11. Saving Energy Left and Right, yeah right!
It takes 2 hours minimum to run Dishwashers and Washing Machines here, now I really don’t understand the technical aspects but in a country that is so energy conscious, why does it take sooo long to run these machines? It must use an exorbitant amount of electricity and energy but the washing machine tech could not explain this to me. Plus to add more to this, the clothes do NOT come out clean in the first place. We spent over 1500 Euros (over 2000 US dollars) buying the top of the line washer and dryer from Siemens and Bosch, I tried to buy the biggest size, settled on the 7kg (the average size 5kg in Germany fits about one towel and few shirts, I mean they are TINY!!! )
and it still only fits half the load capacity of the Gargantuan US brands back in the States. Let’s add to this that most people here don’t own dryers, this really freaked me out, because when we first came here, I tried it at our rental house. Now, spoiled American me took 1 hour hanging each individual sock and underwear on one of those common clothes racks and drying them outside (if you’re lucky to have a balcony!) Not only did they come out crunchy, wrinkled and a mess in our living room, it took 2 days to properly dry all the clothes with that cold German weather, now how do these people dry clothes in winter?!?!?! This was a deal breaker and after many conversations with my husband (he actually told me it is better for the clothes not be dried in a dryer because everything is more natural here!), I refused to give up on purchasing a dryer! I will not spend 3-4 hours running washing machines, hanging up HIS underwear, millions of socks and clothes outside and ironing crunchy ones here!! It’s ok, we lived with a defective washing machine and dishwasher for 6 months in our next place which leads me to..