When the Washing Machine Will Go No Longer

  

Hi Friends!  We have had another interesting and busy week on the farm.  In recent family news,  I am happy to report that we finally said goodbye to our Samsung front loader washing machine.  We have had a large capacity Samsung washer and dryer for at least eight years now, and we have been very rough on them.  If you have a large family, then I do not need to explain how laundry multiplies in the larger than average family.  I feel like we are running laundry all.the.time  My report on our old Samsung set is that I have not liked it.  We have had machine malfunctioning on a fairly frequent basis.  I have had many times where either the washer or the dryer is out of commission for days before my husband can work on them.  Whenever this happens our family laundry backs way up.  In all fairness to Samsung, I do know that we have used our machines far more than average use, but even still, it has been a headache to deal with broken machines so often.  

  This past Monday I realized that we once again had another episode of the washing machine being out of commission.  I waited all day for my husband to look at the machine, and when he was able to check things out he was not sure what the problem was.  This time the machine would not even spray out water to start a new cycle.  Basically it would not even start.  At this point my husband decided that enough was enough with this machine and that we needed to get a new washing machine.  

  He did a little shopping at Lowe’s and found some good options that we were considering.  The largest capacity washer that he found was a 5.3 cubic foot which is what we thought we would go with.  On my errand day I wanted to look at the options, and then we were going to decide upon something.  

  That day I happened to need to make a return at JCPenney’s, and when I entered the store I noticed that Penney’s now has appliances.  I thought it couldn’t hurt to look while I was there, and I was surprised to find that they had an LG 5.7 cubic foot washer. This is the biggest we have ever heard of or seen for a household washer.  This machine was out of the price range we were considering, but the blessing is that Penney’s is running their Black Friday sale for all of November, and we were able to get forty percent off!  This all turned out to be such a blessing!  I am really thankful I had that return to make or I would have never thought to look at Penney’s.  The Lord sometimes directs our steps in unexpected ways; what an encouragement it is to see His leading and provision.

  We had our new washing machine delivered today, and we have a massive amount of laundry to catch up on.  It does not take many days of ignoring the laundry for us to be under a mountain of dirty laundry.  The good news is that this new washer holds more laundry than anything I have ever seen outside of a laundry mat.  I am hoping we can fit a fair amount in our old Samsung dryer, but we may upgrade our dryer at some point as well.  Based upon consumer reports, that I saw, it appears that far more people have been happy with their LG machines than with Samsung.  I am really hopeful that this machine will be far more dependable for our family and that we will be able to accomplish more laundry in a shorter stretch of time.  It was pretty amazing how much clothing I was able to push into the drum on my first load. I just hope we can cram it in our dryer when the cycle finishes.

  While we are on the topic of laundry, I wonder what laundry systems and products you like to use?  Here is my current favorite laundry soap.  I buy this huge jug at Sam's, and of course I love anything that is lavender scented.

  I have several children who are old enough to help with laundry now.  Some of them take care of putting their own laundry in the machine and getting it going, and some of the younger ones help in other ways.  I have plenty of helpers who can put clothing away.  I have one daughter, who is not old enough to manage a lot of laundry on her own just yet, but she can definitely help some.  She has a daily chore of spending twenty minutes in the laundry room each day after lunch.  What she does in there is dependent upon what is needed that day.  There are usually always clothes she can fold, she can straighten our shoe shelf, pick up the floor, sweep, or attend to other tasks.  This is a good way of training her to be busy in the laundry room, and it helps me to know she will be working in there for that set time each day.  We have a long ways to go in learning to better manage our laundry, but these are a few things we are doing, and we are also hopeful that this new washing machine is going to be a huge help in getting more clothes washed at once.  

  I am also thinking that getting the larger machine may give me new motivation to get a clothes line up.  It would be great to take some of the clothes, from the huge loads going in the machine, and hang them up to dry outside.  I may have to talk to my hubby about that one.  :)  Do you use a clothes line?  

I would like to share one more thought before I close out this post on laundry.  I was thinking about how laundry is just this cycle that goes round and round and seems to never end.  It is one of those mundane tasks that seems meaningless but truly is not when done for the glory of God.  I have heard some moms say that they like to pray for the members of their family as they fold their clothes, and that is certainly a way to redeem the time spent in the laundry room!  Also, I have found that I enjoy listening to my Bible on my phone or a good podcast while working on the laundry.  It makes the task seem less burdensome when I am feeding my heart with Biblical truths.  

  It is tempting to see some of these homemaking tasks like preparing meals and washing clothes as not of great significance and as a burden since they have to be done over and over again.  I want to encourage you, Mamas, that our children are watching us; when they see us choose faithfulness in the mundane, they are learning lessons about sacrifice, perseverance, and faithfulness from our example.    Much of life is made up of the mundane, but we can redeem the dirty and the daily for the glory of God when we, by God's grace, persevere in faithfulness.  Nothing is small or insignificant when done for the glory of God.  

Blessings to you and happy washing in your household!