I had replaced the timing mechanism in my Whirlpool washer once, but when it went out again, I adjusted to its idiosyncrasies. The main problem was that it insisted on rinsing everything twice, no matter if I wanted it to or not. I had been putting up with this for over a year, wasting water, wasting time. My husband noticed my frustration and suggested we buy a new machine. The old one had done great work, but he was right. So I bought a new machine, this time by LG, a South Korean manufacturer. It was priced about the same as the others, but had some appealing features.

Who knew how much progress had been made in 10 years? This little machine weighs the load and shortens the cycle accordingly. What was taking me 90 minutes now takes 36. It also spins much more water out of the clothes, shortening the drying time. Its only drawback is the depth of its tub. Even standing on my toes, I have trouble reaching the stray sock at the bottom of the tub. I need one of those grabbers.

Why was this post called “just in time?” Last week our president announced a large tariff on South Korean washing machines. Not other appliances, just washing machines. This was to protect Whirlpool, the maker of my faulty machine. So I had bought my wonderful machine at a propitious moment in American trade policy. I don’t understand the policy, but I am glad I saved the likely 50% surcharge coming soon to an appliance store near me.

When I lived in a duplex with my daughter, the landlord installed an actual stacking washer and dryer in the kitchen. This allowed sufficient water pressure and electrical power to run a full sized washer and dryer, thus allowing the machines to run efficiently, unlike my previous all-in-one or portable models. However, since it was on a inside wall of the duplex, the dryer couldn’t vent to the outside.

If you ever read that a dryer can operate vented or ventless, beware. Ventless really just means that all the damp air is vented into the room where the dryer sits. In the small apartment we occupied, this meant into all the rooms. I imagine that in a very arid place such as Arizona, it might be beneficial to have all that humid air circulating. However, this was Portland and we didn’t need a drop more of humidity.

So for the several years we lived there, the apartment had a lingering odor of moisture, approaching mildew. If we had wanted to grow mushrooms, we had the right environment. Unfortunately, it always felt like we were never quite dry. Thanks, ironically enough, to the dryer.

We moved onto the land when our daughter was just thinking about crawling around the houseboat. That would lead to her walking around the houseboat and one day walking off the houseboat into the river if we weren’t hypervigilant. So we bought an old house on 5 acres and moved in. We were totally clueless buyers, going only for the price, and overlooked some major problems. Such as our water supply.

The house was supplied by a spring attached to a pipe attached to our house. This meant that our water pressure was very low. We also had no plumbing for a washing machine. I bought a portable machine, similar to the more modern one pictured above. It rolled over to the sink where I used a hose from the faucet to s-l-o-w-l-y fill the little tank on the left side. The machine sloshed the clothing around as long as you wanted it to( no timers), then I put the hose back and pumped the water back into the sink. The right hand side of the machine was a tiny spin cylinder which again operated as long as you let it. Then, of course, the clothes had to be hung out to dry. Or, hung in on our folding wood rack when it was raining.(It was Oregon. We used the wood rack most of the time.)

While I realized that this would have been a step up from hand washing, it was definitely a step down from the all-in-one machine from the houseboat. It also had the capacity of a thimble, and I again was endlessly washing diapers and our clothes. When I moved back into the city to an apartment with coin operated washers and dryers, I gave the little machine to a student. She had been hand washing, so she considered this a great gift. It’s all in the comparison, I guess, but it proved I was a poor candidate for “going off the grid.”