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The Maytag TOP LOADING Neptune washer is the most amazing machine I've used in years. This is not the front loading washer (which is the subject of a class action lawsuit or two). This is the top-loading model with the opposing disks instead of the old central agitator.
It uses very little water, and low-sudsing detergent, so more environmentally friendly than a typical top loader. It also does things like spin the clothing to a desired dampness, so you can save time and money in the dryer too!
It cleans stuff really well!
The only concern that I've seen voiced about it is that it tends to wind the clothes up into a knot and then you get wrinkles. I found this not to be true, actually. It does wring them out very thoroughly (especially if you choose the settings to do that), but the wrinkles don't stay in the fabric and the matching dryer has this really excellent post-dry wrinkle guard setting that works like a charm.
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And very soon that same appliance will be made and sold by the Chinese, as they are buying Maytag.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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While folding white clothes, I always check socks for holes and pull out the bad ones. Recently, I've been having my son fold the white clothes and just getting it folded correctly is enough of a challenge that I didn't want to add the responsibility of checking for holes.
So, after seeing holes in their socks and finding some in mine, I decided to go through all the socks myself one day. When I was done, I had 3 pairs of socks, my husband had 4 and my son had 5.
And the last time my parents were here, on the last day, I said, "Damn, I forgot to wear my other pair of tennis shoes (which are three years old, but only worn a few times when my parents are in town so they still look new and clean and 'decent enough to go out in public in'). . . but, now that I think about it, if I'd worn them, my socks would have looked dirty."
I swear, ever since we moved into this house, our whites don't get clean. My son has a white t-shirt for track and I tried bleaching it and it didn't change colors at all. It just stayed gray.
And we have a chlorine problem. We are too close to the pumping station, so our water smells like chlorine. Not that that has anything to do with our laundry problems, but I'm already afraid of my refrigerator, which, in my mind, was the only good thing about this house. I'd always wanted a refrigerator with an ice cube/water dispenser, but now that I have one, I've taken out the ice cube maker tray and we don't use the water. And since the washing machine uses water, I somehow find a correlation. That and all the stainless steel in the house (bathroom and kitchen) gets this white stuff on it, turning it gray. And the silverware. Don't even get me started on what the dishwasher (same quality as the refrigerator, do its' not the dishwasher) does to it! Since we're having company, I used a lime/calcium/soap scum remover on the silverware, but it's really bad. The way my twisted mind works, is that if the water is causing problems (causing a white build-up of something on anything stainless steel, or on the black refrigerator) then it's probably the water that is causing me to be unable to make my whites white. I know it makes no sense.
What's more likely to have happened is that we started off with a crappy washing machine and when we moved, it got slightly damaged and just isn't agitating enough, or something.
But $1,500 for a washing machine? I feel the need to go post a "Wanted: Neptune washer" in the free-cycle thread.
Anyway, after going through the socks, I decided that it was time to get rid of the gray sock altogether and start over. So, I went out and bought us each a dozen pain of new white socks. So, I can now wear my very white tennis shoes when my parents come and not embarrass them.
Of course, now, when we put the very white socks in the laundry basket, our undies look terrible. . .
Posts: 9871 | Registered: Aug 2001
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You know, the other night we had people over to play poker, and they really didn't have enough for the tournament, so I agreed to play, as I knew the three that were there pretty well.
Anyway, I invited them to a BBQ on Saturday, and one of them said he'd love to come, but he was going to St. Louis for the weekend. Which brought up the whole huge fireworks display they have downtown and my husband asked if he was going to go to it and he said it was too dangerous. Something about gangs of pickpockets.
Now, I've been to the fair. Once, the guy next to me was shot and once a knife fight broke out right where I'd set my camera up to get photos of the fireworks display. But that was the only real crime I saw and reports of crime at these things are really low. So the thought of marauding pick pockets amused me.
I said something about the fact that he was a small town Kansas boy who was just not used to the crowdedness of a city.
To which he replied, "I'm not from Kansas, I'm from St. Louis."
And I'm from St. Louis, so I naturally asked "Where in St. Louis?"
He tells me he's from Washington.
Washington is now considered "St. Louis"? Huh? I'm from the suburbs and there is no way that Washington is anywhere near being "St. Louis." It couldn't, even by any stretch of the imagination be considered a suburb of St. Louis. It's 52 miles from St. Louis. That's almost as far as Topeka is from Kansas City.
And he asks me where I'm from. When I tell him, he gives my husband this weird look.
And my husband says, "Yeah, she's from the rich part of town."
Not really. But the rich part of town was really close. I was in the "very comfortable" part of town.
But even then, we didn't have a $1,500 washing machine!
Posts: 9871 | Registered: Aug 2001
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Kayla, it sounds like you have hard water...is the white stuff lime? A water softener will help. I'm living in a house now with a water softener that actually works and my laundry is looking so much cleaner and brighter... And I don't have that grey stuff on my stainless steel anymore.
On the other hand, I do have to haul in 40 lb sacks of salt every few weeks.
Posts: 239 | Registered: May 2004
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ctm, you know, the previous owners had a water softener, which they took with them (we knew they were going to) but the only experiences I've had with a water softener were at my grandparents house where it would take three and a half days to get the shampoo out of your hair. I hated it.
Do you ever get used to it?
