Love Your Washing Machine.

With alarming regularity, laundry day rolls around as surely as Christmas. No sooner have I put the last load of ironing away, do I find myself stuffing exactly the same items back into the machine. It isn’t right: I want my beautifully ironed clothes to stay in the wardrobe, so I can tell myself what a wonderful housekeeper I am, as I lie on the sofa feeding myself wine and grapes…But alas, the world is just not like that: and so at nine o’clock on a Monday morning I find myself putting my second load of the day in the machine and secretly wishing I was sunbathing in the South of France…

Washing machines, bless their little hearts, work hard for very little credit. We don’t say thank you, and lets face it, if the house was on fire we wouldn’t risk our lives to go back and save them, would we? Only when you are left without one, because it has broken, do you realize just how beneficial washing machines can be to your laundry process. They do more than we think, and so when we are in the process of getting a new one, it is important that we are able to find the best appliances we can, so that we can continue to get through our endless loads of laundry. Everyone and everything deserves a little bit of love sometimes, you know? So once in a while, housekeepers, it would be nice if we took the time to show them we care…

*Start by taking anything removeable out (powder dish, filter) and shaking out or occasionally untangling any debris (most often threads wrapped around the filter, occasionally the odd baby sock!): then if  necessary use a blunt knife to gently scrape away any hardened soap powder and put all the bits into the dishwasher on a gentle cycle. Take a piece of kitchen towel and use it to rub away any powder inside the hole where the powder holder usually lives and don’t be shocked if it’s kind of grubby in there…

*While the dishwasher does it’s job, mix some baking powder with a ittle bit of water and use to gently clean the OUTSIDE of the machine. Buff to a shine with a dry cloth, then when the dishwasher >has done it’s job, reasemble the machine and pour two cups of white vinegar into the soap powder holder and let the machine run through its hottest cycle. If your machine isn’t cleaning as well as it should, or indeed if there is a stale smell on your laundry, you may need to do this a few times. Follow this with one cup of lemon juice for freshness again on the hottest cycle…

*Then go find something you adore to wash gently. Choose something wool or delicate, and using non biological powder and four drops of lavender added to your non-fragranced softener, put the machine on a wool cycle and breathe in the delicious scent of lavender wafting around the house as you sit smugly sipping coffee in the certain knowledge that you own the sweeting smelling washing machine in town.

Have a lovely week HouseKeepers…

**Originally posted in my Vintage Housekeepers Circle group.**