Washing machine

Who says washing machine is boring? I tried to buy one and it was anything but boring! Until I was overwhelmed by choices… That was when I find washing machines really boring…

When i bought my very first washing machine, there were only 2 criteria - it works, and it’s cheap, maybe not in that order. Now that I’ve been working for a while, and moving to my own place, the criteria list somehow magically expanded itself. Suddenly, I was bombarded with a slew of words which I didn’t know previously. The salesman frantically persuading me the importance of each of these words, e.g. nano-technology, inverter, direct drive, aqua-beat, jet stream etc.

I only knew of one washing machine, and that was the one with a hole in the middle. Now, I have to decide between front-loading, top-loading, and even a tilted version. And I have to decide between 5 kg to 8.5 kg. I have to think of how often will I be using it, how many people will be using it, how quickly will it dry in our weather, how much water will it consume, how much electricity will it use, how noisy will it be, how often does it breakdown, how reliable is the brand, how reliable is the servicing etc… the list just seems endless…

To top all of that, after deciding on each of those and weighing it against the price I’m paying, then comes aesthetics - let’s face it, washing machines are just ugly. Maybe Apple should venture into making a washing machine.

With all that rambling, I still don’t understand what made choosing washing machine so difficult?

I guess I am drawn to technology. As age catches on, my definition of technology seems to change. I go for simpler technology that can go less wrong in the long run, as oppose to cutting edge technology where more parts are moving, which means there are more things that can go wrong. To quote the by now heavily abused words of wisdom, commonly known as Murphy’s Law - what can go wrong will go wrong.

With that philosophy in mind, the choice suddenly became much simpler. What did I choose? A Sanyo 7 kg top-loading washing machine with a side panel and flexibility to choose the timer for each type of wash, i.e. I can choose 3 minutes of spin, 9 minutes of wash, 13 minutes of cyclone dry etc. *Sigh* it is still difficult… Less choice is definitely better.

p/s: this is the second “less is more” article in this month (see wrong place at the wrong time). I have a feeling there could be a wind of change blowing in this direction.