Here's a riddle: what's the difference between the electric company and a mom with 5 little children?
answer: only one of them has unlimited energy. (I'll leave you to guess which one...lol)
There are phrases I have heard repeated in Israel soooo often, I would be inclined to think they came from the Talmud - or from the writings of some great Rabbi.... stuff like "A dryer uses up so much power" "Your water bill will go up if you buy a dishwasher" "All those machines are just going to take up space on your kitchen counters" I don't disagree with any of them, but this is not the philosophy that I choose to live my life by.
Let me make the obvious point, which I think some moms-of-many-small-children miss... there are *some* problems that go away when you throw a little money at them.
A person only has a limited amount of energy and patience and strength every day.... once a person's energy has been exhausted, it won't come back so quickly (usually, not until after a good night's sleep). Electricity and water and an electrical appliance's strength... these are things that are replenished almost instantly. I would also count money as one of these renewable resources... you can always make more money, but if you wear yourself out, then your day is finished. Also, when your body is "done"... also your patience and your tolerance and whatnot.
Let me put myself squarely into the corner of electricty-wasters and water-wasters and counter-space-wasters and tell you that I LOOOOOVE my dryer and my dishwasher and some of the time-saving kitchen appliances that I have bought. Also, I would like to share that I will NEVER NEVER NEVER cook a pot of dried beans on the stove. (maybe I should write 'never' a few more times to get the point)... because they come in cans.
We aren't rich by any means, but my husband agrees with me that my sanity is worth more than a few shekels of electricity. Your sanity is worth it too... believe me, it is.
The two obvious energy-savers (YOUR energy, not the power company's) are a dishwasher and a dryer. You can buy one secondhand or get the appliance store to spread it out over a bunch of payments... or tell your in-laws that you don't want a crib or a stroller when the new baby comes... you want a dryer!
I don't think I have to explain that putting stuff into a machine and pressing the button is easier than doing it yourself.
Incidentally, there are other things you can do to make your laundry time easier. For example, I HATE HATE HATE baby socks (should I write "hate" again) because they are fussy and dumb and hard to keep track of. You will either see my baby in outfits with feet or wearing pants with feet under his outfits... NO SOCKS!
The other thing is to figure out what foods you are hopeless in cooking... and delegate your work to some electrical appliance that will take up space on your counter and cause your electric bill to rise.
A rice-cooker is one of my favourite things ever! I am awful at making rice, even though I know how supposedly simple it is. The rice-cooker was 120nis and makes foolproof rice with no effort. I have burned and/or undercooked enough pots of rice to realize that it is not worth my time to try. A rice cooker makes other food too (look online!).... add some red lentils to the uncooked rice and throw in dried onions and you have the fastest mujadarra you will ever make.
That's the same idea with the my hatred of dried beans. I do not have the time to spend hours cooking a pot of beans. Truthfully, I do not have the mental space to realize that I need to start cooking a pot of beans a bunch-of-hours ahead of time. Also, I have burned or undercooked beans all too often. So yeah, canned beans are my friend. In an instant, you can have rice-and-beans or bean soup or countless other nutritious meals.
I am also reeeealy lousy at making popcorn, so a popcorn maker is something I recently bought. Popcorn is a cheap and healthy snack, but I have never successfully made it with a pot...never never never... I could try a hundred times, but my kids wouldn't eat it and there would be a mess in the pot. It's just not worth it.
I am happy to admit that I am a quitter... if something is too difficult, then I quit. My time and energies are better spent taking care of my kids... or getting to bed at a reasonable hour.
Oh gosh, now that I read these last few comments, I see that it really sounds like I'm dumb. That's actually not the case... it's more like distracted. I can't just cook food and focus on the food because I am watching 5 little children... so after 'wipe my tushy!" "he took my toy!" "I want a glass of milk" and "the baby smells yucky"... and that's the real reason my rice burns or my popcorn flops.
Like I said, veteran Israelis spurn dryers and dishwashers and kitchen machines as wasteful and excessive. Don't listen to them! The electric company never runs out of power. You do. (all the more so if you don't have a MIL living next door who helps out... and hangs the laundry!)
Many of life's problems can't be solved by throwing money at them.. but this is one of them that can.
If you have the money, spend it!
If you maybe possibly have the money, spend it!
If you think about something else that you could do without so that you can spend your energy taking care of your children instead of taking care of dishes or laundry.... re-budget your budget.
I am a big believer in there being a time for everything... different periods in your life when one thing is more important than others. When you have small children, there is no 'saving for a rainy day'... it's already raining!!!
Tune out your Israeli neighbors and just get a dryer. Get it delivered when she's out.
