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For those of us without a washer and dryer unit in our homes, laundry already wasn’t fun to begin with. But a widespread pandemic and stay-at-home orders have made it that much worse. The one saving grace: portable washing machines, that can be easily set up in the safety — and convenience — of your own home.
The Laundry Alternative, a company that sells portable washer-dryers online, says they almost doubled their sales in 2020, with their warehouse struggling to keep products in stock. “We’ve been in business for many years, and have never heard anyone say they like going to laundromats,” says Corey Tournet, owner of The Laundry Alternative. “However, the pandemic was the last straw, especially when it hit New York City. At that time, it was like selling products like hand sanitizer…you could sell as much as you had. Our entire warehouse got cleaned out, several months of supply, in under a week.”
Sure, we may be wearing less clothes while stuck inside, with our daily outfits being the same sweatpants as yesterday (and the day before that). But laundry day is still inevitable. And if you’re living in a small apartment without a washer/dryer, a trip to your building’s laundry room or the local laundromat has gone from a mild inconvenience to an anxiety-fueled biohazard in the last year.
Even in the best communal laundry spaces, it’s a nuisance to keep a constant watch on your stuff, making sure your clothes aren’t co-mixing and mingling with someone else’s, or missing the end of your wash/dry cycle by a few minutes – only to come back to find that another patron has handled your undies and moved your load. Even worse, it’s close quarters with other people who may be sick, or not taking safety precautions as seriously as you are.
The option to hand-wash at home has, technically, always been there. But the time and effort it takes to individually hand-wash items, not to mention the forearm strength to wring them out, just isn’t realistic.
That’s where these helpful devices come in. They may not match everything that a full-size unit can do, but they more than make up for it when you factor in the time and money saved, as well as being able to do your laundry safely and hygienically in the comfort of your own house, any time of day or night.
There’s no need to drill holes in the wall and install new higher-voltage outlets, or hook up pipes to your sewer or septic tank. The most these require are a sink’s faucet and access to a drain. It may feel a little archaic at times, like living in Little House on the Prairie compared to the capabilities of the big machines, but the convenience of these is undeniable. Plus if you’ve been going to laundromats or communal laundry rooms, you’ll recoup the costs in just a few months, ending up with consistently clean pants — and hopefully more money in your pockets.
