Laundry time

This is a picture of the options on my washing machine which my mom took because she was so amazed by all the different ones!

Doing laundry is a bit different here than in the States, here's why

Convenience – The French win out here (vs aparment dwellers in the US). The washer is usually in the kitchen, sometimes in the bathroom, of French apartments. There's no seperate laundry room, only open certain hours. So you can throw a load in whenever, what can beat that?

Time – American washers take, what, 25-35 minutes?? Here....how about up to 2 and ½ hours?? The shortest cycle is the delicate, which on my machine is 45 minutes. Synthetic cycles are about 90 minutes, and cotton is 2 hours, except for coton att 60 degrees (warm) which is 2 hours and 20 minutes. Why the warm water cotton cycle is longer than the hot water cotton cycle, I have no idea. And acutally, my machine has a “Chronotime' cycle also, only 30 minutes. For “lightly used outerwear”.

Cycles – All the washer I've used in the states, had 3 or 4 cycles – hot, warm regular, warm permanent press (never did figure out what this was) and cold/delicate. Basically I did whites in hot, cold water stuff in cold/delicate, and all other colors/fabrics in warm. Not too tough.

Here, I have
Hot cotton
Warm cotton
Cold cotton
Warm synthetic
Cold synthetic
The 30 minute rapid one
A “Daily Magic” in cold for, um, I think lightly to normaly soiled clothes, as opposed to normal-to-heavy like everything else
Delicate cold
Delicate really cold
2 Wool options
Handwash
And all sorts of options if you want to stop before it spins, spin only, rinse only, etc.
Whew!
And i've discovered you really have to be careful to not mix colors and pick the right cycle – i've already made several items pink, and some white stuff has a greyish caste.

Oh, did i mention you can choose the spin rate as well?

Stains – Could usually get stains out in American washers, but not always. Here, they always come out. Is it the washer, the stain remover, the detergent, the fact that i'm applying stain remover right before washing instead of applying Shout then leaving in the laundry bag for a week or more? Who knows.

Noise – I guess American washers are loud, but i usually didn't stick around in the laundry room. My washer now terrifies me. The spin cycle is LOUD. Not only that, it vibrates and makes me think it's going to explode. I would love to be able to throw in a 2 hour cotton load right when i go to bed, to take advantage of the heures creuses, the cheaper electricity hours. But i tried that once, and it was so noisy i couldn't get to sleep.

Dryer – Standard in States. No so here. They have them of course, but do to space issues, many people don't buy them. They do make here combined washer/dryers though. I don't have one, but it hasn't been a problem. Most non-cotton items i've always hang dryed anyway. And the cotton loads I usually just run across the street to the laundromat and 2 euros and 24 mintues later they're dry. No biggie. This does have to be a weekend though. No time during weekday evenings to wash 2+ hours then dry before laundromat closes!