I know it may seem a bit odd to write a blog entry about laundry, but it’s rather a quirky topic to me. Sunday is usually my big laundry day. I was worried that I’d be trekking to the Laundromat every week in order to have clean clothes. But thankfully that hasn’t been the case.

After about a week, Madame showed me that she has a washing machine in her apartment – a luxury item here in Paris. I never noticed it since it’s in the kitchen next to the refrigerator concealed by a cabinet door. It’s about the size of a small dishwasher and maybe a quarter the size of my washer at home.

When I was young, my mom taught me never to overfill the washer – that you wanted enough water around your clothes to get them clean. Here, that’s not the case. In fact, you want to pack as much as humanly possible into this little tiny receptacle. Evidently the more you pack in, the cleaner your clothes become. A rather odd concept considering what I’ve grown up with, but I go with it.

I load up the machine with my week’s worth of dirty clothes. I even have to throw in some clean items just to fill the thing up. Just when I’m about to close the door, Madame tells me it’s still not full and manages to squeeze in her bathrobe and a few towels. We put in a few handfuls of powdered soap that feels like sandpaper and away we go.

During the cycle, I check on my clothes. I’m amazed to find there’s hardly any water in the drum and it only turns once in a while. But somehow, as if my magic, my clothes are clean when I pull them out.

French people don’t tend to use dryers. Instead, I think they like to show off their fashions by hanging them outside for the neighbors to see. Everyone seems to have quite the collection of undies, bras, slips, t-shirts, pants and blouses air-drying on their balcony.

I remember long ago complaining about the smell of air-dried sheets and clothes to my mom when she’d hang them out on the line in the summer. But somehow it’s not so bad here in Paris. Yeah, my jeans feel like cardboard when I put them on and my socks could stand up on their own, but it doesn’t take too long to soften them up. I’m getting used to it, and I’m actually surprised to say I don’t really miss my fabulous Maytag washer and dryer at home!

1 Comment  Leave a Comment