer and either hanging them or finishing with a compact electric dryer

If you have any experience with doing laundry outside of the tradition washer and dryer tell me about it. Give me some advice.

2

I don’t think I’ve ever lived in an apartment as small as 300 square feet, but if I did, I wouldn’t want to lose the space for even a compact washing machine. So if you’re too busy to go to a laundromat, have you considered finding a laundry service that picks up and delivers?

3

http://www.hsn.com/products/the-laundry-pod-manual-clothes-washing-machine/6960293?sz=12&sf=HM0194&ac=INCHM0194&cm_mmc=Shopping%20Engine-_-PLA-_-For%20the%20Home-_-6960296&channel=Froogle&mr:referralID=ccffe86f-8225-11e2-97b3-001b2166becc

? Looks interesting.

4

you might try a general body wash soap and shower with your clothes on.

5

How about the happy medium and find a building with a laundry room? Going a laundromat is a pain, but hopping down the hall or to the basement is no big deal. It’s more of a requirement for my apartments than a dishwasher, that’s for sure.

6

Try to find someplace with a laundry room. Laundromats are a time consuming PITA unless they are very close.

7

One summer I lived in Italy and the nearest laundromat was 1.5 miles away and not on anything like a convenient bus line. This being Italy, it didn’t have clothes dryers anyway so I would have had to haul my wet clothes back home. So I did the following:

Found laundry soap labeled for hand washing, and hand washed clothes in my stock pot (this being Italy, my furnished apartment had a nice one). If I wanted a hot water treatment, I turned on the stove for a while. Rinsed and wrung in the bathtub, then hung to dry. You DO want to be able to line-dry your clothes or else have a dryer; they get crispy otherwise.

It was a monumental pain in the ass. You want access to machines; you do NOT want to hand-wash anything.

8

Do not fart around with the Wonderwash.

You will be left with wet, soppy, heavy clothes and you’ll make a horrendous mess trying to wring them out by hand. And because you could only squeeze out excess water by hand, everything will take DAYS to dry and end up stinkin’.

Go to a laundromat, or find a place with drop off service. Drop off service is incredibly NICE.
~VOW

9

I’m going to second the drop off service suggestion. It’s pretty cheap…about $1.00 per pound. I have a laundry room at home, but I work at a place that uses lots of table linens, and I drop them all off (or they will pick up) where they are washed, dried and folded (they will even iron for an additional fee–but it seems a bit steep to me). It’s TOTALLY worth it.