While there’s little that beats the simple pleasure of putting on nice, clean clothes or slipping between freshly washed bed sheets, there are perhaps thousands of things more enjoyable than the process of washing them.
It’s not only the retrieving and sorting of items from the wash basket – tiresome in itself (is this synthetic? Would you say this is a ‘delicate’? Is this a ‘colour’ item? Etc.) – because even once you’ve got a bundle of items ready to go there’s often a complex set of dials to contend with. Then there’s the waiting around to pull them out to dry, often to reload again and again – requiring the dedication of a solid afternoon in many cases. Then there’s the knowledge that the electricity meter dials are often spinning around at more or less the same rate as the machine. Who’d have thought that basic hygiene could inspire so much despair?
Thankfully, some washing machine makers are finally ‘cottoning’ on (ahem) to the idea that doing a wash might be more complicated, tiresome, and energy and time consuming than it needs to be. Beko washing machine is seemingly built with these grievances in mind. For example, if you’re struggling against time, there’s a 15-minute fast wash to sort out that essential shirt or dress that you just discovered had a food stain on.
Indesit are also smart enough to suss that some people just want a setting that’ll successfully wash their jeans on the first attempt, or clean a woollen jumper without misshaping it. Their machines even have a setting for sports shoes! One deceptively minor-sounding feature even lets you add in or remove items during a cycle – so finding a stray item somewhere on the stairs needn’t end with you thumping the machine door, or cursing in frustration with a solitary shirt in your hand.
Energy-wise, there’s an option that saves 40-50% on water and electricity, so you can save money and help the environment to boot. That it’s now possible to buy washing machines that actually feel like they were designed for human beings to use is a cause for all reluctant launderers to celebrate!