Laundry: one of life’s mundane inevitables that at some point we all must tackle. If you are one of the few lucky people, you may have found a roommate or partner who loves doing laundry, making it a nonissue. However, if you live alone or, if you are like me, you are the partner who does the laundry and have probably experienced the following:
You joyfully start the washing machine with every intention of returning when the end-of-cycle bell chimes to switch the now freshly cleaned laundry over to the dryer. With all good intentions intact, reality strikes! Distractions pile-up, life happens, and three days later when there are no more clean pants to choose from you open up your washing machine to find dry, but stinky laundry compacted at the bottom of the machine. Whoops!
After years of repeating this scenario over and over again, the purchase of a new home forced me to rethink the way I do laundry to avoid the washing machine stink. I wanted to find an effiecient way to remind myself to switch the laundry from the washing machine over to the dryer. The less time I spent worrying about laundry the better.
MY TOP 3 FAVORITE LAUNDRY REMINDER SOLUTIONS
Keep in mind there are smart washers and dryers that send notifications when a washing or drying cycle has ended. There are also a lot of really amazing DIY solutions that turn any washer and dryer into a smart washer and dryer. I did not include either of those solutions in the list below because I wanted to explore alternative options that were efficient, readily available, and included some sort of customer support.
This little gadget sends users a notification to their smartphone when the washing machine ends it’s cycle. It works by sending a notification once the washer stops vibrating. It is part of Samsung’s family of smarthome technology. Learn more here.
2. Twine
That’s right, a simple piece of twine is all that is needed for this solution – just kidding. Twine is an ingenious little device built with a wireless sensor block that is integrated with a cloud-based service. The durable, rubbery block has Wi-Fi, on-board temperature and orientation sensors, and an expansion connector for other sensors. Like the SmartSense Multi Sensor, Twine detects when the washing machine cycle ends through monitoring its vibration. When the end of the cycle is detected, Twine sends out a notification. Check out this blog post detailing how one person set-up their Twine to send a tweet once the washing machine cycle ended.
3. MY SOLUTION! LG WM3997HWA 4.3 Cu. Ft. White With Steam Cycle Electric Washer/Dryer Combo
SmartSense and Twine let users know when the washing machine cycle is over, but they do not do one important thing – switch the laundry over to the dryer. The LG WM3997HWA is a washer and dryer all-in-one combo. Users simply put their laundry in, start the machine, and when its finished the laundry is both washed and dried. This type of technology is not new, in fact, these washer/dryer combos are very popular in Europe because of their space saving design. Washer/dryer combos are great for people with memory issues, those with physical disabilities, and everyone in between.
The drying systems on washer/dryer combos are unique in that they utilize a condensation-based drying system, so a dryer vent or lint trap is not necessary. The lint accumulates on the dryer’s door seal, so after every cycle the seal needs to be wiped off and the lint thrown in the trash. This could even prevent a fire, and would be especially helpful for those people who might forget to clean out the lint trap.
After owning this machine, I love putting a load of laundry in at night before I go to bed and waking up to clean dry laundry. I no longer have to worry about forgetting to switch laundry over, preventing stinky washing machine loads, wasted time, and large piles of dirty laundry.
There she is! Isn’t she a beaut’?
