The Evil Appliance

Appliances are a scourge.
They have become so much a part of the western lifestyle that they are virtually impossible to abandon.
Appliances save us an incredible amount of work.
Yet they consume a great deal of energy in return for the time they offer.
And they work well; until they break down.

We have several appliances.
Each of them contravene our ideals regarding sustainable living.
There are three:
The dishwasher.
The clothes washer.
And the dryer.
When the weather is warm or the stove is hot, it's easy to skip the dryer.
But when it's damp everywhere and the kids are wetting the beds, and the cloth diapers are being filled and Daddy's work clothes are running out,
the dryer fills in where time simply cannot.

Lots of people do dishes by hand.
But when all of the food is made from scratch, including the bread,
the dishwasher makes the difference between a loving mother and well...
...I shouldn't say.

I couldn't imagine what our life would be like without a washing machine
And that's why it's a scourge.
There should be a better alternative, but I don't know what it is.
If it was just Kira and I, we could be easy on clothes and wash by hand.
But with three kids?
It's hard enough to keep up on laundry with the machine let alone without.

Our washing machine isn't perfect either.
Granted, it has seen some serious action.
But there's weakness in the drain pump.
First of all, it will accept a quarter.
You know, the coin.
It will fit into the pump only one way.
The coin will only come out the same way it went in, which is virtually impossible to replicate.
So after shortening my life removing quarters periodically,
I put a spring in to catch some of the overlooked pocket fodder.
The catch is that it picks up hair and makes the tub foam with soap during a wash cycle.

Out of all of the problems that we try to solve,
the appliances hit closest to home, and have proven to be the most difficult to resolve.
Most of the world does without, so why is it that we cannot?
Is it our climate?
Is it our standard of living?
Is it our lack of cohesive community?
Help me out here, because I don't plan on replacing them,
once I let them die in peace.