I Hate Doing Laundry, but This Washer and Dryer Is Making the Process Way Easier

Ever since I was young, I wanted a big family. I imagined myself chasing giggling little kids around a backyard and enjoying long, delicious dinners with great conversation. Well, I got the big family, but IRL these “fantasies” are a whole lot messier. One trip outside always results in muddy pants (and crying, so much crying). One meal around the table and at least two of my four kids have shirts covered in spaghetti sauce (and I literally have to beg them to insert each morsel of food into their mouths).

While I enjoy mostly every part of parenting — minus the tantrums and pretty much every meal — what I actually loathe is the resultant laundry. I went to a really expensive college, people. I studied my ass off so that I could be a journalist with a fulfilling career. I did not work so hard… to be trapped inside doing laundry all day. And let’s be clear, when there are six humans living in a house, four of whom are so messy that they often wear multiple outfits a day, there is a lot of freaking laundry.

To clarify, “laundry” isn’t a one-shot chore. It’s comprised of multiple unpleasant steps. First, you’ve got to pick it up off the floor and get it out of baskets and sort it all. Next, you actually wash and dry the items. Then you have to check to see if the stains came out (kids = so many stains) — if they didn’t, now we have to re-treat and re-soak. Next up: Folding. (At least this portion can be done while catching up Vanderpump Rules.) Lastly, disseminating the clothes back into their assigned drawers and shelves… ultimately to realize that your house is in disarray and all of these spaces need to be re-folded and organized. Sounds terrible? It is!  

To ease my pain, I finally decided to try to upgrade my equipment. Because let’s face it, I can’t afford to outsource my laundry (and Marie Kondo would totally frown upon that anyway). My current washer and dryer is… fine. They get the job done but I’ve never been wowed by their performance.

So, I tried out Maytag’s new Top Load Washer and Dryer. From the get-go, I knew these puppies were different from any I’d used before. For one, they’re huge — and they can accommodate huge loads. For someone like me who is doing 10+ loads of laundry a week, this was a big plus, because bigger loads equal less time spent doing my least favorite activity. The washer has a large 5.2-cubic-foot capacity (with an agitator to boot!), friends.

(Note: If you’re a childless couple living in a teensy Brooklyn apartment, this is not the appliance for you! But if you’re like me and you’ve got a family and some space in your laundry room or basement for turbo appliances, well then, keep reading.)

OK, let’s tackle the washer. Here’s why I’m obsessed: I wasn’t joking when I said this is a turbo appliance. This washer gets the job done. Whereas my previous washing machine simply washed my family’s clothes, the Maytag Top Load is getting them clean. How? Well, multiple ways. The “Power Wash” is like the regular setting, but on steroids. The agitator goes into overdrive and additional heated water helps break down and rinse away stains and messes and it really works, guys!

Before, roughly 40 percent of the stained clothes in my loads came out still-stained, which resulted in more work and frustration for me. But the Maytag Power Wash cycle is getting all of the stains out. Seriously. And beyond Power Wash, I love the machine’s super-specific settings like “colors” and “bedding” and let’s not forget my beloved “sanitize with oxi” option that promises to remove 99.5 percent of bacteria in the load thanks to high water temps and oxygenated additives (ya know, for those times when the stomach bug hits your house). The top load feature also means that you can add items mid-cycle (which I do constantly), and there’s also a “deep fill” option that fully soaks even your biggest and bulkiest loads.

And, if it’s possible, I actually love Maytag’s front-load dryer even more than its hard-working counterpart. Why? Because it too gets the job done. When using my old dryer, my loads were never fully dry after one cycle. I’d either have to add more time, or take half of the still-wet load out, put it on the counter and attempt to get the remaining smaller load dry. It was a nuisance of a process, and definitely part of the reason why I dreaded doing laundry. This Maytag dryer, however, is a beast. It dries everything, every time. Even my largest loads. Even my bulkiest loads! (Duvets! Quilts! Four snowsuits!) Oh, and the myriad cycle options make me happy — like the “rapid dry” one that gets small loads dry in, like, 10 minutes, or the “sanitize” setting that gives me piece of mind by removing household bacteria, or the “wrinkle prevent” option that fluffs the clothes for up to 150 additional minutes (this is perfect for my husband’s work shirts!).

More things to know: While these appliances do have a sizable footprint, they’re totally sleek in appearance and will look great if you’ve got yourself a fancy laundry room. And I love that they’re made right here in the USA, in Clyde, Ohio.

Back to me, though. I still hate doing laundry. That’s never going to change. But I don’t hate it as much, and the process has been greatly shortened because of my huge upgrade to this Maytag duo. By increasing my load size, the amount of time I’m dedicating to laundry is less, and because the machines are actually delivering on their promise to clean — and effectively getting stains out of clothes! — and dry my items, I’m not going back and re-treating, re-washing, or re-drying a portion of my laundry.

Less time spent doing laundry means more time spent doing what I actually love — being a mom, being a writer, and watching Bravo TV, of course. Shop the appliances below if you too need a laundry reboot.