For several years spanning my middle school through high school, we did not have a clothes washer. Ours has broken down at some point and instead of getting a replacement, my mother sent my sister and I to the laundromat every two weeks to do the family’s laundry.
Before my sister could drive, we’d have to load the laundry in our old lady grocery cart and drag it several miles to the crappy, nasty laundromats closest to our ghetto home. After she got her license, we’d journey far across town to the nice laundromat every other Friday night where they had dozens of washers and dryers and no homeless weirdos hanging out.
I only owned a couple of pairs of jeans and nice shirts, so I could not last 2 weeks between laundry days. In the off weeks I would wash my clothes in the bathtub by hand and hang them on a line in our basement to dry. They ended up being stiff with weirdo streaks and wrinkles, but it was better than wearing dirty clothes.
I remember thinking back then how nice it would be to have a washer and dryer like all of my friends had.
Looking back and knowing how cheap used appliances are (sometimes free!) it is inexplicable why my parents didn’t get us a set for over four years.My stepfather wore suits that were dry cleaned. My mother dressed up for work but had enough clothes. Since neither did the laundry at the laundromat I guess they just did not care.
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We got a set eventually when I was in high school. Except for my “living on the road misadventure”, I’ve had a set ever since.
I’ve owned ancient ones. I’ve owned brand new ones. Currently I own a set that’s at least 20 years old. It works fine for me.
It is still luxurious to be able to throw in a load of laundry anytime I want and have clean clothes just a few hours later. Once in a while I remember a time when this wasn’t the case.