Frugal Fashion Alert!

Old Navy has a secret sale that is ending today. Get up to five camis for $2 each with the secret password, cami4me or you can print out this coupon, if you think you might forget the password. They are really cute. One word of warning...the extra larges are actually extra large. The ones I bought actually fit my eight month pregnant belly.

Trying to end the Ritual of Torture (or laundry day)

Okay, so I didn't mean to let so much time elapse, but we have been busy. As you all know, I am EXTREMELY preggo. My husband has been working extra hard in anticipation, so the laundry duties have fallen to me. That was just fine until this week. I hauled NINE loads of laundry to the mat, washed and folded in 98 degree weather, and hauled them back again. I put my foot down. NO MORE! Of course, that could mean no more clean clothes. So, I decided to research some laundry alternatives. We don't have washer and dryer hookups, so I started searching for "apartment washers". I figured in this heat, I could line dry, if I had to. I narrowed my choices down to these two:




















My husband really liked the Haier, but it was $174, best price, at the time. I liked the Wonder Washer. Especially after watching this video:



Then, as I was reading some reviews on the Wonder Washer, I read a comment that said basically, "why don't you just use a bucket and plunger like in the old days?" I went, "HUH?" So, I did a search on bucket and plunger laundry. I came across this site.

Sounded kinda weird, but I decided to give it a whirl. So, the Big Guy and I set out for Home Depot. We bought a five gallon bucket with lid and a new plunger for $6.18. Big Guy cut a hole in the lid and holes in the plunger, and we were ready to roll.

We gathered some clothes together and put a little bit of detergent in the bucket with some hot water.

We figured fifty plunges to wash and thirty or so to rinse.

That was no problem. The pain in the ass was the wringing. Then we had wet clothes hanging all over the house. We drove over to Kmart and bought two of the wooden accordion dryers. They were crap, so we had to drive back and buy the metal one. I say one, because it was more than twice as expensive. Almost 27 dollars. It took about two days for the laundry to dry all the way. This system was not going to supplant my weekly nine load ritual of torture. But, it might push it to a week and a half, or possibly every other week. That is progress. But, I had a bigger dream.

Stay tuned.