Hey, Miss J!

How do I start this? I have no clue really. Most of my blog posts are stream of consciousness. I’m also a bit frustrated right now because I need clean clothes.

I can’t use my washing machine because it makes my water bill ridiculously high.

I feel like I’m handcuffed into paying steadily increasing utility bills… that I’m literally going to drown under them some day.

Last month, the water bill was over $100. In the past, I averaged like $56 per month for it… I started crying over it and screaming because I was told that I was using 100 gallons a day. How on earth – even with IBS – can I be using 100 gallons of water a day?!

I am one individual person. I am not a whole family of four.

In a bid to start saving water, I stopped using my washing machine entirely. This means, unfortunately, that I’m unable to wash my quilts. So, I have to find a day to get to a laundromat with my friend, bag them up, wash them and then store them away when I get home.

I’ve spent around $310 for things to help make doing laundry by hand easier. If I included my mobile washer – which I already had, mind – it would be more like $350.

My friend told me that was enough for a new washing machine. I think the sudden silence from my end told her what I thought of that assessment. A $300 washing machine is more likely to be used and in good condition. And I need one that is energy efficient in terms of water usage.

I have a few thoughts on my laundry now, having only done laundry by hand for over a month now.

Oh, and my current water bill is around $65. Gee… wonder why it dropped so suddenly. -_- I don’t believe energy assistance kicked in yet?

IDK.

So, when I do laundry, I’m handling at maximum 20 gallons of water.

I think I mentioned before that I’m weak and frail, right?

Everything I’m doing now is to alleviate the burden on my body. I got a laundry bag that’s designed like a backpack to take the clothes down. And I got this bag months and months ago… before the current problem.

It’s nice and huge. I also have a black bag that I use to haul my clean laundry back upstairs. My laundry hamper has been moved to the basement near where the unusable washing machine sits. So, I just pile the dirty clothes into it when I go down. Then I pick a day when I can settle down and wash some clothes.

My least favorite thing to wash is bedsheets, followed by towels.

I know… I know. I would have assumed that towels would be the worst by far. But nope! My blanket (which is the type from hospitals) and my bedsheets cause nightmares.

Aside from the fact that I’m pumping, panting and sweating excessively in the basement to clean my clothes… there’s also the fact that even with wringing the clothes dry, they still hold lots of water in them. I have issues with the buckets because they are not steel. If I had a stand to attach the wringer to, it would be wonderful, but I don’t have that.

At least not yet.

I might end up having to build one. I hope not I suck at building things.

And certain clothing items – such as my skirts – hold a lot of water.

My favorite items to clean are underwear, pants and shirts. They just go through without a problem.

Well, time for me to not keep fiddling up here and get to doing the laundry today.

Clean pants won’t clean themselves.

~J. Lyst

I realized I forgot to mention how I get the water into the buckets. I use a water pump that actually shoots water out of it faster than the sink can load the bucket it sits in. I use it to fill the soapy and rinse buckets. Then I use it to drain both of them. The last little bit I’m able to dump out myself.

Better than moving over 120lbs of water. For reference… my buckets hold 12 gallons combined. The bucket I load to load them holds maybe 3 or 4 gallons. 1 gallon is a bit over 8lbs.

So, if we combine that, how many pounds of water are those approximately 16 gallons adding up to?

Yeah, we’re not moving 120 pounds of water by hand.

Nope! Work smarter, not harder.