I could go wander around the mall and spend some of my gift cards from Christmas. (No, I don't want to deal with people.)
I could read my book. It's pretty good and transports me to another time and I am wondering what happens next. (I did read a bunch of pages, but then I got tired and took a nap.)
How about going to see a movie? I haven't been to the movies since I wasted my money on "Safe Haven". There must be something I want to see! (No, there's nothing I really want to see.)
I know! Why don't I do something that absolutely NEEDS to be done? It will take time and effort and it may be a little gross, but that washing machine must be cleaned. It has never been cleaned that I know of and it is so disgusting that I actually wanted to just buy a new one instead of attempting to clean it.
YES! That is exactly what I want to do! I'm going to do it!
So I did.
I'm going to show you a "before" photo of my washing machine. Please don't judge me. I am embarrassed to show you, but it's really the only way that you will be able to appreciate the "after" picture. Oh boy...here it is:
There's heavy caked-on soap scum around the outer rim. Gross. There is actual dirt on the lip of the lid. Disgusting. Don't even get me started on the softener dispenser. Nasty. The bleach dispenser that you fortunately can't see in this picture is beyond description. There was even grime on that pole thing that spins around.In short, it looks like I picked this washer up at the dumps and brought it home. I'm extremely embarrassed to say that I actually washed my clothes in this machine. Ugh. Something had to be done, and I don't really want to spend the money on a new machine. Can it be saved?
Through Pinterest I found a link to a blog that gave great, simple directions on how to clean your top-loading washer. You only need two things to get it done: bleach and vinegar. When you get to the vinegar step, that's when the scrubbing comes in. I mostly used one of those magic eraser cleaning thingees. My soap scummy build-up was pretty gnarly, so I also used a sponge with an abrasive side, like the kind I use to wash my pots and pans. That worked really well.
The scrubbing took about 40 minutes. I took off the softener dispenser and cleaned that up. I couldn't take out the bleach dispenser, so I poured warm vinegar in it, as noted in the directions from the blog, and that worked really well. In addition to cleaning inside the machine, I also wiped it all down on the outside too.
I am really REALLY happy with the results:
So even though I didn't do anything super-fun on my day o'freedom from the boys, I really feel like I accomplished something that will give me happiness and joy every time I do laundry, which is often.
And guess what else? I've already scheduled another cleaning of the washer with myself in three months. It will certainly be a lot easier next time; I can't imagine that I'll have that much grimy build-up in three months time, right?
OK, now I'm going to watch something on TV. I've got a movie from NetFlix laying around that I want to see. I also need to catch up on the latest episode of "Survivor" and "Once Upon a Time." Plus, Justin Timberlake is hosting "Saturday Night Live" tonight and I'll be watching that for sure!
PS I lost .2 lbs this week. It's not much, but every little bit that goes away counts!
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