Doing laundry

Laundry is a bit of a hassle in Korea. The washing machines work well, but no one seems to have a dryer. I never thought the 'pigeon' fabric softener did much good so I stopped buying it.

Here's my washing machine


Here you can see the soap tray. The section to the right with the aqua green plug is where the fabric softener goes. You can also see the two removable lint collectors on either side of the soap tray. On the bottom left you can see the place where you can pour in bleach.


WHAT DO THE BUTTONS DO?

Here's the breakdown of what I was told by my co-teacher (moving from right to left).
- The orange button the far right is the power button. The machine automatically powers down after a full cycle is run. You press this once and you'll hear a beep and some lights come on.

- The next button (the largest button) is the start button. After you have the cycle set up how you want it, you just press this button. You'll hear a lovely little chime that tells you the machine is starting.

- the next button (blue) is where you select the laundry cycle. I assume there are choices for delicates, double wash, etc. I have no idea. My co-teacher just told me the the upper left (as seen in the picture) is the 'normal' cycle so I always use that one.

- The next button controls the four vertical red lights. From top to bottom they are Water, Laundry, Rinse, and Spin (or so I was told). I always run the machine with all four lights lit up. Each time you press this button the machine cycles through set combinations of these options so I have to press it about 7 times before all four lights are lit up.

- The next button is the 'reservation' button (directly below the 70 in the picture). I was told not to bother touching this one so I don't use it.

- The next button sets the 'water depth'. I usually just put it all the way up to a full load (though in this picture the light is next to the 3/4 load setting). You can almost make out the icons of a full load, 3/4 load, 1/2 load, and 1/4 load to the left of the 70. Like the other button this one goes in a set sequence so I usually have to click it several times before the light goes to the icon all the way at the top.

- The next button controls the spinning speed. From top to bottom they are Fast, Medium, and Slow. I always use the fast as shown in the picture.

- The last button controls the water temperature. The top light is hot water and the bottom is cold. If both are lit up then it uses a mixture of hot and cold water. That's the way I usually run it. Don't forget to make sure your hot water unit is turned on before you start.

These are how the lights look when I start a load of laundry.


Here's the cheaters version of what I described above. Just press these buttons in the following order: G, A, B, C, C, C, D, D, D, D, D, D, F.


I have a series of strings across my apartment for hanging laundry.
You can also see part of the aluminum clothing rack. These are very common in Korea and you'll want to get at least one if not two.