Posts: 9871 | Registered: Aug 2001
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Mark's parents have a water softener, and it works great. Showers seem just fine when I take them down there.
Posts: 1681 | Registered: Jun 2004
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Kayla, my in-laws have have a water softener and I can't get use to it either. I'm told it's not that there is still soap on you, it's that the soft water doesn't scrub all your natural oils off you the way hard water does.
Whatever anyone does, don't buy a softener just because somebody comes to your house and shows you how dirty and contaminated your water is. I let one of the Rainsoft salesmen come over so I could hear their spiel. He showed me groundwater tests results proving my water was contaminated. I told him if those numbers were right, everyone drinking from that water supply would already be dead.
Posts: 4625 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Yeah - Kayla -- Kansas, unfortunately, is known for the hard water. We have well water -- absolutely WONDERFUL water from the Equus Beds of the Ogallala Aquifer, but it is so hard. My mom refuses to drink it because she believes it will give her kidney stones or some such. (I have drank it all my life and never had any problem). But we can't keep any plumbing for very long without replacing it because of the lime and mineral build-up.
I'm not willing to do a water softener -- too much sodium, and it would change the taste of my wonderful well water.
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Speaking of appliance wonders, my Kitchen Aid mixer is so awesome. It's got torque like you wouldn't believe! It makes far better cakes than any other mixer I've ever used. The batter is so fluffy and voluminous, it's wonderful. It's not immediately clear to me why a ceramic flat three-pronged beater that moves around the rim of the bowl on a planetary gear should mix so much better than the regular sort, but it certainly does. I love this mixer.
I have another appliance that I really like, too. A Krups electric can opener that works by uncrimping the crimp of the can rim rather than by cutting anything. It leaves no sharp edges and does a lovely job. It takes a little getting used to when you first start using it, since it acts differently than other can openers, but it's very cool once you get used to it. Very geeky. Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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I really like my Krups waffle iron. I'm not sure if that's so much because it's a great waffle iron or simply because waffles come out of it. Anything that waffles come out of gets a big thumbs up in my book.
Posts: 4625 | Registered: Jul 2002
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We have a Cuisinart toaster oven that we've used several times a day for almost 2 years now. It's like magic... everything always comes out cooked perfectly, regardless of what temperature I set it to or how long it takes me to remember to take things out. It cooks our frozen veggie burgers, chicken nuggets, and various other delectables better than any appliance I've ever had before. We use the microwave maybe once a week, and the oven almost never... hot food in our house almost invariably comes out of the toaster oven. Posts: 1681 | Registered: Jun 2004
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Kayla, every other house I've lived in we've owned the water softener thing (always purchased by previous owners) and had no idea how it worked, but they never seem to do a good job,. In my current house the previous owners rented it and I just continued doing it, so the company came and set it up for me and it works really well. I will admit it takes a bit longer to rinse my hair, though.
"Speaking of appliance wonders, my Kitchen Aid mixer is so awesome"
Yeah, I love my Kitchen Aid mixer. The dough hook is great for making bread. Amazing little machine.
Posts: 239 | Registered: May 2004
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We didn't pay 600 for our Dyson. I think it was more like 350-400. Still an awful lot.
But it is an amazing machine. My wife and I both love it. I don't remember the names of the models, but we got the yellow one, which I know isn't the top of the line, and doesn't have all the attachments.
Posts: 1652 | Registered: Aug 2003
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Put a tablespoon of Borax into your dishwasher with each load. Borax is a natural water softener and your stainless steel and glassware will come out considerably cleaner.
Also, if the hardwater is really baked on the inside of your dishwasher, run it empty with some Tang inside to clean it out. Works like a charm.
Posts: 4753 | Registered: May 2002
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Oh, Borax also kicks some serious ascot in the washer when you're doing a load of clothes. I don't know what I'd do without it.
Posts: 4753 | Registered: May 2002
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Oooh appliances. I really want a stand-up mixer but I have no room for one. I finally got around to getting an electric mixer for beating eggs (yey!).
I do have an incredible belgian waffle maker (Waring Pro) which makes gorgeous waffles with really high walls. I think I'm rough on toaster ovens. The door on mine is getting a little pouty about staying shut completely.
I can't stand soft water. Oh, and I recently had my first experience with well water. It smelled like it had sulfur in it? This was in upstate NY near Albany. I was very happy to come back to the high pressure hard water here. I actually cheated recently and switched to a normal pressure shower head instead of low-consumption because the ploppy-feel of the water just wasn't sufficient.
Posts: 1261 | Registered: Apr 2004
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We have the yellow Dyson as well. After researching the "animal" model, we concluded that an extra $100 was too much to pay for one extra attachment, especially since we can use the turbo attachment from our old Hoover with the Dyson.
By the way, the Hoover Wind Tunnel V2 does a LOUSY job at picking up pet hair. Plus the dog hair and the red clay dirt we have around here would accumulate inside the narrow air intakes in the Hoover to form ... ADOBE. So I'd have to take the Hoover apart with a screwdriver every few months to de-adobefy it.
Posts: 1512 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!
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I understand about the adobe. here in northern california theres alot of clay in the ground, so after a good rain, theres places that are reall slippery. or you can sink up to a foot deep. then in the summer its like teying to dig in a brickyrad.
Posts: 513 | Registered: Oct 2001
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