Clean Floor Clean Mind

Hi,

This is NOT a sponsored post - it is a broken washing machine story!

We have one of these: H2O Ultra Steam Mop

I got it, as when Aaron was very young I used to get up and do the night feeds always watching TV.... one night I watched a shopping channel... I know I know I know.......

Anyway I fell in love with this product as I watched a LONG demo on it being demonstrated.  I always always feel suspicious of things on those channels, but a fortnight later it was still on my mind so I Googled the product name + the word "reviews" and of course it took me to Amazon.  I am so glad it DID as it was £30 cheaper on there even though the retailer on Amazon was the brand itself - RESULT!

Anyway I got it.

Our washing machine broke on Good Friday 29th April (i.e. Bank Holiday for the Royal Wedding) and I didn't ring the repair hotline until 6 p.m. but on bank holidays they close at 3:30.... luckily the voicemail greeting said that they are open on Saturdays so I called then.  They said their next working day due to the May Day bank holiday would be the Tuesday and it was already fully booked so she booked us for Wednesday.  The washing machine had broken mid cycle and was half full and we couldn't empty it - I knew by the time they would come the water would STINK!!!

Anyway, I work Wednesdays and my husband on Tuesday discovered he couldn't stay in on Wednesday, so I asked him to phone and re-book - they booked us for Friday.

Friday morning I WAS HERE (before work called me in) and husband was getting washed.  Got to 9:30 and I was anxious that the company hadn't texted us to give us the 2 hour slot that they said we'd be allocated on the morning of appointment day.  Rung them and their systems were down.

Anyway I am on the sofa, in PJs breastfeeding Aaron and hubby is in the bathroom washing and the engineer turns up, so the husband deals with him in boxer shorts and shuts the sitting room door so the engineer can't see me breastfeeding.  Well I don't know if it was a case of the blind leading the blind or WHAT happened (husband later said it was an "accident") but the washing machine door got opened and the floor was COVERED in smelly water.

Then, work calls and it's an emergency and I have to go in, so I take Aaron off the breast, pass him to the husband crying and leave the flat which is seeming like Faulty Towers, and off I trot.

When I get in that night, the husband has washed the load that'd been in there, AND hung it on the washing line (he NEVER uses the washing line) and has half filled a white load, and says to me to add my whites to it and turn it on, which I did.

I also brought in the dry washing that he'd earlier hung out. As it was evening when the whites dried, husband hung them inside on the airer.

Anyway with that level of efficiency going on, you'd be right to assume that the floor was cleaned, during the day by the husband, especially given that Aaron crawls on it - WRONG!

So this morning I put Aaron in his cot for his nap - he's still there now, and I got my trusty steamer out.  Now you have to put a white cloth on the bottom of it.  If you do your floors regularly this cloth does not get dirty, but this is what happened to my sparkling white cloth:

 So I washed it again with a new cloth and this was the result. Perfect:

And this was my spotless floor.

Please do not think that I am a domestic goddess as I am not and the flat right now is VERY untidy but I do try to take care of hygiene issues especially where my darling Aaron is involved :-)

The other thing to point out is that because Aaron has a good amount of clothes and because I WAS up to date on the washing before it broke, we actually survived that week without using the laudrette or family's machine - I was quite proud of that.  You take your washing machine for granted but I am so glad that it is working again.

We were able to get it repaired thanks to having a policy with Domestic & General.  Our washing machine is 10 years old and it is only the 2nd time it's needed to be fixed.  After 10 years another person would have thrown it away and got a new one, but I love my machine and don't believe in our throw away culture.  I should have taken a picture of the parts he replaced - they look like 2 bits of string - one metal and one plastic.  They are probably designed to "expire" but I am glad it is fixed.

Our machine is model Hotpoint WMA32P.

Liska xxxx