I love my appliances

This summer I found out two of my sisters in law do not have automatic dishwashers.  They wash all of their dishes by hand! One has one teenage boy, the other has two teenage boys and a tween girl at home (plus one in college). Their reason: money. The dishwasher broke and replacing it was low on their priority list. Wow! I thought. I couldn’t handle that. Then I thought further and realized the dishwasher would be one major appliance I could do without.

So, grabbing a comfy seat on that train of thought, which appliances could I not live without?  Hmmm.

Small appliances in the kitchen: Mixer, blender, food processor, bread maker and juicer, rice maker and coffee pot. The first three can be used interchangeably. The bread maker and juicer are in the cabinet and are almost never used. The next two are toughies. I suck at making rice on the stove, but I guess I could learn. No coffee?! Instant? No thanks, I’d make boiled coffee. Because Mama needs her shot of caffeine in the morning.

Small appliances in the rest of the house: hair dryer and curling iron – rarely used. I don’t even own an iron – wash and wear for this household. Hubby’s electric razor? He’s gone all disposable before the last time his died and he didn’t want to spend money to replace it right away. Vacuum would be tougher, but 80% of my house is hardwood or tile, so I could probably manage.

Now to the big leagues:

Hot Water Heater: I could handle cold showers for awhile in the summer time, but not for long in the winter time. It would have to be replaced as soon as my plumber buddy Rocco could get out here with a new one.

Washer and Dryer: Dryer wouldn’t even be a challenge. I cloth diapered my son and sun dried them. Aside from being a little stiff (especially the bamboo ones) they came out brighter and cleaner with a wonderful fresh smell.  No clothes washer would SUCK, especially with a little boy. I could manage. There would be a lot of soaking in Oxy Clean and a lot of complaining, but I suppose I could do it. More likely we’d be googling the nearest laundromat!

Microwave toaster oven and conventional oven: assuming they don’t go out at the same time, I can use them interchangeably along with the stove. Pretty much like I do know based on the weather. I use the toaster oven and microwave more when it is warm and the conventional oven in winter to help heat up the house.

Refrigerator/Freezer: NO! I would spend a ridiculous amount of money and time shopping every day that it would in no way make sense.

Knock on wood, I hope I don’t need to replace any of these any time soon since January/February is always a tough stretch for us since Hubby doesn’t get paid much in January (but it is nice having him home with us more).

So, if you have nothing better to do for a few moments, give it a thought, what modern appliance could you not live without?